Invest & Invite - Turning The World Upside Down

Amen.

Thank you so much.

It's great to see you on a holiday weekend.

And for those of you that have tomorrow off, I hope you have a good day, a restful day, and an enjoyable day.

Remember those who don't, the law enforcement officers or fire firemen or nurses and others, just keep them in your minds as they continue to serve.

If you have your copy of God's word, turn with me if you would to Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

If you do not have a copy of God's word, there's a Bible in a P-RAC in front of you.

I'd encourage you to use that copy.

And you can find today's text on page 955.

If you are a guest of ours, we're studying through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings.

We're not looking at it verse by verse.

It's more of a survey fashion.

And this morning we find our way again here to Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

I want to introduce this text by sharing with you a true story.

Some of you may be familiar with this story.

If not, I hope that regardless, all of you are encouraged by it as you hear it.

In 1952, a group of missionaries left America for Ecuador, and their goal was to minister to the Quechua people.

Three or so years into this ministry, deep in the Amazon jungle of eastern Ecuador, the group of missionaries made contact with the Hurani people or the Aukka people, AUCA.

They were an indigenous people that lived in the Amazon rainforest, separated really from the rest of the population.

After a few friendly but brief encounters, the missionaries were encouraged and decided that they would try to visit them more often.

And on January 8th, 1956, the missionaries landed their Piper PA-14 aircraft on the banks of the Karari River.

And soon after landing, exiting the plane, ten warriors from the tribe attacked the team and killed them.

On that day, Jim Elliott, Ed McCully, Roger Uteran, Pete Fleming, and Nate Saint were speared to death.

And their bodies later recovered some distance downstream.

Over a period of time after this incident, Elizabeth Elliott, Jim's wife, Rachel Saint, Nate's sister, and others returned to live among the Harani people in that specific tribe.

Now, over time, this tribe would come to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, including the ten men who had killed the missionaries.

How do we explain that?

This is one example, a modern day example, or a more modern-day example, of how the gospel turns the world upside down.

How the gospel transforms the broken and depraved heart of man and makes us a new creation in Christ.

Think about this.

Only the gospel could turn a savage tribe of humanity into God-fearing, Christ-following disciples.

Now, we've seen several examples of this same thing happening in the book of Acts that we've already studied.

Just as a reminder, 3,000 people redeemed on that day of Pentecost, the healing of a man born with a physical disability who was over 40 years old.

The number of disciples growing to over 5,000 in just a very relatively short period of time.

The region of Samaria hearing and responding to the gospel with celebration and rejoicing.

The redemption of the Ethiopian official, Paul's encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, the redemption of Cornelius and his family and his friends in the city of Caesarea.

The large numbers of people we've seen redeemed in the cities of Antioch, Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derby, Philippi.

And now we find our way to Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And Paul and his team are going to find their way to the cities of Thessalonica, Berea, and then Athens.

And God continues to do a great work among both Jews and Gentiles.

God continues to do this phenomenal work of redemption.

So much so that those who are opposed to Christ and those who are opposed to the gospel and they're opposed to Paul's missionary team acknowledge how God is working in the great way that He's working.

Look with me there in your Bible.

Look at verse 6.

I want us to just see this as we begin.

In verse 6, these who are opposed to the gospel and opposed to all that God is doing, listen to their own admission in chapter 17, verse 6.

These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

Think about that.

These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

Now, that should not come to any to to to as any surprise to us, right?

We understand that the gospel can do what nothing else can do.

The gospel can do what no one can do.

How does it work?

The gospel finds its way into the deepest recesses of our hearts and our minds and our souls, and it turns our world upside down.

The gospel transforms our way of thinking, it transforms our worldview, it transforms our goals and our dreams and our ambitions.

It transforms how we see things, the perspective for which we live life.

The gospel literally transforms the entirety of our lives, all of our being.

We understand that.

And church, I want to encourage you with this.

Through one life at a time, the gospel can transform a tribe in eastern Ecuador.

It can transform a community, a state, and a nation, and eventually the whole world.

That's the power of the gospel.

The gospel, by its very nature, turns the world upside down.

And I want us to celebrate that this morning.

And so in Acts chapter 17, what I want to do today is take a look at this chapter.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

Again, it's going to be kind of, you know, a survey fashion.

And I want us to see how the gospel was working and all that how we might understand that in our own context.

And I want us to do so by asking some leading questions and then finding the answers here in the text.

And so here's the first question.

So God's doing this great work.

Well, what was the content of Paul's preaching and this mission team's preaching and teaching?

What was the content that they shared when they went into these cities?

And so, first of all, look with me, beginning in verse 2.

We read this.

This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.

And then look with me in verses 10 through 11.

As soon as it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.

Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

And then we come to verses 16 and 17.

It says, While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worship God, as well as in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

And then we come to verses 23 through 25.

Now Paul's in, he's standing in the Areopagus, and then we read this for as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed to an unknown God.

Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it, he is Lord of heaven and earth.

He does not live in shrines made by hands, neither is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.

And then finally, in verses thirty and thirty-one, Paul says, Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed.

And so, like we've seen in chapters 1 through 16, the early church was faithful to preach and teach and proclaim the gospel.

The early church rarely dove into matters outside of the gospel message.

And how did this happen?

Again, we've we've mentioned this, but they they would take the text of the Old Testament, for that was the only portion of Scripture available then in written form.

They would take the text of the Old Testament scripture, they would share eyewitnesses' accounts of the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ.

And as they taught through these things, folks would see and understand that the gospel is indeed the good news of salvation.

They would reason from the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah who has come to seek and to save the lost.

They relied on God's word and the truth of God's word as they proclaimed this message.

Now, real quickly, I want us real quickly, when we talk about the gospel, first of all, big picture, we're referring to the whole council of God's word, Genesis through Revelation.

But but let's narrow that down.

So what are some of the elements of the gospel that Paul and his team, that Peter early on, that the early church focused on?

Here it is.

Are you ready?

Listen carefully.

God created man in his image and according to his likeness.

I want all of us to be reminded today that man is the pinnacle of God's creation.

Man is.

Number two, God created us to know him, to worship him, to love him, and to enjoy a personal relationship with him.

If you've ever asked yourself, what is my purpose?

Well, that's it in a nutshell.

Sure, there may be other ancillary purposes for your life and my life, but at the end of the day, God's purpose for you is to know him, love him, worship him, and enjoy a relationship with him.

Number three, man chose to rebel against God's holy and righteous standards, introducing sin into the world and into our human experience.

And the Bible says that that sin separates us from God and carries with it a punishment of eternal condemnation.

And God sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to die, bearing the shame and the penalty of your sin and my sin, enduring God's just sentence for sin.

Jesus was buried, and three days later he rose from the dead, and in doing so, he defeated death, hell, and the grave, guaranteeing eternal life to all who place their faith and trust in him.

And then finally, through faith in Christ, we have forgiveness of sin, peace with God, and eternal life.

That's the gospel in a nutshell.

Now, maybe you're sitting there and you're thinking, wait a minute, that's too simple.

There has to be more.

Well, you're right.

That is incredibly simple, but there is no more.

That's the gospel.

That is the message that the early church, again, going back to Peter and John in the early chapters of Acts, Paul, and we'll see it throughout the rest.

That is the message the early church was faithful to preach and teach and proclaim.

That leads me to point number one.

If you're following along, look with me on the back of your bulletin ear.

Here's key takeaway number one.

What does this mean for you and me today?

Here it is.

The gospel must always remain as the centerpiece of our message and ministry.

The gospel must always remain as the centerpiece of our message and ministry.

Like the early church, it's imperative that we stay laser focused on the gospel.

Now, will there be times and circumstances when we may need to address things that are secondary to the gospel?

Sure, there will.

But those times should be rare and infrequent.

Here's the reality.

If we're faithful to preach and teach the whole counsel of God's word, then we'll cover every issue that needs to be covered.

We'll address every issue that needs to be addressed.

If we're faithful to preach and teach God's word.

So that's the first thing.

Let's keep going.

How was the gospel received in these different cities?

Well, it was received in a number of ways.

First of all, in verses four and five, look what we read here.

Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.

Verse 5.

But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city.

Attacking Jason's house, they searched for them, them being Paul and his team, to bring them out to the public assembly.

Now look at verses 7 and 8.

It says, Jason has welcomed them.

They are acting contrary to Caesar's decree, saying that there is another king, Jesus.

The crowd and the city officials who heard these things were upset.

And in verses 12 and 13 we read, Consequently many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God had broke been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and upsetting the crowds.

And then in verses 32 through 34, they're in the city of Athens.

We hear this.

So Paul left their presence.

However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius, the Aeropagite, a woman named Demaris, and others with them.

And so what do we read here?

Some were persuaded, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.

Many of them believed.

Some people joined and believed.

But we also saw this but the Jews became jealous, formed a mob, started a riot.

The Jews came there agitating and upsetting the crowds.

Some began to ridicule.

And like we've seen over and over throughout our study in Acts, the response to the gospel will always be mixed.

There are some whose hearts are softened, whose eyes are open, whose ears are loosened, and they respond in faith to Christ.

But there will also be those who reject the good news of Christ, whose hearts are hard and obstinate toward God and the things of God.

And for reasons it's hard for you and me to understand or explain, that they're not interested in God's grace.

They're not interested in God's mercy.

They're not interested in God's forgiveness of sin.

They're not interested in God's gift of eternal life.

Why?

I don't always understand that.

But here's how I want to encourage you: don't allow someone's negative response to the gospel dissuade you or discourage you from being faithful to share the gospel.

Here's a good reminder.

They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting Christ.

So don't take it personal.

Just continue to be faithful to share.

Because here's the reality.

In the same way that Paul's team was met with mockery or some kind of interest or even conversions, the same will be true for you and me.

Here's the second takeaway as it relates to that.

All right, the second key thing I want you to see here.

The gospel will spark both belief and opposition.

The response will always be mixed.

The gospel will spark both belief and opposition.

The response will always be mixed.

And so know that going into this.

As you and I are faithful to follow Christ, as we're faithful to share the good news of Christ, as we're faithful to encourage folks to say yes to Jesus, the response will always be mixed.

The next question I want us to look at is is it okay to ask the hard questions?

Is it okay to study and search in an effort to understand truth?

Or are we just called to exercise blind faith?

Look with me at verses 10 through 12 again.

Look what we read here.

Paul and his team are in Thessalonica, they're forced out of there, they find their way to the Berea, and it says, as soon as it was it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.

Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

They listened to the message Paul and his team were presenting, and then they compared that to the what we call the Old Testament text, and they they examined these things back and forth, and they came to the realization that the gospel is indeed God's plan for salvation.

And church, I just want to remind you, it's okay for us to ask the hard questions.

It's okay for us to want to find the answers to those questions.

Listen, God's not offended nor is he intimidated by our questions.

He's a much bigger God than that.

But I also want to offer this caveat.

Like the Bereans, you and I need to make sure that our search for answers comes from truth, that it comes from God's word.

And so when you have questions, it's okay to ask them, but make sure you search for the answers in the right place.

And the right place is God's word.

That's what we see happening in the city of Berea.

They examine the scripture.

That leads me to takeaway number three.

Faith is not opposed to careful examination.

Genuine faith is grounded in the truth of God's word through careful and objective study.

Okay?

It's okay to ask hard questions.

I want to give you two examples.

The first is a gentleman by the name of C.S.

Lewis.

Most of you have probably heard of C.S.

Lewis.

If you haven't, he's the author of The Chronicles of Narnia.

You've probably heard of that.

C.S.

Lewis was an atheist, but he committed himself to studying God's word to find the answers he couldn't find anywhere else.

And through friendships with other Christians, J.R.

Tolkien being one of them, C.S.

Lewis came to know Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.

And then we are blessed with the chronicles of Narnia and mere Christianity and other writings like that.

A former atheist, more recently, Lee Strobel.

Lee Strobel was a lawyer who served, who was the Chicago Tribune's legal editor.

He was also an atheist.

His wife comes to know Christ as her personal savior.

He's furious about this.

And so Lee Strobel sets out on a journey to disprove the resurrection of Christ.

And over two years of intense study and scrutiny, he came to the realization that what God's word says about Christ is absolutely true and reliable, and he came to know Christ as his Savior.

And he wrote a book about it called The Case for Christ.

Two brilliant individuals, former atheists, who said, You know what?

I'm going to examine the scriptures.

And what did God's word do?

Turn their world upside down.

And that's what happens.

It's okay to ask hard questions.

Just make sure you look for the answers in the right place.

Let's keep going.

Chapter 17 continues to show us that faithfully following Christ will not be easy.

There will be challenges and obstacles along the way.

For example, in verses 5 through 9, what did we read there?

The Jews in Thessalonica formed a mob.

They started a riot.

They searched for Paul and his team, accusing them of significant crimes against the Empire.

In verse 32, we read that there were some in Athens who were mocking and ridiculing Paul and his team for preaching the gospel, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ.

Church family, I know I may sound like a broken record, but Jesus has promised us suffering and persecution, and we should expect it as we follow him in a world that by and large is opposed to him and his ways.

Just real quick, in John 15, verse 20, Jesus said this.

John 15:20

And in John 16, verse 33, Jesus says, I've told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.

John 16:33

In this world you will have suffering or trial or tribulation, but be courageous.

I have conquered or overcome the world.

Now look with me on the screen from Matthew chapter 5, a familiar verse of Scripture.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

We looked at it a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to encourage you with it again this morning.

Look what Jesus says to us.

You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.

And then finally, he says to us, Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven.

For that is how they persecuted the prophets who before you.

And so I want to just encourage you this morning not to allow challenges and obstacles that come our way because of our faith, okay, to discourage you.

Just be reminded of what waits for you in eternity.

As a child of God, we we are swimming upstream.

We are going against the current in our culture, and that naturally creates some friction.

Here's the reality: if you and I are going to faithfully follow Christ, we will find ourselves in opposition, living contrary to this world and its culture.

That's just the way it is.

That's the reality.

That leads me to the fourth takeaway this morning.

Look with me there in your notes.

Faithfulness to Christ and the Great Commission will require courage and boldness.

We'll require courage and boldness as we navigate our life and faith in a hostile culture.

It's going to require us to be bold and courageous for the cause of Christ.

And then finally, the fifth thing I want us to see this morning is each of these encounters or each of these ministry opportunities, Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens, are unique in their own way.

In verses 1 through 9, Paul and his team are in the city of Thessalonica, another very important city, another strategic city in the Roman Empire, a lot like Philippi that we looked at last week.

And as was their normal custom, look what we read there, Paul went into the synagogue and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the scripture.

And so Paul would argue from the very scriptures the Jews believed were inspired by God that were authoritative for life and practice.

And he would argue from those texts that Jesus is God's promised Messiah.

And then we come down to Berea in verses 10 through 15, and we see the same thing.

Again, Paul and his team, the first place they go, they go to the synagogue.

And in the synagogue, they take this same text that the Bereans rightly believed were inspired by God, and they share the gospel from their own text.

And again, what do we find?

The Bereans searched and examined the scriptures and realized, yes, the gospel, the good news of Christ is God's plan of redemption.

Well, then we come to verse 16 through 34, and Paul's strategy changes a little bit.

He makes his way to the city of Athens, but something different happens in Athens.

Because the people in Athens were not familiar necessarily with the gospel.

They weren't familiar with the Old Testament.

That was not something they believed in or something they relied on.

And so, how is Paul going to bridge this gap with the people in Athens and get them to hear the gospel?

Well, he does something very interesting.

He uses their own idols, their own belief system to introduce them to the one true God.

Look what he does there in verses 20 in verse 23.

He says, For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed to an unknown God.

Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

Think about that for a minute.

You know, you and I have had some some, we may have some familiarity with Roman or Greek mythology.

And so here he is in the Areopagus in Athens, and they've got all these idols.

An idol uh to the sun god and the moon god and the earth god and the harvest god and the pleasure god and all these gods, right?

But they were smart enough to realize, you know what, we may not have all our bases covered.

So just in case, we're gonna create an idol to the unknown God in case there's somebody we've left off.

And Paul says, There's my bridge.

Here's how I'm gonna get to the gospel.

He says, the God that you call unknown, let me tell you about him.

He's the one true God who's created heaven and earth.

And not only has he created heaven and earth, he's created you and me.

And then he goes on to build the case for the gospel.

And then look what he does in verse 30.

He says, Therefore, having overlooked the time of times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent.

Because he has set a day when he was going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed, and he's provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.

And so Paul brings it full circle.

He begins with creation, he walks through how God has created man, and from man he has brought us a Savior.

And then he says, He's given one man the authority and the responsibility to judge the world in righteousness.

And he says he's affirmed this authority and responsibility by raising him from the dead.

Now, you and I know who that is.

We know he's referring to Jesus.

And so we're reminded here that Jesus will judge all of humanity.

And look what we read there in verse 31.

The standard of his judgment is righteousness.

It is the righteousness of God.

Now, here's the challenge for you and me, and for every other human.

None of us can live up to the standard of God's holiness and God's righteousness and God's perfection.

That's the bad news.

Here's the good news.

None of us have to live up to that standard.

And that's the whole premise of the gospel.

That the standard by which man will be judged is God's holiness and God's righteousness and God's perfection.

Unfortunately, no man can meet that standard.

Enter in the gospel.

We don't have to meet that standard.

In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, look with me on the screen.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Here's what the Bible reads to us: that he, that is God, made the one who did not know sin, that is Jesus, to be sin for us, so that in him, what does it say, we might become the righteousness of what?

Of God.

You've heard me say this before.

Theologians refer to this as the great exchange.

Here's what this looks like.

On the cross, Jesus Christ bore all of your sin and all of my sin and all of the sin of man, he bore that weight, and he gladly paid its penalty.

And in doing so, he also, the Bible says that he who became no sin knew no sin became sin for us, so that in him, through faith in him, we become the righteousness of God.

So in the same way that God credited him with all of our sin, he credits us with all of his righteousness.

And now the standard is met, not through anything we've done, but through the finished work of Christ.

And so here's the glorious good news of the gospel.

Are you ready?

When we stand before Jesus Christ as a follower of him, as a believer in him, he doesn't see our impurity and our unrighteousness and our ungodliness and our sin and our rebellion.

You know what he sees?

He sees the righteousness of God.

Because we've been covered with the blood of Christ.

And so the righteous standard that we are judged by is met not by anything you and I might do, but by what Jesus Christ has done.

There's a few things we can learn here from Paul's approach.

You and I need to be very careful that we are willing to adjust how we communicate the gospel depending on the cultural context we find ourselves.

Had Paul approached the Athenian people in the same way that he did the people in Thessalonica and Berea, they would have dismissed him right away.

Had he gone to the Old Testament text and said, Well, let me share with you what God says, they would have dismissed him.

Why?

They didn't believe in the Old Testament.

They weren't familiar with the Old Testament.

That didn't mean anything to them.

And so what did he do?

He was able to bridge a gap between their lostness and the gospel using their own worldview, their own philosophical beliefs.

And you and I will have to learn how to do that as well.

And we need to trust the gospel to overcome any cultural barriers that might exist.

And so we we learn how to contextualize the gospel into the culture where we are.

We don't water down the gospel, we don't change the gospel, don't misunderstand what I'm saying, but we un we we understand how we have to adjust our presentation of the gospel depending on the culture that God's called us to share.

That leads me to the fifth takeaway.

Paul demonstrates the versatility of the gospel as one message of truth that can reach entirely different cultures.

Paul demonstrates the versatility of the gospel as one message of truth that can reach entirely different cultures.

Now, how do we explain that phenomenon?

How do we explain that the same gospel message, okay, the same gospel message can transform lives in Thessalonica and in Berea and in Athens and also in the eastern Amazon jungles of Ecuador?

How do we explain that phenomenon?

Well, here it is.

Listen again.

Man, all of humanity, regardless of culture, is created in the image and likeness of God.

That's true of the people in Thessalonica, in Berea, in Athens, and in Ecuador.

All of humanity is created to know God and love God and worship God.

Again, that's the grand purpose of your life and my life.

All of humanity is guilty of sin.

And as a result, all of us are separated from a personal relationship with the God who created us.

The Bible says we're alienated from God.

Paul would go on to say we're enemies of God.

And Jesus left the throne of heaven.

He came to this earth, dwelt in human flesh for one reason, and that was to die a cruel and horrific death, to pay the penalty of your sin and my sin and the sins of that tribe in Ecuador and the sins of the people in Thessalonica and Berea and Athens, so that you and I might enjoy him forever.

And God's invitation to be saved and redeemed has been extended to all men.

Regardless of culture, regardless of ethnic identity, regardless of political identity or any other identity that you and I might have created.

How?

Through faith in his one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

That's why the gospel works in any culture and any time of history and will continue to work.

You see, chapter 17 reminds us of just the worldwide appeal of the gospel.

The gospel is good news for every nation, tribe, people, and language.

Again, those in Thessalonica, those in Berea, those in Athens, those in the rainforest of Ecuador, and those in the area of Oconee County, Georgia.

The gospel is good news for all.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus.

Thank you for this morning, Lord.

Thank you again for allowing us to gather and to sing your praises and to fellowship with one another and to study your word.

And Heavenly Father, I humbly ask and pray that if there are any here today that have never placed their faith and trust in your Son, that today would be their day of salvation, that today they would you would bring them under conviction of their sin and their need of a Savior.

And today they would humble themselves before your holy throne and say, Lord Jesus, here is my life, take it.

I believe you're God's Son.

I believe you died on a cross to pay the penalty of my sin.

I believe you rose from the dead to give me eternal life.

Here it is, Lord.

Here is my life, take it.

Father God, I just ask that you continue to work in each of us and grow us to be more like Jesus.

Like we sang earlier, Lord.

Just continue to mold us and fashion us and shape us into the men and women that you've redeemed us to be as your children and as your ambassadors to a world and to a community that desperately needs Jesus.

And it's in your holy and precious name we pray.

Amen.