Castlebar Christian Fellowship

"Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life" - Acts 5:20esv

Intro - The main aim of the church is to spread the Word!
Why does the church exist in this world? For what primary reason has God gathered us together? What is our primary focus to be? Is it to lead the crusade for social justice for the poor...? Is it to be a political force to help change culture...? Is it to help keep our town tidy and mow lawns for old ladies...? Is it to be a club, where people can socialise with friends...? Are any of these things God's primary reason for bringing us together..? Is there anything we are to do that no-one else will...?
Or on another note... is the churches main aim to mature the saints through the Preaching of the Word so we can all become theological heavyweights... Is it to meet together to have a good time singing worship songs? Is it come together to pray and pray and pray? Are these things good and essential? Yes they are! But are any of them to be our main focus? This is a vital question... because if we don't know our primary reason for existing, then we will not accomplish what we are called by God to do. And if we don't know the primary reason for why we exist, then one day Castlebar Christian Fellowship will cease to exist. That is how important this question is! Our very existence depends on how we answer this question...!
So here it is: The primary reason for our existence here in Mayo is evangelism! To spread the Word about Jesus! To give the people this message of life! That ABOVE ALL is why God has us existing here! Nothing is more important than this, NOTHING. All the other things I mentioned are done with this focus... More hangs on this than anything else. Eternal things hang on this! Therefore we are called to set out to convert people to Jesus by preaching the good news in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's make no mistake about it. WE ARE supposed to, unashamedly, set out to convert people, by preaching this message of life that has been entrusted to us. The same message that the apostles fearlessly declared here in the book of Acts! The same message which has been passed on like a flaming torch by God's faithful witnesses from one generation to another throughout history and now we have it in our hands. Now we are called to hold out to the world this message of life! If God's people don't do this, no one else will!
Now Satan, he will tell us we don't know the message well enough to pass it on... He will tell us we're not good enough to share the message... He will tell us we have to wait until we earn the right to preach this message... No we don't, Jesus earned the right for us to preach this message when he shed his blood for mankind. We do not proclaim ourselves - our own smartness or goodness or worthiness or lives - but we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. We proclaim his truth, his goodness, his worthiness, his life! If we had to wait until we earned the right, then no-one would ever hear the message! The truth is people have a right to know about this message. People have a right to know that our Lord Jesus died and rose again to give them eternal life!
So what can this passage tell us about how we can best handle and pass on this most precious and most powerful message of life?
Firstly it shows us we need to seek at least two things:
[V12-16esv] "Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns round Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed."
SEEK OUT
1. Seek out effective places where we can GIVE PEOPLE THIS MESSAGE OF LIFE
We're told they met in a place called Solomon's porch along the eastern wall of the temple grounds. This was an ideal spot for their meetings in Jerusalem because it was at the religious centre of a religious city and it provided an opportunity for multitudes of curious or interested people to learn of Jesus and Christianity and Church in a familiar place without having to commit to anything prematurely... And the bible says "more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women."
It seems to have been the practice of the first Christian's to GO into the centre of normal life and preach the message of eternal life..! They prayed together behind closed doors and they preached together in public places! Now of course there are places where God's people shouldn't go, and if you are truly walking with Jesus, then the Holy Spirit will stop you going into such places. However there are also places where we should be but we are not... Where are the effective places in our town, in our county, where we can give the people this message of life? Do you have any ideas? Can you help me find them? - (Share about LOST and Summer Saturdays) Where, are the Solomon's Porches in Mayo?
How about this: how about we have church at Croak Patrick this July on the day of the pilgrimage... There will be loads of people there... Now, I know what some of you are thinking. We can't do that. We don't want to cause any disturbance. We should let people alone on such a day and let them do their religious thing and witness to them at another time. (Do you/I witness to them at another time?)
I was thinking about all this and I remembered a story about a man who one day went to a big religious event. It wasn't safe for him to go to this religious event because he had said some things that really ticked off some of the organisers of this event and they wanted to kill him... But he went along anyway and in the middle of the event he began to debate some things with the people. Some of the people were impressed, others told him he had a demon, the organisers tried to get him arrested. Then a few days later at the climax of this event this man caused a real disturbance. He stood up in the middle of everything and cried out at the top of his lungs. "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"
So you want to be like Jesus, which Jesus? Mr nice guy, don't rock the boat or do anything too crazy, Jesus? Or Radical, tell it as it is, lay it all on the line, no fear, dynamic life giving, Jesus? Which Jesus is presented to us in the gospels? Which Jesus are we going to choose to follow? The apostles turned the world upside down, that was a pretty big disturbance! When did we get so safe, boring and predictable? When did we become so unlike Jesus and his apostles?
2. Seek the power of God to confirm this message of life
See when these apostles put themselves 'out there' they seen the power of God! In fact they freaked people out. The bible says; "None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem." See these guys were respected among those who responded to their message, but the people dared not keep close company with them in ministering this message of life. The people dared not stick to closely with these guys. These guys are unpredictable. They say things they're not supposed to say. They get arrested. They get beat up. They don't shut up when the authorities tell them to. We'll get in trouble if we follow these guys. These guys are too radical, so we dare not join them.
But hey, these guys saw the power of God! These guys saw they're city filled with their teaching! They saw thousands of people added to the Lord. They seen the sick healed. They seen people delivered. In fact people travelled from surrounding villages to be ministered to by these guys. These guys were released from prison by angels. They seen things the average well balanced Christian never sees!
(I used to think, up until recently that being a good Christian was all about balance, but then God told me to throw away the scales...) But we don't need balance... we need the earthshaking power of God to fill our lives so as his people we become radical and dynamic again... We need the fire of God to burn in our hearts afresh... So we need to seek out effective places and we need to seek the power of God. However we seek out so that we can speak up!
[V17-21esv] "But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, "Go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life." And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach."
SPEAK OUT
1. Give the people the FULL MESSAGE OF THIS LIFE
The NIV translates verse 20 like this: "Go stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life." Now, Satan, he will tell us we need to change this message, or dilute this message, or add to this message, or redefine this message, or hold back this message... for he has seen the power of this message over 1000s of years... BUT it is wrong to tamper with the message. We are doing the devils work if we hold back any part of God's message. For we have been told to give the people all the words of this life. We are not the authors or the editors of this message we are simply the delivery service. It is our job to pass it on to the people. As the NLT says: to give the people this message of life.
This message of life is comprehensive and many-sided but it is also unchanging and clearly defined. So anything that is vague and uncertain or anything that is still developing cannot be this message of life. This is a message that has been delivered to us once and for all (Jude V3). Therefore we are to speak it out with courage, all of it! God's love - which desires all people to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4) - compels us to do so! We are to have hearts like God! That is, hearts that desire people to be rescued and changed by Jesus through knowing the reality of 'this message of life', for themselves!
Holding back from telling the people 'all the words of this life' , doesn't reflect the heart of God, it doesn't accomplish the purposes of God, and it doesn't work! It might attract fluffy Christians who like to be scratched where they itch (2 Tim 4:3), but it doesn't make new durable ones who are truly changed to the point they lay down their lives and last the course (1 Pet 1:23-25), and holding back the message doesn't turn the world upside down. The apostles turned the world upside down with this message of life. It's time the church today let the full message of 'this life' loose...! And in order to do this properly we will need to be politically incorrect.
2. Be politically incorrect
[V27-32esv] "And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers who raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey."
Now our society today is obsessed with political correctness, but as the church we are to be committed to biblical correctness! We can't be both. There is no such thing as politically correct Christianity. We are to follow the example of the apostles. They were repeatedly told in the book of Acts to stop preaching this message of life, so what did they do? They ignored what men told them to do and kept doing what God told them to do. Political correctness is not our lord, JESUS is our Lord! We have a higher authority!
What does this mean in practice? It means we preach exactly what we're told we can't preach! When culture tells us we cannot say Jesus is the only way to God... we preach it all the louder. We turn up the volume on that particular truth. When culture says it's okay to have sex outside marriage, or that homosexuality is okay. We preach all the louder that these things offend a holy God... (expand, perhaps with Gareth's story and by pointing out that we all struggle with sin) because if we - the Church - don't say what God thinks, then people will only hear what man thinks...
This is exactly what the apostles did here in the book of Acts. When they were arrested for a third time and once again told to shut up they chose instead to speak up by saying what their listeners wanted to hear least. They said; "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus (these people didn't believe in the resurrection so the apostles preached the risen Jesus...), whom you killed by hanging him on a tree (this is the point they noted in V28 as being of particular annoyance to them. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. (In other words Jesus is a higher authority than you and has more power than you therefore we'd be wiser to obey him!) And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey."
"People had problems with the gospel at the very beginning, and they still have problems. And the gospel remains unaffected by the changing scenes of time because it is the message of God." - M. Lloyd-Jones. If THIS MESSAGE OF LIFE is being preached in its fullness then it will disturb people but it will also save people. This is why we must speak it fearlessly, with boldness from the Holy Spirit. It's time the church came out of the closet and nailed its colours to the mast.
The aim of this message is to challenge and inspire people to let the message of this life loose!
Call to Action - What THIS MESSAGE OF LIFE can do! 2 Cor 4:7
I know a guy called Trevor... a girl called Laura... a guy called (Simon)... a lady called (Margaret)... a guy called (Stephen)... a girl called Pam... These are just a few of the stories I know.
This message of life is a priceless jewel, it makes people eternally rich! This message of life is the difference between heaven and hell and life and death. This message of life sets the captives free, opens the eyes of the blind and heals the broken hearted! It gives joy and satisfaction and healing and deliverance! It offers forgiveness and grace and love and reconciliation to the guilty. It gives purpose and meaning and significance to everyone and everything. It humbles the proud, corrects the deceived and rebukes the rebel. It has the power to melt and change the hardest of hearts. It brings light into darkness, hope into despair and peace into madness. It gives victory over Satan and sin and addictions and death and it secures for us a certain glorious future that nothing can ruin. This message of life is powerful, it is a dynamic life force bringing abundant and eternal life to all who receive it by faith...That is why the first Christians called the message this life.
We have been entrusted with this priceless jewel which has the potential to make all people eternally rich. This most precious treasure has been placed in these jars of clay to show the world is it Jesus that makes all the difference! That why we are to make spreading the Word about Jesus our priority by seeking out the Solomon's Porches, and by seeking the power of God in prayer so we have the courage to speak up and give to the people the full message of this life!