Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

By being like Jesus 01/18/09

Sermon Series: Acts: Enlarging our Vision

                Title: ‘By being like Jesus’    Text: Acts 11

Introduction:

In Discipleship Journal, Carole Mayhall tells of a woman who went to a diet center to lose weight. The director took her to a full length mirror. On it he outlined a figure and told her. “This is what I want you to be like at the end of the program.”

Days of intense dieting and exercise followed, and every week the women would stand in front of the mirror, discouraged because
her bulging outline didn’t fit the director’s ideal. But she kept at it, and finally one day she conformed to the longed for image.”

Like this woman, people try very hard to conform to a particular kind of physical image. Usually one they see on TV or in magazine advertisements.  But, our passage today will show that God’s goal for us is to conform to a very different kind of image. And the struggle to live up to that image may be even more difficult.

Transition: Open your Bibles to Acts 11:1 (pg. 840 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) For it’s there we’ll find we enlarge our vision of God by being like Jesus.

I. Acts 11:1-18     Intimacy with God

Read: Acts 11:1-3       The Problem

ILL: The story is told of a conversation between two men. I asked "Are you Protestant or Catholic?"  "Protestant."  I said, "Me too! What denomination?"  He answered, "Baptist."  "Me too!" I said. "Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?"  "Northern Baptist," he replied.  "Me too!" I shouted.  We continued to go back and forth. Finally I asked, "Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1879 or Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912?"  He replied, "Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912."  I said, "Die, heretic!"  (Paul Fredericks)

 
Truth be told, in practice, we act as if we want people to be more like us than like Jesus. And when they aren’t, there’s often conflict. It’s hard to be like Jesus when we are in the midst of a conflict. But, conflicts are part of life. And so we struggle…not unlike the early disciples of Jesus who still had a long way to go to be conformed to the image of Christ.

Peter is in hot water when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that he not only taught gentiles about Jesus…but he entered a gentile’s home and ate with them. I’m not sure but I think they were more angry that Peter ate in a gentile’s home. ‘You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.’

Notice, there was no rejoicing over the salvation of the lost gentiles…only anger. Were they being like Jesus? No…Jesus said in…

Read: Luke 15:7 ‘I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.’

The apostles still had a lot to learn about being like Jesus.

Transition: How do we conform to the image of Christ, and  keep conflicts from destroying the church? By developing and nurturing a relationship of finding intimacy with God and then trusting in God’s Word…alone.  That’s what Peter did.

 

Read: Acts 11:4-10     The Word of God

Notice that  Peter’s defense was not based on what he felt or believed. His defense was based solely on God’s Word…in this case, what God had told him. It was not based on how the Jews saw the gentiles but how God saw them….lost and in need of a Savior.

My feelings, my thoughts, my  beliefs even my experience always take a back seat to the authority of God’s Word when we want to determine what is right and what isn’t.

Transition: God spoke to Peter and Peter listened. But God also acted in a powerful way and Peter responded with faith.

Read: Acts 11:11-17          The Work of the Holy Spirit

Peter saw the parallel between what the Holy Spirit did at the Pentecost event and what he was doing right in front of him with the gentiles. He recognized the work of the Holy Spirit and he responded in faith when he baptized these new gentile believers.

This was new, this was big, this was over the top, and this was possibly going to get him in trouble with his friends back in Jerusalem. But Peter recognized the importance of sensing where God is going and heading in that same direction.

Is there a lesson for us as well? You bet. You can’t stay where you are and go with God. Sound familiar? It should, I have been using it for years now challenging all of us to follow where God leads.

Peter saw that going with God could cause some conflict with the apostles in Jerusalem, but he made the choice to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and trust God to work out the details. We need to do the same thing.

·       If God is leading you to serve Him; don’t worry about the time, the resources, the ability needed…go with God, trust Him.

·       If God is leading us as a church to Go, Stand and Tell the full message of this new life in Christ to all those who will hear; then we can’t worry about how it will affect out budget or how much time it’s going to take or to whom we will go…we need to go with God and trust Him.

Transition: Peter is our example. And God is faithful.

Read: Acts 11:18          The Result: Submission

It wasn’t what Peter felt or believed that changed the apostles mind…it was what God said and did that made the difference. The apostles in Jerusalem submitted to God’s Word and leading and rejoiced in His great work…even if they didn’t understand it all at that time.

Transition: To be like Christ means that we develop and nurture a relationship of intimacy with God by trusting His Word and following His leading. But it also means we develop and nurture a relationship of intimacy with God’s people.

II. Acts 11:19-30   Intimacy with God’s People

Read: Acts 11:19-21          The Spread of the Gospel

Luke is giving us some further detail concerning the spread of the Gospel…particularly how it got to the gentiles…besides Peter’s visit to Cornelius.

·       After the stoning of Stephen, Jewish believers left Jerusalem and as they went they told people about Jesus. But, they only spoke to the Jews about Jesus.

·       There were also Hellenistic Jews (Greek speaking Jews who were born outside Israel) who also left Jerusalem but who began to tell the Gentiles about Jesus. Many of them went to the Greek city of Antioch.

It seems the people in Antioch were ripe unto harvest and God touched many lives so that a great number of Gentiles believed in Jesus. But there is something I want to ask you. Who were the people who went to Antioch, had the Lord’s hand on them, and, shared the Gospel with great success? What were their names?

We’re not told. I think that’s significant. Obscure, unknown, unnamed men and women were used by God to do the great work of helping build God’s kingdom.

·       They were not apostles, elders, deacons or even school trained evangelists.

·       They made no headlines on earth but extra editions were published in heaven because this was such a great event.

But now the Gospel has broken through Jewish barriers and is reaching out to all humanity.

The messengers were common, everyday people who loved the Lord and wanted to tell others the full message of this new life in Jesus.

Folks…followers of Jesus Christ, you don’t realize the power that is within you when you develop and nurture a relationship of intimacy with God and are willing to be used by God to Go, Stand and Tell the full message of this new life in Jesus to the people you come in contact with everyday.

Transition: Well, something so big was happening in Antioch that the apostles in Jerusalem sends someone to check it out.

Read: Acts 11:22-24          The Sending of Barnabas

Notice when Barnabas got to Antioch and saw all that God was doing, he wasn’t jealous or envious of their success. In fact the text says he recognized the evidence of God’s grace in the fellowship, was ‘glad’ and he encouraged them to keep up the good work.

You know, there will never be a shortage of those who want to be like Paul in the church. But there will always be a shortage of those who want to be like Barnabas…because people like Barnabas rarely get the limelight.

Transition: Barnabas was honest with himself

and knew his limitations. He decided the work in

Antioch was too big for him to handle alone. So he left Antioch to get help.

Read: Acts 11:25-26a  The Searching for Saul

The church was growing and it needed more leadership, more teachers. So Barnabas brings Saul on board. They stay for a whole year; teaching, leading, comforting, encouraging and loving the saints in Antioch. They were developing and nurturing relationships of intimacy with them.

I want you to notice something significant. Twice, it is mentioned that the church in Antioch grew.

·       First in verse 21 where it grew from the unknown followers of Jesus’ work of evangelism.

·       Then in verse 24 where it grew from Barnabas and Saul’s work of edification and discipleship….relationship building.

Both must be found in the church…evangelism and edification, salvation and sanctification…with together is part of discipleship and done in relationship.  We become more like Jesus when we develop and nurture a relationship of intimacy

with God’s people.

Transition: What happens to a church that focuses on developing and nurture a relationship of intimacy with God and His people?

Read: Acts 11:26b          The Savior’s People

What happens to a church that focuses on developing and nurture a relationship of intimacy with God and His people? They become more like Jesus…and people take notice.

Question: What does it mean to be called a Christian?

The followers of Jesus in Antioch weren’t called Christians because they got saved or believed in Jesus. They were called Christians because of how they lived…they lived like Jesus lived. They took WWJD? to heart and action.

Understand, the term Christian wasn’t a compliment and it wasn’t started by someone in the church. It was a kind of ‘slap in the face’ by those outside the church who thought

·       ‘Look at those crazy people! They don’t worship our gods, they don’t observe our standards, they live entirely different lives than us. Why, they are trying to be little Christs.  All they do is talk about Christ, their whole life is centered on him. I know what they are. They are Christians.’

·       Which in the Greek means ‘little Christs’.

Becoming like Christ is a lifelong journey. It is my prayer that we’ll all desire to stay on the road to Christ-likeness…and that happens when we develop and nurture a relationship of intimacy with God and His people.

Transition: Intimacy with God’s people is perhaps broader than we might expect.

Read: Acts 11:27-30          The Separation: United

For all intent and purpose what we have here are two churches…the Greek church in Antioch and the Jewish church in Jerusalem…kind of like the Conservative Baptist Association and the Presbyterian Church in America…or the United Methodist Church and the Assembly of God. Separate churches that God wants to become one in so many ways.

To lower the wall of division, God speaks to the church in Antioch through a prophet and his prophecy. The church in Antioch believes God and takes up a collection for the church in Jerusalem and sends the money to help the church in Jerusalem get through the famine…even though they too would be hurting.

I don’t have the time to go into this today but there is much that needs to be done in God’s church today to lower the wall of division between God’s churches and God’s people. I just pray we can be a part of that.

Conclusion

Alexander the Great was a brilliant strategist and a mighty conqueror. He was not only a leader of men, but he was fearless in battle.

The story is told of him sitting in judgment on the battlefield. There he was judge and jury. Many times his judgment could be extremely harsh, especially in those situations of desertion.

Before him one day was brought a young lad. Alexander asked what the boy’s name was. The officer presenting him said, "Alexander, sir." At once, the great general’s countenance softened.

It was as if he was flattered that the boy had his name. His men breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps there would be some leniency for this young man, whatever his crime.

Alexander inquired as to the nature of the charge against the young lad. His officer replied, "Cowardice, sir. He fled in the heat of battle." The once soft countenance of the great general was suddenly transformed into an intense, tight-jawed grimace.

Looking the boy squarely in the eye, he said to him deliberately, ‘Son, what did you say was your name?’ The lad replied, ‘Why, Alexander, sir.’ To that answer, the emperor bolted off his throne and grabbed the terrified young soldier and said to him, ‘Young man, change your behavior or change your name!’  (J. David Hoke)

One of the 10 Commandments says ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.’ (Ex. 20:7) Is it possible for us to take the name of the Lord in vain by how we live? Might the Lord be saying to us, "Christian, change your behavior or change your name?"

Because we have the name of Christ and are called by that name, we must live lives that are glorifying to His name. Or dare I say it…Keep your salvation a secret so you don’t do damage to the cause of Christ….Just something to think about.

Our text said ‘And they were called Christians first at Antioch’. They were called Christians because they lived for Christ and people noticed.

May we be called Christians today for that very same reason.