2013 Acts #17: an exposition of Acts 10:1-11:18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, September 15, 2013.
Intro:
The add in the paper read, “Great opportunity for enterprising, energetic young man. Limitless potential – big bucks!” But the young man was more than a little disappointed when he learned the job was as a shoe salesman in a new market in central Africa. After a few weeks he sent his letter of resignation to the president of the company. The letter read in part, “You’re nuts. No one here wears shoes.” A new man took the job and within two weeks he sent an urgent telegram to the president of the company. His telegram read, “Send help – can’t keep up with the demand – no one has any shoes!” Perspective is everything. The mindset with which you approach a task makes all the difference in the world.
We have been assigned an incredible task. We are called to touch the world with the Gospel. We are called to preach the message of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. While the Gospel is “Good News” not everyone is interested in hearing it. In fact the world is becoming increasingly intolerant of our message. It used to be that many turned a deaf ear – today they are angered by our message. Now we can look at the growing hostility and be bullied into silence or we can see it as a great opportunity to give our lives for the cause. We can see the increase in secular reasoning and the increase in biblical illiteracy as sounding the end of the Christian era or we can see it as preparation for a great, sweeping revival! Already men and women are becoming disillusioned by the failed promises of secularism. The rise of Islam and various New Age and Eastern religions demonstrate the spiritual vacuum created by the bankrupt philosophies of secularism. The result is a culture filled with materialism, self-interest, moral decay and superstition. A world very much like that in which the church was born.
A world in which the church experienced explosive growth. But if we are to seize the moment – we must develop the proper mindset.
Thesis: In times of uncertainty and open hostility the church must become a mission-minded people.
I am becoming increasingly convinced that missions is a mindset.
To be effectively on mission demands that we think in those terms.
It demands that we view everything we do as missions.
It is not enough that we give and that we pray – we must go.
We must view our workplace, our schools, our neighborhoods, and our homes as mission fields.
Our text this morning is found in Acts chapter 10.
Text: Acts 10:1-11:18
This is a watershed moment – a turning point in the life of the church. Our Lord had told his disciples that they would receive power after the Holy Spirit came upon them. Then they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. God, in his sovereignty used the enemies of the Gospel to be the means of spreading the Gospel. Persecution drove the reluctant believers out of Jerusalem into Judea and then to Samaria and finally beyond.
Chapter 10 is a major turning point as it marks the Gospel’s coming to the Gentile world.
That it is a turning point is underscored by the space Luke takes to tell the story.
Up to this point the church has been a “Jewish” church.
There was great hostility and animosity between the Jews and the Gentiles.
The Gentiles hated the Jews because of their insistence on One true God.
They insisted that the gods of the Gentiles were no gods at all.
They alone knew the way of life.
The Jews hated the Gentiles because of their perversion and immorality.
This serves as the backdrop for the dramatic events of chapter 10.
As we watch the story unfold I want to point out three timeless principles that speak to the issue of being mission-minded.
- Mission-minded believers view all men as people for whom Christ died. (10:1-33)
- Mission-minded believers are driven by the hope that God has a people in every nation on Earth. (10:34-43)
- Mission-minded believers minister in the confidence that the Holy Spirit honors the preaching of the Gospel. (10:44-48; 11:15,17)
Conclusion:
Granted our world is increasingly hostile to our message. Granted people no longer seem interested in the things of God. You can see that as reason to give up or you can see it as a great opportunity.
May God grant that we become a mission-minded people.
A people who view all men as those for whom Christ died.
Who are driven by the hope that God has a people in every nation on earth.
And who minister in the confidence that the Holy Spirit honors the preaching of the Gospel.