Northside Church - Sydney
To The Ends of The Earth Part 2 – Week 1: Explaining AM Message
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Well, the tour guide was speaking with great passion, great enthusiasm. As she told the assembled tourists on the couch about her country and its heritage and its history and its cultural features, and then she really lifted and not sure too and she revealed she was a woman of faith. And she said, you know, our patron saint is Saint Barnabas. And then she went to give all the different references to Barnabas and his influence in her nation in the early days. Of course, Bev and I were on the island of Cyprus because Barnabas, the guy who figures along with Paul in these passages from Acts and certainly in Acts chapter 13, he was born in Cyprus. It says in the Bible, Acts chapter 4 verse 36. And so it was that Joseph, a Levite born in Cyprus, whom the apostles call Barnabas, which means one who encourages. He sold some land he owned, he bought the money and handed it over to the disciples. So as well as being known as an encourager, he was also a very generous man. No reputation to have being one who encourages. Well, as we pick up the story in Acts chapter 13 of the establishment of the early church, we find that Barnabas was going to need every ounce of ability to be an encourager and to stay positive because it wasn't long into this first missionary journey before things got a little rough. There was conflict, there was rejection, there was downright hostility. Would have put a man like Barnabas severely to the test. Friends chapter 13 of Acts is a very significant chapter, very important chapter in the unfolding story of the book of Acts because it makes, or rather it marks, it marks the real beginning point of when the church took seriously the command of Jesus to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So literally go to the ends of the earth. This chapter 13 marks the beginning point. It's a first missionary journey by Paul, accompanied by Barnabas. And as I try to read this familiar chapter this week through fresh eyes, and as a preacher you've got to do that, you've got to try to look at the scriptures with a freshness to bring out something that's going to be meaningful to your people. As I read this chapter, four things leapt from the page and they all have to do with mission. They all have to do with the work of evangelism and they'll provide the foundation point for that which is to follow in the coming weeks. You see, Acts chapter 13 talks about ascending church, that's the first thing. It was the church in Antioch which commissioned Paul and Barnabas for this first missionary journey. And the chapter highlights a simple message. And Paul delivered his first sermon to a crowd of eager listeners in Antioch of Passidia. There are two Antiochs in this chapter which is a little confusing, but the second Antioch is where he delivered this first recorded message. It was delivered and explained with great clarity. How important is that? Simple message. How important is that in the work of mission and evangelism? Thirdly, while the initial response to the message was positive, it wasn't long before there was a sad reaction, sad in the sense of disappointing, really disappointing. As people thought about the implications of what Paul was saying and this led to Paul and Barnabas having to face, having to confront a sobering reality. As they realized, the work of sharing the good news was not going to be easy. It never is. It never has been. It's not easy for us today in a pluralistic and increasingly secular society. So let's look at these four things that just kind of left off the page at me. There was ascending church. And we can draw a great inspiration from the church in Antioch. I mean, you get the impression that they'd established, they'd nurtured a climate of faith and expectation which naturally led to what we would call today an external focus. That's the new buzz phrase for mission and external focus. This church had it. I mean, look at a snapshot of the church in verses two and three. While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul," he hadn't been called Paul yet, that comes later in the chapter, "to do the work to which I've called them. They fasted, prayed, placed their hands on them and sent them off." I mean, take a look at this church. This church is serving. They're exercising spiritual disciplines like fasting. They're walking with a sense of purpose and expectation. They are intent on being the best they can be for the Lord Jesus Christ. Above all else, they're looking for ways to be a blessing to others, to reach out and to touch people with the gospel, hence the commissioning of Paul and Barnabas. You know, friends, one of the most humbling aspects of being a pastor here at Northside is that we seem to have, we seem to have developed, or at least we're developing a similar sort of DNA, and it's very humbling. We've managed to inspire, to encourage, to enthuse people to be externally focused in their service and their ministry for Christ. We can probably trace it back to the very beginnings of this church, 28 years ago on this site, where not long into the history of the church, we established in conjunction with our denomination, we established what was called the Palmer Peace House. It was a house that still exists in Chatswood, and it was for people coming out of drug and alcohol addiction, in some cases coming out of prison, and it was a very powerful ministry. And of course, many other community and additional initiatives have followed, culminating in our first mission trip to Uganda, a number of years ago, followed by a trip to Vanuatu, our heavy involvement in Hope Street, and some of the current initiatives which are going to involve us ministry in aged care, it's very exciting, Sarah, our Beyond North Side coordinator is moving very rapidly in that area, women's rescues, we've heard about that in recent weeks on the cover of the church paper. Now look, on the surface, look, on the surface, these just seem like activities, you know? Every church does activities, but listen, these are expressions of a desire, a deep desire to make a difference. People really want to make a difference. These initiatives arise out of Christlike love and compassion. These are costly, people don't do these just for the heck of it. People have sent out into these avenues of service and ministry and witness for Christ. I sat with a young man a few weeks ago, who many of you know, his name is Daniel Jang, and he left us a couple of years ago to go and work full time with compassion in Newcastle. And we're having coffee because he's about to enter a new phase of his life. He's volunteered for full time missionary service, working on one of those boats that goes around the world, stopping in on ports and just doing practical and evangelistic ministry. And with a big smile, he said, Graham, you can tell North Side, they're just sent out their first full time missionary, because that's why, because he talks very enthusiastically about the impact of North Side on his life in the short time he was with us. I thought about it afterwards and realised that it was actually Craig Gibbon and Jackie Gibbon, who were probably the first full time missionaries to go from North Side. They were associated with this church for a long time before they established in Theos. But it's exciting, like in recent times, and we made a reference to this number of weeks ago, we've had an extraordinary number of people go forth, literally go forth into various parts of the world in missionary service. So I'll mention a few of them, there's not an exhaustive list, Helen Pook, who's still away in Asia. David Saxby coming back from Indonesia from translation work up there, Sally Lumby, a couple of years ago, went to Eastern Europe, Rachel Kearns, Kate Wilson, Philippines, Bill Watson, India, David and Helen Solomon over in Western Australia now, of course. And others are about to go, like Sarah Anderson, our Beyond North Side coordinator, preparing to take a small group to Madagascar, later in the year, as preparation for our next overseas field trip as a church. And of course, the army of people involved in Hope Street, the church at Antioch was a sending church. And it's a humbling realisation to think that increasingly, the way God is moving, we're becoming a church that sends, or at least that inspires people to go. It's the kind of climate DNA we're seeking to develop. The second thing is this, there was a simple message, and it's just absolutely so prominent in Acts chapter 13. The missionary journey had been going for a while, and they passed through a couple of centres where Paul got up to preach, but his first recorded sermon on the trip is here in Acts 13, it's verses 16 to 41, so it's a fairly long sermon. Look at the centrepiece of his message, he's the heart of it, it's verses 32 and 33, look at this. "We are here," he said, "to bring the good news to you. God promised our ancestors he would do, he has now done for us, by raising Jesus to life." Look at the key words, good news, God promised, he has done raising Jesus to life. Here's a question, why has the church of Jesus Christ made the gospel so complicated over the years? Anybody tell me why have we made the simple gospel so complicated, so inaccessible to some people, so rigid and legalistic? Why have we done that? How has that happened? The message we have to share with the world is essentially a very simple message. It talks of a creator God who wants to have a relationship with his creation, and he's made that possible through what Jesus Christ has done. It's pretty simple, a primitive tribes person can embrace it, right through to the most sophisticated, intelligent person you can name. Friends, here's a second question, have you worked out a clear and concise way of explaining your spiritual journey? What is your answer to somebody who says, "Why are you a Christian?" You have a simple explanation for that. Look, I believe the days are coming and I think they're right here with us now in many ways. When increasingly, the pressure will be on us as individual Christians to give an account of the hope that lies within us, because the opportunities people are taking to hear the message in other settings like church, they seem to be going down. So increasingly, it's going to be up to people like you and me. In the ordinary settings of life, to explain the difference this Jesus makes, someone has said there, we are the only sermon people ever hear, or some people ever hear, I think that's true, that that is, I mean in many cases, we are the only sermon some people will see and hear, and the simplicity and the clarity of Paul's message was such that the congregation in the synagogue in Antioch, where he preached, they invited him to come back on the second week. They said, "Hey, what are you doing next Saturday? Forget the footy, forget anything else you're going to do. Come on, preach again, we'd love you to share more about this Jesus." And by then the whole town had heard about the presence of Paul and Barnabas in their town, and they rolled up in huge numbers, overwhelming numbers, in the reading that Ann brought to us. It was totally unexpected. Now, bear in mind that the Jewish faith in this township would have been a minority faith. In fact, this synagogue may well have been the only synagogue in that region, may well have been, and so they would just overwhelm by the response. Now guys, here's the thing, the opportunity for people, non-Jewish people, Gentile people, the opportunity for people outside the Jewish faith to receive Jesus prompted a sad reaction. It prompted a very disappointing, very sad reaction. This might sound incredible to us, but these synagogue people were quite indignant, very indignant, that the good news was being extended to the Gentiles. Of course, this was to become a big problem in many centers where the church was being established, this conflict between the old ways and the new ways. It was going to be a big problem for Paul in all of his missionary journeys. And look at the reference here, it's very sad. Verse 45, "When the Jews saw the crowds bearing in mind, second week, huge crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they disputed what Paul was saying, and they insulted him." What do they say, a week is a long time in politics, well, a week's a long time in ministry. Talk about a turnaround, first week, oh, Paul, wonderful stuff, mate, please come back. Next week, hello, who are all these? Hang on, this is not what we had in mind or all these people, these are the people of the city we normally don't have anything to do with. What are they doing here? Even the people of God will do strange things when they see grace being extended to people whom they think are unworthy. There's a really humorous example of this in the Book of Jonah, remember Jonah in the Old Testament? He escapes from his first call to go to Nineveh, in the whole story of the fish and so on. And then he finally agrees to go and preach to Nineveh. And the people miraculously turn, they repent, the whole city is saved. What's Jonah's response? Yeah, I thought you'd do that, yeah, that's very typical of you, God. People give a little bit of repentance, and you just forgive the whole thing. I thought that would happen. What's been the point of the whole exercise? I mean, no sense of joy and, oh, thank you, God. He's quite indignant. And of course, that's what the parable of the workers in the vineyard is all about, recorded in Matthew 20. The guys who do the last shift of the day get paid exactly the same amount as the guys who started at the beginning of the day, and there's outrage. How could this be? And the point of that parable, very simply, is that God's grace, that that's his prerogative. He can do with his love and his acceptance and his forgiveness, whatever he wants to do. That's how he operates. Someone has said there are very few things, more repugnant than the grace of God, because from a human perspective, often it just doesn't make sense. I've heard people over the years speak rather cynically about someone who comes to Christ in prison, oh, oh, how convenient is that? That'll go down well with a parole board. You know, I actually conducted a wedding a number of years ago for a man who'd served nearly two decades for poisoning his wife. And he had come to Christ in prison, and a more godly man you would be most unlikely to ever meet. And he's still going on with the Lord. And I had recent contact indirectly with him just a few months ago. Guys, let's face it, when a sending church is captured by the strong desire to share God's grace, there might be people who are upset about who comes to the party. That's a sad reality. Now, look here, praise God. I don't see any evidence of that here at Northside. I really don't. But we've got to stay vigilant. We've got to stay vigilant, because when a church starts to become introspective and a little bit exclusivist in who's in and who's out, when they lose their external focus, that's a sure sign of a slow and painful death. But this is a fourth and final aspect of this passage. It has to do with Paul and Barnabas painfully coming face to face with a sobering reality. And this highlights the hardest aspect of any missional enterprise, any missional endeavor. It's the thing we must all acknowledge. More than that, we must all learn to accept it. I'm talking about rejection. Verses 50 and 51, look at this. They, these Jewish militants, they started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas. They threw them out of the region. The apostles shook the dust off their feet. Bit like throwing the shoe in the Middle East, you know, kind of a sign of great disapproval. They shook the dust off their feet and went on to Iconium. What is this highlight, friends, it highlights that people have a choice as to whether they accept the gospel or not. It's a choice. And we are not responsible for that choice. They are. That's what this is saying. This is the shaking of a, we mustn't read too much into this shaking the dust. This is not writing these people off. Oh, we're never going to be able to do it with you ever again. No, no, it's just a, it was just a sign that, look, we're not responsible. You've rejected but we, we're not responsible. And look, that's the reality. That is the reality. So, so Acts 13, it's a very significant chapter to get into it this week. It's a very significant chapter in the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth. For us today, it highlights the need to send. Not just to specific ministries and, and missional enterprises as I've outlined. We all get sent in about, you know, 15 minutes. We're all going to get sent. We're all going to be sent out into our world, into our areas of influence. We're ascending church. This is not what it's all about. This is our meeting. This is a gathering. This is an inspirational, motivational, hopefully experience. But we are ascending church. You will take the church. You are the church. You will go into your world this week. You are the church. Keep it simple. Keep your message simple. Work on ways of shit and tell me, say, well, nobody ever asked me, well, I'm a Christian. That's probably because, you know, praying for anybody to ask you why you're a Christian. In my experience, that's one prayer that God will always answer. "Lord, take me to opportunities and I'll have a chance to share my faith." Oh, oh, don't pray that prayer unless you're really fair in income because he will open up heaps of opportunities where people will ask the question in one form or another. So what is it about you? What is different about you? Why? You mentioned church. Why are you a Christian? What is it about you? You better have a better answer than, oh, give my pastor a ring. He'll explain it. No. He'll tell a person to ring you and get you to explain it. Never become so bound up with self-preservation. This is the other message that we lose our external focus. That's what happened to the Jewish people. Self-preservation. Oh, who are these? No. It's got to be whosoever will. That's a mark of a healthy church. It certainly points out that the ongoing reality that people will make their own choices and they are responsible for those choices. Some of you got loved ones and partners and husbands and wives that you've been praying for for years. I want to urge you to continue to pray for them, continue to pray for those unsaved friends and relatives, but recognize that ultimately their choice is their choice. You are not responsible for the choice that people make. I thought I was personally responsible for the eternal future. Every person I meet, you could not bear it. You just wouldn't make it. The weight would be just too great. Best of all. Best of all. Chapter 13. It's got a beautiful final little message for us. Best of all, it tells us that in the work of mission and evangelism, God has the last word. I really like that. God has the last word because in the midst of all this rejection and getting tossed out of the region, there's two little verses, 48 and 49 have a listen to this, 48 and 49. Check it out. When the Gentiles heard this, the message, they were glad and praised the Lord's message and those who have been chosen for eternal life became believers. The word of the Lord spread in that region. This is the region that tossed them out. The word spread. God had the final word. Yes, there was rejection. Yes, there was hardship. And isn't that the case in ministry? But ultimately, God has the final word. I'm so encouraged by that. I'm so relieved by that. In my experience in ministry, it's probably it's as tough to do ministry today in many ways than it's ever been. The forces of secularism and humanism and in their own way, multiculturalism are really poof. You know, I watched a program on television yesterday in Melbourne. I was dancing my mother. And I never said, "Send for your free copy of the Quran." I mean, some of the faiths that were just very fringe for all of my life are now right there. Billboards, prominent television programs, becoming prominent television program police in some cities, it's a battle for the hearts and the minds of men and women. It's not easy, it's tough work. But ultimately, God has the final word. And our task is to stay faithful. Look for opportunities to reach out this week, they'll be there, keep it simple. You may be rejected, but press on anyway. This is only round one of the journey. There's a lot more to come. Let's join in prayer, shall we?