Pastor Tim Patoka
Joy For Our Journeys #9 September 1, 2019 Missionary Journeys Acts 13:1-5, 13-15, 26-41 1) Know The Good News’ Focus 2) Share The Savior Of All With All
There are times when you have some news that is so good, you can’t keep it to yourself. When Pastor and Debbie Koehler became grandparents, it was the talk of the office. We all got to hear how their grandson Roman was born by flashlight along with all the other joys of it. When a person has a successful surgery or recovers from health problems, word gets out about the good news. Good news also gets out if you manage to get a free fire pit. My wife and I discovered a policy at Home Depot that if you try to buy something they no longer carry, have on their website, or have a price for it in their system, they let you walk out with it for free. We can’t help but share good news with people. The Bible has its own good news which is better than anything we could think of. It’s about God’s love which he shows to all people through his Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. These past few weeks we’ve looked at Jesus go on a number of journeys so that he can tell us the good news that we are forgiven. But today we get to see a different kind of journey, a missionary journey that the Apostle Paul went on to tell other people the Bible’s good news. As we look at how he shared it in a sermon, we’ll learn what makes the Bible’s good news truly good and also be reminded to share the Savior of all people with all people. 1) Know The Good News’ Focus The year is 47 A.D., about 15 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and we find some Christians worshiping together. They are in Antioch of Syria, just west of Aleppo which made headlines a few years ago during the Syrian civil war. While they are worshiping, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:2) After a short commissioning service, Paul and Barnabas begin their first missionary journey. They go to the port town of Seleucia and catch a boat to Cyprus, a large island in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. They make their way across the island, sharing God’s Word and converting a high-ranking official, and get to another port town called Paphos. From there they sail north to modern-day Turkey and eventually make their way to a city called Antioch of Psidia which was an important city in the region. The majority of our verses for this morning feature Paul’s sermon. In the Jewish synagogue, he recalls what happened earlier in Jerusalem when Jesus was unjustly condemned, crucified, and buried. As Paul is sharing this, note how often he goes back to the Old Testament Scriptures. When the people of Jerusalem and their rulers were mistreating Jesus, they were unknowingly fulfilling the statements of the Prophets which are read almost every Sabbath Day. 1
Pastor Tim Patoka
Joy For Our Journeys #9 September 1, 2019 Paul quotes from Psalm 2(:7) to show that this crucified Jesus is the Son of God who fulfills another prophecy given through King David in Psalm 16(:10) – that Jesus would never see decay because he was risen from the dead. Like any good speaker, Paul doesn’t want to lose his audience in the details. So he summarizes his whole sermon with these words, “So, gentlemen, brothers, let it be known to you that through this Jesus forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you, also forgiveness from everything from which you could not be justified through the law of Moses. In this Jesus, everyone who believes is justified.” (Acts 13:38-39) As much as these synagogue worshipers tried to follow the law of Moses, they could never do enough. The only way they could be justified, that is, to be just-as-if-I’d never sinned, was through faith in Jesus. Out of all the things that Paul could have mentioned in his sermon, why did he focus it on this one truth – on us being justified through Jesus? Paul knew a lot more about the Christian faith and could have shared any part of it. But rather than talk about the lesser things, Paul kept the focus on what the Bible’s news good news – Jesus and the cross. How well do we keep our focus of the good news on Jesus and the cross? Sometimes we focus too much on the gospel, on what because of the cross. We mistakenly characterize God as an loving grandparent whom we can push over to get whatever we want. We can say that because God is love, he won’t punish anyone for their sins nor is there an urgency to believe in the good news about Jesus and the cross. But by doing this, we ignore Jesus’ strong words of warning from Luke chapter 10(:1-16) and minimize the price Jesus paid on the cross. Or we can go the other way and focus too much on the law, that list of do’s and don’ts. We make God into yet another lawgiver who expects the impossible from us and then holds it against us. What makes this dangerous is that then our eyes fall away from the cross and start to focus on ourselves, and that’s never a good thing. Rather than overly focus on the law or the gospel, let us instead focus on Jesus and the cross. For when we do that, we see how both law and gospel work together so that we can best appreciate the Bible’s good news. Both of them are needed. The law reminds us every day that we need a Savior and explains why Jesus died on the cross. The gospel shows us that we have a Savior who paid our price for us and that by his death and resurrection, we are completely justified. Paul knew that both law and gospel are necessary to understanding the Bible’s good news. And we see Paul using both of them in his sermon. He shows the synagogue worshipers their sins by referring to their inability to keep the law of Moses and how unbelieving people put Jesus to death as prophesied in the Old Testament. He shows the synagogue worshipers their Savior who purposefully did whatever was prophesied so that he can give us justification 2
Pastor Tim Patoka
Joy For Our Journeys #9 September 1, 2019 and forgiveness. Jesus and the cross is what makes the Bible’s good news good for us. And as such, that is what we focus on when sharing the good news. Everything in the Christian faith leads up to it and everything stems from it. That’s why Paul focused his sermon on this one teaching, “In this Jesus, everyone who believes is justified.” (Acts 13:39) Nothing else can give us such good news. 2) Share The Savior Of All With All The Apostle Paul shared this good news wherever he went on his missionary journeys. He did so in Turkey on this 1st journey. He did so in Turkey, Greece, and Israel on his 2nd and 3rd journeys. He did so in Israel, Crete, Malta, and Italy on his 4th journey. And he may have done so in Spain and other areas later on. He met many kinds of people too – Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor and middle classes, those new to or outside of the faith, and believers needing encouragement or discipline to remain in the faith. He wanted to share the Savior of all people with all people. Do we likewise have an all-encompassing attitude like Paul did? Sometimes we withhold the Bible’s good news from certain people because we feel uncomfortable around them. We don’t have the same experiences or background as another person. We find it hard enough to have small talk, let alone the God talk. We know people who could benefit from us talking about God with them, but we don’t want to offend them. So we remain quiet. Or perhaps we purposefully withhold the Bible’s good news from people because we have a problem with them – we don’t respect them or care for them. We think some have lost their chance to believe and don’t deserve another. But there’s another way we can share Paul’s all-encompassing attitude, and that’s with lifestyle witnessing. While people may not want to listen to us, but they will notice how we live. The way we talk and act, how we respond to situations and questions, these are all part of the public image we give of what it means to be a Christian. Might there be ways we’re hiding the Bible’s good news because of our failings in this way? Whether it’s lifestyle witnessing or intentionally reaching out to others, our goal is to share the Savior of all people with all people. And that includes ourselves. God did not withhold his Word to those who came from Abraham’s family line. No, as our 1 st Lesson from Isaiah chapter 49 told us, this light of salvation is to be made known to the ends of the earth so that every nation may know their Savior. Not only to know who their Savior is, but also to be assured that this salvation comes depends entirely on Jesus. He did it all for us so that we might be justified and forgiven of all our sins. This is what motivates us to imitate that all-encompassing attitude that the Apostle Paul had. Jesus died for all so that all might be saved. If we keep that away from people, are we not 3
Pastor Tim Patoka
Joy For Our Journeys #9 September 1, 2019 deciding and limiting who Jesus truly died for? We certainly don’t want to do that! Rather, we want the opposite and should tell all people the Bible’s good news so that they too may rejoice with us in our joint justification. But we don’t need to be an Apostle Paul who travels throughout the world to do that. Each of us has our own mission field full of people who could benefit from hearing God’s good news. People who are new to or outside of the faith, believers needing encouragement or discipline to remain in the faith. When we feel uncomfortable sharing the Bible’s good news because of different experiences and backgrounds, instead turn those differences into discussion starters to better get to know them. This will help build a friendship which makes paves the way to have that God talk later on. As many experienced missionaries will tell you, friendship evangelism is often more successful than knocking on doors or mass mailings. If you’re afraid of offending people, double down on lifestyle witnessing which cannot go unnoticed. If you struggle to get over a personal problem with a person, look back to Christ and what he got over to be your Savior. He gave up his home in heaven, subjected himself to all sorts of hardships, and got his heart broken by the widespread rejection of the people he came to save. Yet he was willing to go through all that so that we could have a Savior who is for all people. The Bible’s good news is all about Jesus and the cross and we can’t keep that to ourselves. It’s simply too good. As the Apostle Paul said in his sermon, “In this Jesus, everyone who believes is justified.” (Acts 13:39) Those who believe in Christ are justified, it is just-as-ifI’d never sinned in God’s sight because his blood washes away my sins. And it is our privilege to share the Savior of all people with all people. May the Lord give us the knowledge, courage, and strength to carry this out. Amen
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