Why Christian Spread Across the World | Trinity Sermons

Today's reading is from 2 Corinthians 5, verses

2 Corinthians 5:14–21

14 -21. For Christ's love compels us, because

we are all convinced that one died for all, and

therefore all died. And he died for all, that

those who live should no longer live for themselves,

but for him who died for them and was raised

again. So from now on, we regard no one from

a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded

Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore,

if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has

come, the old has gone, and the new is here.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself

through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

that God was reconciling the world to himself

in Christ, not counting people's sins against

them. and he has committed us to the message

of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's

ambassadors, as though Christ were making his

appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's

behalf, be reconciled to God. God made him who

had no sin to be sin for us, that in him we might

become the righteousness of God. The word of

the Lord. I want you to imagine for a moment

that you are a reporter in the first century.

And you're hearing this buzz about this guy named

Paul who is going around the world and he's making

a real ruckus. He's causing cities to get all

excited. He's leaving behind everywhere he goes

these little communities, these little churches

everywhere. And some people love the guy. Other

people hate the guy. And you want to know a little

bit, hey, what's the scoop with this guy? a scoop.

So what you would have to do is you would have

to kind of go around and start asking some very

basic questions. The first question you might

ask is, who is Paul? Who is he? And we talked

about this. We know that Paul was a very highly

educated Pharisee, but he was also a big persecutor

of the early Christian movement, persecutor of

the followers of Jesus, arresting them, even

having them executed. So that's who he was. Well,

then the next question might be, well, when was

this happening? Well, of course, this was happening

right around the same time that Jesus lived.

Paul would have been born right around the same

time. It was in the first century. It was in

that first generation of Christianity. And then

there's the big what question. Well, what on

earth happened to him that caused him to like

turn around and now start going around and talking

about Jesus? Well, there was a moment, especially

on the road to Damascus, as we heard, where Jesus

encountered Paul through a vision or through

a blinding flash of light and a voice. And Paul

was forever changed after that moment. And from

then on, he seemed to go out and couldn't stop

talking about Jesus. And when I say he went out,

where? Where did he go? Well, he went all over

the place. I mean, he went to Damascus, he went

to Arabia, Jerusalem, Antioch, Cyprus, Galatia,

Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Rome. He wanted...

to even go to Spain at one point. So that's the

who, that's the when, that's the what, and that's

the where. But now we've got to get down to the

real important question, and actually this is

usually the hardest question to answer of all,

and it's the why question. What was the reason

Paul did all this? What was his motive, right?

In other words, why did Paul do... What he did.

I mean, why did he travel so far? Why did he

go around all the world? And why? I want to get

to the question why today. Why did he endure

all that he endured? I mean, and he endured a

lot. Paul himself would later tell us, hey, listen,

I was beaten not once, not twice, three times

with rods. I was pelted with stones. You know,

I was shipwrecked three times. Who gets shipwrecked

three times, right? He was in danger from rivers,

in danger from bandits. He was sleepless. He

was cold. He was hungry. He was tired. Why, though?

What could possibly motivate a person to keep

this up, right? Why live this way? Why did Paul

do what he did? But here's another why question

we have to ask. Why did it work so well? I mean,

there were a lot of religious movements in Paul's

day. There were a lot of philosophers and teachers

who came and went, came and went. There were

even messiahs who came and went. But what Paul

seemed to be doing seemed to be sticking, and

it seemed to be lasting. These communities he

was forming seemed to be growing. There were

more and more and more of them. So why? This

is a good question. Why did this movement persist

when so many other movements did not? You know,

a church historian like Rodney Stark, he asked,

well, how did a tiny and obscure messianic movement

from the edge of the Roman Empire, how did that

dislodge? paganism and become the dominant faith

of western civilization why did this why did

this work so well what was so different about

it and and that brings us maybe to the personal

question which is kind of another why well then

why are we Even here today. Like, how did we

end up in one of those little communities that

Paul started 2 ,000 years ago on the other side

of the world, mind you? Why are we still here?

Why are we still reading this man's letters?

Why are we one of those communities that he started?

Today, I just want to talk about the reason why.

I want to talk about why. The reason why Paul

kept going. The reason why it worked. The world

was changed. Maybe even the reason why your life

was changed. And I think there are, at the bottom,

two answers to that question, the question why.

I've given you some notes. You can follow along.

But let me tell you, I think, the first reason

why this all happened. It was because of the

message. It was because of the message Paul was

spreading. The reason why Paul kept going was

because Paul was utterly convinced of the message

he was sharing. And the reason why the world

was changed was because when people heard this

message, they thought it was the best message

ever. It was all about the message. The message

itself answers the question, why? Well, the question

now is, what was Paul's message? What was he

going around telling everyone? Well, first, I

want to break it down. But first, this is really,

really important. Paul was telling people about

a real event that had actually happened. He wasn't

going around and giving people religious advice.

And he wasn't going around giving people, you

know, spiritual ideas. If you wanted spiritual

advice or religious ideas, there were plenty

of people you could go to. You could go to the

Epicureans. They'd help you with your anxiety.

Or the Cynics. Or the, you know, the Stoics.

There was all these different groups of philosophers.

They could all give you different opinions and

ideas around religion and spirituality. You know,

how to find peace in your life. How to be happy.

Listen, I think Paul cared about those questions.

I really, I do think he did care about them.

But that was not the message that he was taking

to people. He wasn't announcing good advice.

He was announcing, hey, I've got good news. Something

has happened. And what? What was this thing that

had happened? Well, Paul says, here, I'm going

to tell you something that happened. You have

to hear this. You have to hear this. He probably

said, you know, you're not going to believe it,

but this is the thing. There was this guy named

Jesus, and he was crucified. He died. He died,

right? And he actually was buried. They put him

in a tomb. Dead and buried. But the third day,

the tomb was empty. And he was raised from the

dead. You're probably not going to believe us,

but he was raised from the dead. And the reason

we know he was raised from the dead, I'm telling

you news, not advice. I'm telling you something.

The reason we know is because he appeared to

people. He appeared to a whole bunch of people,

different groups of people. And I got to tell

you, he even appeared to me. Okay? That was Paul's

message. He was not giving people an opinion.

He was not giving them advice. He was describing

an event, a real event that had taken place.

Maybe this will kind of help you understand the

difference. All right. Imagine if I said, you

know, I've got a really good feeling about the

Maple Leafs this year. I do. I think, you know,

as long as they play good defense and they crowd

the net and they stay out of the penalty box,

they could go all the way. They could go all

the way. Now, that is my opinion. That is my

advice. Frankly, it's the same advice people

have been giving for the last 60 years, probably.

But now here's something different. What if I

said this? Guys, I got some news. Maple Leafs,

they got the number one pick, and they chose

Gavin McKenna, and they signed him to a three

-year deal. Now, that is something different.

That is something that actually happened. It

probably won't help them win. It probably won't

make a difference. But at least I'm telling you

something, something that really happened. I've

got real news there. And Paul had real news.

The real news was Jesus died. Jesus rose. He

was crucified. He was dead. He was buried. He

rose. He appeared. Even I saw the God, right?

Okay. In Paul's world, when big events like that

happened, they were called euangelion. or they

were called gospel, or they were called good

news. For example, let's say Caesar had just

won a mighty victory over a neighboring nation.

A herald would come running through the streets

and say, everybody, good news. Caesar's victorious.

The world is different this morning than it was

yesterday. And that is exactly what Paul was

doing. He was running around from city to city,

from country to country, saying, hey, guys, I've

got some really good news for you. It's not about

how you can be more spiritual. It's not about

a new religion that I'm starting. I'm telling

you something big has happened. and it'll change

the world forever. So that's what his message

was about. It was about something real that had

happened. But there was more to it. Because this

real thing had happened, his next point of his

message was clearly this. That meant now there

was a different king in charge. And I have to

tell you, there could be hardly bigger news in

the ancient world than when a new king ascends

to the throne. Because this meant, oh man, you've

got to change your allegiance now. You have to

change your loyalty. You've got to take commands

from someone new. And Paul's message was exactly

this. There is a brand new king. There's a new

king on the throne. And of course, you guessed

it, that king is Jesus. And that is why Paul...

calls Jesus the Lord Jesus. Now, in the Roman

world, Lord... was not just like a religious

word. It was a word used to describe masters

or rulers or kings or emperors. If you had asked,

hey, who is the Lord in Paul's day? It wouldn't

have even been a question. They would have said

Caesar. Caesar is Lord. Caesar is the king. Caesar

is the one in charge. That's the guy you give

your loyalty to. That's the guy you obey. That's

the guy you even worship. There was a whole bunch

of worship attributed to Caesar too because he

was the Lord. Into that world, Paul comes along

and says, every knee should bow and every tongue

confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I mean, just

imagine hearing this in those days. right imagine

you look around oh there's the emperor there's

the army look at these coins they've got the

emperor's face on there's there's the emperor's

temple there's statues there's the emperor's

taxes everywhere the empire was everywhere everywhere

you looked you were constantly being told who

is the king and paul walks into town and says

does he say this does he say let me tell you

about a guy who had some interesting ideas no

he walks in and says The true Lord and King of

the world has been revealed, and it is Jesus

Christ, and he reigns over all. And to say something

like this wasn't just good news. It wasn't just

big news. It was also... dangerous news because

to say that Jesus was Lord meant that Caesar

isn't. And it was treasonous to proclaim a rival

king when there already was a king in place.

But that's what Paul did. That's what his message

was. I mean, if Jesus was just Paul's personal

savior, he could have just stayed home. But Paul

knew that he was Lord. of all the world. And

with a message that big, the whole world needed

to hear about it. And I just want to pause here

for a second because this actually might get

a little bit uncomfortable for us because if

Jesus is Lord, then Christianity isn't about

just adding Jesus to your life. It means you

come under his rule. Your money, Your job, your

family, your relationships, your sexuality, your

plans, everything. It all comes under his reign.

Now you are his subject. And so the question

for us these days is not just, hey, have you

accepted Jesus as your savior? The question is,

have you bowed to Jesus as your Lord? That was

Paul's message. And that message, Has not changed

in 2 ,000 years. So a real event had taken place.

That was Paul's message. Jesus died and rose.

And a different king was now in charge. That

was Paul's message. But that led to the third

part of Paul's message. And that was this. That

therefore a new world. has begun. Oh, a new world.

I mean, come on, Rob. Isn't that a little grandiose?

No, it's not. That's exactly what Paul thought

had happened. In our reading today, Paul writes,

in Christ, God was reconciling the world. The

Greek word there is cosmos. He was reconciling

the whole world to himself. Jesus did not come,

Paul said, to rescue just individual souls from

some doomed planet. No, a brand new world. A

brand new world was being born. Elsewhere, Paul

writes this, and I don't think we fully understand

it. He says, we know that the whole creation

has been groaning, groaning. And when we think

of creation groaning, we think, oh gosh, oh,

I feel horrible. Oh, I'm done for. That is not

the kind of groaning Paul is talking about. He

is saying creation is groaning as in the pains

of childbirth, as in... Something is going to

be born. Something is coming. A new creation

is emerging. And that's exactly what he called

it. He called it a brand new creation, right?

The old is gone. The new is here. So the resurrection,

Paul says, was not just proof that there's life

behind death. Easter morning was proof that the

power of God had begun to erupt. in the middle

of the world, but that God intended to do all

of that new life, new creation, resurrection

with all of creation. Now, again, somewhere along

the line, I think Christians inherited this far

inferior view of this story that goes something

like this. The world's all going to disappear

in the end. You know, it's all going to blow

up or burn up. And so Jesus came to save my soul

so I can go to heaven. That is not the message.

That is not the message Paul proclaimed. Nobody

would have even thought that was good news. Nobody

was even asking those questions in that day.

The message was much bigger than that. It was

about a new creation. It meant God is not finished

with this world. And it also meant God... is

not finished with you either. If anyone is in

Christ, they are a new creation. Paul's saying,

Jesus didn't come to make you a slightly better

version of yourself. He came to make you into

a brand new person. Brand new person. And I suppose

he could have said, and if you ever needed evidence

to know that this is real, voila, look at me.

Exhibit A, the Apostle Paul in the flesh, a brand

new person. creation. So I hope you guys are

starting to see the why, okay? The why, right?

Why did Paul do what he did? Why did he never

give up? Why did this work so well and change

the world? Because there was no other message

like this, right? A real event that happened

in history, Jesus died and rose. A new king on

the throne, Jesus is the Lord. A new creation

that is underway. Guys, It's all begun, Paul

says. And you can see the power of that message.

Now, I just want to say this morning that I don't

know if that is the gospel that you heard or

that you've ever heard. Maybe you actually hear

today. Sometimes people are hearing it for the

very first time. And I just really hope. That

this sounds like good news to you. It should

sound like good news to you. And if it doesn't

sound like good news to me, that is good news

to you. That's on me. And perhaps I've done a

poor job explaining it or not done justice to

it. But that actually brings me to the second

answer. To the reason why, why, why did this

work? And that has to do with the messenger.

Every message. and that's a great message, needs

a messenger, right? And that's got to be a huge

reason why this good news changed the world.

It was because of who Paul was. Now, Paul would

never say, oh, you know, Christianity spread

because I was really good at this. That's never

what Paul would have said. He would have said,

it's all God from beginning to end. But come

on, come on. Right? Would a message like this

have had the same impact if it weren't for this

messenger, Paul? My goodness. Just look at Paul

just for a second and you will see why God chose

him. But first of all, first thing you'll notice

about him, Paul had relentless energy. Relentless,

right? You can actually almost feel the energy.

of paul coming off these pages when you read

it today he just never ever stops paul preaches

then he debates then he teaches then he gets

beat up in one city so he goes to another city.

He plants a church. He writes letters to those

churches. He dictates letters when he can't write

those letters. He answers their questions. He

solves problems. He raises money. He visits people.

He prays with people. He worries about people.

He encourages them. He warns them. He weeps with

them. He stays up late at night thinking about

them. He'll go to a town to create a church,

but he's still thinking of the town he came from,

and he's also thinking of the next town that

he's going to go. to a little later on. Oh, and

he has a day job. We learned last week he's a

tent maker. This guy is relentless, right? And

keep in mind, there was no Red Bull in those

days. And I found out coffee wasn't even invented

for another 1 ,500 years. He is, as N .T. Wright

says, the kind of person to whom people would

say, don't you ever sleep? I mean, he's like

Donald Trump tweeting in the middle of the night.

Like, don't you stop. Just stop. Okay, that's

a very bad comparison, but you have to agree.

You would have to at least agree with this, that

this is a big reason. for why it worked. I mean,

if you read books about how companies and organizations

got to be really successful, if you flip back

to the beginning, I guarantee you, somewhere

at the beginning, there was a person, a person

who just kept going and kept hammering away and

kept solving problems and kept persuading people

and just... kept raising resources, and kept

refusing to let go of the vision. We see it today.

And Paul was that kind of person. He didn't simply

believe the gospel. He gave his life to the gospel.

He didn't sit in Antioch and say, oh, you know,

wouldn't it be great if somebody went to Asia

Minor? He went. He didn't hear of a problem in

Corinth and say, oh, someone should write them

a letter. He wrote them a letter or two or three

even. He didn't say, oh, wouldn't it be great

if someone took the gospel to Europe? He got

on a boat and took the gospel to Europe. And

when the door closed somewhere, he went through

another door. When people rejected him, he just

moved on. Paul, come on. If you were to ask him,

he'd probably say this. I am what I am. It's

just who I am. He says, I worked harder than

all of them, but it's by the grace of God. It

was because God was with me. Notice, he says

it was all God, but yes, I worked darn hard.

Those two things were not opposite for him. And

I think that's a challenge for us too. We can

pray for people, yes. We can pray for our church

to grow, yes. We can pray for the needs of our

community, absolutely. But sooner or later, Somebody's

got to get off their butt and make that phone

call, visit that person. Somebody has got to,

you know, knock on a few doors, whatever. Because

Paul shows us that if we believe that God is

at work, then we too should be at work. Relentless,

relentless energy. Second quality, though, in

the messenger, Paul, that I think explains the

why. In this one, you're not going to like as

much. I'll put it as nicely as I can. He had

a courageous directness, but put another way,

he was bold and he was blunt and he was even

confrontational at times. Now, Paul had strong

opinions. And yes, he ticked a lot of people

off with his strong opinions. There's a reason

why as soon as he starts preaching, people want

to kill him. And even his friends knew this about

him. Example, he goes to Antioch once and he

opposes Peter to his face. This is Peter. This

is the great Peter, you know, the first bishop

of the church or first pope, right? He was an

in -your -face type of guy. He confronted magistrates.

He once confronted a magistrate and demanded

the magistrate release him. And it worked, right?

He once was in Jerusalem. A mob wanted to kill

him. He wanted to go out and talk. to them, right?

That is not a good idea, Paul, right? He shouts

at a high priest. He lectures a Roman governor.

He reprimands the churches all the time. And

actually, in one of my favorite Paul stories,

he tells the owner of a boat how to sail it.

And then when things go horribly wrong, in the

middle of a hurricane, he gets up and says, I

told you so. Like this, this is, can you see

why Paul must have been exhausting? He was blunt.

He was upfront. He was ready to say anything

he thought needed to be said. And you might not

like any of that. I think Paul personally would

have stressed me out, no doubt. But here's the

point. A mission like this needed someone with

nerve. Paul was going around telling people that

Jesus was risen from the dead, that the Lord

of the universe was here, and that a new world

had begun. And I'll tell you, if you aren't willing

to make people uncomfortable, you are not going

to get very far with a message like that. Most

of us have the opposite problem, right? It's

not that we're too confrontational or bold about

our faith. It's that we say nothing. We don't

want to make it awkward. We don't want to sound

pushy. If Jesus really is Lord, eventually that

truth is going to ruffle a few feathers. That

doesn't mean we get to be obnoxious jerks. No,

but believing the good news means that there

will come a time when you've got to say something

out loud. You're going to have to have a difficult

conversation where you're going to have to challenge

something that you see is wrong. That's what

the messenger Paul was all about, right? He was

energetic. He was bold. But I'm going to share

with you the last quality. And you're going to

be shocked maybe when you hear about this. But

there's one more thing about Paul that made this

work. And that was that he loved people. You

can say, that sounds like I'll go one step further.

And people loved him back. Actually, hard to

believe. People loved him back. So yeah, Paul

argues and loves to stick his fingers in people's

chests, but he also cries and he worries about

people and he carries these churches around in

his heart and he sends on people to check on

those that he can't be there. He writes letters

to people he misses. He longs to see them. He's

collecting money for the poor. Paul shows us

this wonderful way that you can be energetic

and still be loving. That you can be confrontational,

but you can still care. deeply for someone. You

know, if you have energy, but you have no love,

then it becomes just like ambition. And if you

have confrontation and you don't have love, well,

that becomes aggression. But Paul, he had energy.

He had boldness, but he... had it all rooted

in love love for these people listen to what

he says because we loved you so much we were

delighted to share with you not only the gospel

of god but our lives as well paul didn't just

give people a message he gave them his life he

gave them his tears he gave them his time he

gave them his friendship maybe that's why people

listen to him so much because They could tell

he wasn't just trying to win an argument, that

he wasn't just trying to get converts. He wasn't

just trying to like build his own personal brand.

No, he loved these people deep down. And people

loved him back. You know, when Paul says goodbye

to the people of Ephesus, look at the scene.

They're sitting on the beach. They're kneeling

on the beach. They're weeping. They're hugging.

They're crying. They are so sad to see him go.

They're kissing him. These people loved Paul.

And I think they loved him because Paul had loved

them first. You know, we can spend a lot of time

trying to worry if we got the message of Jesus

just right. And it is important to get the message

of Jesus right. But people don't just hear what

we say. They experience how we say it. And you

can have the right message, but be a terrible

messenger. Not Paul. He loved them and he gave

his life to them. And that brings us, I think,

back to the question this all started with. Why?

Why? Why did Paul keep going? Why did he endure

the beatings? Why did he go through all the travel,

the sleepless nights? Paul's answer was, the

love of Christ compels us. There it is. That's

the why. It's not ambition. It's not ego. It's

love. Christ loved Paul. And that love spilled

out of Paul's life. into the lives of those around

him. Love moved Jesus toward Paul on that Damascus

road, but then love moved Paul out toward others.

And that's the same love that should move us

too. Because in the end, the gospel isn't just

a message about love. It needs to be carried

by people of love. And so there you have it.

That's the why. That's the why. Why did Paul

do what he did? Why did it work? Why are we here

2 ,000 years later? It was definitely the message.

Paul believed something had happened. Jesus died

and rose. He believed a new king was on the throne.

Jesus was Lord. And he believed that something

brand new was happening. There was a new... and

the whole world needed to hear about it, but

there was also the messenger himself. That's

a big answer to the why question. Paul gave himself

to this message with boldness, with energy, and

with a Christ -like love. If we could be like

Paul, carrying the message of love as messengers

with love, then perhaps we too would see the

growth and the power of the gospel in our own

day, in our own families, in our own churches,

in our own city. I mean, we have the same message.

So may God give us the same energy and the same

boldness and the same love to go with it. Thanks

be to God. Amen.