Effective evangelism for all (14:1-7)

‘Effective evangelism for all’ (Acts 14:1-7)

I couldn’t share my faith!  I am not smart enough.  I don’t know how to answer the difficult questions that people may ask.  I am not a good communicator.  I never know what to say.  I’m afraid.  I don’t want to offend people.  I am scared my friends and family might reject me.

The apostle Paul went to the hill country of Galatia because he was ill (Gal. 4:13).  He would not have struck them as being an impressive person.  In another context he claims that he did not depend on wise and persuasive words (1 Cor. 2:4).  In at least one situation he approached an area and its people with a great feeling of weakness and with great fear and trembling (1 Cor. 2:3).

These early Christians knew that evangelism can be hard.  But they rejoiced to share the good news.

What makes effective evangelism?  

Background

Effective evangelism is what we read about here.

We are following Paul’s first missionary journey.  Last week we saw that Paul and his companions were expelled from Antioch in Pisidia.  But they did not give up sharing their faith.  They travelled ninety miles (145 km) south east to Iconium (also in Galatia).  There they entered the Jewish synagogue and spoke about Jesus.  They also shared their faith with non-Jews.  They spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed (Acts 14:1).

They were effective in their evangelism.

So, what makes effective evangelism?

1.       Speaking about Jesus is for every Christian

We must not think that it was only Paul and Barnabas who spoke about Jesus.  In last week’s reading we saw that ‘the word of God spread through the whole region’ (13:46).  It was spread by all those who had come to faith.  We see the same pattern earlier in Acts, after the stoning of Stephen.  ‘The believers were scattered, and those who were scattered went about preaching the word’ (8:4).

2.       The good news centres on the person of Jesus

Again, look back at last week’s passage.  When Paul was preaching he focused on the saviour Jesus (13:23), the message of salvation (13:26) and the grace of God (13:43).  A few months after that visit we wrote the letter of Galatians to those Christians, where he explained that he had portrayed Christ as crucified before their very eyes (Gal. 3:1).  Paul can sum up his whole message by declaring, ‘we preach Christ crucified’ (1 Cor. 1:23).

Have you come up with your couple of sentences that explain the gospel?  Mine is imperfect, but it says, ‘my sin is so serious before a holy God that nothing less than the death of God’s only Son can deal with it, and that is exactly what God has done for me.’  Any summary of the good news about Jesus must centre on why He died.

3.       Sharing the good news needs follow-up

Last week we saw that Paul and Barnabas urged those who had responded to the message to continue in the grace of God (13:43).  A person has not been born again if, like the seed that feel on shallow soil, they make a response and later drift away (Mark 4:4-6).  Only those who persevere to the end will be saved (Matt. 24:13). 

In Iconium the apostles stayed on for a long time (14:2).  This was a short reading, but don’t let that give you the impression that this means if was covering only a brief stay.  They will have stayed for months.  They wanted to ensure that those who responded got what being a follower of Jesus was all about.  They wanted to ground these young converts in the truth.  When you start to talk to someone about Jesus be prepared to keep in touch with them.

Notice the ‘so’ at the beginning of verse three.  The unbelievers tried to poison the minds of those who had responded.  ‘So, they remained there for a long time.’  The threat that existed from opposition to the local church caused the apostles to work and stay harder and longer.  

On the return leg of this missionary journey they would revisit Iconium and appoint elders for them in every church (14:23).  You see the New Testament knows nothing of believers who are not connected into a local expression of the body of Christ.  Our evangelistic task is not complete until the person has become connected with a local church.  Our church needs to become a place where new believers can be grounded.  In fact, bring a friend to church has the advantage of showing that person the type of community they are going to get involved with if they come to Christ.

4.       We need to depend on God

In the book of Acts the Word of God seems to have a power all of its own.  ‘The word of the Lord was spreading through the whole region’ (13:49). 

Later in Acts we will read of Lydia, and how the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul (16:14).  It was God at work as the word was spoken!

In the last chapter we read, ‘as many as were appointed to eternal life believed’ (13:48).  Becoming a Christian is a work of God.  We can’t boast.  On our own we would never choose Jesus.

This is why effective evangelism begins with persistent prayer.  That is why we have a ‘5’ on our wall challenging us to pray every day for five people.  We can’t persuade anyone.  We don’t depend on clever arguments. 

We even ask that God might grant signs and wonders to confirm the gospel to people (14:3).

5.       The message produces a divided response

While salvation might be all of God, those who refuse the gospel are held totally accountable for their rejection of the truth.  Paul tells those who would not turn to Jesus that, ‘you thrust aside the word of God and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life’ (13:46).  Here in Iconium we read of ‘unbelievers’ (14:2), but the word translated ‘unbelievers’ it not the usual word used, it is actually a word that can be translated ‘disobedient’.  They simply would not accept the truth of the gospel.

Was the apostle Paul any less effective in sharing the gospel with those who believed and those who disobeyed?  No!  He presented the same message.  The soil that melts the ice can also harden the clay.  Our job is to be faithful to the message.  If people reject it, that is not our fault.

Notice that the message divided the people of the city (14:4).  Often when we try to speak about Jesus we are simply met with apathy.  I wonder if that is because we don’t explain the whole truth.  We don’t warn people that without Jesus they are lost and condemned.  That there is a hell as well as a heaven.  I am not saying that all people will hate us.  Earlier in Acts we read that the Christians enjoyed the favour of all people (2:47).  But Jesus did say ‘woe to you when everyone speaks well of you (Luke 6:26).  Jesus said, ‘do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be members of his own household’ (Matthew 10:34-35).  As one evangelist said, ‘sometimes we are so low key that we’re no key.’

Conclusion

The time came when the apostles learned of a threat on their lives.  It was at that point that staying would be counterproductive.  So, they moved on to Lystra (twenty miles southwest) and Derbe (58 miles) where they continued to preach that good news (7).  The difficulties did not stop them.  

One of the things that we want to do as a church is to help each other in the area of sharing our faith.  I was talking to someone in Crown Jesus Ministries this week and we hope to have another evangelism training day in the autumn.

Have you come up with your one sentence definition of the gospel, for the next time someone asks you what we believe in this church?

Why not invite someone to the concert or the baptism?

Many of us will soon be going on holidays.  Will you imitate the early Christians and talk about Jesus wherever you go?

Will we ask people questions that get them thinking?

Will we seek to do more than just talk about generalities but present the whole truth?

Will we pray for God to bring people of His choosing across our path?

Will we speak this truth to ourselves, and pray that God plants it deep in our hearts, so that we will see how good Jesus is and be compelled by love for God and love for people?   

A better story (Acts 13:13-52)

 

What’s the story our children our being taught in school?  What is the worldview that is being presented to us in western culture?  I wonder if it is fair to say that the message is, ‘you can be whoever you want to be.’  ‘Your choice.’  ‘Don’t listen to the haters.’  ‘Be the best version of you.’

It is very much about you as an individual, rather than thinking about the greater good of society.  It seems very self-centred.  It even sounds a little narcissistic!

But does that story satisfy?

An article in Psychology Today entitled, ‘Why it's so hard to ever feel satisfied', points out that we live in the healthiest, most well-educated, most democratic time in history, and yet, some part of the human psyche causes us to look for an escape from things stirring inside of us constantly.  I have to say that it struck me as naive to even imagine that education and democracy might be keys to satisfaction.

The article actually went on to suggest that it is good for society that we remain dissatisfied.  It is part of how we evolve as a species that we always thirst for more.

This passage centres on another story.  This story is called the word of the Lord (49), and through the early Christians it began to spread the whole region around a city called Antioch Pisidia, in what is now south east Turkey.  This story speaks of a Saviour who has been promised, who died and is raised from the dead so that we might be forgiven and counted as just before God, and this story has motivated people to travel all over the world as they were compelled by love for God and people.

Let’s continue our journey with the apostle Paul and his friends as they share this story.

A better story tells us that we can follow as well as lead

I think that church culture is often obsessed with leaders and undervalues the importance of following.  In our reading we see that there has been a change of leadership.  Before they arrived on the island of Cyprus we read of Barnabas and Saul and now as they leave Cyprus we read of Paul and his companions.  As Paul’s authority was seen in the Cyrus ministry, Barnabas, the great encourager, is happy to give way.  There is no pushing for roles or bruised egos here.

Paul had been willing to follow before he led, which is surely a necessary qualification for anyone who would lead well.  Barnabas was willing to follow after he led, which is a huge challenge for those whose term of leadership has come to an end.

A better story tells us that failure is not final

But John Mark left them.  This would later be described as a desertion (15:38).  Matthew Henry suggests he went without telling them, but we simply do not know.  Thankfully this failing did not mark the end of the line for Mark.  Many years later, as Paul awaited execution in Rome, when he had again been deserted by many, he wrote, ‘get Mark and bring him with you because he is helpful to my ministry’ (2 Timothy 4:11).  We are a part of a story where failure need never be final.  It is a story where we are forgiven and we go on being forgiven.

A better story incorporates even our weaknesses

There are two Antiochs mentioned in the book of Acts.  Barnabas and Saul had begun their journey in Antioch in Syria, which is now just north of Syria in south-east Turkey.  Now Paul and his companions travel to Antioch of Pisidia, which is also in modern Turkey.  It was in the region of Galatia.

Antioch Pisidia was 3,600 feet above sea-level.  That is two hundred feet above Carrauntoohil, our highest mountain.  For our South African friends, that is not as far up as Pretoria, which is 4,400 feet above sea-level.

Some months later Paul would write the letter to the Galatians, perhaps the oldest of Paul’s surviving letters, and remind them that ‘it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel among you’ (Galatians 3:11).  Some people think that Paul had contracted malaria and went to the hill country of Galatia to recover away from all the mosquitoes.  However, I think it is more likely that he had an eye infection.  You see he says in his letter to the Galatians that they would have given their own eyes to him if they could (Galatians 4:15).

The fact that Paul suffered such an illness reminds us not to be simplistic about reading Acts.  Later in Acts you will see the healing ministry of Paul, but here God wills for him to pass through this illness.  Miracles don’t happen all the time in Acts, but as God chooses.  Often, God will use our suffering to achieve His purposes.  Here suffering leads Paul to Galatia and actually aids his ministry amongst them.

Think of all the people who have been helped by the suffering of Christians.  There was a woman who was so impressed by how her Christian neighbour kept her trust in God, even though she battled with terrible arthritis, that it made her want to know more about that woman’s faith.  She started to attend the suffering woman’s church.  She came to know that suffering woman’s God.  Her son also came to faith and remains a strong Christian.

A better story centres on the beautiful Saviour

As was their custom they began their outreach in the synagogue among Jews and God-fearers (Gentiles who were interested in God but had not get fully converted to Judaism).  Paul knows his audience because he begins with the book they were studying, the Old Testament.  Later, in Athens, when speaking to people who did not know the Scriptures, Paul would begin with Greek philosophers.

Paul recalls that people’s slavery in Egypt to the Exodus, the wilderness experience, and on to the time of kings Saul and David.  He brings them to Jesus the son of David.  He then goes to the cross.  He emphasises that Jesus was innocent of any crime—He was not dying for His guilt but ours.  All this took place to fulfil what had been prophesied.  God raised Him from the dead.  There were witnesses to this resurrection. 

Paul shows them God’s offer of forgiveness.  He speaks of being justified before God.  He warns them of the judgement that awaits those who reject this good news.  All Paul says centres on Saviour Jesus (23).

A few months later, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he would remind them that ‘before your very eyes Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified’ (Galatians 3:1).

Note that Paul began where these people were at and drew then to the cross.  I was thinking about this and started to wonder about by own neighbours and friends.  What level of Bible-knowledge do they have?  Do they have any belief in God?  Do they have any interest in God?  Do they realise their need of forgiveness?  What are they living for?  What is the story they live by, and how can we point them to a better story?

The truth is that if you really want to share the better story with people ask them questions.  Get them thinking.  Listen to their story.  Then ask God to show you the words to tell them about Jesus the Saviour.

A better story is a whole life story

After the service, and presumably during the week, Paul and Barnabas met with the people who had shown interest in the gospel at that synagogue.  ‘They urged them to continue in the grace of God’ (44).  In the language of Peter, the people were to make their calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).

You see it is not just making a decision or praying a prayer that makes a person a Christian.  Follow-up is essential.  Many people make a decision in a moment, but do not continue in the grace of God because it wasn’t actually real.  They weren’t truly converted.  Similarly, it is often as they are being discipled and followed up that they are truly born again.   

Note that Gentiles believed and that their belief made them glad (48).  See that the word spread through the whole region as ordinary people gossiped the gospel among their neighbours (49).

‘All who were appointed to eternal life believed’ (48).  Becoming a Christian is all God’s doing.  That should keep us humble.  But we also affirm that God desires all people to become His followers (2 Peter 3:9) and we invite and urge all people to respond.

As we think of their continuing in the grace of God, we affirm both that He who began a good work in us will see it through to completion (Phil. 1:6), and that only ‘the one who endures to the end will be saved’ (Matt. 24:13).  The fact that you have not walked away from God after all these years is evidence that the grace of God is keeping you.  When I struggle with my own assurance I remember the fact that it is God who has kept on bringing me back to Himself.

Paul and Barnabas were invited to speak again the next Sabbath.  The whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.  This filled the Jewish leaders with jealousy.  These leaders weren’t willing to become anyone else’s followers.  Not even followers of Jesus.  Further persecution meant that Paul and his companions were expelled from the region.  They dramatically shake the dust off their feet as they leave.  You see Jews shook the dust off their feet when they returned to the Holy Land after being in Gentile territory so as not to defile their land.  Paul and his companions and saying that if these Jewish leaders will not accept Jesus as the Saviour from our sin, then they are not better than all those pagans they look down on.

Conclusion

What’s the story our children our being taught in school?  What is the worldview that is being presented to us in western culture?  I think it is fair to say that the message is, ‘you can be whoever you want to be.’  ‘Your choice.’  ‘Don’t listen to the haters.’  ‘Be the best version of you.’

I wonder can you see that this passage is about a better story? 

Here an invitation into a bigger story.  We weren’t meant to be centre of the universe, but God does want you to be at the centre of His love.  Paul showed those people that Jesus, the Saviour, offered to forgive them and make them just.  That is a better story than simply trying to ease your guilt by raising your self-esteem.  Through Jesus we proclaim the forgiveness of sins (38).  Have you embraced that for yourself?  If you are trusting in Jesus alone for justification, and you living with thankfulness rather than regret?

Being invited into God’s big story is actually exciting.  While psychologists might suggest that we need dissatisfaction in order to keep on evolving, we can be transformed by love.  A transformed person like Barnabas who did not need to lead, or Paul who never had a problem following.  A transformed story like John Mark who selfishly headed for the comforts of home, and yet later was used to write one of the four gospels.  A transformed life like those disciples in Antioch, who faced opposition, and yet were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (52). 

The Journey Begins (Acts 13:1-12)

The reason on we are doing this short series from Acts is that we want to clarify our calling as a church so that when we church plant we know what sort of church we want to reproduce.  Our task if to define—what are our core values as a church, refine—how can we live out these core values better, and, replicate—we want to take what we do and do it somewhere else.

We have seen that the central calling of the church is to display the beauty of Jesus.  This is best done as a diverse people love each other well in the name of Christ, when we act as a house of prayer for all nations, and when we actively remember and share the beautiful message of the cross and resurrection (we will be exploring that more in a couple of weeks).

We are beginning a journey, so why not look at another journey?  The journey we are going to examine is called Paul’s first missionary journey, and it begins in a place called Antioch. 

We are going to state four things:

-          We don’t send missionaries, we relocate them.

-          We should seek for diversity in our leadership.

-          We must be willing to pay the price of church planting

-          We are to be more than open to signs and wonders.

We don’t send missionaries, we relocate them

Antioch was about four hundred and eighty kilometers north of Jerusalem (Belfast is three hundred and seventy kilometers).  It was on a strategic trade route.  Antioch is a key church in the book of Acts.  It was a sending church.  From here a number of missionary journeys were commissioned, including Paul’s first missionary journey—which we are going to look at over the next while.

Ten years earlier, in A.D. 36, Stephen had been stoned to death in Jerusalem.  At that time persecution erupted in Jerusalem and all but the apostles were scattered.  God used this scattering to spread the good news.  Everywhere the people went they spoke about Jesus. 

But as they dispersed from Jerusalem they spoke only to fellow Jews.  It wasn’t until some of these Jewish Christians arrived in Antioch that they started sharing the gospel with Greek speaking non-Jews (Gentiles).  The people who did this were men from Cyprus and Cyrene. 

When the church in Jerusalem heard that Gentiles were becoming Christians they sent another person from Cyrus, Barnabas, to Antioch to check out what was happening.  Barnabas saw that this was a genuine work of God and was delighted.  He then went to Tarsus, to look for Saul, and they came back to Antioch and taught in the church for a year.  It was in Antioch that the believers were first called Christians—the significance of this may have been that now people were seeing that they were not simply a sect of Judaism.

See how the ordinary people who were scattered spread the gospel all the way to Antioch.  One church leader said, about the church he served, ‘we don’t send missionaries, we relocate them.’  Wherever you are home or abroad you are called to pray for and take opportunities to speak about Jesus.

We should seek diversity in our leadership

In our church constitution it is for the elders to agree on people they believe should join the eldership team and then nominate such men to be voted on by the membership.  Will you pray for this?

When we look at the leaders of Antioch—the teachers and prophets—we see that God has included people from a diversity of backgrounds.  Barnabas is mentioned first, probably because he was the leader.  Then there is Simeon called Niger.  Simeon is a Jewish name, and Niger is Latin for ‘black’, indicating that he was likely from Africa.  Lucius was from Cyrene (which was in north Africa).  Then we have a really interesting man, Manaen is a Jewish name, and ‘he had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch’—which means that he had been a close childhood friend, or even a foster brother, of the man we witnessed beheading John the Baptist and who had died seven years earlier.  Then there is Paul, who was still called Saul at this stage.  Saul was not actually named Paul when he was converted.  He changed his name to Paul when he got immersed in work among non-Jews.  It was a part of being willing to be all things to all people, and not have his Jewish name be a barrier to those he was trying to reach.

Now we should never appoint a person to a position on the basis of the colour of their skin.  We want to simply appoint those who have been called to serve in various roles.  But this passage shows God’s values diversity in leadership.  I am so conscious that all our elders are white.  I need to point out that we have asked two men who are not white to consider eldership, but both felt that was not what God was calling them to at this time.  Please pray that God would bless us with a diverse leadership that might display God’s desire to show the world a church truly diverse people.

We must be willing to pay the price of church planting

The leaders were worshipping the Lord and fasting when the Holy Spirit said to them, ‘set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the task I have called them.’  The Holy Spirit calls the Antiochians to release those two men who had been teaching them over the last year.  That can’t have been easy.  They are losing their two strongest leaders.

The truth is that mission is costly to any sending church.  When Grosvenor Road Baptist sent out a significant number of its members to plant a church in Ballycullen their pastor, John Samuel, initially wondered if they would ever recover as a church.  But God is good and Grosvenor flourishes still.  We have to be realistic about the cost church planting might have on us.  That cost might include us being willing to relocate to a new church fellowship.  Pray if that is what God is calling you to do!

The Holy Spirit speaks of the work to which I have called them.  The truth is that God has called all of you to different works.  ‘For you are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do’ (Eph. 2:10).  The writer to the Hebrews tells us not to give up meeting together because we are called to meet with each other to spur one another on to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24-25).  Are we daily asking God to show us the love and good deeds He is calling us to do? 

We are to be more than open to signs and wonders

Earlier in Acts (4:29-30) the church was under pressure and they cried out together, ‘Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great courage.  Stretch out your hand to heal and preform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus’.  John Piper comments, ‘the needs of the world today are so great and the present experience of the church is so weak, that we should long for the very thing they longed for … They cried for boldness in their witness; they cried for God’s hand to be stretched forth in healing; and they cried for God to preform signs and wonders.  They were not just “open” to signs and wonders.  They were desperate for them.  They prayed for them to come.’     

Notice that the church not only heard the Holy Speak as they fasted and prayed, they fasted and prayed as they send Barnabas and Paul on this first great missionary journey.  These missionaries were both sent by the church and sent out by the Holy Spirit.  As a church we need to keep in step with the Spirit.

They sailed to Cyrus, where Barnabas was from.  He must have known many people there, and it would have been a joy to return with the message of Jesus.  But as many of you know, sometimes the hardest people to speak about your faith to are your won people.

Writing in the 1930s, H. V. Norton, who was following the journeys of Paul says, ‘the beauty of Cyrus is a perfect blend of mountains and plain, and hills that slope down to deserted bays half-screened by olive trees.  The crisp insistence of the cicada and the sound of the waves make a perpetual duet in the heat.’  

They began their work among the Jews.  Having gone through the whole island they came upon a magician, a Jewish false-prophet called Bar-Jesus.

This false-prophet was with the proconsul—the highest-ranking Roman official on the island.  The proconsul wanted to hear the word of God.  Now the magician, who was called Elymus, was threatened by this.  If the proconsul became a Christian he would no longer want a demonic magician.  Not for the only time in Acts does someone oppose the gospel because it threatens their self-interest.  Filled with the Holy Spirit Paul rebukes the magician and he becomes blind for a while.  God cared too much for the gospel and the life of the proconsul to have this magician oppose him.

Notice the role this miracle of God has in the proconsul’s faith.  The miracle played a role in opening his heart.  ‘Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord’ (12).  ‘Throughout Acts, miracles have a significant role in bring unbelievers to faith’ (ESV Study Bible).

The word alone converts many people.  The word is sometimes accompanied by miracles in converting people.  But miracles alone will convert no one because they must be accompanied by the Word.  We must be faithful in speaking about Jesus, and we should pray that He will perform signs and wonders if that will be a help to the mission.

Conclusion

We are at the beginning of a journey.  The membership has unanimously voted to become a church planting church and to partner with Baptist Missions in doing this.  Can I encourage all of you to hand your lives over to Jesus, show this commitment in baptism, and commit yourself to the membership of this church?

We are called to show the beauty of Jesus as a diverse people love each other well in Christ.  Can I ask you to pray to God that this might also be seen in our leadership?

They worshipped and fasted, and the Holy Spirit spoke to them.  Can I challenge you to deepen your prayer life that we might hear more clearly from the Holy Spirit?  We, and in particular our leaders, must listen well to God in order that as a church we keep in step with the Spirit.  I want to particularly ask you to come to our new prayer gatherings, which is happening this Wednesday.

God willing, we are going to plant a church.  That will cost us.  Ask the Holy Spirit if He is calling you to be one of the people who gets the privilege of being involved in the founding of something with such significance.

Finally, we are entirely dependent of God.  We must pray.  We must pray.  We must pray.  We must trust the gospel to change people’s lives.  We are entirely dependent on Him to break stone cold hearts and reach an into a dark and wicked generation.  We should not only be open to signs and wonders, we should seek them, as we long for God to vindicate His name.

 Amen.