Mission 2 begins - Acts 15:36 - 16:40
This is a sermon by Peter Birnie from the Riverside Church service on 10th November 2024.
Click here to read the bible passage. Click here to use larger text.
Acts 15v36-16v40: Mission 2 begins
(Slide 1) The story so far – God stepped in and saved Saul of Tarsus in a dramatic way with a dramatic transformation from enemy of Jesus and his Church to bold evangelist and church planter. Barnabas and Paul become leaders in the Antioch church and are then commissioned and sent off on missionary journey 1, a 1400-mile trip through Cyprus and some of Asia minor where the unstoppable gospel has brought light to dark places and whenever it has been opposed has simply continued to spread. Paul and Barnabas establish leaders in the new churches that have sprung up in response to the gospel being proclaimed, finish mission 1 and return to Antioch.
Then they meet with the Church leaders in Jerusalem, to report back what the gospel has been doing among the Gentiles, and to protect the pure gospel message so that it remains about God’s grace to all people in Jesus; v11 “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” With this vital gospel agreement in place and sweet unity in Jesus protected, Paul and Barnabas head back to Antioch teaching and preaching the word of God with many others there. I wonder how tempting it was at that point for Paul to make for himself a good life in Antioch and just stay there, well respected in the church, teaching the gospel, enjoying growth and a measure of comfort. But here is the thing – God didn’t build people that way and God didn’t save people at the cost of Christ’s blood for a comfortable life. Christians are about God’s glory rather than their comfort.
1) The gospel needs to capture our hearts (15v36-16v5)
(Slide 2) Paul’s new life, gifted to him by God’s grace, when he least deserved it, means that he now lives to bring glory to God and so despite the safety, security and good life that Antioch may offer we get 15v36; “Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.’” (Back where people tried to kill Paul!!!)The gospel has captured Paul’s heart, he wants it to capture the hearts of all the believers, and it needs to have captured our hearts as well. But as they prepare to head off on missionary journey 2, it is that commitment to deep heart change that causes a major issue between Paul and Barnabas.
- Questions about John-Mark’s heart
(Slide 3) Back in Acts 13 when Barnabas and Paul had started their first missionary journey, John Mark had gone with them as part of the team. But he hadn’t stayed the course, all we read in 13v13 is that at Pamphylia “John left them to return to Jerusalem”. Though there is no information about why John left them given, here in chapter 15 we see that Paul viewed it in very strong terms … as desertion (v38 – “deserted them and not continued with the work”). This led here to Paul and Barnabas separating – whether Paul is right or Barnabas is right we don’t really know but it does shine a light on the stakes at play here. Desertion seems a very serious category to put John Mark in. After all, his part on the mission team was presumably completely voluntary.
It was Barnabas and Paul who were set apart and commissioned to the work, they were the “professionals”, John Mark was a willing volunteer. Can Paul not cut him some slack, is Paul not being very harsh?
This got me to thinking back to before I was a pastor – pre-September 2017 when I was a Maths teacher who was very involved in church life. How did I view my partnership in the gospel work of the church back then? The different ministries I was part of, Home Group, TNT, preaching, creche, coffee and tea, Kick It etc Did I see them as optional? Or was my heart properly captured by the gospel so that any lack of commitment or pulling back for comfort’s sake would be in the desertion category? One of the problems for us here is that in our culture right now looking after self is seen as far more important than keeping your word. Are we different to culture, is our allegiance to Christ noticeable in this area?
How do you view your partnership in the gospel work of this church right now? Do you have categories in your head where the professionals are to be held to a higher standard than you? If you are part of a Life Group, a team serving or a ministry right now, how much has your heart been captured by the gospel, how much is your decision-making framed by gospel progress (Reuben’s challenging question from a couple of weeks ago)? Do you think it matters how often you are elsewhere on a Sunday/forget to turn up for set-up, refreshments etc? Is that a challenging question to ask about our hearts? Well, here at the beginning of missionary journey 2, Paul had serious concerns about John-Mark’s heart.
- Clear signs of what is going on in Timothy’s heart
This is a big contrast to the next person in the account, Timothy (Slide 4), a man whose gospel heart is on clear view to all around. Paul and Silas go to Derbe and then Lystra and there they meet Timothy, a bloke of mixed religious heritage who is spoken well of by all the believers around him. His heart for the gospel is so clear that Paul, with all his high standards, immediately wants Timothy to join the mission team.
What happens next I think really does point to Timothy’s gospel commitment. Paul has already established that new Christians don’t need to take on old Jewish entailments with circumcision being the key one. In fact Paul is carrying with him the letter from the council in Jerusalem that says exactly that – no need for Gentiles to be circumcised. And yet, though this is absolutely true, if Timothy is willing to be circumcised then this will allow the team to focus solely on proclaiming the gospel as they travel on mission rather than arguing about this doctrine for much of the time. And Timothy agrees – he get’s circumcised and they head off from town to town sharing the gospel and visiting the churches (v4-5).
(Slide 5) And look at the encouraging result of this heart for the gospel, v5; “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.” We can apply this immediately here in CCR – Individual people matter in God’s gospel plan! You matter. Your heart matters. If you are a Timothy, nurturing a heart of commitment rather than desertion, then you will do this church family, this network of church families, AMiE, the world, a lot of gospel good. YOU!
2) God opens hearts to the gospel (16v6-15)
Do you know what I think would really inspire us and excite us about evangelism? (Slide 6) It would be if every one of us had a story about a friend hearing the gospel and coming to faith in Jesus. Wouldn’t it be great of we all had a story like that to tell? Now we can’t control that can we – it is up to God to save people – but we can be on the lookout all the time for people whose heart God has opened to the gospel. That is what we see in verses 6-15. God supernaturally stops the mission team from going one way and instead gives Paul a vision of this man from Macedonia (modern day Greece) who begs Paul to come and help. (On this I have a challenge for you and me – this week let’s all ask an unbeliever what it is that they reckon they most need in life – and then let’s see what gospel conversations spring up as a result).
(Slide 7) Verse 10 “After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” 2 things worth noting here – the writer says “we” – Doctor Luke is now part of the team along with Timothy and Paul and Silas. And also, see how urgent and expectant they are – we got ready at once to preach the gospel to the Macedonians. They are eager, they are on the lookout for people to respond to the great news about Jesus Christ. And so they end up in Philippi. It seems that there was no synagogue in the city but as was the custom, Jews or God-fearers (those who hadn’t become Jews but worshipped God) would meet at a place of prayer outside the town. And there they find Lydia.
(Slide 8) And this lady is ready to hear the gospel. Rich (own business) and not Jewish – she maybe doesn’t look very promising. But people with gospel hearts like this mission team are on the look-out all the time. Lydia is already a worshipper of God but she hasn’t yet heard the gospel. And so we read this wonderfully encouraging and enlightening sentence “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” These 10 words should stir us up to keep gospel eyes peeled and to have gospel tongues ready. Look who opens this lady’s heart to the gospel – the Lord does, it is his work to change hearts. But look how she hears the gospel – Paul speaks it to her. This is the small beginning of a big church in Philippi! Isn’t that amazing?
If you are a Timothy, nurturing a committed heart, on the look-out for others to hear the gospel, then perhaps one day soon you will have a story about your friend hearing the gospel, coming to faith in Christ, getting baptised and becoming amazingly useful to the Kingdom (Lydia!!!). God does open hearts so that people are ready to hear the message. You, your committed gospel heart, your peeled gospel eyes and your bold gospel tongue really matter.
3) Gospel hearts shine brightly in dark places (16v16-40)
Have you ever heard Christians arguing about whether your witness or your words matter most in others becoming Christians? The answer is this; get on with speaking the gospel as you get on with living bright gospel lives that shine in the darkness. (Slide 9) Gospel hearts shine brightly in dark places.
The mission goes on in Philippi – and the team are confronted by darkness in verse 16-18. A poor abused mistreated girl with, v16, “a spirit by which she predicted the future”, follows the team shouting truth about their mission and their identity. I was talking with someone last week on just this subject – the reality of the spiritual realm and the danger of messing about with it. We are not to become fascinated and intrigued by trying to control spiritual forces that are outside of our control, instead we are to be rooted in Christ and filled with his Holy Spirit. I don’t know why Paul delays so long (many days – perhaps not to disrupt the mission), but eventually light is shone on darkness and the name of Jesus drives away evil.
(Slide 10) But though this specific darkness is driven away by the light of Christ, the darkness of sin in men’s hearts remains, v19; “When her owners realised that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.” Sin is so terrible – the desire for money has led to these men seeing another precious person as a commodity rather than as made in the image of God (once little boys now evil men). Unfortunately that is repeated again and again all around this world. So remember the darkness that you are getting involved with when you give in to sin of any description. Look at its result – these men going to seek what they think is justice from the magistrate because Paul and Silas have given this slave girl her life back. How deeply dark sin is. Run to Jesus in repentance when you see sin in your life. Do it quickly and urgently. Do not let darkness take over your life and skew your very thinking!
(Slide 11) Stripped, beaten and flogged severely with rods, thrown in prison and put in the stocks. Has darkness won? We know now that the answer to that is “Of course not – the gospel is unstoppable!” When my Isaac gets a new torch he doesn’t shine it in the kitchen to see how good it is. He goes into the little toilet, shuts the door and turns the light off. Then he is delighted by the sheer power in his own hand! Light shines most brightly in the darkness. Betsy Ten Boom shone brightly in the flea-ridden rooms of her concentration camp. Paul and Silas shine brightly in their dark inner prison cell. Praying and singing loudly after midnight – the light beats the darkness. Evil cannot black out resurrection power.
(Slide 12) A violent earthquake that opens the doors and springs all of the locks in the place but doesn’t hurt anyone – amazing, light wins! (Not really amazing for the God who spoke and brought the universe into being. Small fry.) Prisoners that stay where they are instead of escaping when given the chance. Amazing, light wins. (Not really amazing for the God who transforms the hearts of his people. All in a days work for that God.) A jailor about to take his own life instead believing and receiving eternal life, him and his household baptised there and then. Amazing, light wins. (Not really amazing for the God who changed Saul of Tarsus into Paul the apostle). In response to the light of the gospel shining brightly, in response to the words of the gospel pointing him to Jesus, the jailor’s response is exactly right – “What must I do to be saved?” I hope that is your response too. Light wins. The gospel shines brightly in the midst of deep darkness.
Conclusion: 4 pictures of people
(Slide 13) Let’s leave missionary journey 2 there until next week. But as we finish consider your heart and run to Jesus with it. Ask him to make you a Timothy with a committed heart. Ask him to help you look out for Lydias with open hearts for you to speak the gospel into. Copy Paul and Silas by having joyful hearts even in dark situations. And as a church family, let us grow in expectation of seeing Jailor’s hearts who believe in Jesus and are transformed for eternity.
Today’s sermon: Acts 15v36-16v40 “Mission 2 begins”
Intro: Christians are about God’s glory rather than their own comfort
1) The gospel needs to capture our hearts (15v36-16v5)
Questions about John-Mark’s heart
- Desertion?
- Too high a standard for a volunteer?
- How do you view your partnership in the gospel right now?
Clear signs of what is going on in Timothy’s heart
- Spoken well of
- Prepared to be uncomfortable for the sake of the gospel
- Individual people matter in God’s gospel plan. YOU matter.
2) God opens hearts to the gospel (16v6-15)
*Challenge: ask an unbeliever this week what they think they most need*
Lydia is ready to hear the gospel
- The Lord opened her heart (Salvation is God’s work)
- To respond to Paul’s message (Telling the gospel is our privilege)
Keep your heart committed, your eyes peeled and your tongue bold!
3) Gospel hearts shine brightly in dark places (16v16-40)
The darkness of sin – men who see people as commodities
The unmissable brightness of gospel joy – “What must I do to be saved?”
Conclusion
Run to Jesus and ask him to;
-Make you a Timothy with a committed heart
-Help you look out for Lydias with open hearts
-Enable you to copy Paul and Silas with a joyful heart
-Grow your expectations of seeing jailor’s hearts
Memory verse: Acts 16v30-31
“’Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.’”
Life Group Questions:
Copyright information: The sermon texts are copyright and are available for personal use only. Sermon media provided by Christ Church Network. If you wish to use them in other ways, please contact us for permission.
