2013 Acts #18: an exposition of Acts 11:19-30. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, September 22, 2013.
Intro:
I remember receiving a piece of mail that was typical of the mail that comes across my desk. Here was this very slick, very professional magazine quality advertisement for a dynamic seminar coming to the Tulsa area. The seminar promised, “Exciting, biblical principles that will empower your members and accelerate your growth!” The seminar teaches how you break through barriers to church growth. In explaining why I needed this seminar I was told that those who visit our church decide in the first 11 minutes whether or not they will ever come back to our church. Have you heard about “speed dating”? You get a room full of single adults (male and female). They pair off at tables and get acquainted. A bell rings every 15 minutes and they change partners. At the end of the evening they know who is worth “wasting” anymore time on. Because within that 15-minute “date” they are able to tell whether someone is worth getting to know! What do these two things have in common? They both reflect the shallowness of our culture. And they both lead to the emptiness of our age. The problem is people set up certain expectations and then expect everyone to meet their demands. These demands are increasingly self-centered. It is about what the church can do for me or what this person does for me – rather than what do I give to this relationship? What can I add to the church? What do I have that they need?
Let’s consider the church. In our “market driven” culture churches find themselves in a bidding war for consumers. You’ve got to do it bigger and better than the church down the street or you’ll lose business. If your show isn’t as good as theirs you’re not going to play to a full house. If you’re not as exciting as the next guy – you’re out of luck. It is easy to fall into the trap of unrealistic expectation. Now don’t get me wrong. I believe we ought to do everything with excellence. I believe we are to be passionate about what we do. We must be loving and accepting of all who visit us and loving and accepting throughout our community. We should be aggressive in reaching out to others with the love of Christ. We ought to be happy and excited about being together for worship. But to expect that every service and every activity and every class supply what everyone wants is unrealistic! At some point we have to stop, back off and re-evaluate our expectations. What is the church to be? What role is the church to play? How does the church accomplish the work of God?
The fact is you can, through hard work and dedication, produce the “greatest show on earth” and impress the multitudes without God’s blessing or his presence. With the right music, the right atmosphere and passion you can move the masses but is that how we are to “do” church? Is it the church’s role to move the masses? Is it the role of the church to produce results? In seeking some answers I want us to turn again to the book of Acts.
Text: Acts 11:19-30
Here we find Luke’s account of the early days in the church at Antioch. The establishment of the church in Antioch is strategic in the church’s becoming a worldwide movement. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, behind Rome and Alexandria. It was a large commercial city with a population of over 500,000. It is here in Antioch that the followers of “the Way” (Acts 4) were first called “Christians.” Antioch became the birthplace of the mission movement. It is a very important and strategic church. I’m convinced that this brief snapshot of its beginning gives us some insight into the role of the church.
As we explore this text we will discover that:
Thesis: The role of the church is to be an instrument through which God accomplishes His great work.
Exciting things were happening in the early church.
Glorious things were being accomplished.
The Lord was adding to the church daily those who were being saved.
Miracles were being performed.
But not everything was good!
There was imprisonment, persecution and martyrdom.
Yet the church marched on.
The church continued this upward progress – how?
Because it was God doing the work through the church.
The church did not have a strategic plan.
They had no program.
They conducted no demographic analysis – they walked in obedience to God.
And God did an extraordinary work through them.
It is amazing what can be accomplished with no more than the dynamic working of the Spirit of God!
There are three things that happened when God works through a church that are demonstrated in our text.
- When God works through a church He defies conventional wisdom. (11:19-21)
- When God works through a church the hearts of the faithful are refreshed and encouraged. (11:22-24)
- When God works through a church the needs of the people are met. (11:25-30)