2013 Acts #22: an exposition of Acts 14:1-23. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, October 20, 2013.
Intro:
Do you ever find it hard to do something unpopular? Sure, anyone can go along with the crowd. It is relatively easy to do what everybody else is doing. When you go to camp and everyone has to stop and have a “quiet time” – it is relatively easy to have quiet time. When you are with a group going from house to house visiting in the name of the church – that’s fairly easy to do – but what about when it rubs people the wrong way? What if people are not enthusiastic about it and get a little bit hateful about your doing it? What is it that enables you to keep going?
Our culture is changing. When Judeo-Christian values dominated the culture you could visit for the church and even people who didn’t go to church were somewhat apologetic about it. Not so anymore. “Don’t go. Don’t care. Leave me alone!” With the ever-increasing cry for tolerance on the part of some – it is difficult to remain faithful to our task. When we dare to proclaim that life is to be found in Christ and in Christ alone, folks get irritated. Pressure is consistently applied to silence our voice, if not through legislation then through intimidation.
How do we respond to increasing opposition? How do we respond to “mixed reviews?” There are those who gratefully embrace our message while others are put off and even angered by it. Do we get angry? Do we take our marbles and go home? Do we shove it down their throats? Just how are we to respond? For some answers let’s turn to the 14th chapter of Acts.
Text: Acts 14:1-23
Dr. Luke is telling us about the first missionary journey.
While the church at Antioch was in worship the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul.
They were “set apart” for a specific purpose – they were called to take the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Thus far the mission has had mixed reviews.
They had some success and there has been opposition.
There has been great rejoicing in receiving the good news and rage on the part of some.
Some like Elymas the sorcerer sought to exploit the power of God for his personal gain.
Others like Sergius Paulus believed.
Some begged them to stay longer and teach them more –
Others ran them out of town.
The world of Paul’s day is very much like our own. Therefore I think there are some valuable lessons for us to learn from his example.
Chapter 14 is the tale of three cities.
Three cities in the Galatian region in what is today modern day Turkey.
The Gospel is moving to Asia Minor.
Paul and Barnabas come to minister in the cities of Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.
This ministry will be profitable and dangerous.
There is both success and setback.
But through it all we are reminded that:
Thesis: When carrying out the ministry of the Church, believers must maintain a missionary zeal.
A missionary is one who is “sent”. Every one of you who is indwelt by the Spirit of God is “sent” somewhere! You have been called to take the Gospel to your world. Your Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and then to the uttermost part of the earth. This is not optional. We are his witnesses. You are a missionary and you are to be characterized by “zeal.” Passion. Enthusiasm. Webster defines zeal as an ardent interest in pursuit of something. It means to be passionate about your mission and message.
Lack of passion and zeal is not so much the problem within the church as passion and zeal for the wrong things. We are to be passionate about the Gospel. We are to be zealous for the glory of our God and the honor of the Lord Jesus.
There are three things about missionary zeal that I want to call to your attention.
- Missionary zeal refuses to be silenced through intimidation. (14:1-7)
- Missionary zeal always maintains a proper focus. (14:8-18)
- Missionary zeal remains focused on the needs of the church. (14:21-23)