This is one of my favorite sermons, it's also one of the ones that was rather difficult to write and even more so to preach. I've preached some variation of this sermon on multiple occasions in various churches over the years. Yet, it is something I have to constantly remind myself of. That all people are in need of the Gospel, not just the ones I like.
Pastor Glen
Who is the Gospel for?
Tonight we will continue in Acts 8.
Turn if you will to Acts 8:4-8
A few years ago I was on my way to
the post office and I saw a man walking down the street. I automatically
assumed the man was up to no good based on his appearance. He looked angry, disheveled and had the
glazed over eyes and shaky hands of an addict. As I was judging this stranger
by making assumptions concerning his lifestyle and family history the Lord
convicted me. Does this man need the gospel? Yes. Did I want to be the one that
stopped everything I was doing to give it to him? No. My own fears, my own
prejudices were preventing that. How many other people that are in need of the
gospel that would never receive it from me because of my own fear? More than I
want to consider.
I went to the post office and had
completed my errand and on my way to the next one. It was then that God brought
some old memories from 5th grade. I did not grow up with an
abundance of friends. I started 5th grade most of my friends were in
a different class then mine so I did not see them much, couple this with my
parents’ divorce, and it wasn’t a great time in my life. Yet, I did make a new
friend that year. We will call him Matt. Me and Matt had known each other for
years and were friends but in 5th grade we spent a lot of time
together during school. We had a love for Nintendo, Ninja Turtles, and Nature
Boy Ric Flair! We got along great and would partner up and challenge each other
frequently. We stayed good friends through middle school, but by high school we
never had any classes together and would just chat occasionally in the hall. Then
after graduation he went off to college and I no longer saw or heard from him. Then
it hit me. The angry man I saw walking down the street earlier was my friend
Matt. I had condemned my old friend to hell because I didn’t like the way he
looked anymore.
Acts 8:5-8 5 Then Philip went down to the[a] city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. 6 And the
multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and
seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying
with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were
paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in
that city.
Philip being sent out from Jerusalem
due to persecution went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ. Why is
this such a big deal?. Samaria was one of those areas for the Jews hated the
Samaritans and the Samaritans hated the Jews. This hatred had been going for hundreds
of years. 600 years prior, the Assyrians conquered this area of northern Israel
and deported all the wealthy and middle-class Jews from the area. Then they
moved in a pagan population from afar. These pagans intermarried with the
lowest classes of remaining Jews in northern Israel, and from these people came
the Samaritans. the Jews of that day hated the Samaritans. They considered them
compromising half-breeds who corrupted the worship of the true God. “There was
deep-seated prejudice, amounting almost to hatred, standing between the Jews
and the Samaritans.
Back in my earlier story why did I
ignore my old friend? Because of fear.
It’s easy to be afraid these days. Just
turn on the local news. Stabbings, shootings, muggings, robberies. It’s not
upstate NY or downtown LA. It’s not a far off place like the Middle East or
Africa. It’s terrifying and depressing and makes you feel hopeless. Makes you
want to lock your doors and keep a gun by your bed. It reinforces the stereotypes we have in our
minds of the people that would commit these sorts of crimes. Before you even
click on the link or watch the actual story you already know what the
perpetrator looks like don’t you? You already have that image in your head and
when you see those people in real life we do like I did and ignore them and
keep on going. We all know what parts of town to avoid what blocks to take the
long way around. Fear it’s a terrible thing and turns us into terrible people.
If anyone has learned properly to
harness the power of fear it’s the media. Fearful messages spread, especially
those that play into our anxieties. They capitalize on it, after all fear is
very lucrative. They tell us to be
afraid of terrorists, homosexuals, heterosexuals, law enforcement, criminals,
the government, illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, liberals, conservatives,
the rich and the poor, etc. etc. There’s
so much to be scared of! Finally we
shout out that someone should do something, just as long as it isn’t us.
There is nothing more contrary to
God and the things of God than fear.
2
Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and
of a sound mind.”
1
John 4:18 “There
is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.
But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
God is love. Per the above scripture
that love casts out fear. Love and fear cannot co-exist. When God redeemed us
He did so by giving us a new spirit that is to be of love, and a sound mind. Not
the paranoia that fear drives us to. There should not be a more secured
and proactive people than the church of Jesus Christ. Yet, we exist as one of
the most fearful, reactionary, and sometimes downright hateful organizations in
existence. Why? I would put to the reason is that we believe the Gospel isn’t
for everyone. Oh, we will give lip service and quote John 3:16 but we don’t
believe it. Not fully.
In the gospel of Luke. The Pharisees and Sadducees were
constantly trying to get Jesus. They wanted him to slip up in some way. So they
tried trick questions and in Matthew someone asked what is the greatest
commandment? Jesus answered and cut right
to the heart of the matter.
Matthew
22:36-40 “36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”37
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.'38 This is the first and great
commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
So what’s the difference between
loving your neighbor and loving your neighbor as yourself? We all love
ourselves. We’re very concerned about our own welfare, our own comfort, safety,
interests, health, etc. We have a hope we want to realize it. We have a desire
we want to fulfill it. We have a need we see to it that it gets met. Is that
how we treat other people? Are we even that good to our friends? Our family?
Our spouse and children? What about random strangers? This is a difficult
command. In fact it’s an impossible command. With a command so difficult you
really need to figure out who your neighbor is don’t you?
Luke
10:29 “But
he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The teaching of the day was to love
your neighbor. However, there also was a very narrow definition of neighbor. It
consisted of people that you liked. Tax collector? Not your neighbor. prostitute? Not your neighbor. Adulteress?
Not your neighbor. Criminals? Not your neighbor. Gentiles? Definitely not your
neighbor.
Jesus then answers his question, and
by proxy our question, with a parable. The parable of the Good Samaritan. In a
traveler goes on a journey and is a set upon by men of ill tent, they rob him,
strip him of his clothes, and leave him bleeding in the dirt. A priest comes
by, sees him, ignores him, a Levite sees him also and ignores him and goes
about his business. The a Samaritan sees
him and begins to aide him regardless of the circumstance or personal cost. He
tends his wounds, applying oil and win, carries him to an inn. Gives him all
the money he has to take care of him and promises the inn keeper more if more
is required. The Samaritan did this because he was his neighbor. We read that
story and are deceived by our true nature thinking we are the Samaritan when
the reality is that we are the ill intent and set upon the travelers that get
on roads we feel they should not be on.
Who is your neighbor? Everyone. The
world that Jesus died for. You know who that includes? Everyone. Annoying
neighbor? Your neighbor. Person you blocked on Facebook? Neighbor. That
co-worker you wish would quit/get fired? Neighbor. Relative you have prayed
would move to another state/country? Neighbor. Atheists trying to get all
public expressions of Christianity outlawed? Neighbor. Junkie going down the street that makes you
roll up your windows and lock your doors? Neighbor.
It’s difficult to love folks,
because love is messy. What’s the most loving thing you can do for someone?
Give them the gospel, both in word and deed. But Glen! You say. Those people
aren’t deserving of the gospel. Agreed. Neither are we. No one is.
Ephesians
2:8 “For
by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”
We so quickly transition from grace
right back to the law. “That’s not true!” You say. Sure it is. We all do it. We
have an image of what people at our church should look like. We know their skin
color, clothing choices, background, personality, sexual orientation, political
preferences, etc. etc. When they don’t immediately look like that when they
walk in the door they can either conform or walk right back out. It’s no
different than telling someone they are too sick to enter our hospital. We
can’t help you we say. The gospel is not for you. Is it any wonder the
headlines are so horrible?
When we look
at the world today we are in need of a movement of God! Racial tension,
economic instability, moral collapse, violence, terrorists, wars… it’s time we
as followers of Jesus stopped talking politics and started getting broken over
the hurt and pain of a world without God! Our solution is not coming from
Raleigh, NC. Our solution is not coming from Washington, DC. It doesn’t matter
if you are black, white, Latino, Asian, middle eastern, or European. It doesn’t matter if you are old, young, gay,
straight, male or female. It doesn’t matter where you fall on the political
spectrum the answer and the hope is not legislation, the answer and the hope is
not in some policy, procedure or election. The answer and the hope is only in
the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, because when God moves people get
changed from the inside out and it is real genuine lasting transformation.
Oh, that You would rend the
heavens and come down, that the mountains
might
quake at Your presence!”—Isaiah 64:1
As Christians, we believe that the absolute worst thing that
could ever happen has already happened. The torture and crucifixion of Christ.
We killed the one person who had never done us any wrong, that only had our
benefit in our mind. Who loved us more than anyone would ever love us. I’m here
to tell you that the absolute depravity of man cannot touch the power of the
resurrection. That there is no sinner so far from God that His grace cannot
bring him back. The Bible teaches us that the resurrection of Jesus changed the
world. Even if the world doesn’t want to admit it yet. In fact, since the
resurrection we have been on an unalterable course towards renewal and rebirth.
The power of the resurrection heals all, including our fear.
“This
is not the time for labeling, blaming, and condemning. For those of us
who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, this is the time
to speak with, compassion, confidence, and love. It is not the time to
answer every question that is asked us or accept the terms that are given to us
by the world. When the wrong question is asked, we offer better
questions. When we are given a multiple choice test, we answer in essay.
When we are asked for a clear answer, we respond with a parable.
When we are asked for a position, we give our testimony.”
Phillip got this! Phillip understood
this! Philip was driven by this! He didn’t want to go to Samaria. No Jew did.
Phillip didn’t like these people and didn’t want to be around them but Philip
loved Jesus and Jesus loved these people so Philip loved these people and loved
on these people! He went out there and meet their physical needs and their
spiritual needs! And the result? People got saved and a whole city rejoiced!
You know what none of you have ever
heard? It was that insulting comment you left on my Facebook page that really
turned my life around and I now have all the correct political views.
You know what you can hear? I came
to your church and you showed me the love of God and now I have Christ as My
Savior.
Matthew
28:18-20 “18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been
given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[a] and make disciples of
all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded
you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen”
No comments:
Post a Comment