THE CHURCH MEMBER
Topical Series – Church
GRAB THEIR ATTENTION
“This book contains incontrovertible evidence of the truth of Christianity. It is a record of its early triumphs. Within the space of 30 years after the death of Christ the gospel had been carried to all parts of the civilized and to no small portion of the uncivilized world.
Its progress and its triumphs were not concealed. Its great transactions were not “done in a corner.” It had been preached in the most splendid, powerful, and enlightened cities; churches were already founded in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, and at Rome.
The gospel had spread in Arabia, Asia Minor, Greece, Macedon, Italy, and Africa. It had assailed the most mighty existing institutions. It had made its way over the most formidable barriers. It had encountered the most deadly and malignant opposition. It had traveled to the capital (Rome), and had secured such a hold even in the imperial city as to make it certain that it would finally overturn the established religion and seat itself upon the ruins of paganism.
Within 30 years, it had settled the point that it would overturn every bloody altar, close every pagan temple, bring under its influence everywhere the men of office, rank, and power, and that “the banners of the faith would soon stream from the palaces of the Caesars.”
All this would be accomplished by the instrumentality of Jews – of fishermen – of Nazarenes. They did not have either wealth, armies, or allies. With the exception of Paul, they were people without much education. They were taught only by the Holy Spirit, armed only with the power of God, victorious only because Christ was their Captain, and the world acknowledged the presence of the messengers of the Highest One and the power of the Christian religion.
Its success never has been, and never can be accounted for by any other supposition than that God Himself attended it! And if the Christian religion is not true, the change which was brought about by the twelve apostles is the most inexplicable, mysterious, and wonderful event that has ever been witnessed in this world.”
So begins Albert Barnes’ introduction to his commentary on the book of Acts. 2,000 years after the lives of the Apostles, the church of Jesus Christ has spread around the globe.
How did a rag-tag group of converted Jews with not power or education do this? And, how did Christianity spread like wildfire until after 2 centuries of being persecuted it became the dominant worldview in the Roman empire?
What was it that made fishermen bold and outcasts brave? How did the church expand in the face of intense persecution? How did a handful of frightened men and women shake up an empire? And, if we are their spiritual descendants, how can we do the same in our own generation?
If you have a copy of the Bible, open it to Matthew 28:16. And, let’s stand to honor the reading of God’s Word:
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The risen Christ told 11 blue-collar workers to disciple the nations. And they did. How can we do the same in our own generation?
Our scripture passage gives us 4 answers to those questions:
1. The worshipped Christ despite their doubts.
2. They saw the risen Jesus.
3. The recognized Christ’s authority and obeyed his command to go.
4. They personally experienced God’s kindness.
1. THEY WORSHIPED DESPITE THEIR DOUBTS
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.
The first reason that the early church grew like it did was because the first disciples of Jesus never let doubt stop them.
There is room for doubt in your walk with Christ, and he is big enough to handle your doubts, and to demonstrate himself to you even when you doubt.
Many believe that being a Christian means having zero doubts, but consider two of Jesus greatest followers: John the Baptist and Peter.
John the Baptist was a prophet sent to prepare the way for Jesus. At the beginning of his ministry, John was a popular guy. The people loved him. But he was eventually jailed for his preaching. And from that jail cell, in his doubts, he sent messengers to Jesus asking:
“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
Do you hear what John is saying? “I’ve been preaching Jesus for years, and what have I gotten out of it? Jail. Maybe he isn’t the one. Maybe he isn’t the Lord.” Doubt.
Matthew says that the crowd who heard John’s disciples ask Jesus this question began to talk down about John, but listen to how Jesus responded:
11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist
Do you see what is happening here? The greatest preacher in the Bible, outside of Jesus himself had tremendous doubts. And even when John’s faith was at its worst, Jesus was at his best!
Consider the Apostle Peter. On the night that Jesus was to be arrested Peter says, “Jesus, I’m willing to die for you. Jesus says, “No, Peter, you’re going to deny you know me three times!”
This is the same Peter who walked on water to meet Jesus on the sea of Galilee. This is the same Peter who performed miracles in Jesus’ name. Now, because Jesus has been arrested and is being tried Peter turns away from all of it.
So, these are the very first people who built the church, and they had massive doubts! In our own passage: the risen Christ stands alive before his disciples and even in that powerful moment, some struggled with doubt!
Some of you here today have huge doubts! Listen to me—I’m not big enough to answer all your doubts. I’ll try. Our church isn’t big enough to answer all your doubts. We’ll try. But—we can testify that we serve a God who is big enough, who is strong enough, and who is patient enough to carry you through your doubts.
You do not know what will happen tomorrow, but you can trust the one who has already decreed what will happen tomorrow.
The first reason that the early church spread like wildfire is that the first Christians were big doubters whose doubts drove them deeper into God—and he supplied all the faith and answers they needed.
2. THEY SAW THE RISEN JESUS
17 And when they saw him they worshiped him,
It’s so easy to miss this truth: they saw and touched the risen Lord. Friends, I have read more books than I could count on the historicity of resurrection. It is the only explanation for why the apostles decided to break up and go to the ends of the earth to proclaim the gospel instead of all staying together.
They were friends who spent three years together under Jesus’ teaching. What could cause every single one of them to split up and preach the gospel to different nations? They saw the resurrected Jesus.
• Peter helped start the church in Jerusalem but eventually went on to pastor the church in Rome.
• Andrew went to Asia and Greece.
• Thomas took the gospel to India.
• Matthew went to Ethiopia.
• Bartholomew went to Armenia and Arabia.
• James went to Syria.
• Simon the Zealot went to Persia.
• John pastored in Ephesus in modern-day Turkey.
Not only did they split up the fellowship—they all (except for John) were killed for proclaiming Christ.
• Peter was crucified upside down by Nero in Rome—upside down because he said he wasn’t worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.
• Andrew was crucified and preached to his tormentors until he died.
• Thomas was speared to death
• Philip evangelized a Roman proconsul’s wife and out of retaliation he was arrested and executed.
• Matthew was likely stabbed to death in Ethiopia
• James, the brother of Christ, was clubbed to death
This is a question you must deal with: if the disciples were liars who invented a religion—why would you hold onto the lie to your death?
The only explanation for why these first followers were rabid evangelists. The only explanation for why they all abandoned their own life is because they saw Jesus raised bodily from the grave.
We don’t get to see and touch the risen Christ as they did. But we have the Scriptures, and we see the miraculous effects of their witness.
3. THEY RECOGNIZED CHRIST’S AUTHORITY AND OBEYED HIS COMMAND TO GO
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
Another reason that the early church flourished is because the first disciples were slammed into the unmovable rock of the authority of Jesus.
He told them to go—and they went. Why? It’s because all authority under the Sun, all the authority in the cosmos and beyond belongs to, is given to, the God-Man Jesus Christ.
Jesus possesses every right to determine, command, control, guide, direct, and instruct our lives. We are not our own. We have been bought with a price—Christ’s blood—therefore we belong to him.
This is the great declaration of the resurrection which stands in counter-distinction and at odds with the idolatrous individuality of our age—you are NOT YOUR OWN. You do not belong to you.
Jesus Christ is the creator and the High King of the universe. His will is totally sovereign. His claim is ultimate and final. You cannot take a breath without his decree. Your heart cannot beat except within his counsel and plans.
Jesus’ authority is not like the authority of a police officer. When you are driving down the road and someone in a blue uniform, wearing a badge, with a gun on their side, raises their arm you apply the brakes and bring your car to a stop. Why? Because in the relationship of motor-vehicle operator and officer, the officer is the wielder of authority.
But, there is nothing within the officer himself that gives him authority. He possesses authority because citizens have agreed to invest him with authority.
My friends, Jesus Christ does not have authority because you or I choose to recognize it. The disciples didn’t huddle up and say, “Alright fellas, how can we gobble up some power? Ok. We’ll make up this guy Jesus and grant him authority.” No! They stood before the risen Christ. They had watched him bleed. They had seen the spear in the side. They saw the Roman guard who was charged to watch his tomb.
Now he stood before them. Scars from wounds still visible, but alive. Alive and walking. Alive and teaching. Back from the dead. And they knew at that moment that this was the Son of God, and he held ultimate and final claim over their entire life.
There is no earthly authority that compares to the authority of Jesus. In the next 60 days, as the nation loses its collective mind over the presidential election, you, the church, have a glorious opportunity to demonstrate fortitude because you know that no matter who ends up in the Oval Office, the power of their executive pen is overshadowed by the iron rod of Jesus Christ.
Why do the nations rage
Psalm 2 says,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
The church flourished because they knew that Jesus Christ reigned from Jerusalem to Athens. How will we flourish today? When we know, believe, and act upon the truth that Jesus Christ reigns from Lake Wylie to the Caspian Sea. He reigns over the field mice on this hill, and the great red storm swirling in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
And the disciples obeyed the command of the authoritative Christ to take the gospel to the nations. Psalm 2 also says:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
When Christ was raised, God the Father said to him: “Just ask, and I’ll give you the nations.” And when that invitation was offered, which of the nations do you think Jesus didn’t ask for. None of them.
So, what is God doing today? He is doing everything that is necessary to bring the nations to the feet of Jesus.
4. THEY HAD A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF GOD’S KINDNESS
The reason that the early church spread so rapidly is because each of the disciples personally experienced God’s kindness. They were not driven just by holy fear of Jesus’ authority, they were melted like wax by the warming flame of Jesus’s kindness to them.
If you have a long stick of wax and you want to change its shape you can do it two ways. The first way is to take that stick by both ends and apply pressure. You’ll certainly change the shape of the candlestick—you’ll snap it in two, and it will crumble in your hands.
The other way to change the shape wax is to hold it over a flame, and when it melts you can form it into any shape you want.
The disciples weren’t changed just because Jesus applied authoritative pressure to them. In this passage, their hearts were exposed to his melting kindness.
In verse 10 of this chapter, some women who loved Jesus had come to the tomb to see Jesus’ corpse and instead, they find him alive. And here’s what Jesus said to them:
9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
What happened in that verse is so subtle, yet infinitely deep. Here is the risen Christ, to whom is all authority. And he’s telling these women to go and tell the ones who denied Jesus, abandoned him to his death, turned on him, and fell asleep during his greatest moment of suffering so that he was all alone in his grief that the one they should have trusted has come back and he wants to meet with them.
To our great surprise, Jesus does not say, “Mary, you tell those deserters I want to see them right now.” He says, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers…”
Can you imagine these women getting back to the disciples? He didn’t call you his enemies! He didn’t call you turncoats. He isn’t angry. He called you… he called you brothers.
You mean there’s no punishment? He hasn’t come back to torture us? He hasn’t come to shake his finger in our doubting faces? No!
He didn’t come to punish because he was already punished in your place.
He didn’t come to torture, but to be tortured.
He didn’t come to condemn you but to cover you.
He didn’t come to convict you, but to be crucified for you.
He didn’t come to belittle you, but to make you a brother.
Think of Peter who denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest when Jesus looked at him and said, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The gospel did not spread because the church was committed to Jesus. It spread because Jesus Christ—the crucified and the risen one is committed to his church.
And when this history of redemption is finally and completely written, we will see that every tribe tongue and nation was gathered from the ends of the earth by means of the Holy Spirit empowering words, water, bread, and wine. We have a battering ram about which the rulers and kings of this world know nothing, and every Lord’s Day we take another swing at their gates with it. (Wilson)