WHY ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN?
Acts 13: 44-48
04/21/13 © Dr. Ronald W. Scates
I keep a case of books up in my office. There’s only one title in the case. It’s this book by our dearly departed friend John Stott,
“Why I Am A Christian.” It’s a good book for non-Christians to read. It’s a good book for those who are on the fence. It’s a good book
for long-time disciples to read. In this book, Uncle John really shares from his heart the winsome and compelling things that have
drawn him on the path of following Christ. If you’d like a copy, I’d be glad to send you one; just let me know. That question, “Why am
I a Christian?” that’s a good question that we all ought to ask ourselves every once in a while. A great question!
Perhaps some insight into an event in the early church will help you and me answer that question. I mean, why are you here
this morning? On this 4th Sunday of Easter, let’s take a look at an incidence in the early church. Let’s see if that might shed some
light on why you and I are Christians.
I invite you to turn with me in your bibles to the Book of Acts, the 13th chapter and let’s take a look this morning at verses 44
through 48. And I invite you to pray with me before we read. Holy Spirit, open our hearts and minds now to Your Word that we might
clearly understand it, that we might gratefully receive it and that we might faithfully apply it to our lives. For Jesus’ sake! Amen.
And now, if you’re able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word this morning, as we find it in the Book of Acts, the 13 th
chapter, beginning to read at verse 44:
44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they
were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly,
saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of
eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed
to eternal life believed.
Please pray with me again! And now Father, as my words are true to Your Word, may they be taken to heart but as my words
should stray from Your Word, may they be quickly forgotten. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. Please be seated.
From here on out, you and I and HPPC and the entire Western church, really need to spend a whole lot of time in the book of
Acts. In fact, I would urge every Sunday School class, every Small Group bible study, to make mastering the Book of Acts a priority.
Why? Because I believe that the 21st Century is now becoming more like the 1st Century than any century in between. If you look
around you, you will see that we are now plunged into a religiously pluralistic culture where sexual licentiousness and anarchy are
raging unbridled, where biblically-orthodox Christians are becoming a shrinking minority. At best tolerated, more frequently being
mocked, verbally harangued and persecuted in a variety of ways.
At your next cocktail party, say something like this: “I believe Jesus is the only way to salvation.” 40 years ago, that would
have drawn a yawn. Now, go ahead, I dare you! Do that and then come back and tell me what happens. Maybe a ruckus will ensue.
Well, a ruckus had ensued around the synagogue there in the 1 st Century Mediterranean town of Pisidian Antioch. Verse 44 of
our text tells us that the previous Sabbath, the Apostle Paul, who was accompanied by his sidekick Barnabas, they were on a leg of
their first missionary journey and Paul has preached a barn-burner of a sermon in the synagogue and the word has gotten out on the
street and now a Sabbath later, a crowd is gathering around the synagogue.
In fact, Luke tells us that almost the entire city shows up for church. Now what if that happened on one Sunday here in Dallas?
Not likely! Though it’s accurate statistics that on any given Sunday, somewhere around 17.7% of people are in church. That means
that 4 out of 5 people are not. Do you think Dallas is better than that or worse? I don’t know. I haven’t seen a stat on Dallas.
Let me tell you about San Francisco. Easter Sunday 2013, what percentage of the population in San Francisco do you think
was in church on Easter Sunday? 2%
My friends, Christendom is gone in America. It’s like the 1st Century all over again. Ah, but those regular synagogue attenders
there at the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, they are up in arms about this crowd that the Apostle Paul has drawn. Not so much
because they’re afraid that somebody’s going to take their pew, no those folks aren’t allowed in the synagogue—only Jews. Now
they’re really angry at Paul. They’re really upset at Paul and Barnabas because, well, Paul and Barnabas aren’t like them. They’ve
been dining on a regular diet over the years of sermons talking about a coming Messiah and lo and behold, Paul and Barnabas show
up and Paul has preached his sermon last week and now he’s out in the streets preaching another sermon, saying that the Messiah
has arrived. Not only that—this Messiah has been crucified, dead, buried and then lo and behold, bodily raised from the grave. And
the Jews are rather jealous the text tells us of this crowd that Paul has drawn. I mean, how are they going to follow Paul in the pulpit.
I have to confess that I feel a little bit of that intimidation here this morning myself as I am now following our pastoral intern
Charlie Dunn who I hear knocked-it-out-of-the-park here in this sanctuary last Sunday.
But really, what makes the Jews so hopping mad at Paul and Barnabas is this crowd that they’ve attracted is all the wrong kind
of people. Goyim—unclean Gentiles. I can imagine the Jewish synagogue leaders running around and going, “Stop it! Stop it! Stop
it! Jesus is not the Messiah. He’s not risen from the dead. All of you, get out of here. Go away!” Which brings us back to our original
question: Why are you and I Christians?
Well, the first answer to that question comes in verse 46 of our text where Paul and Barnabas remind the Jews that God’s plan
of salvation was to always bring the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews first.
And so, these Jews that are reviling Paul; Paul and Barnabas remind them: “Wait a minute. We came to you with the gospel
first.” To the Jew first! Wherever Paul and Barnabas went on their missionary journeys, they always began by preaching in the
synagogues.
And then Paul stands his ground and says, “But you rejected the gospel. You have judged yourselves as unworthy of eternal
life.” And so now Paul and Barnabas swing wide the doors of eternal life to anybody and everybody who will come to Christ. They
quote Isaiah 46:9 which talks about God’s original plan of salvation always being a worldwide globalized plan. But they bring it to the
Jew first.
That’s why I am a big supporter of Jews For Jesus and Chosen People Ministries and any other evangelistic outreaches to
Jews around the world. My friends, winning a Jewish person to faith in Christ is not anti-Semitic. Withholding the gospel from them
is.
Paul and Barnabas are Jews. Jesus is a Jewish Messiah. But Paul and Barnabas citing that verse from Isaiah, there in verse 47
of our text, reminds you and me that though the gospel is for the Jew first, the gospel is not only for the Jew. It is a global, universal
gospel for everyone. That’s we at HPPC locally, globally, (someone has coined the word, ‘glocal’) we are a glocal, missions-driven
congregation.
My friends, the good news of the gospel is that faith is not an exclusive religious club for Jews; it’s a relationship, a personal
and corporate relationship with a Jewish Messiah who has also died for Gentiles. And that’s why you and I are Christians. I doubt
that few, if any of us here in this sanctuary, are of Jewish ethnicity.
You and I need to thank God every day for that day, back in 1 st Century Pisidian Antioch, when Paul and Barnabas throw wide
the door open for the Gentiles. Personally I’m very grateful for those missionaries in the 6th Century, whoever they were, that took
the gospel of grace to some barbaric pagan sun worshipping clans in Scotland, otherwise I might not be here.
Now the second reason why you and I are Christians is that we are not Christians by accident. In verse 48 of our text, we see
that these goyim, these Gentiles, who’ve gathered there at the synagogue to hear Paul preach, when they hear that the gospel, that
eternal life is not just for the Jews but for them too, they literally jump out of their seat and they are rejoicing. There in that last verse
of our text, Luke, who’s the writer of the Book of Acts, says, “And then those who were appointed to eternal life believed.” Those
who were appointed to eternal life believed. Not everybody there believed. Those who were appointed.
Now it may seem like it but no one stumbles into the kingdom of God by accident. The word that Luke uses there for
“appointed;” it’s the Greek word, “tasso.” It literally means “ordained.” In other words, those who were ordained by God wound up
believing in Jesus.
Why are you and I Christians? You become a Christian when God ordains you. A synonym for that word is “choose” or “elect.”
Christians are folks that God has chosen or ordained or appointed or elected to Christ. You see, my friends, faith in Jesus Christ is a
gift. You and I don’t give ourselves gifts. Gifts always come from outside of ourselves. We don’t originate a gift. We don’t generate a
gift. It’s a free gift of grace or it’s no gift at all.
Recently somebody told me that a local pastor was slamming Presbyterians in his pulpit one Sunday morning because we
believe in the horrible doctrine of election, of this controlling God who actually chooses those whom He saves instead of believing
in the uncontrolling God who leaves everybody’s salvation into their own hands, to make whatever choice they want. You know, that
latter thing sounds kind of good, because we want to be in control. We want to make our own choices. Sounds really good until you
think it all the way through! I mean, if where you and I spend eternity is the most important consequence of life and death, do you
really ultimately want your salvation in your hands rather than in God’s hands? I’ll opt for the latter. Not because that’s ultimately
most comforting and assuring, because it is. I mean, think about it, I used to play football and every once in a while I fumbled. God
never fumbles.
But mainly, I believe that because from Genesis to Revelation, the Scriptures are clear that God loves you and me so much, too
much, to place something of such eternal importance into merely our sinful foible fumbling hands.
No, no, no—I go with the Sovereign God who appoints. Now, a 3rd why, as to why you and I are Christians, is all about what
we’ve been appointed and elected and ordained and chosen for.
Go back to that verse 47 again where Paul and Barnabas quote Isaiah 49:6. You and I have been appointed to believe in Christ
in order to take the light to everyone else around the world. Now the light’s not us. No, we only reflect the light, the Light of Jesus
Christ who dwells in us when we receive the gift of faith. But we’re to take that light, Isaiah’s really saying we’re to like a lighthouse;
that the light of Jesus Christ ought to be reflected through our lives to others.
Summer is coming! That means fireflies—lightning bugs. I remember when I was a little kid, we’d capture lightning bugs in a jar
and punch holes in the lid. And put it in our room at night; it’d make kind of a cheap nightlight. But you know what I learned? I
learned that if you don’t let those lightning bugs out of there soon, their lights die.
What about you and me? If we’re Christians, is the light of Christ shining through us to others? If not, how come? Is it because
of the politically correct pressures on us to turn down our light or snuff our light out about Jesus being King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, the only way to salvation?
Go back and look at this text. Paul and Barnabas stand their ground. They do not shrink back even when the culture is
pressing in on them and neither must you and I.
That reminds me of a story of a naval admiral who was on the bridge of an aircraft carrier. They were out in the middle of the
ocean and it was the middle of the night and a storm was raging all around them and in the darkness, suddenly the admiral sees the
light of another ship coming directly toward them. So he gets on the radio and he radios that ship and he says, “Advise, change your
course.” The radio message comes back from that ship, “Advise you to change your course.” The admiral sends another message
and he said, “I know where I’m going. You apparently don’t. Change your course.” The message comes back, “You may think you
know where you’re going but you probably don’t. Change your course.” The admiral is getting hot right now. He radios another
message. He says, “I have spent most of my adult life at see in the US Navy. I know how to navigate these waters. Change your
course.” The radio message comes back, “I’ve only been in the navy 6 months but you better change your course.” Man, he’s really
getting livid now and he decides to pull rank. He radios, “I am an admiral in the US Navy, I order you to change course.” The radio
message comes back, “I am an ensign in the US Navy, I order you to change your course.” Well, he’s about had it. One last message
he radios, he says, “This is an aircraft carrier of the US Navy. Change your course.” The message comes back, “This is a lighthouse.
Need I say more?”
My friends, we’re not to change course. You and I are lighthouses for the Lord Jesus Christ, to let our light shine through.
This week has been utter horror—between Boston and West. I don’t know the spiritual state of anybody that’s died in either of
those places. I don’t know if they were prepared to enter eternity. I do know this—that God had placed around all those people
Christians who were to let their light shine into the lives of those people. I don’t know if they did or not. The question is: Ron Scates,
are you letting your light shine?
I don’t what our fate is tomorrow. Are you letting your light shine with the light of Christ into the lives of others?
That 19-year-old young man, who was a student at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, sort of an international student,
wasn’t he? I wonder if any Christians on that campus tried to befriend him.
Do you know there are 200 people in our congregation connected with 200 international students at SMU who are shining the
light of Jesus? What if a Christian had shined the light of Christ into the life of that 19 year-old young man, maybe, I don’t know,
maybe it would have just been another Boston Marathon.
Are you letting Christ shine through you? No matter what the culture is saying? No matter how much they pressure you, are
you a lighthouse for the Lord Jesus Christ? People’s lives may depend on it.
In the name of the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen!