Why The Church Is Here

We will continue our sermon series in the Acts of the Apostles this morning, and there is a sermon outline available.

If you didn't get one, just raise your hand.

Our ushers would be happy to give you one of those.

Well, I am glad to report that I finally found the meaning of life.

I found the meaning of life, found the meaning dead body.

That's good to know the thing of it is.

While the dictionary can give me a very helpful definition of life, it can't tell me the meaning of life, why I'm here.

For that, the best place to look is, of course, why I'm here.

For that.

The best place to look is, of course, the Bible, which tells us the God who created us does have a plan and purpose for our life, which involves many things, but at the top of the list really is to reflect his image to the world and bring him glory.

Most people, though, really aren't consulting the scripture, aren't asking what is God's purpose for my life?

You know, before we some of us, especially adults, when we come to Christ as adults, we've already made up our own plan for our life.

I don't know about you.

I did when I was in college.

Before I placed my faith in Jesus.

I literally mapped my life plan out on one of those big computer printer sheets, laid it out on a table, said now, here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to graduate from college with a degree in biology.

Then I'm going to take the MedCats and apply to medical schools.

Then I'm going to go to medical school, become a famous doctor I'm not kidding, I wrote all this up and make tons of money.

That was circled on my chart.

And right below that, somewhere along the line, I'm going to get married to a beautiful woman whose name is Linda Well, maybe that was blank at the time.

Then I'm going to buy a big house, have lots of kids and live happily ever after.

Something like that.

That's how it went.

I can still picture me doing that in college.

Then, a little while later, I came to know Christ.

He upset my plans.

He had other plans for me.

I discovered this may surprise you.

I know it did me and I know positively it surprised Linda.

But being a pastor was nowhere on that charter list at all, not even on the radar, but it was on.

God's Took him years to show me.

What on earth are you doing with me?

See, when a person believes in Jesus.

The scripture says that we become a brand new creation that God's working on.

God begins to shape, conform us to the image of Jesus first of all, but then he's beginning to shape and conform us so we can fulfill his plan for our life After receiving the Holy Spirit and new life in Jesus.

One thing that changes in a person's life is understanding why we are here.

Why we are here.

The early church soon discovered that every believer in Jesus has been given a mission to fulfill from Jesus, individually and corporately.

Last time, in Acts, chapter 7, after Stephen was killed, things began to radically change for Christians, the early Christians, and again God was shaping, conforming them, getting them ready for his purpose of why they're here.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

A great persecution of Christians began after Stephen's death, which changed the trajectories of almost every believer in Jesus and, as a result, they were able to refocus their lives and understand why they were left here.

They remembered in a verse we'll talk about in a minute.

They remembered that God had given them a gospel mission to impact the whole world and what we're going to do is see how that began to be incorporated and acted on.

As we begin the next chapter, chapter 8 in the early church.

Let me read Acts, chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

If you have a Bible and want to turn there, this is right.

After Stephen is killed, he cries out with a loud voice and Lord, don't hold this sin against them.

And then he fell asleep.

And then Acts 8, 1,.

Saul, who would become the apostle Paul, was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.

And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem.

They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

The apostles stayed in Jerusalem, scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

The apostles stayed in Jerusalem.

Some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him, but Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women.

He would put them in prison.

Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word, and Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.

The crowds, with one accord, were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing, for in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them, shouting with a loud voice, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed, so there was much rejoicing in that city.

Today.

I'm just going to take that brief passage and look at two things First, the gospel mission and then second, the gospel embodied.

As a result, as I said, of this great persecution, the Christians in Jerusalem, who were now in the thousands upon thousands, believed in Jesus.

They were meeting together and listening to the teaching.

Well, they scattered Luke.

What's interesting?

Luke now focuses attention.

Out of the thousands that were scattered, he focuses on one person, philip, and he's going to focus on him several times as we go forward in the book of Acts.

He follows him to show us what he did as a believer in Jesus, how his life trajectory changed and became in line with what God's mission for him was, and he kind of in Luke for Luke.

He serves as an example.

It's an example when Luke starts pointing out individuals in this book.

He's pointing them out for reasons that we're to learn from, and I think he's picking out Philip as an example of what the believers did when they scattered.

So notice two things about Philip.

That happened right away.

He went down to Samaria.

He left Jerusalem and Judea, went to Samaria and he was proclaiming Christ to them.

Why did Philip go to Samaria and why did he immediately start proclaiming Christ to them?

Keep in mind, this was a different culture entirely.

This was a different culture entirely the Samaritans.

They had a totally different worship system.

They were looked at as rejects of the true faith in Yahweh.

But Philip may have remembered and been taught by the apostles what Jesus said to them about their mission, which is, we heard earlier, acts 1.8,.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

You shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth.

Receiving the Holy Spirit changed the trajectory of their lives as it does ours.

Before believing in Christ, we lived as we deemed best.

We still do that to some extent.

But God has a plan for every single believer in Jesus.

When we receive the Holy Spirit, we also inherit this mission, a mission received from the resurrected, ascended Lord Jesus Christ.

Do we acknowledge him as that their mission?

The reason they were here was to preach the gospel and be his witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem.

They did that Well.

Now there's other parts of the mission Judea and Samaria and the remotest part of the earth, the mission of everyone who has believed in Jesus, received the Holy Spirit, I believe, stands to this day.

Preach the gospel and be Jesus' witnesses.

That's why we're here.

When the early church began, as I've talked about before in Acts 2.

I mean, thousands were coming to faith in Jesus.

They were turning their lives over.

They were meeting together in a church in fellowship and worshiping together, singing glad songs and rejoicing.

The church was growing exponentially.

We see the first megach church established in Jerusalem.

But that wasn't really the mission.

I want you to establish a great, big church so everybody from all over the world can see what you're doing.

Maybe they'll come and see you, and when they invent the television, make sure you're on it.

Jerusalem was not the word the mission was supposed to stop.

When did believers make the decision to head out of Jerusalem to be Jesus' witnesses in Judea and Samaria?

Did the apostles sit down with the thousands of people who came to Christ in a little conference?

They had a conference.

Who came to Christ?

In a little conference?

They had a conference.

We're going to have a missions conference.

Okay, so you know, here we are, we're just worshiping the Lord.

We're having a great time.

Now what should we do next?

Should we start some small groups in Jerusalem, and should we maybe ask the Sanhedrin if we can build our own separate room off the temple?

No, they were perfectly happy to stay.

They didn't discuss what do we do now?

What about the mission when their comfortable life was interrupted?

It's kind of God's way of saying you know, this isn't really what I've got for you here, I've got something else.

Do we ever consider that?

I know I didn't, but I see it If you look back.

Oh yeah, god knows me better than I know myself.

I had all my plans.

I had all of this stuff mapped out.

I marvel at how God knows me.

He knows what I really love.

I never thought this was it, but I love it.

I feel like a fish in water.

This is what I love.

If I had done anything else, I don't think I'd have lasted much longer.

So God, what he's doing?

He's pushing them out of their cozy church, mega church in Jerusalem.

After Stephen was martyred and it was followed by a great persecution, and when the believers were all together, they were content and happy and passive.

Okay, that's fine, that was great.

But when they were scattered, they realized you know what I'm now in Samaria the gospel was not just for my benefit, it's for the people I'm now around.

They need to hear it.

The gospel's for everybody.

And so somehow they gathered up the courage to share with others what they'd learned about Jesus.

Look at Acts 8.4.

It says those who are scattered preached the word, the word.

There is euangelion in Greek and it's actually the word to evangelize.

Euangelion is the word evangelize.

They preached the word.

The ministry of preaching the gospel, witnessing to others, is not just something for the professionals to do.

It was not just something for the apostles to do.

It was for everyone who considers himself a disciple or a follower of Jesus.

And Philip was one of them.

He's just one Luke singled out.

I believe they were all getting the picture Significantly.

What's also a note here is the apostles in Jerusalem.

As everybody realized, they're packing up their stuff and they're fleeing.

The apostles don't tell them where to go.

They don't have a meeting and say okay, philip, you go to Samaria and Bartholomew, why don't you go down to Lystra?

No, no, no, no, no.

They just went.

They were just like seeds scattered.

The word scattered is an agricultural term intentionally used here.

Those who are scattered preach the word.

What's interesting right here is where it happens, every single Christian, because God moved them out.

Every single Christian moved from being a ministry consumer to a ministry provider and gospel proclaimer.

I look around the church in America today.

To me there's the spirit of the ministry of consumer.

Does your church have everything I want?

Do you have stuff for this and for that?

That's our culture.

We're in a consumer culture, so churches are looked at as a commodity.

Well, what provides the best At the least amount of money or sacrifice?

That wasn't the early church.

They started that way.

They loved their own personal gathering and just fellowshipping and rejoicing and worshiping.

When God showed them, opened their eyes to the mission, they stopped being a ministry consumer and started providing it to others.

That's the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit at work that Jesus said would come upon them.

He sends us out as seeds Seeds Scattering us and his word Scattering it.

But Luke wants us to know what made their ministry so effective that it was effective cross-culturally, no matter where they were.

The gospel was effective.

People responded believed in Jesus.

Why was that?

Well, that's why I think Luke singles Philip out, because he shows us the secret.

It's not really a secret.

Basically, philip not only preached the gospel, he embodied the gospel, everything about it.

God's love, god's seeking the lost to be saved.

He's embodying it.

What does it mean to embody the gospel?

Well, look at Philip.

He shows us, I think, the marks of what that means.

First, we do see him in Acts 8.5 and Acts 8.12.

It says Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them, meaning he's the Messiah.

And then in Acts 8.12, but when they believed, philip preaching the good news.

He's preaching the good news, the gospel Believe in him, jesus, and you have received eternal life.

He's preaching the good news about the kingdom of God, the name of Jesus, and they were being baptized, men and women alike.

That's the first thing, mark, we see in Philip.

He was sharing, he was meeting people in relationship and proclaiming Christ as the Messiah to them and preaching the good news of the gospel.

But the gospel, you see, this is where we see Philip.

The gospel was not just spoken, it was embodied in three ways I think we see in this passage.

First, the preaching of the good news was accompanied by doing good deeds with the people he's sharing with.

Two are going together, it says in Acts 8, 7 and 8, for in the case of many who had unclean spirits.

They were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

So there's much rejoicing in that city.

Philip cast out demons.

He healed people.

Now don't get distracted by the miraculous nature of this, the power of the Spirit.

Philip had been given authenticating spiritual gifts.

But notice, if you step back, notice there are two things Philip did.

He helped people physically who were suffering, met their physical needs, healing paralytics and cripples.

Using his gift, he helped people spiritually and he cast out evil spirits, the enemy kept in bondage.

He helped them spiritually and physically.

Notice how these people's needs aren't reduced to one cause.

Not every problem is caused by demons and not every problem is just physical and biological.

In other words, the church, I believe, began to help people who had a variety of needs and problems and God had given them the power and gifts to do that.

Philip used his spiritual gift of healing.

Don't miss the big picture.

He's helping them.

He's embodying the gospel.

God was confirming the truth of the gospel by the deeds and signs that were given.

We may not have the gift of healing, but God has given us gifts.

The Holy Spirit is in us.

We're all given a spiritual gift or more to accomplish the mission.

Philip embodied the gospel by meeting not just the gospel needs but by seeing the other needs they needed attention to.

Sometimes, for us, it's just a matter of serving others we know we're in trouble or being with them and helping them.

Acts of kindness, acts of service, doing good, doing good and embodying the gospel.

People listen to that.

I can give you story after story, even in our own ministry, where that has happened.

I literally could go an hour, I think, of the people here who are doing these great things and I could tell you the stories that people come to faith in Jesus, beginning by that.

People here who are doing these great things, and I could tell you the stories that people come to faith in Jesus, beginning by that.

They listen.

They won't listen.

That's why God saved us by the way Ephesians 2, 8-10, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that, not of yourselves, is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one will boast, for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them.

So let your light so shine before men so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

You can't separate that.

Notice the point Luke is making in Acts 8-6.

When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs, meaning the deeds that he did, they listened to him.

He gained a hearing.

They were willing to listen to the gospel Because they saw that he didn't just care for them, for putting a notch on his belt to say, oh, I led these many people to Christ, he cared for them as people.

The words of the witnesses were backed up, embodied by their deeds.

The first way then the gospel was flushed out was by their deeds.

But the second way we see in Philip it was flushed out was when he reached.

He was willing to reach across cultural barriers that existed for him and the Samaritans to share the good news of Jesus.

That's embodying the gospel.

Things like racism or any ism does not.

There are a lot of cultural, ethnic boundaries and we know, based on what God has done over the years in the world, they crossed every single one of them.

For a Jew like Philip to bring the good news of the gospel to a people who are very different, who didn't follow the Jewish law who disliked Jews.

Their response would have been electrifying.

It spoke volumes about the gospel that Jesus will receive you.

The Messiah of the Jews receives you.

The gospel breaks down racial, cultural barriers like that.

How Well, that's the gospel, the cross None of us, absolutely not one of us, stands better than anybody else before God, except in Christ.

Listen to what Paul says.

A Jew, a Pharisee, writes to Gentile believers in Christ in Ephesus.

Here's what he says Ephesians 2, 13 to 19.

But now, in Christ Jesus, you Gentiles who were once way far away, had been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For he himself is our peace.

Who has made the two groups into one, destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.

His purpose was to create in himself a new humanity, a brand new race of people out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross.

At the foot of the cross, we're all on level ground.

He put to death, at the cross, the hostility.

He came and preached peace to you who are far away, peace to you who are near, for through him, through Jesus, we have both access to the Father by the one spirit, by the same spirit.

Consequently, you, gentiles, are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of this household.

This is just a rich, rich, rich passage.

I invite you to come to Sunday school, beginning next Sunday at nine o'clock, because Ed Anderson is going to be teaching through the book of Ephesians.

And it's just a rich book given to the church.

Philip's reaching out to the Samaritans resulted in the first cross-cultural church.

And it doesn't matter who you are, the gospel of Jesus is meant for everyone.

When he believed in Jesus, you see, philip's life was, his whole life was changed by the gospel.

And I think they realized, perhaps right away as they go into other cultures.

Why should anybody believe our words if we aren't showing people what Jesus has done in our lives, how he loved us?

So let me show you what that looks like.

Their words of the gospel were fleshed out by their deeds.

Their words of the gospel were fleshed out by their deeds and by reaching across those cultural barriers that exist.

The third way the gospel was fleshed out was by helping those who are coming from different cultures and so on come together as a community in the church.

Notice in this passage and in the book of Acts, it's true throughout everyone who believes in Jesus gets baptized Acts 8, 12 to 13.

You see it repeatedly when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

Even Simon himself believed who we'll talk about next time and after being baptized he continued with Philip as he observed the signs and great miracles taking place.

He was constantly amazed.

What's interesting here, I think you start to see, is baptism doesn't save you.

It happens after you're saved and believe in Jesus, but is a sign to all who have believed in Jesus as Savior become part of something greater, a body of Christ, of Christ, a community fellowship, the household of God.

Now, the thing of it is we live in a day in America and a lot of Christians just want to be me and Jesus.

I've got needs, I've got issues, so I'll come to Jesus, get my individual needs met.

But baptism, you see, is public, it's not done in private.

It's not just about you, it's about your identification and unity with a community of believers in Jesus.

That's why I think Paul writes in Ephesians 4, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

There's one body, one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, father of all, who is over all and through all and all.

Nobody in the Bible or in the book of Acts just gets an individual relationship with Jesus.

Believers automatically become part of a community called the church, automatically become part of a community called the church.

I could spend hours just on that.

The church community, I believe, was called to authenticate the power of the gospel.

We see it in Jesus' words, his prayer.

Help them to be unified so the world may know you sent me.

Our unity in diversity, you see, is a witness to the presence and power of God and the Holy Spirit.

Together it is, it's a witness.

So how we treat each other in here speaks volumes about the gospel out there Volumes.

It's the Holy Spirit who makes us one.

If we're not one, where is that coming from?

A big part of God's work in us and through us, by the Holy Spirit, happens as we're together in the body of Christ.

The church is here to witness to and authenticate the power of the gospel, that Jesus can change lives.

Through faith in Jesus, we are exhibit A and as I said before Luke, I believe, zeroes in on Philip as a great example of this what it means to fulfill the mission that Jesus gave us by our words and deeds.

Wherever we are, we proclaim Christ, we preach the good news.

If God scatters us somewhere else, if we move this or that, wherever we're at, that's the mission.

That's the mission, that's the reason, and we vindicate the gospel by our words, our deeds and the community in which we reflect his image.

You know, it's funny.

Paul was a great fan of metaphors in his writings in the New Testament, fan of metaphors in his writings in the New Testament.

He was a skilled rather I can't say the word speech.

He knew how to communicate effectively, really tremendously complicated theological concepts.

He was able to distill simple terms.

So we get it.

Well, in 2 Corinthians 2, apostle Paul likens our life in Christ to a sweet aroma of what people can smell.

Ah, that's refreshing.

What aroma do people pick up with our life?

Something doesn't smell right.

They say they're a Christian.

Is that how Christians act?

Oh, excuse me, I don't think I want to get near that.

And then, in 2 Corinthians 3, paul likens our life in Christ to a letter that's read by people.

Well, what's your storyline?

What are they reading?

What were the tremendous plot changes?

What happened?

Tremendous plot changes.

What happened?

Was it good?

Did the story continue?

And you've got great things in there.

Where's Jesus in it?

I could go further.

He has these great things.

To try to describe Our life in Christ has an impact.

People are watching, they're listening.

Are we authenticating the gospel or are we damaging it?

That's the question.

Are we damaging it?

That's the question.

So I end this sermon by proclaiming Christ and by preaching the good news of the gospel.

Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, who died for our sins and rose again.

He's exalted as king over all and the savior of all.

In him is eternal life and the promise of hope in a new creation.

What Jesus did for us is the good news of the gospel.

The gospel is not advice, it's an announcement.

We can have eternal life, free gift.

We can have our sins forgiven, our fears vanquished, when we place our trust and faith in Jesus alone to save us from the judgment of our sins and open our heart to him and let him come in.

He gives us blessings unimaginable.

I invite you to receive Jesus as your Savior for the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternal life.

If you never have, and it's as simple as simply calling on him, that's it.

That's Romans 10.

I mean, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, will receive the Holy Spirit, will be sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of promise.

If you've never done that, I can't encourage you strong enough to do that.

Make sure you have a relationship with Jesus, because Jesus even said this is eternal life, that they know you, the eternal God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent.

That's eternal life, a relationship with him.

It's not so much a place, it's a relationship.

Let's pray, father, I thank you today for the good news of the gospel that, because Jesus took our sins on himself, we will no longer have to face your eternal judgment for our sins.

Thank you, lord, for that.

It's just almost unbelievable the grace you've given us in that, because we always think we've got to do something that makes us worthy.

We're not worthy.

We admit that and we thank you for Jesus, who stood in our place, received what we deserved so we could be free.

Thank you for the Holy Spirit, who has made us one body, one household of faith, as your adopted sons and daughters.

Help us to act like that, lord, and I just ask you to revive us.

Oh Lord, by your spirit, help us to not only share the gospel, but to live lives that authenticate and validate the good news of how God loves you, god loves us and what Jesus has done for us.

I pray in Jesus' name, amen.