Sermon Manuscript

[Video:  “Everyday Mission - Bumper” - 0:28]

After Debbie and I were married on June 17, 2000 we began attending Indian Creek Christian Church in Franklin Township.  And over time we became more and more plugged in.  We went to church each week.  Then we joined a small group and started to develop relationships with people our age.  Some of whom we are still friends with to this day.  But we wanted to find a place to serve.  And so Debbie began helping out in the High School Youth Group and before long I was doing the same.  Our Youth Minister’s name was Shawn Case and one year he told us that he was planning to organize a mission trip over Spring Break to Mexico.  

So we both decided to go.  Our trip leader’s name was Gordon Brock.  And before we left he pulled our group together and he said, “We’re going on a mission.  And our goal is to serve the people of Mexico.  So while we’re there we might have to experience a few inconveniences and I want you to remember this phrase, ‘Flexico-Mexico’.  In other words, ‘Be flexible.’”  And if you’ve never been on a mission trip that’s good advice.  Because when you’re out of the country and living in a different part of the world you need to be flexible.  But then he said this.  He said, “More importantly, I want you to remember each and every day that while we are there we are there to serve.  So I want you to remember a second phrase.  Remind yourself and tell each other that, ‘It’s not about you.’”

“It’s not about you.”  Also a good phrase to remember.  But over the course of the next 10 days or so if I heard that phrase one time I must have heard it a thousand times!  “It’s not about you!  It’s not about you!  It’s not about you!”  We used it all the time.  We would be on the bus and someone would ask for a drink and we’d say, “It’s not about you.”  Or they’re tent would collapse and they would need some help and someone would, “Sorry.  It’s not about you.”  Or someone would say, “I really need to go to the bathroom, can I go?”  And we’d say, you guessed it!  It’s not about you!  We used that saying for anything and everything!  It’s not about you!

And it was a lot of fun.  A great trip.  We lived in tents and ate dinners around a campfire all while during the day serving the people in Mexico.  And when we returned home, before we got out of the bus, Gordon said to all of us and all of the young people that went on the trip, “Before we get out of the bus stop and think about the way you just spent your Spring Break.  While many of your friends went to Florida and spent time on the beach in comfortable hotels, you went to Mexico and lived in tents to serve people as the hands and feet of Jesus.  But by doing so you made an eternal difference in the lives of people that you met.  So remember this feeling.  Remember what it was like to use your time well and to build up the Kingdom of God.”

It was a mountaintop moment in which we all were able to really understand what a difference serving others can make.  But over time that feeling went away.  For those who have been on a mission trip you know what that’s like.  You go and you serve and you have this amazing time in which you feel completely dedicated to God and His work and His people through this tight knit community that forms.  It’s incredible.  But then you come home and get back into your normal routines.  You wake up.  Get ready.  Eat breakfast.  Go to work.  Eat Lunch.  Keep working.  Go home.  Eat dinner.  Go to bed.  And then do it all over again.  Again and again and again.  And as you do so you begin to think to yourself, “Why can’t every day be an adventure?  Why does it feel like everybody’s “working for the weekend”?  And the things I do in my everyday life just don’t have the meaning and significance that they do when I’m serving God and doing something that has taken me completely out of my comfort zone?

Well, what if I told you that it doesn’t have to be that way?  What if I told you that you and I can find meaning and significance in the daily routines, the daily tasks, and the daily conversations of life?  What if I told you that your daily life can be just as meaningful and just as impactful as those “mission trip moments”?  Because over the next four weeks we’re going to examine that concept together within a series of messages called Everyday Mission:  Learning to Live Each Day on Mission.  And throughout this series we’re going to examine four steps that we can all take in order to live each day with meaning, purpose, and intention.  So it’s my hope and my prayer that as we do so together that God will challenge all of us to see our lives differently and to help us truly, truly, truly understand what a difference we can make.

Let’s get started.  If you have your Bibles, turn with me now to the book of Acts chapter 14.  Today we’re going to be covering this entire chapter but focusing primarily upon verses 19-28.  As always, if you would like to follow along with us online you can do so by using our app.  It’s called Church Center.  Simply open it up and click on the Sunday Services button followed by Message Notes and you will find everything that you need for our time together this morning.

As you do so, let me quickly remind you that throughout this year we have been in a yearlong theme called Be My Witness where together we are learning about how we can make a difference for Jesus and be better witnesses for Him.  And if you’ve been with us over the course of this year you know that we’ve been examining many passages within the book of Acts to learn how to be better witnesses for Jesus.  That’s because the word “witness” is found over 30 times within this book.  And in Acts 1:8 Jesus had told His disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  In fact, most recognize that as a good outline to the book of Acts.  Because all throughout the book we see God’s people or the Church witnessing to others.  It began on the Day of Pentecost when Peter preached and 3,000 were saved.  They became the Church.  And from there the disciples and the Church began to witness to more and more people so that more and more were saved.

Eventually a man named Saul was converted who became the Apostle Paul.  And in Acts chapter 13 Paul and another man named Barnabas are sent by a church in Antioch on their first missionary journey.  The first of three that the book of Acts records.  And when they leave Antioch they first go to Cyprus which was an island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Israel and south of modern-day Turkey.  And while they were there they preach the Gospel and many are saved but a magician named Bar-Jesus tries to stop them and so Paul gets angry and tells the man that he will be blinded for a time.  And he was.  An amazing miracle.  Paul then leaves and travels to other places in Asia Minor or Turkey.  Each time he speaks to both Jews and Gentiles and while many believe many do not.  And those that do not try to persecute Paul and Barnabas.  And eventually they will.  Because in chapter 14 Paul goes to a place called Iconium and the Bible says that he preached the Gospel and many were saved.  But others were upset.  There’s even an attempt to stone Paul so he flees to two other cities named Lystra and Derbe.  And in Lystra he heals a crippled man who had been crippled from birth.  This man was listening to Paul preach and believed Paul.  So Paul said, “Stand up on your feet!”  And he did!  Amazing!  And so was the response.  Because the people then say, “The gods have come down and taken the form of man!”  And they call Barnabas Zeus who was king of the gods in Greek mythology and the ruler of Mount Olympus.  They call Paul Hermes because he was the child of Zeus who was the “fleet-footed messenger of the gods.”  Then the people and the priest of Zeus try to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas.  And they were barely able to keep them from doing so.

So Paul and Barnabas are called “gods” and being treated as gods in chapter 14, verses 8-18.  But check out what happens next.  Because everything changes.  Verse 19 says:

19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in Syria 24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, 26 and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they remained no little time with the disciples.

Alright.  So notice what happens here.  Paul and Barnabas had been called gods and the people were ready to offer sacrifices to them but when Jews came from Antioch and Iconium (places where they had been previously) they persuaded the crowd to stone Paul!  So what is going on here?  Well, what seems to have happened here is that the Jews convinced the people that Paul and Barnabas are no “gods”.  They’re phonies, fakes, and frauds.  People who are like magicians who have played some sort of “magic trick” on the people.  And so they convinced the people that Paul and Barnabas had fooled them.  To the Jews they were “false prophets” and the Law of Moses said that false prophets should be executed.  They should be killed.  And while the Law of Moses, particularly Deuteronomy 13:1-5, didn’t specify how they should die stoning was a typical means of capital punishment.  So they convince the crowd and say, “Listen.  These guys are not deities!  These guys are deceivers!  They’re pretenders, phonies, fakes, and frauds!  We call them false prophets and our Law says that they deserve to die!”  

And so they take Paul, because he had been the primary speaker and the one who had performed the miracle, and they drag him out of the city and stone him.  Leaving him for dead.  But interestingly verse 20 says that when he came to himself and got up that he went back into the city!  Imagine that.  Paul’s just been stoned but he’s not unwilling to go back into the very city where it first began.  Verse 21 then says that on the next day he left Iconium and went to Derbe where he continues to preach!  So he’s not afraid to go back into the very place where he was stoned and he’s not afraid to keep doing that which got him stoned!  Paul was “unphased” by this persecution.  Amazing!  And we read that after he preached the Gospel there that he went back to the cities where he had previously preached and made disciples.

But why?  Well, the answer seems to be that he knew when the word spread that the very person who led you to Christ was stoned that the believers would be discouraged.  They might even turn away from the faith.  So Paul went to speak to them and encourage them.  Verse 21 says that he was “strengthening the souls of the disciples” and “encouraging them to continue in the faith.”  And notice what message Paul gave to them to encourage them?  He told them that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”  In other words, Paul did not give them a “health and wealth” message.  He did not say, “Don’t worry.  If you follow Jesus you will always be healthy and wealthy and successful because God wants you to be rich!”  No, no, no.  Paul said just the opposite.  He “encouraged” them by saying, “Listen.  Trials prove who we are.  Trials are necessary to demonstrate our faith.  And the trials and tribulations we face are like doors or pathways through which we will enter the kingdom of God.”  Interesting.  As a side note, Paul recognized that the Kingdom of God was not a future concept.  It existed in his day and people entered into it in his day.  It was available to all and all who believed in the Gospel and responded to Jesus entered into it.  But because Jesus had to suffer those who enter His Kingdom will have to suffer too.

Paul and Barnabas then appointed Elders in every church.  Elders are always the primary leaders of the local church.  Churches who do not have Elders are not following Paul’s example and God’s instructions for how He wants to organize the church.  Churches are not to be led by church boards or other forms of governance.  Elders are to be the primary leaders.  So Paul and Barnabas appointed these leaders at every church.  We’re not told how they did it other than with prayer and fasting.  Later we read in Paul’s writings to Timothy and Titus the qualifications he used for choosing Elders but we never read about Paul’s specific process.

We then read that Paul and Barnabas traveled to several other cities in Asia Minor and eventually came back to Antioch, the church that had sent them, and they spoke to the church about everything that had been done including how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.  Which was the work that God had called them to do at the beginning of chapter 13.  Because it’s there in verse 2 that we read that while the church had been worshipping and fasting that the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  And what was that work?  To bring the Gospel to the Gentiles.

And they did.  They lived that out.  Each and every day.  They understood that every place they visited and every person they spoke to was important.  Because they were on a “mission from God.  God had called them to go and to preach and to teach and to make disciples within that part of the world” and they did so.  They obeyed.  And as they did so they developed what we might call a “mission mindset”.  Paul and Barnabas had a mission mindset.  A mindset which said “no matter where we go and no matter what we do we must always, always, always remember that we are doing what we do for Jesus.  We are on mission.”

And I believe the same thing is true for us.  If you and I want to learn how to live each day on mission we are going to have to change our mindset.  We’re going to have to learn how to think differently.  And so this morning I want us to think about that and how we can develop this type of a mindset.  Because I believe that you and I can develop a mission mindset by practicing what I will call four “habits”.  These are practices that we see Paul and Barnabas doing that we can do too.  Four habits that we can practice in order to develop a mission mindset.

The first one is this:  Pursue the lost in prayer.  Paul and Barnabas left Antioch in chapter 13 and traveled to Cyprus and Asia Minor all in an effort to pursue the lost.  They knew that in that area of the world there was no one who knew Jesus.  No one had ever heard the Gospel.  They were all lost and all in need of hearing the Good News and life transforming message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They were all lost and so they went.

And we can do the same by pursuing the lost first in prayer.  In other words, change the way you think about your prayer life.  Don’t just use your prayer life to speak to God about what’s happening in your life.  All of us do this and all of us should do this.  However, we need to speak to God about those who are not saved.  That friend from school or co-worker at work or family member who used to go to church but now doesn’t or that neighbor who wants nothing to do with God.  We need to pursue them in prayer.  Like a missionary.  Go to God and speak to Him about those people.  Tell God about their need to hear the Gospel in order to understand about Jesus and to give their lives to Him.  Speak to God about your friends and family members and loved ones and even casual acquaintances who simply do not know God.  Paul and Barnabas pursued the lost.  We need to do the same every day in prayer.  So pursue the lost in prayer.

Second, intentionally share your faith.  I want to emphasize that word “intentionally”.  Paul and Barnabas were intentional about sharing their faith and preaching the Gospel.  They went to Cyprus.  Then to Antioch and Iconium and Lystra and Derbe.  At each point they intentionally spoke to the Jews in the synagogues and the Gentiles in the public squares.  They didn’t just say, “God, give me a person to speak with.”  They went to people and spoke.

And the same is true for us.  When you and I speak to others we need to intentionally speak about Jesus.  We need to intentionally bring Him into the conversation.  We need to intentionally talk about what He is doing in our lives.  We need to intentionally share what we see Him doing in other lives.  We need to intentionally change the conversation when it’s going off track so that we can intentionally speak about Jesus.  Now, we don’t want to “force” conversations because that can cause people to quickly turn away.  However, if we are not intentional in our conversations and just say, “Lord, give me someone to speak to about you today” we may find God saying at the end of the day, “Hey, I brought that co-worker to you and that waitress to you when you went to lunch and that mechanic when you dropped your car off.  So why didn’t you speak to them?”  Paul and Barnable were intentional in sharing their faith.  We must be too.

Third, be willing to experience rejection.  Be willing to experience the pain and suffering that comes from people shutting us down and stopping us from talking or even trying to hurt us.  Paul and Barnabas were both threatened in Iconium and Paul was stoned in Lystra.  And I was thinking about that recently.  I mean.  If Paul and Barnabas were willing to be stoned?  To have people throw stones at you over and over again to the point that you nearly die, then what are we willing to face?  What are we not willing to do?  Rejection and persecution is hard.  It’s not fun.  Following Jesus will often lead to rejection in many forms.  We can be rejected verbally.  We can be rejected relationally.  We can be rejected socially and culturally.  We can be rejected professionally or even financially.  But we must be willing to experience it all if need be.  Paul encouraged the churches who heard about his stoning by explaining to them that we “enter the Kingdom of God” through our trials and tribulations.  That was true then and it’s still true today.  You and I will enter into the Kingdom of God through our trials.  Through our suffering.  Because when we experience pain and suffering and rejection for Jesus we are identified with Him.  And we find out what our faith is truly made of.  Paul and Barnabas were willing to experience rejection and we should be too.  So be willing to experience rejection.

And then fourth and finally, report to others what you learned.  I think it’s important that when Paul and Barnabas returned from their mission trip to the church in Antioch that they sat them down and told them everything that had happened.  The church would have been encouraged to hear of the many, many, lives that had changed.  They would have been encouraged to hear of how the Gospel had been preached within many cities and many contexts and been able to turn the hearts of both Jews and Gentiles.  They would have been encouraged to hear about the statements of faith and actions taken in faith.  The people who believed and were baptized.  The people who were healed miraculously physically and spiritually.  Story after story after story.  They would have been encouraged to hear all that God had done.  And they would have been challenged to live out their faith in Antioch like Paul and Barnabas had done in Asia Minor.

The same is true for us.  When you report back to another believer about how that invitation to church went or that conversation over lunch went or that presentation of the Gospel at work went it encourages other believers.  It encourages other members of the church and leaders within the church.  It encourages all of us.  And it challenges all of us to do the same.  To live out the same convictions.  So don’t be afraid to tell people what you’ve been doing and how you’ve been working on a particular person.  Report to believers.  Tell those stories.  Be like Paul and Barnabas.  Because your reports encourage and challenge all of us to follow in your example.

So there’s four habits.  Four habits we can practice daily to truly learn how to live on mission and develop a mission mindset.  Habit #1:  Pursue the lost in prayer.  Go to God and speak to Him about people who need Jesus.  Habit #2:  Intentionally share your faith.  Don’t just look for opportunities and wait.  Make things happen.  Habit #3:  Be willing to experience rejection.  It will happen.  That’s OK.  None of us like it but all of us will experience it.  Be willing to endure that for Jesus.  And then Habit #4:  Report to others what you learned.  None of us are perfect in the way we reach people for Jesus.  All of us have areas we can learn in.  And when we share what we’re doing it encourages and challenges other believers.  So let’s do that together!

Let’s develop a mission mindset and learn to live each day on mission.  Because people need Jesus and God is counting on us to live on mission for Him.  And you never know how close or far a person truly is to accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  It’s a lesson all believers need to learn.  Including Pastors.

John Ortberg is a former Pastor and current Christian author and speaker.  And he tells the story of an interesting encounter that he had with a young man named Steve at a banquet.  He said that he was sitting at a table with a group and there was one empty chair.  So a young man who was a smooth talker came and sat in the chair right next to John and on the other side of this man was an attractive woman.  As the young man sat down he said to the woman, “Well, what have you been doing here except turning the heads of everybody in the room?”  To which John Ortberg then replied, “Well, just eating lunch.”  Everyone laughed.  And this led to an interesting conversation which eventually turned spiritual.  And at one point John Ortberg said that he was part of a church for people who don’t like church.  The young man then said, “That’s interesting.”  And told him about his background and upbringing.  About how he had grown up Jewish but had no real involvement in that faith beyond age 12.  He had been to a Unitarian church a couple of times and been divorced three times.

Ortberg went on to say, “If I had to assess someone based upon one conversation who was a far away from Christ as could be it would be this guy.”  But he invited Steve anyway.  Never expecting to see him again.  But to his surprise he came the next week.  Sat in the front row and afterwards was given a New Testament.  He began reading 20 or 30 pages every day.  And he came back the next week.  And the next week.  Then he started thinking about making a decision for Christ.  It would be a costly one because of his background and his family had said that if he ever gave his life to Christ that he would be dead to them.  But he finally did so.  He said “Yes” to God.  And the last time John ever saw him he was with his friend.  He hugged John and then turned to his friend and said, “I want you to meet the person who helped bring me to Jesus.”

Those are beautiful words.  “I want you to meet the person who helped bring me to Jesus.”  Words that we all want to hear spoken of us and spoken by people we know and love who come to know Jesus because of what they have seen in us and heard from us.  And I believe these are words that will be spoken of us when we learn to live each day on mission.  And the first step we need to take is to develop a mission mindset by practicing habits which will help us to pursue the people we know who desperately need Jesus.  Like Paul and Barnabas did.  So let’s do that together.  Let’s do that this week.  Because…

When we practice habits which pursue the lost we will develop a mission mindset.

Let’s pray.

[Prayer:  For God to help us to develop a mission mindset within our lives.]

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