A PROPHET RE-SIGNS
#415 A PROPHET RE-SIGNS
Scripture Jonah 3:1-4:11, NIV
Orig. 9/16/1962
Rewr. 9/1977, 5/23/1989
Passage: Jonah Goes to Nineveh 3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Compassion
4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” 10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
Purpose: A follow-up message dealing with the miraculous revival in Nineveh and the following days for Jonah.
Keywords: Bible Study Missions Self-Will
Timeline: Biographical
Series: Minor Prophets
Introduction
Chronologically, Jonah is the second of the minor prophets. He was of the northern kingdom, Israel; and had come on the scene shortly after Elisha, and just before Isaiah. There was no contemporary in Judah. The people of the southern kingdom were holding firmly to their faith while Amaziah and Uzziah were on the throne.
But in Jonah’s own northern kingdom, things were not going well. Materially, politically, they were surviving. Jeroboam II had come to the throne in Samaria. Israel was proud and vain and money-mad, and perceived of themselves as the apple-of-God’s-eye. The king was the worst of the lot.
Jonah is identified as the son of Amattai, the prophet, of Gath-Hepher (II Kings 14:25). Jonah’s name means “dove.” His father’s, “my truth.” Dr. Matthew Henry suggest that God’s prophets should be “sons of truth” and “harmless as doves.”
His is a prophecy of extremes. There are only forty-eight verses. It is a simply-written testimonial of Jonah’s “great refusal.” There is also found the story of a “great fish,” “a great city” (Nineveh), a “great message” (that God forgives sin), a “great jealousy” (he was jealous for the gourd, envious of Nineveh), and, finally, of the “great God” (who prepares a fish to deliver Jonah from rebellion, and a worm to deliver him from pride).
The lesson last week opened under the title, “A Prophet Resigns.” We may consider the lesson this evening as “A Prophet Re-Signs.” Although there is still an attitude problem, the needs of Nineveh outweigh Jonah’s disdain for these people.
I. Delivered from Rebelliousness. 3:1, “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach.”
We acknowledge a God-called man: Called to preach; called to preach to Nineveh; called to preach the word; called to preach without equivocation—not opposed to being God’s prophet, not opposed to be a foreign missionary, did not cotton to offering these Ninevites a second chance.
We acknowledge a man in the throes of God’s leading. Running from Nineveh leads to Joppa where a ship is waiting. The whale takes him to a seacoast where Nineveh is waiting. Nineveh surrenders him to the wilderness where God’s truth is waiting.
We acknowledge a God-taught man. The message of God’s bidding, 3:2. It must still be so for us all. I Corinthians 15:3f, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture.”
We must also acknowledge that he was a self-willed man. Nineveh was not a candidate for repentance. Nineveh deserved judgment. The miracle here is not whale, or worm, but man detached from the will of God. The miracle is God’s will to redeem.
II. Delivered from National Self-Interest. V4, And Jonah . . . cried, and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
He has come to the great city, sixty miles in circumference; walls 100 feet high, chariots could roll three abreast; 1500 towers as much as 200’ high; 350 square miles, almost the size of Lincoln Parish.
Jonah is showing some of the marks of his upbringing. He had to preach. He did not have to hope for deliverance—Imagine a doctor performing the necessary and radical surgery and then hoping that the patient will die.
Let us be reminded that God is on the side of right, whoever is graced by it. First, the Ninevites needed reviving. Second, the people of the northern kingdom had much to gain from their revival.
Could it be that the person who could make the greatest difference for God in Bernice over the next twenty years is outside the fold? Are you willing to be the one to lead him, her to the Lord? What if it is someone we find distasteful? Could it be someone who let you down years ago? To what degree do you even pray for the ones who are lost around us?
III. Delivered to a Life of Understanding. 4:11, “Should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand?”
Understand that God is more concerned with repentance than with judgment. Jeremiah 18:8, “If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” Ezekiel 18:23, “ Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” Repent—nacham—change of heart/shuv is normal word expressing man’s repentance.
[Understand] that God can and does use extreme measures in accomplishing His will. The rabbis taught that the Ninevites heard of Jonah’s fish story, thus they believed.
[Understand] that the Lord is God of all nations. Romans 2:28,29. V29, “He is a Jew which is one inwardly, . . . circumcision is that of the heart.”
[Understand] that God is concerned with the welfare of all mankind. Jonah is in reality a book of missionary enterprise. God’s will is for the lost to be saved.
Conclusion
George Adam Smith, “The truth which we find in the Book of Jonah is as full a revelation of God’s will as prophecy anywhere achieves. That God has granted to the Gentiles also, repentance unto life, is nowhere else in the Old Testament so vividly illustrated. This lifts the teaching of the book to equal rank with the second part of Isaiah, and the nearest of our twelve to the New Testament.”
A MISSIONARY IN HIDING
#512 A MISSIONARY IN HIDING
Scripture Jonah 1:1-3; 3:1-3, NIV
Orig. 8/11/1968
Rewr. 12/7/1990
Passage: 1:1The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2"Go to the great city of Nineveh and
preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3But Jonah ran away from the Lord and
headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
3:1Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2"Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days.
Purpose: To share a message with my people during a major mission emphasis of our perceived concern for our mission responsibility.
Keywords: Commitment Missions Revelation Disobedience
Timeline/Series: Mission Promotion
Introduction Pro 2-90p23
On May 20, 1987, a strange item was read in our newspapers. A West German youth had leased an American-built Cessna airplane and started the first leg of an unbelievable journey. Extra gas tanks were placed in the rear, and he flew first to Helsinki where he filed a final and fictitious flight plan. He wasn’t going where he said he was going.
In fact, he wound up a few hours later looking literally down the barrels of the armor of Soviet warplanes. With fool-hardy abandon, he flew his little craft toward the most heavily guarded city in the world.
He flew on to the city of Moscow with a bevy of these Russian fighters following his every move. He located Red Square, and literally flew around the Kremlin, the seat of government. Unbelievably, he then landed the Cessna on the cobblestone pavement of Red Square.
Surprisingly, he was not fired upon. He left the airplane, waved to the surprised crowd, and as he was arrested and taken away, he explained that he just wanted to talk to the Soviet people. I am not sure what he wanted to say. Perhaps just “Hello! How are you?”
Jonah had something he didn’t want to say. It was a message of great importance, urgency even, but he thought better of it. Instead of dangerously running into the face of the enemy, he just as dangerously went the other way. God called him to a task, and his inclination was to get by, callously hiding his missionary credentials.
I. First, There is a Clear Mandate from God. V5, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”
A mandate to a chosen messenger. God effects a sovereign choice. Jonah can be easily perceived as a mistake, a malcontent, a rebel. But then, others whom God has chosen were not that different. Moses: reared in luxury, accepted responsibility, ran from it, married a Gentile, made all those excuses. David: of huge ego, proud, became immoral, enamored of himself. Simon: bold, brazen, little patience, no culture.
He is still choosing His messengers. Either, He has saved you or in the attempt you spurned it. We’re still enamored of ourselves. We use the same stale excuses.
Not only was the messenger chosen, the message was made clear. The West German youth just wanted to be chummy, to say, “Hallo!” Jonah was to tell Nineveh that their sins stank, but, more importantly, that God loved them and wanted to forgive them.
People get caught up in the whale. Did he/didn’t he? Could he/couldn’t he? When we make our peace with God, and His love, such things as whales are neither intellectual nor emotional ___. You see, for the believer, the whale becomes an instrument for deliverance.
But if this exacting message was to get through, a committed messenger would be required. Somewhat more is required than belief. Jonah clearly believed. He believed so strongly that God would forgive that he went elsewhere. He presumed wrongly that he could keep it from happening.
With belief is the need for conciliation. God’s judgments are just. The best investment that I can make in my life is to yield to His will.
II. Next, Is a Missionary in Hiding. V3, “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
At the outset, it is simply a refusal to comply with this mandate to serve. Jonah was the sovereign choice of God for the redemption of Nineveh. The Hebrew people lost sight of the intermediary posture of being “chosen.” Through them God had chosen the way that He would affect world-wide reconciliation.
Many are yet like Isaac, taken as he was with Abraham to Mt. Moriah: Helping to prepare the altar, he asked, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Most of us are no more willing than Isaac “to be offered up.”
Missionaries tell of methodology of the church in India. The convert being baptized is required to place his own hands on his head saying, “Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel,” I Corinthians 9:16.
There are various ways that we accommodate such seclusion in our lives:
· Refusal to give up hidden sins of the flesh—Not something that we struggle with without effect; a recognized indiscretion that we refuse to part with.
· One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin—To deny Him right of reproof is to willfully exclude God.
· To refuse opportunities for growth as Christians is to hide our witness—List the avenues in your life that are directly related to your faith; list the things that go on in your church of which you have no part. Do you want your community to perceive of you as Christian? Other?
The most obvious now is to deny stewardship opportunity. Is regular financial support an integral part of my faith? Am I doing what I can? Should?
How seriously do I take the idea of participation in Jesus’ birthday? Lottie Moon goal is $86 million. Participation at 20-25%. What could we do if our best? Do you remember who Lottie Moon was? After 40 years, perceived her Chinese friends starving, began to go without food until [she] fell seriously ill, put on a boat to USA. Died at sea.
III. The Final Note Is One of Ministry. 3:3, “So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.”
There are social responsibilities that are not to be denied. We are to feed and clothe the destitute. We are to protest injustice. We are to champion unpopular but righteous causes.
The responsibility to share the gospel creatively is just as demanding. Jesus championed social causes. He died for the sin of men and women,
Jesus left a message through John that we deliberately downplay. Religious leaders reacted negatively to His claim to be “the living bread.” Those who “ate His flesh and drank His blood” had eternal life. John 6:66, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.”
He, of course, did not literally mean to cannibalize Him, but to be at one with Him in life and death.
Are you “at one” today with Jesus? Or, are you a believer taking the easy road to faith?
You believe the gospel, but you don’t want it to cost you anything? You didn’t place your hands on your head and say “Woe unto me if. . .”?
It’s easier being “a missionary in hiding,” or is it?
Conclusion
During WW2, workmen were building a cathedral in a city on the coast of England. The city was bombed again and again. “Why do you continue to build when the next bomb may destroy all?”
“Everytime those bombers come this way, we want them to see the spires of this cathedral, and to know that we still have faith in eternal things.”
Give us, O God, the strength to build
that city that hath stood
Too long a dream, whose laws are love,
Whose crown is servanthood.
Already in the mind of God
That city riseth fair
Yea, bids us seize the whole of life
And build that city there.1
1 https://hymnary.org/hymn/EH1982/583
1 Public domain: Bowie, WR. O Holy City, Seen of John. (1910). In HYMNS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, Harper & Row.
MISSIONS—ENTERTAINMENT OR ENLISTMENT
#441 MISSIONS—ENTERTAINMENT OR ENLISTMENT
Scripture Acts 13:1-13 Orig. 2/2/1964
Rewr. 11/1969, 12/3/1976
Passage: 1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
On Cyprus
4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. 6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
In Pisidian Antioch
13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.
Keywords: Biography Missions
Introduction
Every person who ever spent any time at all around Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is familiar with the name, William Carey1. You know that there is a Baptist College there, which bears that name. Do you know who William Carey was? He was not a Mississippi Baptist leader and patron of education. In fact, if memory serves me well, he was never even a visitor to the state.
William Carey was an Englishman who carries the distinction of being the man whom God used to give a resurgence to the mission movement. The diary of an English Baptist pastor contains this entry dated October 5, 1783. “This day baptized a poor journeyman shoemaker.” The poor cobbler who was baptized by John Ryland that day was William Carey.
Four years later, this poor shoemaker was called, without the benefit of any formal education, to pastor a church in the same association with Dr. Ryland. By keeping a book at his cobbler’s bench, in seven years, he taught himself to read in five languages. Through his own untiring efforts, he qualified himself to teach.
William Carey began to identify with some of these people whose languages he had learned to speak. He began to realize that the Christian community had a responsibility to share the message of God’s love with people who had never heard. He saw how favored the English people had been, and that that privilege demanded responsibility. He was convicted of the English zeal for foreign trade-goods. If Englishmen would make such sacrifice as to travel half way around the world for economic reasons, he must likewise be willing to go for spiritual reasons.
It was a new concept, and Baptists never have been too quick with new ideas, Biblical or otherwise. Carey was invited to preach to the gathered association in Nottingham. When he declared what was most on his heart, it was this same Dr. John Ryland who spoke out abruptly to him. “Sit down, young man. When the Lord gets ready to convert the heathen, he will do it without your help or mine.”
For John Ryland, missions was entertainment for the mind. For William Carey, it was enlistment of one’s life.
I. The Separation of Missions Demands Enlistment. V2, Separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I have called them. The history of God’s work in the lives of His people has been the history of separation. The Greek word found here is the word from which our “horizon” comes. There are boundaries in which the believer will find God’s promises operable. We are no less His children outside of the limits of His will. It just stands to reason that His resources are dedicated to His will. If we are not within the “limits” of God’s will, then His resource may be working against us.
There is ample Biblical evidence of God’s meaning for a separated people. In references to the Hebrew people through Moses in Exodus 19:5,6, If you obey me . . . you will be a kingdom of priests to God, a holy nation. When the times came that the nation would not listen to this prerequisite for fellowship, He singled out men, and on occasion, women. Isaiah 6, “The call came to Isaiah, ‘Whom can I send, and who will go for me?’” Back came Isaiah’s ready response, “Here am I, send me!” But this response of faith came after God’s fire had touched man’s sin, and he was pronounced “Not guilty!” v7.
The all-encompassing characteristic in God’s separated people was a willingness for separation. Phillip (Acts 8) was a New Testament example of this separation. Go over to the road that runs through the Gaza desert. So he did. Go over to the chariot. And he did. . . .
There is a mentality for separation to consider. Abram was called from Ur to Palestine. He was no longer Chaldean, but Palestinian. Israel was called out of Egypt into promised land. He was no longer slave but free. Jesus was chosen to give up his glory above to take up bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. The same capitulation to the will of God is our need today. The church staff member is separated from the place where he was to the place where he is. So the individual Christian, when his eyes open on a place even so strange as New Orleans, he is separated in the will of God to that place, so long as he remains there.
II. The Sending Forth of Missions Demands Enlistment. This sending forth is the natural succession to separation. What God separates, it becomes His purpose to use, whether for little or much. At Nottingham in 1792, a resolution was passed at William Carey’s insistence, and with Andrew Fuller’s influence, that led to an establishment of a missionary society. Their first offering amounted to 13 pounds, two shillings, six pence. About $40. But within a year, Carey and a Baptist surgeon were on their way to India. And what God uses, will bless other people and single them out for the work of separation. Within 20 years, the ladies would organize into the Female Mite Society formed “for the purpose of combining feeble efforts and humble prayers for the spread of the gospel.”
What we see of the work of God today is no different. When the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was instituted, it was to direct meager portions of butter and egg money to the cause of Christ in China. This year the goal of our WMU is: SBC, $29,000,000; LBC, $1,000,000; Riverside, $2,000.
The sending forth is enlistment in mission for support groups also. At the forefront of all this is the promised support of the Holy Spirit. It is noteworthy that missions was born in Antioch, and not in Jerusalem as the church had been. In Antioch where they were called Christians. In Antioch where they fasted and prayed. In Antioch where there were willing spirits under the control of Holy Spirit. The church in Jerusalem during this period was trying to survive. There was also the support of believers in prayer/if you have $5 to send or 5 minutes to pray, pray! There remains the need to support financially.
A pastor sent a tongue-in-cheek letter to his flock a few weeks ago. Offerings had tapered off dangerously. It had become apparent, he wrote, that their church would not benefit after all from the Howard Hughes will. They had looked high and low, and no copy had turned up in their files or anywhere on church property. He ended the letter: “I guess it’s back to the old plan of tithes and offerings for the support of God’s work. . . . Just remember, brethren, our giving is to be weekly, not weakly.”
III. The Service of Missions Demands Enlistment. V7, . . . The deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the Word of God. It was the word that brought peace with God to Sergius. It is this message that God has Himself given to His church in these latter days. Matthew 22:9, Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye find, bid to the marriage. Romans 9:24-26, As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people which were not my people; and my beloved, which was not beloved. There shall they be called the children of God.
It is a message of which we are constantly reminded there is a terminal point. Matthew 24:14, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all of the world; and then shall the end come: Terminated at the end of the age; terminated at the death of the unbeliever; terminated at severance of the Holy Spirit’s [involvement]; terminated at the cessation of Christian witness.
It was, however, the same word that brought the judgement of despair to Elymas, the sorcerer. It was a temporal judgement as viewed here. We preclude a larger, more engulfing judgement. Jesus reminds us, Matthew 24:5, For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. People will be deluded by false claims of salvation. V8, Elymas . . . withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from faith. While we are eager to see our church reach and surpass a coveted and worthwhile goal, there is the greater goal this Christmas season of a people enlisted in the cause of Christ for the accomplishment of missions.
Links/References
Carey: https://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/c-d/carey-william-1761-1834/
1Smith, G. (2009). Life of William Carey, Public Domain Books
THE FULFILLMENT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION
#779b THE FULFILLMENT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION
Scripture Acts 8:1-13, NIV Orig. 3/16/1980
Passage: 1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
The Church Persecuted and Scattered On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Philip in Samaria 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
Simon the Sorcerer 9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
Purpose: To continue the series from the Book of Acts, calling attention to the fulfillment of the command of Christ to go into all the world. That commission is put into effect when the believers left Jerusalem for Judea and Samaria
Keywords: Church Mission Missions Biography of Phillip Evangelism
Timeline/Series: Acts Bible Study
Introduction
It was probably three years after the ascension of Christ when the scattering of the believers came to crisis proportions. Remember that the church in Jerusalem was almost entirely Jewish. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit accomplished the conversion of 3,000 souls through Peter’s preaching. They were all Jews, in Jerusalem for the feast. But they were Jews from outside Judea and Galilee. They were Mesopotamian, Asian, Egyptian, Cretan, Arabian, and others; all were Jews and proselytes, with a vested interest in Jerusalem. Undoubtedly they went back to their homes with this new found faith, some perhaps even organizing churches in those places.
They soon came to understand a need for a ministry beyond preaching and prayer, and in Jerusalem this resulted in the singling out of certain people to perform particular ministries. The first bud of missions on the tree of Christianity exposed itself over this problem in the church. The native Jews were being served. The Hellenistic Jews, the ones who had lived outside of Judea, and who had been conditioned somewhat by the Hellenist ideas of the Greeks, were not being served. Out of murmuring of discontent came the selection of seven men of Hellenist background to minister to non-native persons.
One of these so selected was Stephen. They killed him because, in effect, he said, “God is not limited to you, or your Temple, or this land: Others are his people also.” This was a vital and necessary concept before the church could expand to the far places of the earth. It is almost as if the death of Stephen was also the sounding of the “death-knell” of a purely Jewish church. The Jewish leaders are committed to a program of containment. The believers, if they are going to be free to practice their faith, will have to do so elsewhere.
Chapter eight is the story of Christians forced out of Jerusalem by the purge following Stephen’s death. More particularly, it is the story of one believer, Phillip, one of the chosen seven, who in Samaria preaches to the people and leads in organizing a church amongst these half breed Jews.
The last recorded words of Jesus, other than His contact with Saul of Tarsus, are these: Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power with the Holy Spirit coming upon you and you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”
I. Fulfilling Christ’s Commission Means People that are at the Disposal of God. 1f, . . . and at that time there a great persecution against the church that was at Jerusalem: . . . they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. This is precisely the cost of the covenant proclaimed in the Old Testament.
· Psalm 33:12, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
· Isaiah 6:8, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
· Psalm 23:4, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and staff comfort me.
· Galatians 1:13, For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.
· I Corinthians 13:9, For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
· Philippians 3:6, Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
· I Timothy 1:13, Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
It was under this mandate that Jesus chose to live His life. Jesus taught His disciples to pray—Matthew 6:10, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” In His own agonizing hour of aloneness He prayed—Matthew 26:39, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
This, clearly, was the only message that would see the church on fire for God. As Jesus was at the disposal of God, we must be those who would be followers of Him. As Jesus was willing to face the most dispelling of circumstances, so must we be who would be followers of Christ.
By the way, nothing has changed: Our call is to be at the disposal of God. It means He has a vested interest in us.
II. Fulfilling Christ’s Commission Means that there are People who have not Heard, who Need to Hear. V5, Phillip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there.
First, who was Phillip? It was clearly not the apostle Phillip. Synoptics’ only name. John identifies Nathaniel/Greeks/“Show us the Father.” He was a man named Phillip of Hellenist background or learning, who was chosen to serve the non-native Jews. Stephen is mentioned first. Phillip second. He responds to the persecution in Jerusalem by looking for a place to freely serve and proclaim Jesus Lord.
Phillip chose to go into the area of Samaria. He chose a specific place: The city of Samaria, KJ and Greek; a city in Samaria, newer translations. Why the choice of Samaria was significant: Jesus shared His feelings about Samaria and its people. He told of “the good Samaritan,” and the “10th leper,” and the “woman at the well.” He was called “a Samaritan and a devil” (8:48). The devil part he denied.
In John 4 of the Woman at the Well, the woman said to Him, “for the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”
Here was a people who had earned the hatred of the Jews. In the 8th Century BC, the northern kingdom, with Samaria as its capital, was captured by the Assyrians. The leaders of the people were taken captive. Their disposition is one of history’s mysteries. Captives from other places brought to Samaria. In the 6th Century, the Jews from the southern kingdom were allowed to return. Ezra—offered to help rebuild. Help refused—reason? Determined resistance. 536 Return/516 Temple/444 wall.
No more important step would ever be taken by followers of Jesus than to move into Samaria. The sovereign will of God included people of every racial and cultural distinction. Hosea 2:23, And I will say to them which art not my people, Thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God. Jesus gave His life to the end that people of every race and clime would own His Father as the eternal God, the Almighty.
Baptist Hymnal #176/148
Word of God across the ages, Comes thy message to our life,
Source of hope, forever present, In our toils and fears and strife;
Constant witness to God’s mercy, Still our grace what e’er befall;
Guide unfailing, strength eternal, Offered freely for us all.
In the tongues of all the peoples May the message bless and heal
As devout and patient scholars More and more its depths reveal.
Bless, O God, to wise and simple, All Thy truth of ageless worth
Till all hands receive the witness, And Thy knowledge fills the earth.
To be a follower of Jesus, and to keep company of those who walk with the Lord, is to be one who reaches out to the “Samarias” around us: by personal witness, by cooperative sharing, whether near or far.
III. There Are Other Things that Testify that this was a Wondrous Event in the Life of the Church. It was a people to people movement. We must not ever lose this. V4, The ones being scattered passed through preaching the word. V1, And all were scattered throughout the countries of Judea and Samaria, except to stay behind.
Why were they allowed to stay behind? Because of respect from the people. Hellenistic Jews may have born the brunt of the attack. Some say that they were the least ready for the faith to be separated from its roots. Many things will keep Jerusalem central. But Christian outlook is outward, to the world. 8:25, Paul and John “returning to Jerusalem they preached the word in many villages of the Samaritans.”
It was a message and ministry movement. Nothing will ever take the place of the preaching of the word. Whether one person to another on a bus. Or, one person to 100,000 in a great stadium. The great TV spectacles have their place but are not primary because they are first of all entertaining. Romans 10:14, How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? But equally as important is our understanding of ministry. We dare not presume that the simple proclamation of a liturgy twice on Sunday is the extent of faith. James 1:21f, . . . receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. . . .
What happened in Samaria as a result: It brought the story of Jesus, v4; it brought healing, v7; it brought joy, v8.
Closing
#308, People to People
How do you share the love of Jesus with a lonely man?
How do you tell a hungry man about the bread of life?
How do you tell a thirsty man about the living water of the Lord?
How do you tell him of His word?
People who know go to people who need to know Jesus.
People who love go to people alone without Jesus.
For there are people who need to see,
People who need to love,
People who need to know God's redeeming love.
SCATTERED, THEY WENT PREACHING
#779a SCATTERED, THEY WENT PREACHING
(A BUMP ON THE GREAT COMMISSION ROAD)
Scripture Acts 8:1-13, NIV Orig. 3/16/1980
Rewr. 5/12/1988
Passage: 1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
The Church Persecuted and Scattered On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Philip in Samaria 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
Simon the Sorcerer 9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
Purpose: Using a mission message to acknowledge the occasion of the 100th anniversary of a most significant WMU emphasis
Keywords: Church Mission Christ, Orders Evangelism Missions
Timeline/Series: Acts Bible Study
Introduction
It never ceases to leave me incredulously wondering when I hear the story of the organization of Women’s Missionary Union. It happened, as surely you are aware, exactly 100 years ago. May 14th was a Monday in the year 1888, and the Southern Baptist Convention was in session in Richmond, Virginia. The men, mostly pastors, were meeting in First Baptist Church. The women were a few blocks away down Broad Street at Broad Street Methodist Church. Actually, they had been denied permission to hold an organizational meeting for the purpose of women’s work at First Baptist Church.
This 100th anniversary year may be unique in yet another way. It is possible that when the proceeds of this present year’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is counted, mission gifts through that annual fund raising will climb to a grand total of $1 billion dollars. For an organization having such difficulty in the outset, they have done rather well.
You may be interested in knowing that enrollment is well over a million (1,947,479). In some churches, it is actually on the increase, though shamefully, not in ours. I am happy to report however, that response to our mission offering goals has been excellent.
Also, our national organization, auxiliary to the SBC, has a current budget of 10.8 million, none of which comes from mission offerings. The major portion is generated by the WMU through the publication and sale of eleven magazines prepared to facilitate church mission organizations.
I. “Scattered, They Went Preaching,” Means People Who Are at the Disposal of God. V1f, “. . . And at that time there was a great persecution against the church that was at Jerusalem: . . . They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.”
I’m not suggesting to you that our great grandmothers in Richmond were persecuted. I’ve no doubt they were respected. Men tipped their hats, opened doors, gave up seats. But to many such a woman’s organization was “playing” church. But I say unequivocally that those ladies prayed harder and worked more tirelessly because of this lack of adequacy.
It could well be what we most need today. I am not eager for persecution. I do suspect that if we had less material advocacy, our prayer and our work would be different. And we would reexamine our faithfulness. Where were you last Sunday night? Where will you be tonight? Ladies, what excuse did you use to give up on WMU?
In our day of extremes, even the extremes of faith, our principal function is the spread of the word. It was so with the Hebrew covenant. Isaiah 6:8, “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’” Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” It was under which commitment that Christ lived His life. He taught the disciples to pray Matthew 6:10, “Thy kingdom, thy will be done.” On the cross, He, Himself prayed. Matthew 26:39, “Not as I will but as thou.”
If we are not at the disposal of God in this late 20th century, we have reason to question if we are Christian at all.
II. “Scattered, They Went Preaching,” Means that People Needed to Hear the Word. V5, “Phillip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there.” It is of only passing interest who this Phillip was. Not the apostle of that name. John 1:43f. The one called “deacon,” Acts 6:5: A Jew of Hellenist background; chose to serve non-native Jews; responds to persecution by seeking a place elsewhere to serve. Article in NSW (5-12) about school club being shut down by ACLU. “We knew we would have to stop if anyone complained.”
The place he chose to go to serve was Samaria. “The city of Samaria,” KJV and Greek; “a city in Samaria,” NIV and others. Its significance is that here was a people who still carried the stigma of Jewish hatred. It’s a long story. Ezra tells part of it in effort to interfere with rebuilding. John 4 tells of Jesus encountering the culture of prejudice with the “woman at the well.”
Phillip will go in response to his Lord even where others would not go. The church at this juncture is only Jewish. The commission’s command was to “all the world,” Matthew 28:19-20. The step is taken here that brings half-breed Jews into the kingdom. The open door to Gentiles is now a step closer. The prophecy is being fulfilled. Hosea 2:23, “And I will say to them which art not my people, ‘Thou art my people’, and they shall say, ‘Thou art my God.’”
Baptist Hymnal #176/148
Word of God across the ages, Comes thy message to our life,
Source of hope, forever present, In our toils and fears and strife;
Constant witness to God’s mercy, Still our grace what e’er befall;
Guide unfailing, strength eternal, Offered freely for us all.
In the tongues of all the peoples May the message bless and heal
As devout and patient scholars More and more its depths reveal.
Bless, O God, to wise and simple, All Thy truth of ageless worth
Till all hands receive the witness, And Thy knowledge fills the earth.
It brought truth (v4), healing (v7), and joy (v8).
III. “Scattered, They Went Preaching,” Defines a Wondrous Event in the Life of the Church. V6, “And the people with one accord gave heed . . . .” V8, “And there was great joy in (the) city.” It was a people to people movement. V4, “The ones being scattered passed through preaching the word,” LSV.
It is interesting that the apostles were allowed to remain in Jerusalem. Clearly, they had the respect of the people. It may be that the non-native Jews were the ones who bore the brunt of this religious persecution. Some suggest that the apostles were the least ready for their faith to be separated from its homeland, and its Hebrew culture.
There were Christians who wanted only to be a Hebrew sub-culture. Many things will keep Jerusalem central. But the gospel outlook is beyond Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the world. V14, Peter and John sent to Samaria; v17, the Samaritan Pentecost; v25, “. . . Returning to Jerusalem, (they) preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.” It would be interesting to know how many cities of the earth have had the gospel preached to them because some Baptist women went to Richmond 100 years ago and organized a venture that would bring their sons and daughters a mission consciousness unequal in the world.
As it was people to people, it was also geared to message and ministry. Nothing will ever take the place of the preaching of the word. Whether one person to another over a telephone, or in a letter, or on a bus. Or, whether it is one person to 100,000 persons in a great sports complex. When you support tv ministries, you support what is first entertainment. When you support your church, you are supporting what is “gospel proclamation.”
Romans 10:14, “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?”