Advancing The Gospel (Part 4)

Happy New Year to all of you.

Glad that you're here with us to worship with us this morning.

Um at this time uh children can be dismissed to our children's church, I think.

Yes.

Any children here would like to go downstairs for a Bible lesson during this time can make your way out to the foyer and our teacher will lead you downstairs.

The turning of each year seems to come back faster and faster.

And as we turn the corner on this one, I've been reflecting on some of the benefits of growing old.

You know, in a hostage situation, you're likely to be released first.

That's that's good.

Um you learn you can live without much sleep, but not without your glasses.

You can have a party and the neighbors don't even know it.

Uh, you can absolutely quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks in the room.

And fascinatingly, you you start to sing along with the elderbater music, and your joints are more accurate than the National Weather Service.

And one of my favorites, you know, your secrets, your secrets are safe with your friends.

They can't remember them either.

And finally, your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.

That's fantastic.

Today we're going to return to our sermon series in the Acts of the Apostles.

And if you would like a sermon outline to follow along, just raise your hand.

Our users will be happy to give you one.

Since it's been some time, we've been back in the book of Acts.

I need to start over again.

But what I'm going to do is just give you a summary of the book of Acts so far.

It's important to have the context, the flow of the book in mind as we go through it.

We will take breaks from time to time because it is a long book.

But when we come back, we'll just kind of bring us up to date on where we are, where we've been.

So beginning in chapter one, here goes.

Luke is writing this, and here are the facts he gives us from chapter one.

Jesus rose from the dead.

Jesus ascended into heaven.

The Holy Spirit descended on everyone who believed in Jesus at Pentecost.

Persecution starts to happen.

Many people are converted to Christ, and a lot of other stuff happens.

And that brings us to the last part of Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

And if you recall back in Acts chapter 13, the church in Syrian Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Okay.

First missionary journey into Asia.

And they end up in the Poseidian Antioch, where they begin to talk about, uh they begin to uh lead people to Jesus and talk about where they're going to go next.

And when we've been following them, we've seen how Paul and Barnabas sent on this missionary journey were able to advance the gospel to polytheists in a pluralistic culture of many different faiths, many different gods.

They learned how to preach the gospel to people who've never heard of the Bible or Jesus.

And so we've been looking at trying to learn from them how we can advance the gospel to in a pluralistic culture, which is similar to ours today.

And one of the things we've learned from Paul and Barnabas, I tried to put in an acronym.

I know it works sometimes, sometimes it doesn't, but the acronym SHARE, S-H-A-R-E, refers to share the gospel, uh H for help them, meaning serve them while you're there, don't just preach at them.

Then begin to learn, learn about them and find ways to connect and answer their deepest longings by pointing them to the true God, reveal and challenge the idols of their culture.

We've looked at that.

And then today we're going to finish talking about this one.

I see I I misnumbered these, so please forgive me.

I'm sorry if that confused you in any way, but it happens.

Equip and disciple them.

The last one.

The reason we focus on that is because if you just leave people to Christ, that's fantastic.

But it's going to be a hard time for the gospel to continue to spread unless you start seeing transformed lives by the gospel who continue to share.

So that's that's what we're going to see today.

We're going to talk about that.

And in Acts chapter 14, when Paul and Barnabas were rebuffed and rejected by many of the Jews who were listening in Iconium, they went to Lystra.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

Um, I don't know if you can go back to the map.

Yeah, so they're up here.

They're going to go down here.

And a lot happens in Lystra, uh, and they begin to share the gospel for the first time here with pagan polytheists who don't believe the Bible at all.

This was really a new barrier the church crossed with the gospel.

Um and then you can skip it up.

After Paul demonstrated that they were able to help them by healing a lame man, seen here in a picture uh portrait in the 1663 of this scene in Lystra, where Apostle Paul heals a lame man.

Up until he healed that layman, his words were going nowhere.

They're listening.

But when he healed the layman, when he helped them, when he took an interest in the needs of the people, uh, they took notice.

In fact, they were so in awe of what Paul did, um they wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas and uh refer to them as Greek gods, Zeus and Hermes.

But Paul told them, he says, wait, wait, wait a second, no.

Uh we're just messengers, we've been sent to preach the gospel to you, and he redirected them to the true God, the Creator, who has been all their lives showing them his grace in all the things they're enjoying in life in the world.

He points them there.

But again, he's right in the middle of on the cusp of a huge uh witness for the gospel when he was cut off and hindered by the ministry of some Jews who came down to Lystra from Antioch to stop them.

Caused a huge disturbance, and they fled to Derby, which is a little further south.

So I want to then take it up in Acts chapter 14, where we left off.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

And beginning in verse 19, we'll pick it up from there for today.

But Jews came from Antioch in Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.

Well, that hinders the progress of the gospel.

But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city.

The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derby.

After they preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and to Antioch.

Why did they do that?

Strengthening the souls of disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

They passed through Pasidia and came into Pamphylia, and when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished.

And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all the things God had done with them, how he'd opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, and they spent a long time with the disciples.

Dovetailing the message before this one, I have two main points today from what we learn of Paul and Barnabas here in Lystra.

And they both start with the letter E, equipping believers, and secondly, encouraging believers to continue in the faith.

That's what they're doing.

In Acts 14, 21, when Paul and Barnabas came to Derby, when they fled Lystra, after they preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Ania.

What does it mean to make disciples?

And and how did they do it?

How do we do it?

Making disciples is really a the core of this passage that they're giving their lives to.

Okay, they they believed in Jesus.

What do they do now?

Well, they got to learn.

The word disciple means learner.

Making disciples, uh I view, is synonymous with equipping believers, and I'm going to use those terms pretty much interchangeably.

Um and we learn about the equipping ministry of Paul and Barnabas in one of Paul's summaries in his letter to the Ephesian church, where he explains what God set in motion in the church to equip us in the faith to become, to be able to serve Jesus Christ.

Here's what he said in Ephesians 4, 11 to 16 from Paul's pen.

And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers.

Why?

Why did he do that?

Why did God give that?

For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we're no longer children, tossed about here and there by winds of carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickered men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, we speaking the truth in love.

We're to grow up into all aspects, into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by whatever joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Equipping believers is the core of this passage.

It's basically synonymous with discipling, taking people to help them learn the aspects of their newfound faith in Jesus or people who've been in Christ for a while to keep them growing and learning.

Being equipped as a believer is about growing up in Christ, maturing in our faith, so that we can be effective in our ministry.

That's what Paul is saying in Ephesians 4.

And in this passage in Ephesians, Paul explains several things about the equipping ministry.

What, how, and why.

Let's take a look closer look what he says about what equipping means, equipping believers.

We learn a lot actually from the Greek word Paul uses here.

The word equip is the Greek word katartizo, and it has a pretty wide range of meaning and use in uh in the New Testament and other Greek literature.

It was used to describe uh the mending of a torn fishing net.

Oh, we got a hole there.

Let's mend it up.

Uh, it was also used to set a broken bone.

Whoa, you can't, you're not, you're in a lot of pain, you're walking.

Let's let's set that.

Cartartizo and many other ways that it was used is a wonderful word.

Basically, the meaning of the word is to set something straight.

Um make something right.

Paul uses the word to describe the mending and healing of broken believers who've been transferred into Christ with whatever history of sin they've been involved in.

How do we mend you?

How do we help you?

Your brokenness.

That's why you're in the church.

Because God has given apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers to do this mending, helping, healing.

All of us are broken.

When we come to Jesus Christ, we come as broken.

And he saves us, gives us his spirit, and begins the process of conforming us to Jesus.

We are starting to grow up.

What it means to be in Christ.

Let's look at what Paul says about how believers are equipped, Cartartizzo.

Mended, straightened out, put right.

How does that happen?

Well, as I've mentioned a couple times already, the answer is to look at the four ministries Paul mentions connected to a cartartizo ministry.

In the church, what do they have in common?

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

The all all-important ministry of teaching and spreading the word of God, helping us understand it.

A disciple is a learner.

We got to help people understand what it says and what it means.

First, the apostles and prophets gave us the foundation of the written word of God.

The evangelists preach the good news in the gospel as people come to faith in Jesus.

And pastors and teachers preach and teach the word of God to help us grow up in our faith, spiritually mature, to be useful in the service of Christ.

Part of that service is spreading the good news.

Paul emphasizes the importance of God's word in the ministry of the church.

When he writes to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, applying the word of God is how God equips believers for the work he has for us.

2 Timothy 3.16.

All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable to teach us, to reprove us, to correct us, show us the right way, and then trains us in what does it mean to live righteous lives wide?

So that the man or woman of God may be adequate or complete, equipped, there it is.

Cartartizzo for every good work.

Ephesians chapter 4 also tells us why we need to be equipped.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Paul says, reason this is happening is so we will grow and become spiritually mature.

What does that look like?

Looks like Jesus, Paul said, the fullness of Christ, his image in us that's being manifest to others.

We need to grow up in Christ so we can be effective in our ministry, Paul says.

And uh as we learned last time, Paul and Barnabas did two things to equip the new believers in Lystra and Iconium.

Um Acts 14, 21, 22, after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

First, they strengthen their souls by teaching them the word of God.

Learning the word of God is absolutely, non-negotiably essential to grow in our faith.

Peter puts it like this to believers, he writes to in 1 Peter 2, too, like newborn babies.

That's how we start in our new Christian spiritual life, babies, infants spiritually.

And he says, you know what?

Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of God's word so that by it you may grow in respect to your salvation.

Second thing they do is encourage believers to continue in the faith.

And that's really where we left off last time.

But I'm going to continue that thought and Next main point, point two.

To encourage believers to continue in faith is a very important part of equipping them.

Essentially, what Paul is saying is he's urging, urging believers to keep growing spiritually, absorbing, listening, applying the word of God to their lives, urging them, continuing the uh keep growing.

Don't stand still.

You got a long way to go.

In God transforming us into the fullness of Christ.

Keep going.

You're not, this isn't one and done.

Great, you came to faith in Jesus.

You've just begun the journey.

Keep going.

Keep learning.

Learning.

Disciple Mathetes.

The reason this means a lot to me because as a pastor, I've I've been and I've known many, many believers in Jesus, born-again Christians who've been believers for twenty more years or more, but are not, in my estimation, even a year old in the Lord.

They're not material.

How do I know that?

I listen.

Listen to them.

Some of the people I've encountered in the past may just know one verse of scripture they memorized 30 years ago.

That's it.

And all kinds of excuses of why I can't I can't do any more.

Oh, okay.

They have no ongoing prayer life, consistent prayer life.

It's not there.

They're not displaying much of the fruit of the spirit, but are being critical and unloving.

That's not the fruit of the spirit.

Many become legalistic and quick to judge other Christians.

I'm just saying, it's often evident to me when people stop growing.

And there's a reason for that.

If you stop growing in Christ spiritually, what happens is you don't just stay there, you go backward to the point not of your conversion, but where you started there and you got to start again.

It's not a happy place to be.

If we don't continue growing in the faith, continuing in the faith, as Paul would say, being equipped by the word of God, learning it, making it a part of us, our growth will be hindered and will not become more like Christ.

And according to Hebrews chapter 5, our spiritual growth will be stunted, making us extremely ineffective in spreading the gospel.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

So nobody will be able to see it, see the transformation.

Hebrews 5, 12 to 14, the writer exhorts his readers, he's basically exhorting them to continue in the faith.

Don't stop growing.

Don't think you've arrived.

You should be passing on the things you've learned to others who are not far as far along in the faith as you.

But you're not.

You know why?

Because you have needed for someone to teach you the very ABCs again of the oracles of God.

And you've come to need milk of the word as a baby, not solid food like a mature adult spiritually.

It's a very strong exhortation and rebuke.

They stopped growing.

But they didn't just stay there.

They went backwards, forgetting all that God is losing sight of Jesus, their prayer life, their devotional life.

See, an often missed truth of the Christian life is that if we're not receiving God's word on a regular basis and growing in Christ, we're going to go backwards spiritually.

We may think we're making progress.

Well, we're not.

You may think you're making progress just coming to.

You're not.

Ironically, notice that what Paul and Barnabas say next that is necessary to help us grow and continue in the faith is not what we want to hear.

But he's urging us to continue.

Acts 14, 2022, encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying to them, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

A lot of Christians stop growing when they hit a hard time.

Something they can't get their head around.

Something really difficult.

They start questioning God.

They start, well, I'm not going to pray if God says really.

What does it mean through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God?

We'll talk about that next time.

No, I'm just kidding.

It means that following Christ as his disciple is not easy.

Not easy.

It never was.

They stoned Paul, left him for dead.

He got right back up, knowing the Lord Jesus is with him, and that his confidence all things will work out for good to those who love God, called according to his purpose.

It means it's not easy.

Following Christ, you see, as his disciple isn't just about, now these are things that are important, but they're not just about having a quiet time.

Got my quiet time, check that off.

I'm a good disciple.

Check that one off.

Or I forgave that person, I'm a good disciple.

Those are all important.

Following Christ, what Paul is saying here, we need to do all that.

Keep learning, but following Christ, what Paul is saying is following Christ is also about following Christ's example when we suffer too.

That's when our testimony of Jesus is most powerful and effective.

And that's where Paul's going.

When he wants to disciple these believers, he's leaving them with these teachings.

Then we're going to want to know more.

He says, you know what, brethren, to this you've been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so you might follow in his steps.

Well, what is it about his suffering that we can learn from?

Well, he committed no sin when he was suffering.

Neither was any deceit found in his mouth.

And you could add a lot of things: malice, slander, complaint.

When he was reviled, he didn't revile in return.

When he suffered, he didn't threaten.

You know what he did do?

He continued entrusting himself, his soul, to his heavenly father, who he knows.

Listen, you're the one who judges justly.

You're gonna do it right by me.

I don't have to worry about it.

I don't have to revile.

I don't have to threaten.

You're gonna take care of it all.

That's the example.

Christ's followers.

I'm not I'm not saying this is easy.

Look, I've been I've been a believer how long?

Fifty three years.

I'm still growing, I'm still learning.

Every time I hit a snag in life, a difficulty, these kind of verses come to mind.

Okay, I'm not gonna retaliate, I'm not gonna seek vengeance, I'm gonna trust the Heavenly Father's judgment.

It's not easy.

I pray, I get all the things.

But listen to Paul's restatement of this truth in two of his letters.

First to Timothy, he says to Timothy, his Paul's disciple was Timothy.

Now, you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me, by the way, at Anak, in Iconium, and Lystra.

You know full well what I would have been through, what persecution I endured.

And out of them all, the Lord rescued me.

And I'm telling you, Timothy, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

And I'll tell you why in just a minute.

He said to the Philippian church, Philippians 1.29, for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake.

Ironically, as I mentioned before, suffering like Christ is a huge, powerful testimony to others of the life-changing power of the gospel and serves to advance the gospel more than we could ever imagine.

It has in history.

We know that.

And I'll make mention of it in a minute.

What does it mean, though?

I gotta deal with this.

What does it mean that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God?

Well, it can't mean we must prove ourselves through suffering to be worthy of heaven for salvation.

Can't mean that.

Paul was very clear, stated the gospel of our salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus.

And the fact is, when we come to faith in Jesus, God rescues us.

Colossians 1, 13 and 14.

And right there we enter the kingdom of heaven.

For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

You come to faith in Jesus, you're already in the kingdom.

In his kingdom.

We live and move in God's kingdom realm now as we follow and honor the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in his spirit.

But in this passage, uh Paul is probably referring to the future return of Christ to set up his kingdom on earth to reign for a thousand years.

Jesus refers to this as the age to come.

We enter his kingdom now when we believe in him as our Savior and He gives us the gift of eternal life.

We enter his kingdom then when he returns to earth to be with us and reward us for our faithfulness to him.

Paul is saying that it is a given fact that God will take us through suffering before we actually inherit Christ's coming, future kingdom.

The only question is, how will we go through that?

Romans 8, 16 and 17, the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we're children of God.

And if children, then heirs also.

Heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him.

Why must God take us through suffering in his kingdom now on his way and our way to the coming kingdom?

Let me suggest two reasons.

First, generally, we won't grow spiritually without hardship.

It's just a truism.

We won't.

We become set, everything's cool.

Must be doing something right.

We'll just hang on here.

James Jesus' brother wrote this.

James 1, 2 and 4.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Let endurance have its perfect effect, your results, so that you may be perfect, which is and complete lacking, which means mature.

Hardship is meant to drive us closer to God, closer to Christ.

If that's not the direction we're going, we're going backward.

The spiritual practices we put on the back burner are intended in hardship to get back on the front.

Start praying like crazy, reading your Bible, looking for hope and promises of the scripture.

Coming to church becomes an absolute priority.

Singing the songs of praise, getting encouragement from other Christians.

We go through many tribulations to become more like Christ.

It's interesting, the psalmist once said, Psalm 119, 67, 68, before I was afflicted, I went astray.

I'll tell you what, now I keep your word.

Oh, he's growing.

You're good, and you do good.

I've come to realize that.

Teach me.

Teach me.

I want to be your disciple, Lord.

In now, this is in general, you see, this is so opposite of the culture we're in.

This is so counterintuitive.

Our modern secular culture, listen to me carefully.

Modern secular culture says that the meaning of life is to be happy and free to choose that happiness to live for the things that make me happy.

That's our cultural milieu.

If that's the meaning of life, now hear me good, then suffering can never be part of that story.

It can't.

Therefore, in that view, suffering can never be meaningful.

It cannot make our life better, only worse.

You see the tension in our culture, in ourselves with that thinking?

From a secular perspective, then the only thing to do when suffering is to run away or melt down in anxiety and depression when you face it.

Because it doesn't make any sense.

Meaningless.

But Christians who have the Holy Spirit have a completely different worldview and mindset and approach to suffering with God's resources to help us through it.

First, since we are saved by grace through faith, we don't have to prove ourselves worthy.

God loves us unconditionally forever through even what we endure.

And we don't have to be stoic about our suffering either.

We can cry, we can weep, we can pray and lament our suffering to God, which is all through the scripture.

He wants to do that with us.

And I tell you, you're going to learn some things about him you may not have learned before as his disciple.

Jesus offers us a deeper life and promise focused on him, not ourselves.

See, when I remember that Jesus suffered before me and that he died for me and now suffers with me, and I now suffer with him and for him.

Him, the suffering somehow turns me into something beautiful like him, humble like him, compassionate like him, patient like him, courageous like him, joyful like him.

If we follow Jesus, then tribulations drive us right into the realm of God's presence and serve to conform us, transform us more and more into the image of Christ.

And the second reason God takes us through suffering is what I've been trying to say all along, what Paul and Barnabas are doing when we suffer on our way to Christ's kingdom as a testimony to unbelievers of the life-transforming power of the gospel.

If indeed Christ changes us from the inside out through our suffering, giving us comfort and strength and joy, this is not the normal response in our world to suffering.

It is not.

Suffering is the one place where the life-changing power of the gospel can be seen firsthand in those who have been changed by it.

I could list several examples, even in our own day, of people I admire and respect highly who demonstrate this.

Long list.

When they were jailed, they sang hymns to God.

When they were being crucified or thrown to their lines, they'd be praying and singing.

They faced suffering, death with a certain hope and grace and lack of vindictiveness, like Jesus their king did.

And when they did that, it stunned the people who looked at them.

Absolutely stunned them.

They had no explanation.

You see, if Christians cannot look any different from others when it comes to dealing with our hardship, what do we have to give them?

If we don't exhibit patience, humility, even joy in our hardships that everyone else would find surprising, we're not going to reach anybody in our pluralistic culture.

We're just like them.

Spiritual growth for a Christian means transformation inside out by the renewing of our minds by the Word of God, helping us to become more and more like Jesus Christ.

As Paul says in Romans 12:2, don't 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, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

And Paul wrote to the Galatians, My children, with whom I am in labor until Christ is formed in you.

He's praying for them.

It's interesting in that little line right there.

There's a dash.

You see that dash?

And it's in the original Greek.

What that conveys is he had to stop.

He was probably crying as he said this.

Weeping.

Very emotional.

This was something dear to him.

Oh, to see Christ in you.

Man, that would be that would be it.

In addition to the word of God, as I said, unfortunately, something we don't like to hear.

God uses suffering to help us along.

Take thought next time when you hit it.

All right.

Here's my chance.

Here's my chance.

Holy Spirit, show me.

Suffering can help us become like our King and help others find his kingdom.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you that your word is true and righteous altogether, that it is more desirable than gold, sweeter than the honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Help us to draw near to you and your word when hardships come, not to run away, but with an urgent sense in our hearts, pursuing you, knowing that you work all things together for good to those who love you.

I ask you to equip us with the life and the words to reach people around us who do not know you with the gospel.

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.