In our church s past, and in the past history of the Christian church, there have been times which challenge the message of the Gospel.

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Juliet Arnold
5 years ago
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1 Acts 19:1-10 Broadcasting the Message 8/13/17 Acts 19: While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? They replied, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. 3 Then he said, Into what then were you baptized? They answered, Into John s baptism. 4 Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus. 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied 7 altogether there were about twelve of them. 8 He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord. Past, Present, Future In our church s past, and in the past history of the Christian church, there have been times which challenge the message of the Gospel. In today s passage, we find the early apostles and evangelists traveling the Mediterranean region sharing the Gospel wherever they go. No matter what may happen in culture, the message of the Gospel never changes - That we are sinners in need of repentance. That Christ died because of our sin. That He rose again on the third day and offers victory over sin and death to all who profess him as Lord of their lives. The fundamental message of the Gospel never changes, but we, like Paul, Appollos, and others, are called to contextualize the Gospel wherever we go. Every time, and every culture, demands slightly different approaches to sharing the Gospel, and every time and every generation sees cultural events that call for the Gospel to be retold. 19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? They replied, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. 3 Then he said, Into what then were you baptized? They answered, Into John s baptism. These folks were disciples of Christ but had never heard of Christian Baptism! Fascinating!

2 Paul could have said You re not Christians at all if you weren t baptized properly. Something many Baptists have done for years. Instead, Paul kept the focus on God, and the Holy Spirit. He shared loving witness with these disciples, who had never heard of Baptism, and never heard of the Holy Spirit. Funny thing the Bible calls them disciples. A word reserved in the NT for followers of Jesus. Would these people, if they had died before Paul came, had gone to heaven? Some of us might not call them disciples but the Bible does. Interesting to think about! As sin rears its ugly head in many forms, the church is called to preach the Gospel in new ways each day, and in each generation. Professing Jesus as Lord of our lives isn t just subscribing to a set of intellectual beliefs. It means total surrender to Christ, and to let him and his teachings invade every aspect of our lives. If you didn t watch the news in the last 48 hours, here s what you missed On Friday night, torch bearing neo-nazis and white nationalists marched through the campus of UVA in Charlottesville, gathering around the statue of Robert E. Lee. Saturday, Nazis, white nationalists, southern secessionists, and left wing militant anarchists descended on Charlottesville. It s important to honor history, and nobody can erase it, however, when things that remind us of history become idols worshiped by the most vile causes in society, and used as the symbols of their cause, it should give us pause. Exodus 20:1-8 And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.

3 How do we contextualize the Gospel when people are embracing historic statues in our cities by fighting and marching for white supremacy, Nazi control of government, and even total anarchy? We call it idol worship. We call people to repentance. We preach the gospel. 8 He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. Paul entered the synagogue and spoke out boldly. He argued persuasively about the Kingdom of God. What public space are you willing to occupy, and what space is our church willing to occupy, in order to faithfully proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven? As I watched, with horror, the events unfolding in Charlottesville yesterday, I wondered, what if it happened here, in Tappahannock. As a pastor, and a husband, and a citizen, how would I respond? What would you do if nazis and white nationalists descended on our town? We can t get comfortable in thinking it couldn t happen here. You can drive through town and see vestiges of racism hanging on. Are we willing to listen to the concerns of our neighbors and take them to heart? Jesus calls us to LOVE our neighbors. The truth is, we cannot follow Christ and harbor hatred in our hearts towards another. We cannot harbor hate towards people of another race, another religion, another gender, another sexuality, or another country. The main impulse of the heart of God is love, and if we miss that in following Christ, then we miss the point entirely. 1 John 2:9 (NRSV) 9 Whoever says, I am in the light, while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. There is no place in our church, or any church, for those who harbor vile feelings of racism and hatred. Not without repentance. Racism (past or present) is not something to joke about, make light of, or profit off of. It demands forceful rejection by leaders in every area of church life, and of leaders at ALL levels of government local, state, and national.

4 1 John 2:18-20 (NRSV) 18 Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. The antichrist isn t a single figure in Scripture. Throughout Christian history there have been many antichrists. Yesterday, thousands turned out in Charlottesville. This year Beale celebrates 45 years on radio. We have been broadcasting worship from our church for nearly half a century. These days we also stream both services online. Our listening audience is made up of many faithful people who listen week after week, and who even support our church s ministry financially. Today, and this weekend is an excellent opportunity to consider, what message is our church broadcasting to the world, and to our community? 9 When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord. Some spoke ill about the Way. The fact is, people have always spoken ill of those who truly follow Jesus. Some people have always rejected the message of repentance, and the call to total surrender to Him as Lord. The ways of living and thinking on display in Charlottesville this weekend are anything but the way of Chris. The Way of Christ is the Way of self-giving love. The Way of Repentance. The Way of loving our enemies and praying for them. The Way of Peace. The Way of embracing allegiance to God s kingdom and laying down our pride, and our idols. 1 John 4:19-21 (NRSV) 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say, I love God, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

5 Some friends tried to convince me yesterday, that speaking out on these contemporary issues is a distraction from the Gospel. I disagree in love. Contextualizing the Gospel is never a distraction from the Gospel. As people of The Way, we are called to embrace resurrection living, and to radical love. What we saw yesterday in the Commonwealth in Charlottesville - was anything but the way of Christ. Hate never goes away because of a sermon. It doesn t go away because of a protest either. Ultimately, hate goes away because of relationships. Right relationship with God, and right relationship with others. How will you reach across lines that divide in order to build meaningful relationships and live the love of Christ this week?

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Page 1 of 5 Library series: The Great Adventure previous message: Home formats: mp3 START SPREADIN THE NEWS SERIES: THE GREAT ADVENTURE By Steve Zeisler We re resuming our study of the book of Acts, and