Advancing the Gospel

This time, uh, children who would like to go down to our children's church uh can make your way out right now into the hallway.

Our teacher is there and welcomes you to a great time studying the Bible together.

We are in a sermon series in the Acts of the Apostles, in case you've forgotten.

And if you didn't get a sermon outline and would like one to follow along, our ushers have them right now, just lift a hand and they'll be able to help you.

Like, hey, it's my turn to sit in the front row.

Or I don't know if I've ever heard this.

I never bring coffee in the main auditorium.

Ever.

I don't do that.

Um, or we like to hear more sermons on sacrificial giving.

Why don't we hear more of that?

Or well, I've never heard this either.

Since we're all here, let's start the service early.

And uh finally, I've never heard this.

I was so enthralled with the sermon, I never noticed that it went over 25 minutes.

Well, in the passage today, uh and next time actually, Paul and Barnabas are going to hear something they never thought they would hear in a church.

We'll get to it eventually, but I want to read uh the beginning, the part where we see them go off on their missionary journey in Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

If you brought a Bible and want to follow along, I'm gonna begin in Acts chapter 14, verse 5.

Acts 14:5

They're in the synagogue preaching the gospel in Iconium, and when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and stone them, they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lyconia, Lystra, and Derby, and the surrounding region.

And there they continued to preach the gospel.

At Lystra, a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked.

This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet.

And he leaped up and began to walk.

And when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lyconian language, the gods have come down to us like men.

And they began calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker and the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, they brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, Men, why are you doing these things?

We are also men in the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them in the generations gone by.

And yet he did not leave himself without a witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

Even saying these things with difficulty, they restrained the crowds from offering a sacrifice to them.

Well, let's follow Paul and Barnabas as they share the gospel.

Uh and their cultural context is going to change dramatically.

In Acts chapter 13, the church in Antioch, uh, if you remember, sent Paul and Barnabas under the leading of the Holy Spirit to take the gospel further into the region.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

So they they travel and they eventually come up to this Antioch.

This is Syrian Antioch.

This is Poseidian Antioch.

So they come to the this second Antioch to preach the gospel.

And when the and then what's going to happen, Acts 13, 5, when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.

When they reached Poseidon Antioch, they entered the synagogue and shared the gospel with them, with like-minded people who knew the Bible.

And then in Acts 13, 14 to 16, but going on from Purga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath they went into the synagogue and sat down.

After the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, Brethren, if you have any word of expectation for the people, say it.

Paul stood up, motioning with his hand, men of Israel, you who fear God, listen.

And he basically preaches the gospel to them.

This in Pisidian Antioch.

Then some Jews started to oppose them, oppose the gospel.

Paul and Barnabas realized at this moment, you know what?

God is redirecting us to reach the Gentiles with the gospel.

Um, and though, so in Acts 14 uh 1, there are uh as they move down, they're gonna go to Iconium, and they're gonna get basically kicked out of there and end up in Lystra, which will be the focus of what we talk about today.

Uh they fled Iconium when they were threatened, and in Acts 14, verse 8, uh they traveled down to the town of Lystra as I showed you, and that's where we pick up the story today.

Acts 14:8

And um, in Lystra, the context of their preaching changed dramatically.

Uh, you know, the first church began in Jerusalem.

The first Christians were Jews who had believed in Jesus.

In the first 13 chapters of Acts, you see a lot of evangelism going on.

Christians talking to other people about Jesus, inviting them to have faith in Jesus as the Savior in almost every single case up until now.

We've seen Jewish Christians going to synagogues and sharing the gospel with people who believed the Bible.

In the synagogues, there were Jews and some Gentiles who came to the synagogue.

They were called God fearers.

Uh, they also believed the Bible.

But up until now, Christians who were presenting the gospel could assume that those listening believed the Bible.

Not anymore.

When we come to Acts 14, this is the first time Jewish believers are sharing the gospel with pagan polytheists.

They don't believe the Bible at all.

They know almost nothing about the Bible or their heritage of faith as Jews.

Uh, sound familiar?

How do you reach people who are like that?

How do we communicate the gospel in what we find ourselves in as well?

A pluralistic society where there are many faiths, many religions, many different worldviews and philosophies that explain ultimate meaning in very different ways.

How?

To make the lesson this week and next week easier to remember, I'm gonna use the acronym SHARE, SHARE, to highlight what we learn from Paul and Barnabas in this passage about sharing the gospel in a pluralistic society.

Take their hint.

Today we're just gonna look at the first three letters speak, help, and answer.

While the context and people they were sharing with changed, Jewish synagogues, the message they gave them stayed the same.

The gospel.

Lystra in the first century was dominated by Greco-Roman paganism.

It was a pluralistic city, home to a variety of people: Romans, Greeks, Jews, Laconians.

Um Lystra was a major crossroads in the ancient world and ancient Mediterranean world.

All kinds of people were going through and crossing over from many different uh places.

And Paul and Barnabas were now preaching the gospel, not in the synagogue, with Jewish believers who understood and believed the Bible.

They are now in the street uh talking to a crowd of idol-worshiping pagans.

Wow, how do you to reach those pagans?

Paul and Barnabas, here's the first thing, they go to them, they go to where they are.

They're not going to the synagogue.

They they realize, God, you know what?

Uh we keep getting opposed and and people mistreating us.

We're gonna just go out uh and talk to ordinary people.

They go on the street.

Now, this is the first point I think that we learn when we want to share our faith in Christ with people who are different from us.

They don't have the same context we have.

We must go to where they are.

And second, we must learn things about them before we can open and share the good news of Christ.

We must not assume that they are familiar with religious, theological, spiritual, or biblical terms.

Can't assume that anymore, folks.

I don't assume that people have any Bible knowledge anymore.

I used to, not anymore.

And what tipped the what tipped the scale for me was several years ago, new neighbors moved in across the street, a young couple, um, and um their name is Tom and Samantha.

They moved across the street, and I went over to meet them and exchanged introductions.

This is just hilarious as I think about.

Stranged introductions, and I asked, What what do you do for a living?

They told me, and then they asked, What do you do?

Well, I I had to confess I was a pastor, a minister of a church down here.

Okay.

Well, they uh they got a strange look on their face.

I don't know if they've ever met a pastor.

And uh they said they asked, uh, well, I asked if if they had any kind of religious background or religious preference in their their own lives and religious upbringing, and they said, No.

You didn't grow up in any church, no.

Nothing.

Secular.

They asked me, I can still remember the conversation, he turned to me and said, So are you are you part of a part of a struggle?

Is it denomination?

Yeah, that's it.

Are you part of a denomination?

I said, um, hmm, not really.

We just believe the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ and so on.

Listen, they had absolutely zero background or clue about Christian or even religious things, purely secular.

Folks, that's the world we're living in.

Pluralistic society, and a lot, we got a lot of nuns out there.

You realize that, right?

So this is extremely important as we follow Paul and Barnabas through the rest of Acts.

Listen, this is how God is doing it through them.

People are coming to Christ in pagan idolatrous world.

I marvel at it.

So, in order to share the gospel, what we learn here is first we must uh get to know people and what they know.

Where are they?

Who are they?

Uh I ask questions like do you believe in God?

Uh do you attend a church?

Uh do you have a religious upbringing or background?

What do you believe about Jesus?

Questions.

Find out who they are, what they know.

You might even sometimes encounter asking questions like that.

I encounter Christians.

Oh, you're a fellow believer.

Praise God.

Paul and Barnabas knew, they knew when they went out into the street, very, very obvious they were talking with people who worshipped a pantheon of idols.

The idols are all over the place.

But they kept preaching, and this is the first point, the same gospel, the same elements of the gospel to people who were different from them.

In other words, they didn't water down the message of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.

They did not.

Acts 14, 6 and 7, they fled to the cities of Lycona, Lister, and Derby, and surrounding region, and there they continued to preach the gospel.

They explained that the true Son, true God, sent his son to be judged for our sins, that his son was put to death as atonement for our sins, but raised him from the dead to give forgiveness and eternal life to everyone who believes in him.

It was probably actually during this visit in Lystra where Timothy, who became Paul's protege and uh mentee, whatever, uh, this is probably this is the exact time in Lystra where he came to believe in Jesus.

He was converted and helped to begin the infant church in Lystra.

If you read, you can read further about it in in the New Testament, 2 Timothy 3, verse 10 and 11, where Paul writes in a letter about the church there.

2 Timothy 3:10

Um Paul and Barnabas shared the gospel in Lystra.

They didn't change the message, their culture changed, not the message.

What they had to do to bridge that gap was get to know people.

And that brings us to the second thing, second point today in the in the uh acronym SHARE, share the gospel and then help them.

H.

Help them.

When they started, when Paul and Barnabas started serving them, they they started preaching, but then when they started serving them, uh Paul and Barnabas uh are gonna hear something they never thought they would hear in a church.

Hey guys, let's offer sacrifices to these guys, they must be gods.

You see, the disciples shared more than words.

What's happening is they went beyond words and uh saw needs and began to serve them, the people they were sharing the gospel with.

As Paul was sharing the gospel, the context I read, a lame man was sitting nearby listening.

Same gospel, and Paul catches Paul's gaze, and Paul stopped speaking and started helping.

See the need, he said, you know what?

Paul could tell he was he was listening intently and believing.

So Paul miraculously healed him.

And when the crowd heard the message and saw the deed, they gave their utmost attention to Paul.

Second principle.

Word and deed go together with sharing the gospel.

A demonstration of the love and grace of Jesus Christ goes a long way to convince people that God wants to do that for them.

Paul preaches the gospel and he heals the man.

He didn't just preach the good news.

Um, as just as Jesus, he preached the gospel, but he healed the sick.

He cast out demons, he raised the dead.

He helped people's needs where they were.

And we see we saw this before in the book of Acts.

Peter preached the word and healed people.

Philip preached the gospel in Samaria, and it was when people saw his good deeds they started listening to him.

In other words, were embodying the gospel.

That's the second uh point here.

Word and deed go together, and Paul, that's what Paul's doing.

And I know, I know some of you are probably thinking, I know your thoughts, by the way.

Okay, yeah, but those were miracles.

Yeah.

They were miracles, absolutely, but they were also deeds that helped people in need.

Helping and serving those is the principle that goes hand in hand with sharing the gospel.

Loving people with our deeds helps people listen to our message.

Words and deeds go together, they give each other credibility.

The second thing to consider about that is uh uh with Philip, Peter, and Paul, they were using their spiritual gifts as part of ministering the gospel.

Um, every believer in Jesus has been given at least one spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit, empowering you to do ministry on God's behalf, to share the gospel with others, some gift.

He gave them the gift of signs and wonders, healing, and so on.

He doesn't give that gift to everybody, but he does give you a gift, and he wants us to use it.

Some gifts are speaking gifts, some are helping gifts, some are miraculous gifts, but all the gifts are given to manifest God's presence and power, pointing to the ultimate gift of salvation.

All of them.

And while all spiritual gifts are miraculous in the sense they are God's working through us, not all the gifts manifest themselves as signs and wonders.

So let me ask you we have gift, spiritual gifts are listed in the New Testament.

What spiritual gift do you have that can help someone and accompany the gospel that you're sharing?

Don't just speak, help.

Is it teaching?

Gift of mercy, gift of helps, gift of wisdom, gift of faith, gift of giving.

What has God given you?

One way you can kind of tell what your spiritual gift is that I've discovered personally, is um because it's a gift of the Holy Spirit, when you're exercising that gift, the Spirit energizes you from within.

You sense it, you sense his power.

And I believe my spiritual gift, my primary spiritual gift is teaching and preaching.

I could preach all day and not get tired.

Sorry.

I could why?

Because it's not me.

I'd love in my flash, just let me sit in the back and watch.

That's all I want to.

Not here.

I'm gonna preach.

I have to preach.

Your spiritual gift is tied to the spirit's energy he's giving you to do it.

But you'll only discover it when you're doing it.

If you're not uh if you're not experienced, I mean, uh does just giving mercy and compassion, does that wear you out?

It wears me out.

And I do a lot of it.

Worn out.

Giving wears me out.

Not teaching and preaching.

If you were willing, I'd stay here for four or five hours.

I would.

I could keep going.

No problem.

Now, when I was, I'm telling you, every Sunday when I'm done and I'm home, I'm going, oh, whoa, whoa, am I tired now?

Oh yeah.

It's funny to me.

I just now I don't think we realize how important our spiritual gift is in connection to evangelism, sharing the gospel.

I don't know that we get it.

It's very important.

Give you one example.

Several years ago, you may remember a wonderful woman by the name of Liz Hannigan, who passed away, and we had her funeral here.

But she eventually came to faith in Christ that began through our gleaning ministry in the parking lot right out there, where we gave out produce to people in the neighborhood and got to make connections with them and talk to them, find out what they are, what they're about.

Exactly.

Liz began listening to the words and the deeds she was receiving from the people in our church.

And she came to faith in Jesus, and we celebrated her home going to the Lord a few years ago.

Wow.

That's pretty much so the people with these gifts of reaching out to people with helps and you know, um, it just amazes me.

Any any gift you receive from God can manifest to others as truly miraculous.

I'm telling you.

Uh, I recently read a story of a single woman's testimony of how her life had been totally changed after coming to faith in Jesus Christ.

She was apparently in her own testimony, she was always kind of miserly and never really contributed financially to any charity.

She was really tight with her money, careful.

She was single going through life.

She hung on to it.

She wasn't about to give things away.

Well, then she became a Christian, came to faith in Jesus and was converted.

And she be first thing she did, she began to tithe her money and give to the church where she worshiped.

And after a while, she increased her giving with joy.

Well beyond the tithe.

And one year, after doing that for a while, she was audited by an IRS agent.

And this is what the IRS agent said to her.

You know, I I came because I was sure you were lying.

When I saw how much you were giving away, but you know what?

I see that you're telling the truth.

I think it's a miracle.

He knew her before.

I think it's a miracle that you gave that much away.

And it was.

God's spirit did that through her.

Perhaps even to touch this IRS agent with the life-transforming power of the gospel.

I don't doubt it.

To share the gospel in a pluralistic society like ours, we've learned two things so far from Paul and Barnabas.

First, don't compromise the gospel.

Speak the same message.

Help by serving others we're trying to reach through our good deeds using our spiritual gifts.

Come to the A now and share.

The third way to share the gospel in pluralistic society that we learned from Paul and Barnabas is to answer their deepest longings.

I'll have more to say about that next week, but just give you the introduction today.

You see, when people in Lystra heard the gospel and saw the miraculous deeds, they not only wanted to listen to Paul, they wanted to worship him.

Why?

Because in a polytheistic society, many gods, the people believed that those gods had the power to either make your life miserable if you offended them, or blessed you if you honored them.

Oh, they wanted to honor Paul and Barnabas.

What else can we get?

The people there worship gods like Zeus and Hermes because they believed that if they honored them, the gods would give them a better life.

Oh, think of it.

These have the power to give us prosperity and wholeness that we all long for.

They concluded.

Whoa! Get off the fatted calf.

Start burning the sacrifices.

That's what they're doing.

Well, Paul and Barnabas are horrified.

You know why?

Because they misinterpreted the message of the good news.

They attributed the power to fulfill their deepest longings to the messengers, not the God, the true God who is responsible.

See, as they began to make sacrifices to them, they believed that the gods, Paul and Barnabas, would give them what they want.

And so what they're doing, and this is what happens in polytheistic societies they're attempting to do all the things they think the gods would like, would require of them, so they wouldn't be punished but would have the things in life they really wanted.

That's the whole system.

Paul quickly corrects them and points them to the true God, the only true God, who is the source of, he tells them, you know what?

No, no, no, no.

We're not gods.

The true God, you know what?

Uh, is the source of all that's good in your life.

Uh, he can he can already be seen in the abundance you experience in the rains and the crops.

Those are his grace.

In a nutshell, Paul redirects them from the messengers of good news, Zeus and Hermes, to the maker of good news, the true God, who did come down to them from heaven, and the man Jesus to fulfill their deepest longings.

Look, we have a similar challenge, I believe, in our culture, sharing the gospel with people who believe a lot of different things.

But at the same time, at the same time, you see, don't miss this point.

Everyone, there's a universal longing for wholeness, something deeper, something that makes sense.

In a true sense, living in a pluralistic polytheistic society where most people are not worshiping statues and stones, but here's what's happen what is happening uh people are sacrificing to the idols of the present day in our own culture.

Why?

To get what they want.

To get the life they always wanted.

If they just did this, pursued this with all their heart, what will come of it is I will finally have wholeness, fulfillment.

God's like money, success, power, fame, prosperity, pleasure influencing people.

People look to the present-day idols thinking that if they do the right things and what is required of them, then their deepest longings for a better life will be fulfilled.

That's what we're encountering.

And here we see Paul and Barnabas cross another major barrier with the gospel of Christ.

Up until now, they preach the gospel to those who believe the Bible and the one true God of the Bible.

Not anymore.

Now they're preaching the gospel to Gentile people, pagans who don't believe the Bible, who are religious, but believe in many gods and want to serve them to get what they want.

They don't want to be offend anything.

They're going to jump through the hoops to get it.

How did they share the gospel in that vastly different culture with different beliefs?

Well, here's the lesson today, and we'll continue next time.

Three things.

They spoke the same message of the gospel in every culture they were in.

That God sent his son Jesus to die for our sins and raise it from the dead, and all who believe in him receive eternal life, wholeness.

Second, they looked for ways to help and serve people in the name of Christ.

And third, they directed them to the answer to their deepest longings that everyone has by pointing them to the one true God who already gives us tremendous good gifts in our life.

If we take a look, and we didn't deserve those things, their grace.

And we can share the gospel the same way by affirming the one true God who by his grace has given us the many blessings in life we do share, and he's also given us his son so that we might be reunited with him by his grace through faith.

Just as we receive God's good gifts around us by grace, we don't deserve any of it.

And I urge you, if you've never had a point in your life you could point to where you say to God, I believe in Jesus as my Savior, and I want him to be fully in my life.

I urge you to do that.

And if you'd like to talk further about faith in Jesus, I'm available after service.

Pastor Dennis, one of the elders, we welcome you to talk with you further.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for your son Jesus, who lived a perfect life, the life we should have lived, and died on the cross of death that we should have died.

But he stood in our place.

And all because of your amazing grace, you received Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf so that we might have eternal life.

Now I pray, Father, as our church family moves forward, taking in the lessons we've learned.

Help us to share the message of the gospel with boldness, to see and meet the needs of people with compassion, pointing them all to the true God and His Son Jesus Christ as the reason for what we do.

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.