A third of the world's population follow and worship a Jewish carpenter from an obscure village in the middle of nowhere who lived 2,000 years ago.
Think about that. Think about the life of Jesus of Nazareth. He never had any money, he never owned any property, he never traveled the world. He never held any kind of office or position. He had no official authority over anyone anywhere. And yet, here we are, celebrating his life. How
is that possible? Why do we even know the name, Jesus of Nazareth? By all logic in any reasonable standard, he should have receded into the obscurity from which he so briefly emerged.
is that possible? Why do we even know the name, Jesus of Nazareth? By all logic in any reasonable standard, he should have receded into the obscurity from which he so briefly emerged.
And yet, here we are. Somehow, the whole world has been touched and changed, one way or another, by the person of Jesus of Nazareth. And it all comes down to Easter. The resurrection proves that Jesus was who He said He was, God. And could do what He said He could do, anything. Because if you can predict your own death and engineer your own resurrection, you can pretty much do anything you want.
Here's another thing He said He could do. He said because He could rise from the dead, we would too, that His friends and followers would follow the pattern He established.
That's why Easter is groundbreaking for you and me. Resurrection was also groundbreaking because it's the event that launched the movement that we call the church. The church changed the world by introducing the world to the groundbreaking teaching of Jesus. Groundbreaking teaching - like it's better to give than receive. Nobody ever thought of that before. Or the groundbreaking teaching like blessing can actually come out of suffering, sorrow, and loss. Through this series, we want to rediscover the principles and teachings of the early church, the Church of the Apostles, that made it a movement that changed the world.
What did they do that was so successful? We want to know that because that's the type of church we want to be too. We want to be a movement that continues to affect and change the world, starting right here at home.
Last week, we discussed this core principle that drove the church to break new ground. This was a principle that made Peter and the Apostles brave and bold despite antagonism and adversity. They said, "We must obey God rather than people." We must obey God rather than people, a foundational principle out of which they operated. Today, we are continuing to look at what made the church so effective.
Here is one thing that made them so effective, clarity of mission and purpose. You know, whenever you see an individual or a group, a company or an organization make any kind of significant impact beyond themselves and out in the world, you can be sure of one thing. That they are crystal clear about their mission and their message. That was the Church of the Apostles. They had absolute amazing clarity about their mission and message.
Today we are looking specifically at the 13th chapter of the fifth book of the New Testament, Acts of the Apostles.
This chapter tells us all about the Apostle Paul's first of three missionary journeys, in which Paul would go far afield of the original Church setting in Jerusalem to preach about Jesus. Typically, these trips followed a template. Paul would go into a town and find the synagogue. Then he would look for an opportunity to preach in the synagogue on a Sabbath when everybody comes to church, and he would preach about Jesus. That was his mission and message.
The event that we're looking at today takes place in the region of Antioch, then a part of the Eastern district of the Roman Empire in what is now South-central Turkey.
Paul went to the synagogue, in Antioch, and he preached about Jesus Christ, he preached about Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets and promises, that everything that God promised the Jewish people, throughout the Old Testament, was fulfilled in Jesus life and death and resurrection. The book of Acts tells us that Paul and Barnabas urged the people to continue in the grace of God, urged them to continue in grace.
Grace. What's that? Well, grace is favor but it's a very unexpected kind of favor. It's favor from God. And it's a gift, it's always a gift that's freely given.
That means you can't earn it, you can't buy it, you can't work your way up to deserve it. It's unmerited. And the ground-breaking message of Easter is that God very much wants to give this gift through Jesus Christ. And that's Paul's message there, in Antioch. The story continues.
"The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered together to hear the Word of God. Everybody in town came out to hear this new message." But "When the Jewish leaders saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy and contradicted what Paul spoke." This happens over and over again, in the New Testament.
The Jewish leaders were murderously jealous of Jesus and His popularity. So they killed Him to put an end to it but, of course, their plan backfired because His popularity expanded exponentially with the preaching of the Apostles. So these corrupt leaders, next, turn their rage on the Apostles themselves.
And when Paul recognizes that, here's what he says to them. "It was necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you. But, since you reject it, you, the Jewish community, we will now turn to the Gentiles, for the Lord has commanded us saying, 'I have sent you as a light for the Gentiles.'"
Gentiles was how the Jewish people collectively referred to everyone who wasn't Jewish. And Paul was saying that it was his mission to preach Christ to the non-jewish people as well.
That was groundbreaking news to the Jewish leaders because it turns out, much to their surprise, God didn't just want a relationship with them. Instead, God sought to use the Jewish people to reach out, to form a relationship with all people. To make his point, Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah who had written, "I have made you a light to the Gentiles," All along, God's plan had been to share His grace and favor with the world.
And He revealed that plan, throughout the Old Testament, but the religious leaders lost sight of it. They knew that there was only one living and true God, but they thought He was their God exclusively.
The message of the gospel shatters this exclusivity. It insists that everyone is invited into a relationship with God, and everyone gets into that relationship in the same way, through the gift of grace. The Church of the Apostles understood that their mission was to share that message with the world. And as we've already seen, this understanding filled them with a sense of urgency, with bravery and boldness.
It led them to sacrifice over and over again in order to advance it. They sacrificed their money, their time, their energy, their comfort, and their very lives.
And here's how the story ends. We read: "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of God and many believed. And the word of the Lord spread throughout the region." But the key line there is the last line, "The word of the Lord spread." "When the Gentiles heard that there was one true, living God and that a relationship with Him was open to them, that grace and favor was available free of charge, they celebrated.
They rejoiced. And the good news spread throughout their community." So we clearly see the apostles’ mission is to tell people about Jesus.
That's our mission, that's our message, that's why we're here. And our key strategy for serving our mission and message is an axiom that we use quite a lot around here. If you've been around for the last year, you've probably heard us talk about it. We call it invest and invite. Invest and invite, it goes like this, "As individuals, we intentionally invest in relationships with people around us. In our neighborhood, in our school, community, at the office, on the soccer field.
We invest in people around us who do not know Christ and His Church, or maybe they just fell away. And then, when the appropriate time comes, and it always eventually does, we invite them to join us here at our church. Invest and invite."
It's an easy enough thing to do but there are two main reasons why we don't. One reason is that we forget. We forget how good the good news really is. It's good news that you don't have to clean up your act or be some kind of perfect person before you can step into a relationship with God and experience His grace and favor.
It's good news, that no matter your past sins or current failures, not one of them is too big for God. It's good news that grace is free. We lose sight of how good that news is and how refreshing it can be, how life-changing it can be for people in our community. We forget about people out there who are desperate to hear that good news.
The second reason, that we don't invest and invite, goes back to last week's message, we're afraid. At least we're afraid in the sense that we're embarrassed. We're reluctant. We're uncomfortable about introducing the subject.
It's true, not every person we invest in will welcome our investment or accept our invitation. Paul and Barnabas met many people who didn't want to hear what they had to say. If you keep reading this story, the religious leaders in Antioch eventually throw them out of town. But they didn't let that get them down or distract them from moving forward in their mission and their message. The christian community in Antioch began to flourish.
Is there someone you know who needs to hear the message, the good news of grace and favor? And just in case you're not sure what the answer to that question, the answer is yes.
There is someone you know who needs to hear about the message of grace and favor. Why not this week invest in them, in some way? Reach out, send an email, make a phone call, or stop by their desk. Go a little bit out of your way, extend yourself, spend time with them and, if appropriate, when appropriate, invite them to church.
In today's gospel, Jesus speaks of the work and ways of grace, precisely as an invitation. He said, "My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me." That's an invitation. Here's a groundbreaking idea, people can actually come to hear the invitation of grace and favor through you. Invest and invite. People can actually come to hear the invitation of grace and favor through you.
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