But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had travelled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.
They are now his witnesses to our people.
We tell you the good news.
What God promised our fathers, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.
As it is written in the second psalm,
You are my son, today I have become your father.
The fact that God raised him from the dead never to decay, it is stated in these words,
I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.
So it is stated elsewhere, you will not let your holy ones see decay.
For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.
He was buried with his fathers, and his body decayed.
But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you.
Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.
As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath.
When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas,
who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
Thanks very much, Jonathan.
There is at the back an A4 sheet, which you may find helpful in understanding the big plan.
This one here is entitled Progression of God's Mission.
So the big sweep of Acts, and it helps you understand what's going on and some of the big themes.
So there's copies of those at the back.
You might want to take them to read at home.
Well, keep your Bibles open at Acts 13.
We're going to dip into Luke as well, just very briefly.
But we're going to pray first and ask for God's help in this.
Father, we thank you for this great book of Acts, this history of the early church,
its beginnings, its growth, and its spread across the entire world.
But more than that, we thank you for the person of Jesus to whom it points to and tells us about.
And we pray that what we read and what we look at together would shape us, not as individuals,
but it would shape us and transform us as a church and the way that we should be.
So please help us, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, I want to start by asking what is a very contentious but critical question.
And if you come along on Wednesday nights, I'm sure this question will be debated at large.
Here's the question. It's the title of the talk.
What is the mission of the church?
You might think that's straightforward.
What is the mission of the church?
What would you answer to that question?
Well, let me give you some possible answers.
The mission of the church is to grow God's kingdom,
love God and love your neighbour.
Is it to tell the gospel?
Or is it to serve the community?
The mission of the church is to plant churches?
Or feed the poor and fight injustice?
Or obey God's commands?
What is the mission of the church?
Well, before we try and answer that, let's define what we mean by mission.
Surprisingly, mission as a noun, as in what is the mission,
it doesn't appear in the Bible.
But it does mean, when we talk about mission,
it means being sent with a task.
So we could define it like this.
I think it's on the screen there.
Mission is the specific task or purpose
the church is sent to accomplish.
That's our working definition for mission.
So what is the task?
What is the purpose for the church?
Well, you might think of a missionary who goes overseas
or you might think of a group of people
who go on a short-term missions trip.
And when people do that,
it could mean anything from teaching in a Bible school
to personal evangelism,
or it might mean going to a country where you're digging a well
or starting a health clinic.
You see, there is a very popular view in the church today
that the mission of the church is to feed the poor,
fight injustice,
and free the enslaved.
Now, I want you to hear me clearly on this.
While I say yes to all of these things
and encourage and support those things,
it is not the mission of the church.
They may help to facilitate the mission of the church.
They may be in some ways a partner,
but it is not the mission.
Mission is not everything the church does or can do,
but what the church is sent in the world to do.
So, have a flick back to Luke's Gospel, chapter 24.
Luke's Gospel, you remember, is the prequel to Acts.
It was the first one that Luke wrote,
and it's introducing us to who Jesus is,
why he came,
and after his resurrection,
Luke records the last and final words
that he gives to his followers.
Luke 24, verse 46.
Jesus told them,
this is what is written,
that Christ will suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day,
and repentance and forgiveness of sins
will be preached in his name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.
Now, there's three things there.
It says,
the Christ will suffer,
he will rise from the dead.
Both of those have been fulfilled.
Both of those things have happened,
but there's one outstanding thing
that hasn't yet finished,
and that is in verse 47,
that repentance and forgiveness of sins
will be preached in his name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem
and working out from there.
An author, Kevin DeYoung,
puts it like this.
He says,
mission is not everything we do
in Jesus' name,
nor is it everything we do
in obedience to Jesus.
Mission is the task we are given to fulfil.
It's what Jesus sends us
into the world to do.
So the mission of the church
is not to sponsor a child.
It is not to work for famine relief.
It is not to care for the environment.
It is to witness about Jesus,
his death,
his resurrection,
and our response to him.
Of course, that doesn't mean
we don't do those things.
We do, and as a church,
we encourage those things.
However, by themselves,
as we will see,
they do not fulfil the mission
that God has given.
Now, when we get to Acts,
so you can go back to Acts again,
when we get to Acts,
we see those final words of Jesus
being fulfilled
through the book of Acts,
being worked out.
In fact, the whole book of Acts
is all about his people
preaching the good news of Christ.
And of course,
as we go through Acts,
there are examples,
you'll know in chapter 2
and chapter 4,
there's these great examples
of social care and concern
as the church sell their possessions,
they sell their fields,
they sell their other homes,
and they give to those
who are in need.
So there is a social care.
But the primary underlying theme
working its way through
the whole book is this.
The priority for the church
until Jesus returns,
a mission of which
the community must never lose sight
is to witness to Jesus
to the ends of the earth.
And that's what we find happening
when we get to this church in Antioch
that we were introduced to last week
in Acts chapter 13.
Look what we see happening in verse 2.
Here they were,
they were worshipping the Lord
and fasting,
and the Holy Spirit said,
Set apart from me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I've called them.
So after they had fasted and prayed,
they placed their hands on them
and sent them off.
So what are they sending them off to do?
What's the work?
What's the mission?
Well, verse 5,
when they arrived at Salamis,
they proclaimed the word of God.
They are simply fulfilling
the mission of the church.
So what we want to do
as we look at chapter 13,
the verses that Jonathan read,
is to look and see
how we can keep the mission of God,
the mission of the church.
And we do this in two ways.
Firstly,
we keep the message of Jesus central.
Keep the message of Jesus central
in all the work
that we seek to do as a church.
So verse 13,
from Pathos,
so you remember that they'd gone down
to the island of Cyprus.
So we're told from Pathos,
Paul and his companions
sailed to Perga in Pamphylia,
which was just on the edge of Turkey,
back onto the mainland again,
where John left them
to return to Jerusalem.
From Perga,
they went on their way
to Pisidian Antioch,
which was about 100 miles inland,
across mountains,
beautiful scenery,
to this place of Antioch,
Pisidian Antioch.
Now this isn't a tour,
a holiday guide
of where they went
in the Mediterranean and Turkey.
No,
what this is telling us
is that as they went
from town to town,
they were witnessing to Christ,
as the text tells us.
Look at the rest of verse 14.
So on the Sabbath,
they entered the synagogue,
like the local church,
if you like,
there and they sat down.
And after reading
from the law and the prophets,
the synagogue rulers
sent word to them,
rumour had obviously spread
about what they were doing,
saying,
Brothers,
if you have a message
of encouragement
for the people,
please speak.
So this word of encouragement
that we read
from verses 16 through to 41
is like the sermon
that was going on.
It was the exhortation,
it was the message,
it was an opportunity
for them to open up
the scriptures,
the Bible,
which they would have had
the Old Testament,
and from that
they would have talked
about Jesus,
which is exactly
what Paul goes on to do.
The message of Jesus
was central.
Now not everybody liked
what he had to say.
Look down at verse 44,
we didn't read this,
but let's read it together,
verse 44.
So on the next Sabbath,
a week later,
almost the whole city
had gathered to hear
the word of the Lord.
It's quite incredible,
isn't it,
that this rumour had spread,
these people were talking
about this Jesus,
and they've all come to hear.
But when the Jews
saw the crowd,
they were filled
with jealousy
and talked abusively
against what Paul was saying.
So not everybody liked
what he had to say.
But that was his mission.
Verse 46,
Then Paul and Barnabas
answered them boldly,
We had to speak
the word of God
to you first.
And since you reject it
and do not consider yourselves
worthy of eternal life,
we now turn to the Gentiles,
to all the other nations,
people who are not Jews.
For this is what the Lord
has commanded us.
I have made you a light
for the Gentiles
that you may bring salvation
to the ends of the earth.
God's mission,
his work,
his purpose,
his plan
is that the salvation of Christ
would go to every people group,
to every language group.
And so Paul
and the church
from which he was sent
is driven
by that same mission.
Now increasingly,
I'm discovering
as I read articles
and read different blogs
on the internet
that the definition of mission
is beginning to expand,
it's broadening.
For some churches
and mission organisations,
the mission is
about social justice,
releasing people from poverty,
increasing the opportunities
of the weak.
and as I've said,
that is all good stuff.
We can support it,
we should support it,
we can be involved in it,
but you know what,
it doesn't enable people
to receive salvation,
it's not the message.
Let me put it bluntly,
and I want to be very careful
as I say this,
but to make the point,
a child with a full belly
does not make them
a child of God.
And a father released
from slavery
does not rescue them
from hell.
You see,
when the opposition
came to Paul and Barnabas
that we read
in verse 46,
they could have kind of
gone back to square one
and redefined their mission.
Let's go do something else.
But that's not going
to save people.
That's not going
to rescue people.
Tim Keller put it like this
when he was talking about
the primacy
or the centrality
of preaching the gospel.
The gospel is central,
he says,
quote,
not because the spiritual
is better
than the physical,
but because the eternal
is more important
than the temporal.
We must be crystal clear
on what the mission
of the church is.
So first,
we are to keep
the message
of Jesus central.
Second,
we are to keep Jesus
the centre
of our message.
Keep Jesus
the centre
of our message.
As Barnabas
and Paul
speak to these people,
it's very clear
that they're talking
about Jesus.
Now,
as I was reading
through that,
and I hope it's the same
for you,
that's a real challenge.
Because I find myself
actually talking about
a lot of other things.
It's not wrong
to talk about other things,
but let me give you
an example.
One of the questions
when you meet new people
after they get to know
what your name is,
they usually ask you,
what do you do?
And I'm always asked,
what do you do?
And usually it ends
the conversation
pretty quick
or people want to
go talk a bit more.
But often when people
ask me that,
it develops into
a conversation
about the church
or the kind of work
that I do
in the church.
In other words,
I tell people
about church life,
but I'm not actually
talking to them
about Jesus.
Or perhaps
in the conversation,
if it develops
a bit more,
I talk about the Bible,
I say, well,
one of the things
I do is to help
people understand
the Bible
and what it's about.
And I maybe talk
about how reliable
it is in that
the Gospels
that we read
are actually
trustworthy.
They're true
eyewitness accounts
and they're not
just made up.
And I can talk
all this wonderful
information,
but it's actually
not talking about
Jesus.
We need to talk
about Jesus.
And Paul does
this in many ways
here,
but I've summarised
it into three
simple ways
and I hope
this is a helpful
way of just
recounting the
whole message
of Christ.
First,
Jesus is the
promised Saviour.
Look at verse 16.
Or sorry,
verse 17.
It seems like
as he starts
into his spiel,
this is just a big
history lesson
as he talks about
the beginning
of Israel.
So in verse 17,
he says,
the God of the
people of Israel
chose our fathers,
he made the people
prosper during their
stay in Egypt,
and with mighty
power he led them
out of the country.
Verse 20.
All of this took
about 450 years.
And then he begins
to talk about a
succession of great
leaders and kings.
So continue on in
verse 20.
After this,
God gave them
judges until the
time of Samuel the
prophet.
Then the people
asked for a king
and he gave them
Saul.
Verse 22.
After removing
Saul, he made
David their king.
So what is this?
Just history?
What's going on?
Well, no, there's a
purpose to all of
this.
His purpose is to
get to Jesus.
Consistently, God
had promised through
the nation of Israel
and through all their
great leaders like
Moses and Samuel
and David and Saul
that Jesus would
come.
It's all part of
his plan.
So when we get to
verse 23, what does
he say?
From this man, once
he gets to David,
from this man's
descendants, God
has brought to
Israel the saviour,
Jesus, as he
promised.
Now most people
today, while they
don't know a lot
about him, are
still familiar with
Jesus.
At best they may
see him as a good
moral teacher.
He arrived on
earth for a few
years and, well, he
died an unfortunate
death.
But it's so much
bigger and greater
than that.
We must show
people that Jesus
is God's promised
saviour from
eternity past, who
has come into
this world to
renew broken
lives and restore
this broken world.
And he does it all
through his death
on the cross.
Jesus didn't just
appear out of
nowhere.
Jesus is God's
planned solution
to the devastation
and destruction
that we see all
around us in the
world and in
people's lives.
He is a promised
saviour, a
rescuer, the one
that everybody
longs for and
wants.
So we need to
talk about Jesus.
The second thing
we could sum up
like this is that
we talk about
Jesus as the
risen king.
Verse 26.
No, verse 20,
well, hang on.
Yeah, 26 to 37.
Most people, again,
when we talk about
Jesus, they accept
that he lived on
earth, that he came
to earth for a
while.
They maybe
recognise that he
died, but where
people have a real
problem is that he
rose again, that he's
actually still alive.
But we need to make
sure that people
understand that that's
true, and Paul is
concerned that people
know that this is
true.
So look at verse 29.
When they carried
out all that was
written about him,
they took him down
from the tree, that's
the cross, and they
laid him in a tomb.
But God raised him
from the dead, and
for many days he
was seen by those
who travelled with
him from Galilee to
Jerusalem.
They are now his
witnesses to our
people.
You couldn't have
made this up.
People saw him,
touched him, heard
him.
They ate with the
risen Jesus.
Hundreds of people
saw him.
So you can't make
it up.
And without the
resurrection of
Jesus, everything
that he said in
his life would
prove to be
empty.
It would just
be a lot of
hot air.
But if Jesus
is risen from
the dead, if he
actually is alive,
then his promise
of renewal and
restoration is
true.
Verse 32.
We tell you the
good news, what
God promised our
fathers.
He has fulfilled
for us their
children by raising
up Jesus.
Verse 36.
David was a
great king, a
great leader.
We can read about
him.
But he ended up
a dead, smelling,
rotting corpse.
Jesus, however,
defeated death.
Therefore, he
has power and
authority over
death.
The resurrection
proves, it
guarantees the
promise of
eternal life.
Everybody fears
death.
Nobody likes the
thought of one
day having to
die.
Where do we
go?
What will
happen?
It's our
enemy.
But the
resurrection
guarantees the
promise of
eternal life.
And if Jesus
has risen,
well then we
can trust him
with our
life.
We can
trust him
with our
future.
So we need
to talk about
Jesus.
Talking about
the church,
talking about
the Bible,
is not going
to help
people.
Third, we
could sum it
up like this.
He talks about
Jesus, the
forgiving judge.
And look at
how Paul just
keeps Jesus
central the
whole way
through his
talk.
Verse 38.
Therefore,
my brothers,
I want you
to know
that through
Jesus, the
forgiveness of
sins is
proclaimed to
you.
Through him,
everyone who
believes is
justified from
everything you
could not be
justified from
by the law
of Moses.
Now we
know we
experience life
every day.
You know
the mess that
people get
themselves into,
all because of
our rebellion
against God.
God.
But Jesus
is full of
grace and
mercy and
compassion and
he's making it
clear to us and
to all people that
he offers
forgiveness.
He provides a
way for us,
look at verse
39, to be
justified.
That is to be
declared right
before God.
Not only to be
declared right,
but actually to be
treated as right,
to be treated
like his own
son.
this is what
he does for
us.
Remember the
nursery rhyme
about Humpty
Dumpty?
Well,
we're all a
little bit like
Humpty Dumpty.
We've all had a
great big fall.
And all our
efforts and all
our energies
can never fix
us.
We can never be
put back together
again by our
own efforts and
trying our own
different ways in
life.
But Jesus is
the one who
has come to
forgive, to
put us back
together, to
make us a new
creation, alive
again in Christ.
But what if we
refuse his
forgiveness?
Well, he makes
it clear we face
him as judge,
verse 40.
take care that
what the prophets
have said
does not
happen to
you.
Look, you
scoffers,
wonder and
perish, for I
am going to do
something in
your days that
you would never
believe, even if
someone told you.
This is a quote
from the prophet
Habakkuk.
And he's
talking there
about the
people in the
past and
their refusal
to repent and
turn back to
God.
And God
said, because
of your
continued refusal,
my judgment
is going to
come.
And it's
going to
come via the
nation of the
Babylonians.
And they're
going to move
into your land,
they're going
to destroy you,
they're going
to take you
into captivity.
captivity.
That's what's
going to happen
and it did
happen.
And what he's
saying here is,
he's making this
as an example,
he says, if you
refuse this Jesus
who has come to
bring forgiveness,
he says, well,
Jesus one day is
coming as
judge.
But that
judgment will be
eternal.
It won't be
through another
nation, it will
be through his
son, and it
will be hell.
So you see, we
need to talk
about Jesus,
don't we?
That's the
reality of it.
It's so easy
for us to talk
about something
else or
someone else.
And we need
to be careful
that we do not
lose the
centre of our
message.
And as I've
said, increasingly
many churches
and organisations,
well, they're
kind of sidelining
the message of
Jesus because,
well, it's not
very PC today.
Social justice
and human rights,
well, people get
that, they
understand that,
so let's do
that and let's
talk about that.
And while
they're all good
things, ultimately,
when we're
speaking of
eternity, it
will help no
one.
Is God
concerned about
the poor?
Is he concerned
about justice?
Absolutely.
The Bible is
full of God's
concern for the
poor.
But it's not
the mission
of the church.
One church
that is involved
in a social
justice issue
that I was
reading about
has got it
right.
They're involved
in healing
and rescuing
those,
particularly young
girls who are
caught up in
sexual exploitation
and human
trafficking of
young children.
And here's a
quote from one
of their leaders
which highlights
what is central.
Now bear in
mind they do
an awful lot
of work of
rescuing, of
taking them
out of these
places, literally
physically rescuing
them out of it.
But listen to his
quote and where
the emphasis is put.
This is what he
says, we
recognise that
if we rescued
everyone involved
in sexual
exploitation
today, millions
and millions
would be there
to take their
place tomorrow.
Because at the
root of sexual
exploitation
is the demand
for sex
from the sinful
desires of
people.
I know we
need awareness
campaigns and
justice and
better laws to
prosecute, but
none of them
will change
people permanently.
The desires of
people's hearts
need to change.
What we need is
the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
The reality that
Jesus died for
our sins so that
we can be alive
with God.
It's Jesus who
has and who
will continue to
change the hearts
of people.
It's Jesus who
changes abusers
into protectors,
addicts into
free people,
traffickers into
rescuers.
To really change
exploitation, we
need more than
governments and
policy.
We need Jesus to
change hearts.
For when the
gospel changes the
hearts of people,
that changes
everything.
We need to keep
the message of
Jesus central.
And when we
keep the message
of Jesus central,
and when Jesus
is the centre of
our message,
lives are changed
and hearts are
transformed.
Look at verse
48.
When the Gentiles
heard this,
they were glad
and honoured the
word of the Lord,
and all who were
appointed for
eternal life
believed.
And the word of
the Lord spread
through the whole
region.
You see, if we
make God's mission
the mission of the
church,
we will begin to
see an end of
poverty and
injustice and
slavery, because
attitudes will be
changed.
And if we grasp
that ultimately
we're sent into
the world with
the good news of
the gospel, then
we will see an
end to
exploitation and
trafficking and
sweatshops.
In their place,
we will see new
communities of
people, churches,
people who love
Jesus and who
love others, all
living under the
rule of Christ,
living God's way
in his world.
May God give us
together as a
church his grace
to live out his
mission in this
church and in the
world today.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Father, we thank
you for Jesus.
We thank you that
he is our promised
saviour, that he is
our risen king, our
forgiving judge.
Thank you for all
that we have because
of him, the work he
has done in our
lives.
God, we pray that
we would be people
who keep Jesus
central to our
lives, to our
families, to our
marriages, to our
church and the
mission that we are
involved in.
And as we go around
this world, as we
meet people, help us
to talk about Jesus.
Jesus.
And we ask for your
help in doing this, for
his honour, for his
glory, for the saving
of many, many people.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
So we're going to sing a
song that I hope reflects
some of what we've been
thinking through.
Could you flick on to the
next slide there?
I think that's...
No, one more.
There we are.
By faith the church...
This is the second verse
down.
By faith the church was
called to go in the
power of the spirit to
the lost, to deliver
captives and to preach
good news in every
corner of the earth.
Let's stand together as we
encourage one another in
our calling.
Amen.