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Our scripture this morning comes out
of the book of Acts and it is the story of a new church that was
sprouting up in Antioch and so we want to catch up with the story of
Antioch and see what it has for us today. So I invite you to follow
along as we hear the word of God from Acts, chapter 11. “The news of
this, being the starting of a new church, reached the ears of the church
at Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw
the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged in a way
that encouraged them all to be true to the Lord with all of their
hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a
great number of people were brought to the Lord. Barnabas went to
Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to
Antioch. So that for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church
and taught a great number of people. The disciples were called
Christians first at Antioch.” The word of God for us this day. Would
you join me as we pray together?
Lord God thank you for your word.
Thank you for the way it inspires us, the way it teaches us, Lord let it
have its full effect on our hearts this day. We ask that because of
Christ. Amen.
Well on the wind swept coast of
Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Phillip scraped together enough
money to buy his first ranch. He had grown up ranching in Africa with
cattle but he knew this land that he purchased that he called Fairwinds
would not support cattle. So he now was going to become a sheep
herder. And any sheep herder knows that in order to herd sheep well,
they need a little help; and so, like good sheep herders, they know
there is nothing better than a sheep dog to help control the herd. A
good well trained sheep dog is worth many hired hands. So Phillip set
out to find a sheep dog. He was looking for a Border collie,
preferably, knowing that they were the best ones. He could find nothing
until he came across this ad in the paper. It said, “Wanted, good
country home for purebred Border collie, chases cars and bikes.” When
Phillip went to see the dog he was horrified at what he saw. It had a
chain around its neck and another one on one of its hind legs. And as
he stepped in the gate this dog came running at him, snarling and
growling, only to fall on a heap of ground as he ran out of chain.
Phillip looked at the dog with pity, and he wondered if it could be
reclaimed, if this dog could be saved to do what it was bred to do, to
herd sheep. Phillip went to the owner and said “I’ll take the dog
(whose named Lass) on one condition. I’m going to take it for six weeks
and see if I can train it. If I can’t I will bring it back and you will
have to destroy it.” So he took Lass back to the ranch and gave Lass a
nice kennel with clean bedding and food and water, of which she touched
none of it. And this continued for many days till the point where he
said I have to do something radical. So he opened the kennel door and
let Lass run free on his ranch. As soon as the door was opened the dog
was gone into the woods behind the home. For several days she was
missing, until one evening he noticed that Lass was standing on a rock
outcropping overlooking the house. So he took some food and water and
he set it on the rocks. The next morning he came back and the food was
gone. So he did it again the next day, and the next day. Then one
evening Phillip was standing watching the beautiful sunset when all of a
sudden he noticed the nuzzle of a warm nose on the back of his hand.
Lass had come home. And it was the beginning of a relationship that
would last many years.
There was much that was still needed
to do with this dog as they began to build the trust and affection
between the two of them. Lass learned quickly, first voice commands and
then hand commands, for what Phillip wanted her to do. She was becoming
a sheep dog and she grew to love it and grew to love Phillip as well.
Lass was doing what she had been bred to do and Phillip could see the
life coming back into her. And there was great joy there. Sure there
were some reprimands and some corrections along the way, but there was
also joy because Lass was doing what she was supposed to be doing and
she was doing it for her master as well. Over time people from the city
would actually drive out to this ranch to watch this dog work and they
would marvel at this connection between the owner and the master. And
many years later Phillip would reflect on his time with Lass; and he
said, you know I learned from Lass exactly what it means when Christ
says He wants to be our Great Shepherd. And He wants us to do in His
fields His work as a co-worker with Christ. He said it was a simple
lesson of tremendous worth.
And the story of this dog named Lass,
has many parallels to our scripture this day in the life of this new
church in Antioch. This is kind of what Antioch probably looked like as
it was getting started. It was a new church that was being started out
of nothing and it was a church that was full with the grace of God, we
are told, and it was busting at the seems because so many people are
coming in. So the home church, the mother church in Jerusalem, sends
out Barnabas to check it out and see if it is O.K. And if you know
Barnabas, his name means Son of Encouragement. How is that for sending
the right person to a new church? So Barnabas comes to this community
and he sees this community that is alive with people, with these new
followers of Christ. Most of them were Gentiles with little or no
background or understanding of this Jesus as the Messiah, the prophesied
one and how he’d come to live on earth. So Barnabas begins to seek out
Paul, because he knows that Paul is the one who’s been called by the
Gentiles to come and bring God’s kingdom to them. It says here that
Paul and Barnabas stayed with the church for a year, meeting with them
and teaching a great many people. And then the author, Luke, of the
book of Acts, adds this little caveat about the results, he says, those
believers in Antioch were the first ones to be called Christians. And
there is a lot of discussion around this word, Christian. Many think
that it was probably a term of endearment and yet there are others that
think it was perhaps started as a slur of some type and when you look at
the word Christian it is a term that was given by the Gentiles to these
new followers of Christ. It didn’t come out of a Jewish background. It
is a Greek word that denotes a title of ownership, like you would have
for a slave, and so these new Christians were actually slaves of the
first part of the word, which in this case is Christ. These were slaves
of Christ. So my hunch is that it did probably start as a slur. “You
Christian.” “You slave of Christ.” “You fool, what did you do that
for?” Is probably what a lot of these new followers heard from their
friends. But I think over time it became a term of endearment because
they saw these new followers of Christ and how their life had changed
and how their life became centered in Christ and how they became like
Christ, a duplication of Christ in the city of Antioch. And all of a
sudden, lives were changing and the people of the city saw that and now
instead of “You Christian.” “You’re a Christian, aren’t you?” These
new converts to faith became like Jesus. It says out of our text
because they were trained or equipped because they met together and they
sat under the apostles teaching. Well what is it about those two
aspects about meeting together and teaching that can cause us to become
like Christ? What is that? Well let’s take a look at those real
quickly.
The first one we want to look at is
this idea of meeting together. These followers of Jesus, these new
Gentile believers, were under much persecution and suffering as they
began to build this church in Antioch. And I think as they got together
it was a chance for them to kind of lick their wounds. When they came
together it was at time of encouragement after being beaten up in their
world as they were out doing the things in the city. They were wounded,
probably emotional, (“You Christian.”) and perhaps even physically, as
well. But as they gathered together I also think it was a chance for
them to strengthen their resolve. Because as they came together they
could see what they had in Christ and it motivated them to then go back
into the world to live as Christ lived. (“Oh, yah, we can do this. We
can make a difference. Let’s go.”) I’m sure they heard the stories of
Peter and John after they were first arrested, the stories in Acts 4.
Where after they were arrested and released, Peter and John went back to
the rest of the church and what did they pray? They prayed for a bolder
witness the next time they went out in the city. And I’m guessing they
were doing the same thing in Antioch. “Lord, let us be counted worthy
of you. Let us go out and live like you lived.” As they gathered
together it was a place where iron could sharpen iron, where they came
together and they were trained. They weren’t just trying to live like
Christ but they were trained and encouraged by their gathering together
and then they went back into the world to live the life that Christ
lived as best they could. These new believers learned about gathering
together from Paul and Barnabas. But we also know that they sat under
the apostles teaching, don’t we; that’s what it says as well. But what
were they teaching them? They didn’t have the bible. I think they were
teaching them the story of Jesus. These were Greek, pretty much
uneducated believers around things of Christ, and so it was important
for them to know all that they could know about Christ. Who was it that
they were following? Who was it that they were proclaiming to their
friends and their city? They needed to hear the stories of what Jesus
said, what Jesus did, how He interacted with people, what was Jesus’
heart, what was His moral character like, so that they could then go and
live the same way. They were learning the stories of Jesus; but they
were learning them just not so they could not just repeat them to their
friends. They were learning them so that they would be changed by them,
they would be transformed so that they could live like Christ. And in
that they learned that Christ had the heart of a servant because that is
the heart of God and that Jesus did only what His Father told Him to
do. They were being trained so that they could live like Christ rather
than simply trying to live like that. And in that training they could
take what they were learning and how they were changing and they could
go back out into the world to live and proclaim Christ, even in the face
of persecution and potential death as well. In that process, I think
that they learned first hand from Paul and Barnabas that this learning
and this transformation that they were experiencing was not to be held
on to but it was to be passed on to those around them. We see Paul
carrying that message later on in 2Timothy 2:2 and Jesus lays it out
very clearly in the great commission. They were to be about spiritual
reproduction so that the story of Christ could go forth into the world,
could go to the ends of the earth. Just as Lass, our sheep dog, had to
be trained in everything that she needed to do for her master, so these
young followers of Christ needed to be trained to become all that Christ
wanted them to be as well. And the same is true for us today. We too
need to be trained so that we can become all that Christ wants us to be
for the goal, our goal, is the same as the goal in Antioch. That we
would become like Christ in all of our ways. We would be His slaves, so
that we would go tell the story of Christ, so the world would call Him
Lord. A church that is fully alive is one that builds up its’ believers
in Jesus Christ so that they can go out into the world to be the
witnesses that Christ is calling us to be. And that is a
transformational process. It doesn’t happen overnight but it requires
us being gathered together. It requires that we be taught, not for
information sake, but in the process of meeting together and being
taught, we will be trained to be like Christ so that we can go forth so
that our lives might resemble Christ.
I think as we look at our future here
at Faith we are moving into a new season of life here at Faith. I don’t
know if you’ve kind of gotten that sense but there are things in the
work; there’s a new wind that is blowing here at Faith. And I think it
a call for us now to take these elements that we see at work in Antioch
and begin to bring them into the life here at Faith as well. We need to
provide those kind of places where people can gather together to be
encouraged, to be strengthened, to be prayed for. And as we think of
that, where does that happen in our church. I think there’s a couple
ways that I know: one is small groups. How many of you are in a small
group right now, raise your hand. Hold your hands up and look around.
Thank you. If you raised your hand, thank you, and I want to encourage
you to stay the course, to continue to focus your time on becoming more
like Christ as a result of your study together. Do that as you gather
together and you will honor God and you will be changed as a result of
it as well. And if you are not in a group right now, then I want to
challenge you to think seriously about being in a group, because life
transformation happens in small groups. Come and talk to me about your
desire to be in a group or attend one of our classes that we are going
to be offering this fall because one of the desired outcomes that I want
to see out of our classes is that some new small groups will begin to
bubble up out of them as new relationships are built and we can launch
some groups as a result of these classes. So small groups is one of
those places where we gather.
One of those other places where we
gather is what I call serving in a ministry. I, along with our adult
ministry team, and you’ve seen kind of a blurb in our bulletin the last
few weeks about our adult ministry team, are going to be meeting
starting this week with a lot of our ministry leaders. We are going to
talk about the value of team ministry, because I think we miss that a
lot of times when we talk about serving in a ministry. Because one of
the exciting things that happen when you are part of a ministry team is
you get supported and encouraged in the process of doing ministry. What
I mean by that is, if we are only involved in ministry, or when we are
involved in ministry, we are putting out a lot of energy, aren’t we. We
are serving; we’re giving; we’re praying; we’re always doing this. And
as a result of that, we need some encouragement. We need to be
supported and lifted up. And in a team ministry it’s a different
mindset that allows us to do this; but in the process of doing ministry,
those that we’re doing ministry along side of we’re also encouraging
each other. So it becomes a two-way street. We can do that in very
easy ways whether it is in Sunday school or ushering or welcoming. It
can be something, we’re not talking about adding new meetings together
or praying together although you can do that, but it can be something as
simple as two ushers sitting at the back door, handing out bulletins,
there is a little lull in the people coming in, you turn to the person
and go ‘hey, how’s your job” because you know what’s going on in their
job. And they go “man, it’s tough right now. It’s really had.” “Let
me pray for you”. Something that simple, that quick, that easy can be a
significant support when you are serving in a ministry. My experience
has told me when volunteers are involved in a ministry, if all there
doing is giving, they’re eventually going to get to the point where they
go “Pfffft! Time’s up. Time’s out. I’ve had enough. I’ve done my
time. I’ve given my blood. I’m done. I’m outta here. No more.” But
if when you’re in a team ministry and you’re being supported, as your
giving, you’re also getting; and as you getting, you’re going “man, this
is what it is supposed to be like. This is what it’s like. I want to
be a part of this; because not only am I making a difference in my
ministry but I am being encouraged; I’m being helped. And I want to be
a part of that.”
So team ministry is one of the ways
we can do that. It becomes a two-way street for ministry. So we need
to gather together. We need to be intentional about those gathering
pieces. But just as Antioch was intentional about their gathering we
also have to be intentional about our teaching opportunities as well so
that we become more like Christ. What does that mean for us? Well as
you know we are heading into a new season here at Faith, I just talked
about our three worship services. As a result of moving to three
worship services, we’re going to be adding more adult classes. We’re
going to be adding classes at 9:45 and the 11:00 hour. Those classes
are an important part of our growing in our faith, not just for
information, but for transformation, so that we will be changed. If we
are just going to class to get information, it’s not worth it. But go
to class to see how God will change you to get trained to live more like
Christ. That’s what we want our classes to be about. And by offering
them at two hours no matter what worship service you go to you can
attend a class, whether it be before worship or after worship. So, take
a look at that because I think as we are serious about building our
faith, God will reward us for our diligence. In addition were going to
be, for the very first time, offering some adult classes on Wednesday
night. We’ve never done that before. We’re going to be offering
classes that are going to be with a dinner before the class and that
affords us some very unique opportunities. Maybe there’s someone that
you know that just comes and drops their kids off on Wednesday nights
and then goes. This is a great opportunity to say “hey, let’s have
dinner and then go to a class together.” Because these classes are
going to be geared towards those who are maybe a little more on the
periphery, they can kind of come in, touch, feel, check us out without
having to” come in to Sunday morning”. And so it is an opportunity for
you to invite someone whether it is because they have children in our
program or maybe it’s just a neighbor. This is a great opportunity for
us to use that for our church. In addition we are going continue our
women’s bible study that has been very successful. The women that are
in that have been blessed in a great way. And then we are going to add
a class, a cross cultural ministry class, on Thursday nights that’s
going to be taught by experienced missionaries and seminary professors.
Not just for world mission but for cross cultural ministry here locally
as well. That’s going to be a great opportunity. All of these things
are going to be coming out in the newsletter that is going to be coming
out in a few weeks. I wanted to give you a heads-up because all of this
is going to help us to be transformed as we engage in these classes so
that we might become more like Christ. Can you tell I’m a little
excited about this? I’m excited about this because I truly believe this
is foundational. This is foundational for a growing and healthy church,
that people are connected together and that they are growing and being
changed in their faith and they are becoming more like Christ. As we
become more purposeful of the things that we do here at Faith we’re
going to need these critical pieces of gathering and teaching all the
more not only for our own growth and transformation but so that the word
might go forth; Christ kingdom might expand. This is our spiritual
foundation. Our spiritual foundation needs to be continually solid and
growing if we are going to make an impact for Christ. And so my words
for you are, will you join me now for that end? Consider what is
coming; considering where you are in your walk and say “God how can I
live more like you? How can I be more faithful to your calling in my
life?” as we move into this fall season. Amen.
Let me pray for us. Lord God, we
thank you for this opportunity to live life as you have called us to
live as fully devoted to you. Lord let us live that way. Let us live
that way even as we give our tithes and offerings now. We ask that in
your name. Amen
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