Good morning, everyone.
Would you turn with me to Acts, chapter 15.
We're looking at verses 36 into chapter 16, verse 5.
That's page 924 in the Pew Bible, if you want to follow along there.
Acts 15.
Let me read this passage for us.
After some days, Paul said to Barnabas,
Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are.
Now, Barnabas wanted to take with them John, called Mark.
But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
And there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from each other.
Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.
But Paul chose Silas and departed.
Having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.
A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer.
But his father was a Greek.
He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.
Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him.
And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places.
For they all knew that his father was a Greek.
As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.
So the churches were strengthened in the faith.
And they increased in numbers daily.
Let's pray.
God, we thank you for your word.
And Lord, we thank you for this time that we get this morning to read it and to study it and to hear it proclaimed to us.
Lord, would the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight.
Our rock and our redeemer.
Amen.
Well, in the last verse of this little section from Acts, we have a picture of local churches that are both deep and wide.
Every night, well, almost every night, my family spends a little time reading the Bible together and singing some kids' songs.
And that's one of our kids' favorite songs, Deep and Wide.
Do you know that one?
I won't sing it for you.
But Luke ends this section by saying that they were strengthened in the faith.
That is, they were deep.
And they increased in numbers daily.
That is, they were wide.
They were theologically rich.
And they were evangelistically effective.
Now, I don't know about you.
But my sneaking suspicion is that most churches, at least most churches I've been a part of, tend to sort of tip or lean kind of one way or the other, don't they?
That some congregations tend to be really rich theologically.
They love going deep into doctrine and Bible study and discussing these things richly.
And other churches tend to be really evangelistically and missionally creative.
And they take risks.
And they're doing great things along those lines.
But very rarely does it seem like you've got a church that's both deep and both wide.
And you might be wondering, I wonder which way Trinity tips on that scale.
And you know what I found as I've been a part of this church for a number of years is that it kind of depends who you ask, actually.
Sort of depends on your background.
Some people show up at Trinity and you're like, you guys are all head.
Where is the heart?
And then other people show up and say, man, this is great.
You're involved in so much mission and evangelism.
But you guys are soft on doctrine.
So, you know, you can't please everyone.
But isn't it true that we need to be both?
That this is what we need both as we seek to build one another up as a church.
And isn't this also what our city needs?
That our city, our communities, they need a local church.
And they need local churches.
Not just us, but all the churches here in New Haven.
That are deep and that are wide.
And lo and behold, Luke right here says,
It's possible and it happens.
And the question is how?
How in the world do we get to be like that?
And in these two paragraphs that make up our little passage this morning,
I think Luke shows us at least how we get along that path.
And the first thing that he shows us as we seek to be a church that's deep and wide,
the first thing is that we have to rely on God's mercy.
This is chapter 15, verses 36 through 41.
So this section sort of, it starts the beginning of Paul's,
what's sometimes called Paul's second missionary journey.
But it also is sort of wrapping up the account of the Jerusalem council that we looked at two weeks ago.
And it begins, as we read in verse 36,
with Paul wanting to return and visit the brothers and sisters in every city where we proclaim the word of the Lord
and see how they are.
Paul wants to go back to these churches that he planted and see how they're doing.
Now notice, just real briefly, notice Paul's love for the local church here.
His heart is not just to see churches started, but to also see them grow and persevere.
To see them continue to grow up spiritually.
John Stott in his commentary on this section says,
Paul was more than a pioneer missionary.
He was also concerned to see churches and believers grow into maturity.
In fact, that little word translated visit in verse 36 is the same word that's sometimes used of care and oversight,
of visiting the sick, of caring for orphans and widows.
There's a heart behind this verse.
And let's pause just briefly as we think about this.
You know, some of you here have a great gift of evangelism.
And some of you are on the front lines of being salt and light in our region through your work or through your other engagements.
And that is great.
But, don't lose your love for the local church.
Jesus said they'll know we're followers by how we love one another.
Wanting the church to grow to maturity isn't just a thing that pastors and elders care about.
It's something that Christians care about.
That we all care about.
Because Christ himself does, you see.
But isn't it also true that the church can be a hard place to love?
I mean, after all, what do we see in this very paragraph?
Paul and Barnabas getting into a sharp disagreement over whether or not to take Mark along with them.
Here it is.
Christians being Christians again.
Disagreeing with each other.
Now, notice first.
That Luke is very careful not to whitewash this event.
Or to whitewash his account of the early church.
He's giving us the reliable history, warts and all.
As he tells us what's going on in these first few decades.
And isn't that just another sign of the New Testament's historical reliability?
After all, if you were sort of concocting a story or writing some propaganda,
you probably wouldn't include or make up this story, would you?
Two heroes of the early church movement falling out because they can't see eye to eye over a personnel decision.
Not exactly the kind of thing you want to cook up and put into your propaganda.
But second, if Luke's being reliable here, he's also careful not to assign blame.
It seems that Paul and Barnabas both had good reasons.
For Paul, you'll remember back in chapter 13,
Mark had turned back on their first missionary journey.
When the going got rough, the kitchen got hot, and he got out.
Somehow that metaphor works, right?
Mark, it seems, is not ready to jump into the fire.
Again, Paul's thinking he's going to hinder the work.
If we go and the same thing happens.
And yet for Barnabas, let's give Mark a second chance.
He's grown.
He's matured.
He will grow.
He will mature.
It's going to be good for him.
Paul, let's take him along.
Classic Barnabas, right?
The encourager.
Now, as you weigh those different rationales, who's right and who's wrong?
Well, they both have pretty good reasons, right?
One valuing the work and the team, the other valuing the person and the individual.
But, you know, regrettably, even though they both had good reasons, they can't agree.
And so they separate.
And that, I think, is a good reminder, or at least this passage should make us consider and remember,
that churches are not perfect places.
And that church leaders aren't perfect people.
Now, this isn't to excuse wrongdoing, to excuse blatant sin.
That needs to be called out and repented of.
But, you know, it is to say that ultimately, we don't become followers of Christ and come to love his church
because the church is so flawless.
No, the church is full of sinful people who need grace.
And who continue to need grace.
After all, isn't that the central part of the Christian message?
That we can't do it on our own.
And that we need someone to rescue us.
We become Christians and learn to love the church, not because of the church, but because of who Jesus is.
And what he's done.
And so if you're here today and you're not a Christian, I hope you see that there's genuine love in and through this community.
I hope you see that.
And I hope it prompts you to look deeper into Christianity.
But trust me, you're not going to find perfect people here.
And I know that because I know myself.
And if you're waiting to consider the claims of Christianity until you find some perfect expression of it,
friend, you'll wait forever.
Instead, consider Christianity because of who Jesus is.
And because of what he's done.
He's the one that all of us as a church are looking to.
So look to him too.
And see what you find.
Now what we ultimately see in this paragraph,
and I think what Luke sort of wants us to take away,
is that God is able to take this regrettable disagreement of Barnabas and Paul,
and actually use it to further his kingdom.
After all, at the end of our text, what do we have?
Instead of one team, we've got two.
Instead of three missionaries, there are four.
Barnabas takes Mark and goes to Cyprus.
That was his home land.
And Paul takes Silas and heads towards what we now call southern Turkey.
And Silas providentially ends up being a great pick for this mission.
We met him, remember, at the end of the Jerusalem Council.
What a strategic choice for Paul to have Jerusalem-approved Silas
delivering the decisions of the Council to these embattled churches of southern Galatia.
And Silas, we learn a little later, was also a Roman citizen,
which ends up being an incredible advantage.
Because as we'll see, even next week,
the Holy Spirit's going to take this new missionary team
that's visiting these churches,
and is going to push them out of Asia,
across the Aegean Sea,
and into Macedonia.
That is, into Europe.
That he's going to take this new team,
and he's going to break new ground.
So how strategic is it that Silas himself is a Roman citizen,
as they get deeper into Roman territory?
So taking a step back, what do we see?
We see that God, in his sovereign mercy,
takes flawed human beings,
and uses even their mistakes,
to advance his kingdom purpose,
to strengthen the church,
and thereby to display more of his glory
to and for the world.
You know, if we're going to be a church that's deep and wide,
this is square one.
We need to rely on God's sovereign mercy.
There needs to be a deep river of trust
that God loves his church more than we ever could,
and he's accomplishing his purposes for his own glory.
And he's going to use us,
even as flawed as we are,
to be part of that.
And again, this doesn't excuse what happened
between these two church leaders.
It's not a license to be careless and foolish,
but it is to say that we need to see
that the ultimate agent in all of this
is God himself.
And won't that make us deep?
If we have that kind of view of God,
the view that Luke and all the other biblical writers have,
that God is king.
That he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
That in him we live and move and have our being.
That all things are from him and through him and to him.
If we really sink our hearts into that magnificent truth about God,
it will make us deep.
To know that God isn't some supercharged projection of Father Christmas,
anxiously rubbing his hands together,
peering over the clouds,
wondering what's going to happen in this mad world.
No!
That God is the boundless
and everlasting creator of all things,
whose roaring majesty will either undo you
or thrill you for all eternity.
And whose glory will one day cover the earth
like the waters cover the sea.
I remember watching a surfing documentary some time ago.
I'm not a surfer,
so I had to watch a documentary.
And one of the things I learned,
one of my friends was into surfing,
so I thought it would be nice.
One of the things I learned was that the best surfers,
the wisest ones,
the most elegant ones on the waves,
were the ones who had really studied the sea.
They were the ones who knew its movement
and they knew its character
and they knew its power.
They spent a long time not just staring at the waves
but feeling the current
and learning how they surged and moved
and they were in awe of this thing
and they were humble before it.
They were the best ones.
They were the ones,
they were the gurus that everyone wanted to get with
and learn.
And friends, in the same way,
that's how we need to be with God.
He's revealed himself in creation
and most of all,
he's revealed himself in his word,
both incarnate and written.
And we need to be humbly
and deeply acquainted
with all that he shows himself to be.
But you know,
understanding God
and his sovereign mercy
won't just make us deep,
it'll also make us wide.
To know this majestic God,
more powerful than a million oceans,
to know that that God
has extended his mercy to us,
not just once at conversion,
but again and again and again.
All of us are Barnabas and Paul,
aren't we?
None of us wants to give in
to the other
when we're in the heat
of a dispute.
None of us wants to admit
that maybe our reasons
aren't the final word
on the subject.
And yet God continues to extend
his unfailing mercy to us.
How could that mercy
we've received
not make us a people
passionate
to show mercy to others?
Even people who disagree with us.
How could it not make us
want to go out
into the world
so that other people,
people just like us,
flawed and hard-headed,
so that those people too
might get a glimpse
of God's undeserved grace?
Those who know mercy
are the ones who show mercy
again and again.
You know,
this isn't the last time
in the New Testament
that we hear about
Paul's relationship
with Mark.
Listen to what Paul writes
later in his ministry.
This is Colossians 4.10.
He tells the church in Colossi,
if Mark comes to you,
welcome him.
And then in 2 Timothy 4.11,
he writes from prison
and tells Timothy,
get Mark
and bring him with you,
for he's very useful to me
for ministry.
And then in Philemon,
verse 23,
he says,
Epaphras,
my fellow prisoner
in Christ Jesus,
sends greetings to you,
and so do Mark
and Aristarchus
and Demas
and Luke,
my fellow workers.
Do you see?
Whatever happened here
in Acts 15,
it didn't grow
a bitter root.
It didn't remain
a source of tension
and separation
for long.
Paul eventually
could say about Mark,
he's my fellow worker
and he's very useful to me.
Go get him
and bring him
in my hour of need.
And oh,
by the way,
when he comes to you,
welcome him
and honor him
because he will bless you.
They were reconciled.
You know,
I often hear people wonder,
how come so many
of my secular
non-Christian friends
seem to be better people,
seem to be so much
more moral people
than some of the Christians
I know.
And you know,
often that's true.
I have some very
generous,
caring,
and compassionate neighbors
who live in our apartment building
who aren't very interested
in Christianity.
And on the one hand,
it's a mark of God's
common grace,
isn't it?
That even people
with no interest
in God
still bear his image
in generosity,
in kindness,
in faithfulness.
But you know,
on the other hand,
I find
one thing
that's not so common
in our world,
and it's mercy.
It's forgiveness.
I don't see a lot
of that
in the world.
Do you?
And that's one reason
why a church relying
on God's mercy
and living it out
will be such
an evangelistically
potent place.
Paul
and Barnabas
and Mark,
they eventually
forgave
and reconciled.
That's the power
of knowing
God's mercy
in Jesus.
So how do we
become a church
that's deep
and wide,
that's strengthening
in the faith
and increasing
in numbers,
that's theologically
rich and missiologically
effective?
First,
we rely on God's
sovereign mercy,
that it's his work
in and through us,
not ours.
But you know,
by itself,
that can seem
pretty passive,
can't it?
Are we just
supposed to sit
around doing
nothing?
Kicking up our
heels,
brewing our
fancy coffees,
checking our
Twitter feeds
every 15 minutes?
I don't even
use my Twitter
account and I get
Twitter emails.
What's up with
that, by the way?
You know,
the book of Acts,
not to mention
the rest of the
Bible,
would suggest
just the opposite,
that this
sovereign God
works ordinarily
through means
and he invites
us into his
great drama
of redemption
and gives us
a role to play.
So while we
rely on God's
mercy,
we're also called
to use a good
godly strategy
and that's what
we see in the
next paragraph,
in chapter 16,
verses 1 through 5.
If we want to
grow deep
and wide,
first we rely
on God's mercy
and second,
we use a good
godly strategy.
In the beginning
of chapter 16,
Paul,
along with Silas,
revisits the churches
he had planted
on his first
journey.
And now there's
a lot we learn
about solid strategic
mission in this
whole section
of the book of Acts,
some of which we'll
have to come back
to in later sermons.
I mean,
think about it.
First,
Paul's planting
churches.
That's key,
right?
He's not just
running outreach
events but starting
healthy local
churches.
And next,
he's doing it
in cities.
That is,
he's finding
the cultural
or political
center of a region,
starting a movement
there,
because he knows
that then it will
naturally spread
to the surrounding
towns and regions.
Those are just
some overarching
things we see
in Acts about
good gospel
mission.
But you know,
here in the beginning
of chapter 16,
we see some more
specific things
that are equally
critical.
people.
And especially
if those churches
are going to
mature in breadth
and depth.
In other words,
think of it like
this.
If church planting
in sort of
cultural political
centers is a sort
of 40,000 foot
view of Paul's
strategy,
if that's what
it looks like
from the air,
then what Luke
is going to
show us here
is what Paul's
strategy looked
like on the
ground,
in the trenches,
in the day-to-day
operations.
And quickly,
there are three
things that we
see here about
a good godly
strategy.
First,
there's faithful
delivery of the
message.
Look again at
verse 4.
As they went
on their way
through the cities,
they delivered
to them for
observance the
decision that
had been reached
by the apostles
and elders who
were in Jerusalem.
Now, if you
were here two
weeks ago,
we looked at
chapter 15,
where the church
had this great
theological debate
about what was
required for
someone to be
accepted by God
and welcomed
into his family.
And what the
church decided
there,
on the basis
of what God
had said in
scripture and
what God had
done,
in their midst,
what they decided
was that salvation
wasn't just for
the Jews.
It wasn't just
for the circumcised.
No, rather,
actually,
salvation comes
to everyone,
Jew and Gentile
alike,
solely and freely
through faith
in Jesus Christ.
That it's not
based on race,
but it's based
on God's grace.
And here we see
Paul and Silas
faithfully delivering
this message
to the churches,
this message
of liberating
grace,
and the churches
grow.
And it's interesting
that the word
deliver here is
actually the same
word that Paul
uses in 1 Corinthians
15, remember Greg
talked about that
last week,
which really describes
the handing down
of authoritative
teaching without any
tampering or any
tweaking.
In other words,
they're saying,
this is what the
church believes
and will always
believe,
we don't need to
change it,
here it is.
Now, as we think
about this today,
how often are we
tempted to tweak
or maybe cover up
certain elements
of the core message
of the gospel?
And sometimes this
even happens
through good intentions,
doesn't it?
We want people to
come to know God
in Christ,
we want them to
hear the gospel
as actually the
good news that it
is, but that can
actually sort of
end up, we can
end up shying away
from certain things
that we think might
be kind of a little
less than palatable
that they might not
want to hear.
But what we see here
is that faithful
delivery of the
message brings good
fruit.
Now, of course,
we have to
contextualize,
we have to speak in
ways that people
understand,
and we have to
address the questions
that they have,
but the message
itself,
this message of
the gospel that
you can say in a
thousand ways,
it doesn't change.
That what Jesus'
apostles taught
under his authority
and what we have
preserved in the
New Testament
is a message of
life-giving power
that we don't need
to tweak or improve
or bring up to date.
And what we find
again and again
is that this message
that doesn't change,
doesn't actually sit
among us as a relic,
a sort of antiquarian
relic that, oh,
that's nice, I can't
believe people believe
that, but no, it
comes among us.
And it does now
exactly what it did
then.
It liberates and it
frees and it heals.
You know, this is one
of the reasons why our
preaching on Sunday
mornings is mainly
expository.
That is, we take a
text and we move
through it section by
section and teach the
main point of each
passage Sunday after
Sunday.
We're not doing that
because we want to
bore you all to death.
You know.
But we're doing that
because we want to
make sure that we're
delivering faithfully
this liberating good
news of Jesus with
all its implications.
You know, if we
skipped around from
verse to verse,
verse, or even
worse, if I just
shared some warm
devotional thoughts
from my week, not
only would that be
pretty boring after a
while, trust me, I'm
not a very interesting
person.
It would be boring.
But you know, it
wouldn't actually feed
our souls.
Friends, I wonder
that the books that
you like to read and
the speakers that you
like to listen to,
are they teaching
God's word clearly
and accurately?
In that book that you
read, is it a lot of
expounding of scripture
or is it a lot of
sort of cherry picking
of verses and then
running away with an
idea?
Just like Paul and
Silas faithfully
delivered the
apostolic message,
that should be our
strategy too.
But it also involves
not just sort of
faithfully delivering
the message, but it
also involves personal
investment.
Look again at verses
one through three.
Luke introduces us to
another key player in
the story of the early
church, Timothy.
And Paul takes a
personal interest in
this young man and
chooses to intentionally
invest in him.
Now, what's
happening here, this
sort of personal
investment, is not
just for missionaries
and not just for
church leaders.
At one level, Paul
taking Timothy along
with him is just a
heightened example of
healthy discipleship.
Paul's modeling
something for us here.
He's a more mature
person in the faith,
identifying a younger
brother or sister, and
then investing in him
or her personally.
to see him or her
grow towards maturity
in Christ.
Friends, this is what a
healthy church actually
looks like.
Where there's a culture
of this sort of thing.
Where there's a culture
of personal investment
and intentional
discipleship.
A culture where we
want to spend time
with each other to see
one another grow.
You know, I hope that
in the coming years,
our church becomes
more and more a place
where every member
has a Paul in their
life, as it were.
Someone building into
them.
And everybody has a
Timothy in their life
too.
Someone that they're
building into.
And everybody has a
Barnabas or a Silas or
two in their life.
A good friend, maybe at
the same stage as you,
spurring you on.
Wouldn't that be a
beautiful thing?
That the gospel wasn't
just something we
talked about, but
something we lived out
in relationship with
one another.
Some change, some
growth, some progress
towards Christ's
likeness will only
happen in that
context.
We need to be close
enough to one another
so we can imitate one
another.
As we imitate Christ.
So brothers and
sisters, let me ask
you, who are you
building into?
Is there someone
younger in the faith
here in our church
family that you think
you could invest in
personally?
Of course, you might
be thinking, I have no
idea where to start.
That sounds nice on
paper, but no one
ever discipled me.
How do I actually do
that?
Well, here's a good way
to start.
First, start praying for
the people that you
know in the church.
Maybe start with your
small group, for
instance.
And is there anyone
there younger than you
or younger in the
faith?
And then pray for that
person and invite them
out to lunch on Sunday.
And in the course of
your conversation, be
sure to ask them two
questions.
One, hey, what's God
been teaching you
through our small group
lately?
Or if they're not in
your small group, hey,
what's God been teaching
you on Sundays?
What have you been
learning from the book
of Acts?
How's it been
challenging you?
What's been new?
And second, ask them,
hey, how can I pray for
you this week?
And then, actually pray
for them that week.
Right?
And in a week or two,
follow up with what you
talked about and prayed
about and keep the
conversation and the
prayer going.
Doesn't have to be
rocket science, but it
could be revolutionary.
Now, if in a week's
time, someone asks you
to lunch next Sunday,
and they ask you these
questions, don't get all
weirded out.
Uh-oh, they're discipling
me.
They must think I'm really
immature in the faith.
This is weird.
Look, be thankful that
God's starting to use your
church family for what God
designed it to do, to grow
you up in the faith.
Be glad that God's
starting something in
your life.
And, of course, once a
relationship like this
gets off the ground,
there's all sorts of
things you can do
together.
You can read a good
Christian book together.
There's plenty downstairs
in the bookstall.
Just pick one.
Randomly.
Close your eyes.
Grab one.
It'll be edifying.
Just kidding.
Think of ways you can
serve together, right?
Or pick up a, take up a
particular need that you
see in the world or in
our inner city and start
to pray about it together
intentionally, regularly.
Or maybe do that in your
workplace.
That's just a few.
But, of course, building
into someone like this
takes time, doesn't it?
And isn't it time that we
all feel like we don't
have enough of?
But, you know, on the one
hand, I think if you start
with people you already
have some kind of
connection with, I bet
you'll find it's not as
hard as you think to get
that time together.
And remember, too, look,
everybody has to eat.
Everyone has to eat.
Meals are a great time to
do this sort of thing.
Read the Gospels.
Jesus was always eating
with people.
He knew they had to eat.
He wanted to get time
with them.
So he ate with them.
It's a very Christ-like
thing to do.
Grab a meal.
Start discipling each
other.
But, you know, on the
other hand, I hope you
see that this is worth
making the time and
sacrifice for.
Because, first, it's a
surefire way that God
will grow you.
You know, often it's
only when we step out
to minister to others
that God shapes and
matures us in the deep
ways that he really
wants to.
And that's very
exciting to think that
when we step out into
something that might be
a little scary and a
little risk-taking, God's
going to meet us there
and change us more and
more.
But it's not just good
for you.
Friends, this is also an
eternal work.
You have the chance to
impact someone for their
spiritual and eternal
good.
Is there any joy
comparable to that?
Personal investment.
That's the second part of
Paul's strategy.
But the last thing we see
here, not just faithful
delivery, not just personal
investment, but also
costly identification.
identification.
At the end of verse 3,
Paul has Timothy
circumcised.
Welcome to the team.
And you know, of course,
it's not because Paul
thinks Timothy has to get
circumcised.
That was, I mean, as we
said, that was settled at
the Jerusalem Council once
and for all.
Timothy was free to be
circumcised or not.
It wasn't a requirement for
salvation, but he willingly
undergoes it.
Why?
For the sake of sharing the
gospel with, as Luke
says, the Jews who were in
those places, for they all
knew that his father was a
Greek.
1 Corinthians 9 that we read
earlier, that Malcolm read
for us, is a really helpful
cross-reference here.
There we heard Paul say,
I'm willing to become like
the Jews in order to win the
Jews to Christ.
And I'm willing to become like
the Gentiles to win the
Gentiles to Christ.
Not like them in their
sinful practices, but like
them in their culture.
And I'm willing to become
all things to all people,
that by all means I might
save some.
I do it all for the sake of
the gospel, he says.
That I might share with them
in its blessings.
And here we see this
principle being played out in
Timothy's life.
He's willing to become more
Jewish, as it were, in order
to win the Jews, to be an
insider in their culture.
And no doubt, adult circumcision
was a painful procedure.
And yet for Timothy, the joy of
sharing in the gospel blessings
with new converts was greater in
his mind than the pain of
circumcision.
He was willing to joyfully accept
the temporary cost for the sake of
that eternal gain.
Friend, I wonder, have you ever
considered how you might become
more like your neighbors?
Not in their sin, but in their
culture, in order to love them
and show them the grace of
Jesus.
Have you ever thought about how
you might become more of an
insider to their world in order
to love them with the love of
Christ more effectively?
Even if doing so is costly.
You know, for missionaries, this
often requires learning a new
language and dressing in
different clothes and eating new
foods.
But what would it be like for your
neighbors?
That's who God's calling you to
know and to love and to be an
ambassador to.
What would be an example of this?
Well, let's say you have a
neighbor who reads the New York
Times religiously every Sunday.
And something that they've read
always comes up when you talk
with them.
I have some neighbors like that.
Do you?
Well, would we be willing to get a
subscription and read it in order to
enter into their world and to get to
know them and to love them well?
Would you listen to their music?
Would you follow their sports team?
Would you try their food?
Would you frequent their restaurant
or their local hangout?
Would you do all that for the sake of
sharing in the joys of the gospel?
And of course, it's easy to see why we
don't do this.
After all, costly identification is
just that, right?
It's costly.
It takes time and it takes money and
it takes energy.
It takes space in our schedules.
And besides, wouldn't I rather be
listening to my music?
After all, it's way better than
theirs.
Wouldn't I rather be eating at my
restaurant or cheering for my sports
team or reading my newspaper or just
staying in my culture?
It's not just costly, but it's
inconvenient.
It takes me naturally away from what I
feel most comfortable with.
But friends, remember
that there once was a time when someone
took notice of you
and he saw everything that made up your
life.
All of your likes and dislikes
and all of your family background
and he saw all of your cultural
uniquenesses and differences.
And even more than that,
he took notice of all your sin
and all your rebellion.
And in love,
he left everything that was
comfortable.
He left everything that he called home
in order to come and identify
with you.
Not just in your humanity, but also in
your sin.
And he didn't just become like you.
He actually took your place.
He became sin.
Your and my sin.
So that in him,
you could become his
righteousness.
And three days later,
God raised him from the dead
to show that that work
was complete.
You see, friends,
Jesus identified with us
at the most tremendous
cost.
And it has resulted
in our eternal good.
For the joy
set before him,
Hebrews says,
he endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is seated at the right hand of God,
welcoming all
who come to him.
Friends, how could we not go
knowing
him?
How could we not go
and identify with others
so that we might share with them
in the blessings of the gospel?
It is the most natural thing
in the world
for Christians to do that.
So friends,
this is the strategy.
This is it.
Deliver the message
faithfully.
Invest in one another
personally.
And identify
even when it's costly.
For in doing this,
why is this a,
it's not just a good strategy,
it's a godly strategy.
Why?
Because it's exactly
what Jesus has done for us.
And so Luke shows us
that when we rely
on God's mercy
and when we take up
this Christ-shaped strategy,
that's the path
to growing deep
and wide as a church.
Friends,
imagine
if that's what
Trinity became
in the coming months
and years.
What if this became
a place where we thought
deeply about God,
where his grace
was brought to bear
on all of life,
where we grew
deep, strong,
living roots
in the depths
of the gospel?
But what if this
was also a place
where the spiritually
curious were welcomed
and engaged?
What if this were
a place where
new believers
were multiplying
and encouraged
to grow and ask
questions and work
through their doubts?
What if this is a place
where we went out
with boldness
and with creativity
to raise spiritual
questions
and to open doors
for conversations
about Christ?
Friends,
that's the church
that God's calling us
to be.
And that's the church
that by his grace
he's making us to be.
And as we come
to the table
in just a minute,
it's here that we
get to remember
the center of it all.
Christ crucified
for you and for me.
And here we get
to experience,
to taste and see
the depths
of God's wisdom
and power
and love
on display
in their fullness
at the cross.
But at the table
we're also reminded
of how wide
it goes.
Because here we see
that everyone
who repents
and believes
is welcome
to find their place
in his family
and to come
to feast at the table.
Friends,
let's pray.
God,
we pray
that you would
help us
to do just
what we see
in this passage.
Lord,
make us a church
that's deep
and that's wide.
Lord,
we need
your Holy Spirit
and we need
your gospel
to make that true.
So Father,
take these things
and seal them
in our hearts
as we come
to the table.
Lord,
impress them
deeply upon us,
we pray.
Amen.