Mission 2 complete - Acts 17
This is a sermon by Peter Birnie from the Riverside Church service on 17th November 2024.
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Acts 17v1-18v23 “Mission 2 complete”
Intro: (Slide 1) Does anyone recognise this man? I hoped nobody would! What about this? (Slide 2). Lots of people here would recognise the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamen’s golden funerary mask. The man in the top hat is Howard Carter, the archaeologist who spent 6 years of his life searching for the tomb of King Tut before one of his workers stumbled over a stone that turned out to be a set of steps leading to the greatest archaeological discoveries ever. 3 thoughts struck me as I pondered Howard Carter.
(Slide 3) As we return to Paul, Silas and the team on missionary journey 2, Howard Carter can be of real help to us. Paul and the team are on the hunt for gospel treasure in Greece – they want to find people who will believe in Jesus. In today’s passage their search is a good one, an exhaustive one, one that takes them to a number of different cities, to loads of different people, and involves the best gospel preaching and explaining that they can do. But even though they carry out their mission really well, they have nothing at all to do with where the treasure might be found. Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth and Ephesus are all sites where the mission team turn up and start digging – the gospel light shines and what does it reveal? (Slide 4) It simply reveals what is there – it reveals character and heart. Like Howard Carter, Paul and the team cannot produce treasure where there is none, all they can do is explain the gospel as well as possible and then pray that God opens hearts so that the eternal treasure of new believers is unearthed. On this our missions Sunday this passage is so wonderfully encouraging and challenging because it helps us to see how we can search well for the treasure of new believers, but it also keeps us from giving up when the responses we get to the gospel aren’t what we are hoping for. We can’t produce the treasure, we are simply to be gospel archaeologists, hopefully and skillfully searching for gospel treasure, trusting that God will make sure his treasured people are found!
1) What does good gospel proclamation look like?
(Slide 5) Let’s start with the challenge that the passage has for us – what does good gospel proclamation look like? How can we search better for gospel treasure, how can we be more skilful as we tell others about Jesus? Let’s get the core message right to begin with, what must we proclaim to this lost world so that they can come to Jesus and be saved? Acts 17 v30-31 are key as Paul with a distressed and urgent heart calls the people of Athens away from their idolatry (Slide 6); “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
That is the core message of the gospel – sin has turned people away from God but they must turn back to him by repentance and faith in Jesus. Jesus is the one appointed to win salvation, Jesus is the one who on the day of judgment all people will answer to, Jesus is the one who died and rose again. The resurrection of Jesus is the proof that we need to see that response to Jesus is the critical issue in a person’s life. The normal people of Athens, Berea, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Corinth, Jerusalem, Antioch, Cyprus then, the normal people of Compass Road and Evergreen Drive and Welwyn park ave now, the 8 billion normal people across our globe (3 billion of whom are unreached with the gospel), all need to hear this message and if they are to avoid Hell and instead have eternal life then they need to respond. That is the core gospel message. Have you responded to it in repentance and faith?
So if that is the core message, how are we to deliver it? (Slide 7) Firstly, following Paul’s example on this missionary journey, we are to reason with people, we are to explain to people, we are to debate with people, we are to attempt to prove the gospel truths as we urge people to repentance and faith. That is exactly the language used to describe Paul’s methods in Thessalonica (17v2-3), and we presume it was more of the same in Berea. Then he goes to Athens, uses his eyes and mind to understand the culture there and begins to debate with the local deep thinkers beginning with their culture and customs (v18). It is a wonderful sermon where he engages deeply with the way the people of Athens think but takes them to the pinnacle of wisdom and understanding in Jesus Christ.
Then it is on to Corinth where he does more persuading, preaching and testifying (18v4-5) over a long period of time and eventually on to Ephesus where, v19, he reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue. In short, the gospel is reasonable and supported by excellent evidence and so we should confidently and as skilfully as possible appeal to people’s minds and thinking as we present it. It isn’t an inspirational story, or a fable with a moral message, it is the truth about actual events that occurred at a particular time and place and which can transform a person’s life and eternity. We want to present the pure gospel as persuasively as possible.
(Slide 8) Secondly, as we proclaim the gospel, we are to clearly explain the implications of both accepting it and rejecting it. Accepting the gospel, coming to Jesus, means leaving your old life – for the Jews in Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth and Ephesus this included transferring your hope for salvation from your own keeping of the law to the fulfilment of the law in Christ. For the deep thinkers of Athens this meant giving up the worship of false gods and the fascination with earthly wisdom and instead worshiping the one true God and acknowledging that all wisdom comes from Jesus. For any of our friends and family, coming to Jesus in faith will mean a deliberate handing over of their life to the rule of Jesus. We don’t like this – we want to do things our way, but for a believer King Jesus gets to decide how we spend our time and money and energy – coming to Jesus has huge implications. But rejecting Jesus has even greater implications – a lifetime of rebellion against God’s loving rule, a day of judgement where your sins have never been forgiven, an eternity of condemnation in hell.
We get the core gospel message correct, we present it as persuasively as possible, we explain the implications of both accepting it and rejecting it and finally for this section, we are to expect and demand a response from our listeners (Slide 9).
2) Good gospel proclamation reveals character
This brings us from the challenge of the passage to the deep encouragement (both positive and negative) in the passage. Good gospel proclamation reveals character. Howard Carter didn’t produce the treasure under that Egyptian sand – all he did was search for treasure until he found some. For 6 years nothing and then in an instant … Wow! I had a deeply encouraging conversation with one of you last week describing years of having no real response to Jesus and then suddenly (through people praying, witnessing and speaking) your heart being transformed and faith coming to life. The gospel will provoke a response and if that is a positive one praise God, but if it is a negative one we are not to be surprised or downhearted – we cannot produce the treasure, all we can do is look for it well. What responses do we see to Paul and the team on missionary journey 2?
Positive responses: (Slide 10) We see some really positive responses, humble responses, noble responses. Timothy willingly getting circumcised for the sake of the mission, Lydia’s household believing and partnering in the mission, the Philippian jailor believing and welcoming the mission team into his house, some Jews, lots of Greeks and some women in Thessalonica believing.
The Berean Jews eagerly receiving the gospel message and examining the scriptures to see its truth, some of the people in Athens believing, Crispus the synagogue leader in Corinth along with many other Corinthians believing and being baptised, and the Jews in Ephesus asking Paul to come back and explain more.
Negative responses: (Slide 11) And we get some negative responses, full of scepticism and scorn. Jealous Jews in Thessalonica starting a riot and opposing the believers there, the same people agitating the crowds in Berea and causing the mission team to leave, sneering about the resurrection in Athens, some people happy to hear the message but refusing to commit, opposition and abuse in Corinth (so much so that God specifically speaks to Paul in 18v9-10 to reassure him that he should continue the work there), we even get a chaotic scene where the synagogue leader gets beaten up in front of the fed up proconsul who lets it happen because he is so fed up with their plotting.
(Slide 12) What is happening with these different responses? The gospel archaeologists are doing their job, they are digging and in some places there is treasure to be found and in some places there isn’t. None of the responses, good or bad, reflect on the gospel, they don’t reflect on the mission team, all they do is to show the hearts of the hearers in stark bright light. Some hearts are humble and ready for the gospel, some hearts are hard and reject it. There is treasure in some places and in other places there is only sand and stone!
Conclusion: (Slide 13)There is so much more that could be said from this passage today and I am sorry I don’t have time to do more, especially on Paul the tentmaking evangelist’s willingness and flexibility to do whatever it takes to keep the mission going. But I want to end once again with challenge and encouragement.
Challenge: We want to be as skilful as possible as we hunt across this world for the buried treasure of souls saved. The challenge is for us who believe to get better at gospel proclamation. How can we get better?
- Listen well on a Sunday morning and evening
- Engage well with your Life Group/Tuesday group as you study God’s word with others
- Read good books and watch good things online that help with gospel sharpness
- Get involved with others in the church when we do evangelistic courses and bible training (Crosslands after Christmas)
- Pray, pray, pray. Pray for yourself, for this world, for our mission partners, for the lost. PRAY! The Spirit grows us.
Encouragement: In 1 years time, 2 years, 10 years if you devote yourself to being trained and equipped you will be better at persuading and proclaiming the gospel. But start proclaiming it with urgency now – Howard Carter didn’t find that tomb, one of his volunteers tripped over it! God has you where he has you for his reasons. There is treasure to be found and what joy you will have if God allows you to be the one who finds it. Your friend, your spouse, your child – coming to Jesus.
Today’s sermon: Acts 17v1-18v23 “Mission 2 complete”
Intro: The archaeologist and the search for buried treasure
1) What does good gospel proclamation look like?
What message?
- Get the core gospel message right (Acts 17v30-31)
How to deliver?
- Reason, explain, prove, persuade
- Explain the implications of rejection and acceptance
- Expect and demand a response!
2) Good gospel proclamation reveals character
Archaeologists can’s produce treasure, they can just find it!
What responses did Paul and the team get?
- Positive responses
- Negative responses
Conclusion
- Challenge
Encouragement
Memory verse: Acts 17 v 31
“For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Life Group Questions:
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