The Risen Lord Still Cares for His Church Acts 11:19-26 051015MFinal
You remember the Fourth Commandment, don't you? "Honor your father and mother
that it may go well with you and you may enjoy long life on the earth." we do that very
thing on Mothers' Day; that's what it's for, along with Fathers' Day. Looking at that
commandment the other way around, God provides mothers (and fathers) to care for us,
especially when we are growing up. God wants us to honor and respect parents and all
authority figures he has placed over us on earth because they are his representatives
provide to bless us physically and spiritually. The most important blessing a mother (or a
father) can give to a child is the Word of God and the message about Jesus. He
provides overseers in the church to provide for us spiritually too--teachers, pastors and
the like. We're going through a time of transition in our St. Andrew congregation as last
week I announced my resignation from the public ministry. Times of change like this can
be unsettling and scary for all of us. So it's important to remind ourselves:
The Risen Lord still Cares for His Church
1. He brings growth from adversity.
2. He provides workers to encourage.
3. He cares for his workers too.
1. The early Christian church experienced phenomenal growth in a relatively short
period of time. We might even become a little envious of the success those early
attempts the spread the gospel achieved. The gospel went from a primarily Jewish
audience to one that included gentiles--non Jews. Peter's vision of the unclean animals
with the Lord's command to "kill and eat" helped with that. It was clear that the Old
Testament ceremonial laws were no longer in effect, and the gospel was intended for
people of all nations and races. The verse before our lesson shows the conclusion the
disciples had come to: “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that
leads to life.” But not all was smooth in the early church. But the risen Lord was still
caring for his church. We see how He brings growth from adversity.
Remember the stoning of Stephen, the first New Testament Christian martyr? That led to
a time of adversity in the church: On that day a great persecution broke out against the
church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and
Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to
destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women
and put them in prison (Ac 8:1-3). These Christians had been scattered at the hand of
Saul. So we read in our lesson: 19 Now those who had been scattered by the
persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia,
Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.
What happened was like the dandelions on our church lawn: when they go to seed and
the wind blows, they scatter everywhere. And there's more and more dandelions. So
here there were more and more Christians. But they weren't just coming from people
with Jewish background. Those who were scattered now went to Gentiles too: 20 Some
of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to
speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The
Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to
the Lord. Now there was cross cultural evangelism, as we would call it today. Would
they have gone to people like this had they not been scattered because of persecution?
Probably not. God used adversity to move his people onward--to grow them in their faith.
It's ironic that they had been scattered at the hand of Saul whom the Lord had since
converted to Christianity. The Lord would use this same Saul to serve Gentiles reached
as a result of his sin and persecution! The Lord is merciful...and amazing in what he
does!
He still is. We're going through adversity right now. We have financial problems. There's
going to be a pastoral change as a result of my resignation last week. Will some people
leave? I hope not, but it may happen. Will some be scattered? Perhaps. But they're
taking with them the Word of God they learned here and the talents for service they
honed here. But he can and will use adversity right here to make you stronger and to
make me stronger in faith. When we come to the end of ourselves we finally simply have
to lean on the Lord. The growth through adversity isn't always outward in numbers as it
was in the early church; it can be inward too. I already see that at St. Andrew as our
leaders are put into a position where they must lead. They're setting the spiritual tone of
prayer and trust.
2. The number of believers in the early church grew, and there was a shift from growth
among the Jews to growth among the Gentiles. Antioch was the place where a lot of the
growth was happening. And it was all from individual Christians sharing their faith with
others around them. That's how St. Andrew was founded too. In the beginning it grew in
the same way, and the best growth over the years has happened when one person
brings along another. But eventually they needed a pastor of their own. That was true in
Antioch and that was true at St. Andrew. And for each, the Lord provided. The risen Lord
cares for his church. He provides workers to encourage.
Word came to the "mother church" in Jerusalem, the place where the believers sharing
their faith in Antioch had come from originally. The church at Jerusalem decided to
answer their plea for help. They sent a man named Barnabas to be their pastor: 22 News
of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.... 24
He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people
were brought to the Lord. Barnabas was a Levite originally from the island of Cyprus.
He was one of those Christians at Jerusalem who joined in sharing their earthly
possessions with others in need. When Saul first came to Jerusalem after his
conversion, it was Barnabas who welcomed him there and helped to remove the
suspicions of those who had misgivings about this former persecutor of the church. No
wonder he sought him out to help reach more people in Antioch. Barnabas was truly a
"good man" because he was filled with faith and the Holy Spirit.
And why did the Lord send Barnabas and later Saul to Antioch? Yes, it was to preach
the gospel to more people. But that's not what our text says. Listen once again: 23 When
he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged
them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was sent to encourage
those who already were in the Lord to remain true to him. Why did they need this
encouragement? Because they must have been tempted to become discouraged.
Courage is the same as faith; discouragement is the same as doubt, or being
"unbelievish." These baby Christians needed to be built up in their faith. Barnabas was
called by God to encourage them, the same verb used to describe the Holy Spirit as a
"comforter," and the same thing the author to the Hebrews encouraged his readers to
keep going to church: Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of
doing, but let us ENCOURAGE one another, and all the more as you see the Day
approaching (He 10:25).
God provides workers in his church for the same reason today. St. Andrew has had only
eight pastors in its 120 year history. That's remarkable. Even more remarkable is the fact
that only one pastor has ever returned a call to this place. We can be tempted to be
discouraged at a time like this. We look at all the problems and it seems like God has
bailed on us. That can happen when we face difficulties in our personal lives too. Yes,
we deserve God to bail on us. Because we've bailed on him so many times. He asks us
merely to trust him, and we're often so reluctant to do it. That's why we need him. How
do we know he's not bailing on us? Look at the cross. He came here to be with us. He
came here in the flesh to live a life of perfect trust and obedience for us. He went to the
cross to carry our doubt and sin and rebellion and pay for it all. God bailed on him with
our sins. He paid for them all. Now we're forgiven. We KNOW God is still with us. And
we can see his track record, not only in Scripture in the early church, but in our
congregation's history, and in our own personal history. And he's not going to leave us
high and dry now. He's leading us forward and will provide workers to encourage.
3. That's from the church's perspective. What about from the perspective of the workers
who are doing the encouraging? Here too, the risen Lord still cares for his church: He
cares for his workers too.
He did for Saul, later to become the Apostle Paul: 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to
look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole
year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.
The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. where was Saul? He was in
Tarsus, back in his home. What was he doing there? Who knows? He had been
converted. Then he spent some three years or so in Arabia in what we might call his
seminary training directly from the Lord. He had spent only a short time in Jerusalem
with the other apostles. The Lord in his grace had saved Saul from his life of sin, and set
him apart for service, to preach his Word to the Gentiles. But for a long time, Saul saw
no "action." Then, just when the time was right God found him and used him. And
throughout his long ministry with all its difficulties and setbacks, the Lord took care of
him until he took him to heaven.
And the Lord does the same thing for his workers today. They're sinners too who can
even consider themselves like Saul "the worst of sinners." Yet God changed us and
uses us in his service. He found us; we didn't seek out places to serve from him. He
found us and called us where he wanted us. I've had the privilege of serving him in the
public ministry nearly 29 years, 23 of those here at St. Andrew. For Pastor Concha, the
pubic ministry is a second career that came about after a long, drawn out study time. But
the Lord found him and called him no less. And that same Lord will fail neither of us as
he leads us forward. He knows where we are and what he wants us to do, even if we
don't know yet. He will take care of us and his church by either sparing us difficulties that
could harm our faith, or giving us the strength to endure until he takes us home. That's
his promise, and that's his track record.
So "fear not little flock. The Lord has been pleased to give you the kingdom." He still
cares for his church. He brings growth from adversity. He provides workers to encourage
his people, and he takes care of his workers too. He will see us through. That's not my
promise; it's his! Amen.
Acts 11:19-26
The Risen Lord still Cares for His Church
1. He brings growth from adversity.
2. He provides workers to encourage.
3. He cares for his workers too.
“So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all
except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried
Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going
from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison (Ac
8:1-3).
19
Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when
Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading
the word only among Jews.
20
Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and
began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
21
The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and
turned to the Lord.
22
News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to
Antioch.... 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great
number of people were brought to the Lord.
23
When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and
encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us
ENCOURAGE one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching (He
10:25).
25
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he
brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the
church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians
first at Antioch.