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The Vision of the United Baptist Church is to be a praying, growing church that glorifies God and actively meets the spiritual and physical needs of our church members, the people of Ellsworth, Hancock County and beyond.
To be a Christian is not always easy. When Jesus invited people to follow him, he cautioned them not to make such a commitment lightly. The one who begins a building project, he said, would not begin without first calculating the cost. Likewise, the one who wants to follow Jesus should, before making such a pledge, understand the price. The price is well-described by the German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who famously said Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.
His was just another way of saying what Jesus said to those who would be his disciples. If anyone would come after me. Let Him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That word that we translate do not here means to utterly disown that following Jesus means to be truly selfless. It means yielding ourselves as the old hymn writer put it body and soul to the work of Christ.
To follow Jesus is to realize our status as creatures in the employ of the Creator, as instruments in the redeemer's hands. It may not mean leaving or losing all that we love or have, but it does include a willingness to do so. True, Christianity can be personally costly. That is what Paul and Barnabas are discovering firsthand in today's Scripture from Acts.
Justin read. Our passage this morning encompasses two stories that took place in two location locations, the first in a place called Poor City and Antioch, and the second in Iconium, which is about 90 miles away from there. Normally we would take those stories one at a time, but these two are similar enough that for our purposes today, we'll consider them together.
In his treatment of these verses, Pastor Kevin de Young summarizes them as having a typical strategy, a typical response, and a typical resolve. Both have the same main characters. We're studying acts where at the beginning of the first missionary journey involving Paul environments, both involve the faithful preaching of God's word to mixed audiences, and both record how the Word of God was received.
Let's pray our Father. We come before your Word humbly in need, desiring always to hear your voice. Speak to us through your word. We pray, give us ears to hear and hearts to change. We pray in Christ name Amen. So in both the city and Antioch, in Iconium, Paul and Barnabas are on this same mission. They are preaching the Lord Jesus.
What does the church and Antioch had had commissioned them to do? Through the Holy Spirit, they are preaching the Lord Jesus. They are sharing the good news of the salvation that is available in Jesus Christ. And that is what evangelism is. We talk about it a little bit last week. It is bearing witness not to our story, but not to worry about our story, not just our encounter with the Lord.
But evangelism is bearing witness to his story, to the story of Jesus, to the story of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, to the simple message of salvation that we find in Romans chapter ten, verse nine. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved in both settings.
This is what Paul and Barnabas are speaking about, and in both settings they are speaking to Jews and to Gentiles. And in both settings, a portion of the audience is receptive to the message that they are bringing. The message that we know now as the gospel in poor city in Antioch, some of the people came to faith in Jesus and they begged Paul and Barnabas to come back and tell them more.
That's where we left off last week. That idea, you know, every preacher wants to preach in such a way that people will say, Come tell us more instead of is he done yet? That's what happened to Paul and Barnabas. It was awesome. I'm sure it was great for them. And so they did come back that next week to to preach in the city and Antioch and then in Iconium.
They're they're employing the same strategy. They're going to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles preaching in the synagogue, helping the Jewish brethren to connect the dots and see how Jesus is, in fact, the fulfillment of the prophesied long awaited Messiah. We read there that they spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believe so they are having some amount of success.
We have seen this true throughout the book of Acts X is a book where the truths that we are meant to learn, the principles that are there, they just continue to spiral up and up and up and up. You get to see them again and again and again. I guess it could get a little bit repetitive, except for the fact that God is just amazingly doing what God said he would do.
Building his church. And it's always great to see that come true. Right? It's always great to see the word of God come to be. So one of these principles that's coming back around is this truth that when one shares Jesus, some will be open to it, some will be opposed to it, and some will believe it. One does not know who will respond to the gospel in what way.
And so we share the good news of Jesus Christ and we trust as Chapter 13, verse 48, indicates, that those whom God has chosen to save as many as are appointed to eternal life, they will believe in both setting, some do believe, and in a city in Antioch, this newfound salvation is a cause of great rejoicing, a cause of great celebration.
And why would it not be? You realize this. I hope you do, friend, that when one sinner repents, heaven rejoices. Do you know that is true? When one sinner repents, heaven rejoices. We read about that Luke chapter 15. That's a that's a chapter, a famous chapter in the Bible. It's about it's a chapter about lost and found. And if you've ever lost anything valuable, then you know, you know what a joy it is to find it.
And if you've ever been lost, you know what a relief it is that someone found you lost and found that those are words that we understand very well from our human experience than they are words the Bible uses to describe the human condition. If one is separated from God, if one has never received forgiveness of sins from God, the Bible would say that person is lost.
On the other hand, if one is reconciled to God, if one has had his or her sins forgiven, then that person is found. And John Newton is responsible for searing these words into our brain in a good way with his famous hymn Amazing Grace. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind. But now I see when a person hears the gospel and receives it for himself, receives it for herself, realizes and accepts what Jesus did by giving his life up on the cross was in payment for their sin.
When a person comes to that realization, understands that they no longer have to carry the weight of their sin around. They no longer have to worry about facing the judgment of God because Jesus has satisfied the wrath of God for them in His death on the cross. When a person comes to believe that and receive it in his or her heart, that person moves from lost to found.
And what Jesus says about that, when that happens in that moment, there is joy before the angels of God, a party in heaven over one sinner who repents. That's how much it means to God, friend. That's how much you mean to God. That's what it means to Him. And therefore, why would not someone salvation be a cause of great rejoicing?
Those who were once lost are now found, and there is great rejoicing in poor city and Antioch. But not for everyone. Not everyone is happy with the successful preaching of the gospel in that region. Chapter 13 Verse 45. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul reviling him when when, when almost the whole town came out to sit and hear Paul and Barnabas.
It was a strike of jealousy that just went through the synagogue rulers and and and this is not a matter of truth, claims or principles. This is just plain old. I feel like they're getting something that I don't have. This is a horrible thing not to spend a lot of time in jealousy. Some day we'll talk more about jealousy and what to distract, give emotion.
It can be. But here it causes these people to rise up and begin to contradict what Paul and Barnabas are sharing. And Paul and Barnabas are sharing the truth. Paul and Barnabas are sharing good news of salvation in Christ. And then they begin to revile them. They begin they begin to speak badly of them. And an Iconium, they get a similar reaction.
Some are saved. We read about that Chapter 14, verse two. We read this The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, poison their minds against the brothers. So again, there's people rising up in opposition to the gospel and speaking badly about the people who are preaching the gospel and the end result here, verse four, chapter 14, verse four If you have your Bibles open, the people of the city were divided.
And so here we come to the to the reason behind today's message title. Sometimes, often even the faithfully preached Word of God divides. It said It is ironic the message of salvation that has the power to overcome walls of hostility between all people everywhere. This is what the gospel can do. The gospel can bring people together. It can overcome hostility between all people anywhere, and yet is somewhat sad and ironic that sometimes the gospel itself is responded to with hostility, hostility and for lots of different reasons, many and varied reasons.
Some will not in any circumstance accept the truth of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. You can preach to your blue in the faith. They will not hear. And sometimes people are just resistant to the truth about Jesus. They become downright angry about it and even violent. And as we move deeper into this book of acts, we're going to have occasion to visit some of those many and varied reasons.
Again, I like to get into them a little bit, but I didn't want this sermon to go on and on and on. I want to kind of keep us really focused on one thing. I just want to hang around one obvious truth today, because I guarantee you they'll have opportunity to bring these other ones will come up. Okay.
I just want us to understand that the the result of preaching Jesus can be division, that if you're faithful in holding to Christ, you may through your words and through your actions, experience, division. Now, let me ask you, do you should that be a surprise to us? It really shouldn't. I don't know. We humans have a great penchant for denial, don't we?
So we think if we're if we do everything right and if we put it out there right, and if we're kind and if we're gentle and if we're gracious and we do all this stuff right, everybody's just going to fawn over it and they're going to go over this. So wonderful. There's a beautiful there's a we should be all things God, no, it doesn't work that way.
But we shouldn't be surprised that sometimes when we share the gospel, it will result in divided houses, divided hearts, divided groups. We shouldn't be surprised because when Simeon held the Baby Jesus in his arms in Luke chapter two and Christ dedication in the temple, we read this. He said, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel.
And for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul. Also, he's talking to Mary. You know where that sword came from. So the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. Simeon, right out of the gate said it's going to this this one is going to be for rising and falling. He's going to be a sign that some will oppose it.
Luke 1249 Jesus said, I came to cast fire on the earth and would that it were already kindled. I've come to cast fire, and in the 10th chapter of the Book of Matthew, we read Christ's words Do not think that I've come to bring peace to the Earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword, for I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and daughter in law, against her mother in law.
And the persons enemies will be those of his own household. That's what Jesus said. These are the words of Jesus. People are going to disagree when it comes to Jesus, and they're going to find themselves on opposite sides of the argument. Some are going to be for him and others will be against him. And there is no neutral position to be taken according to Jesus.
Again, I know a lot of people in the world want to say, well, I don't really believe in Jesus, but I got nothing against him, so I think I'll be okay in the end. And Jesus is kind of saying, don't you shouldn't hedge your bets this way, because if you're not for me, you're against me. Then those are not my words.
That is not that is not how I drew it up. Those are Jesus words. That's what he says. You're either for him or you are against him. And that is exactly the way people are in the two cities that we are looking at today, where the gospel is preached, we find this exact typical response. Some are for and some are opposed to Jesus.
I want to just call our attention to this. Only today really is I want it to be an encouragement for you that when you determine to share Christ, you are not surprised that those who receive him and rejoice it happens. Nor should you be taken aback by those who reject him and revile you. Some people are going to be so grateful that you love them enough to share Jesus.
They are going to be so grateful that you love them enough to tell them the truth about who they are, where they're at, their eternal destiny, and share the gospel and give them that opportunity and say, Don't you want to live forever? Some people are going to love you for that. And guess what? Some people are going to hate you for it.
That latter consideration being hated for one's allegiance to Jesus is part of the cost of discipleship. Are you willing to be hated for the cause of Christ? Are you willing to be reviled to stay true to what you believe? If you have even a scant understanding of the history of Christianity, you know that persecution has been the reality from the beginning of the church.
But it hasn't been our reality in this country, has it? It's it's been kind of an abstract concept to be persecuted because you love Jesus and say so. It's not been part of our reality. We didn't grow up this way, but we love it. It's becoming part of our reality and are you ready for it? And will you stand firm when it starts to really, really cost you something to align yourself with Jesus Christ?
I want you to look around and I want you to be prepared. We really do live in a post-Christian world. That only revival will reverse. The only hope we have a change in that is God graciously sending a revival. It is a post-Christian era that we live in. We live in a post-Christian nation. Would you ever have thought it?
We really do live in in a society that once embraced historical biblical values and now is increased singly hostile to them. And we really do need to have reasonable expectations about this to know how it is that we should live faithfully in such an environment so that we can continue to boldly hold firm and proclaim the Word of God, whether it is received and appreciated or railed against.
Dr. Heath Lambert is a senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. He's been in that role since 2017. Recently, the media in his area has publicized First Baptist Church his statement on biblical sexuality. They got a hold of it because one of the church members shared it while they were working on it. And so the media got a hold of it.
And Dr. Lambert's been doing a lot of interviews and fielding a lot of calls and talking to a lot of people. He he reports that the most common reaction they receive so far is shock. Some are in shock that a Christian church would describe any limits on biblical, sexual, on sexual expression, any limits. Others, you said, are in shock that if a church believes in those limits, it would actually say so.
In a recent article, in response to what they're going through in Jacksonville, Lambert wrote, Every church out there has a position regarding LGBTQ plus issues. He details for possibilities. He says some churches are open and affirming. They embrace the LGBTQ plus lifestyle. He writes, That's different than an embrace of LGBTQ plus persons. It is an embrace of what they do.
It is an embrace of their sin. Churches that are open and affirming embrace the sinful lifestyles of sinful people. The upshot of being a church like this is that the world loves you. When the secular media does stories about the LGBTQ plus community, they they protect you and they project you in a favorable light and you get to look loving and kind.
Other churches, he says, are cautious and quiet. They believe what the Bible says about human sexuality, but they don't talk about it. They don't want to make waves. They don't want to appear unloving. They don't want to seem legalistic. They don't really want to stick their head out of the foxhole, so to speak, for fear of the fire that they'll draw if they do a third type of church.
Limburg calls faithful and loving a church is faithful and loving one. They stand on everything the Bible has to say about the sinfulness of human sexuality, and when they also stand on the grace of Jesus Christ that exists for all sinners, churches that are faithful and loving know that we must preach the truth of sin to a lost and dying world.
They know we must preach that truth as it relates to the popular sins of our age, such as LGBTQ plus. But faithful and loving church is no more than that. A church full of redeemed people knows that the resurrection of Jesus from the grave means we can never talk about the horrible penalty for human sinfulness without talking about the forgiveness available for everyone who believes that Jesus gave his life for theirs.
A fourth type of church, he notes, is judgmental and rejecting this church wrongly places people caught in specific sins in a different category from other sins, seeing them as more separated from God than other sinners. These churches rarely see their own sinfulness, of the sinfulness of their own hearts, and so they readily pass judgment on the sin in the lives of others.
They are the opposite of the open. In affirming Church's open and affirming, churches espouse an unbiblical notion of love that accepts anything and everything. This is a view that obscures the truth while judging and rejecting churches use the truth of sin like a hammer with a shrug without a shred of kindness or compassion or humility. See, they do not obscure the truth.
They obscure God's grace and the great love He has for sinners. Lambert concludes his article with an invitation to be faithful and loving, an invitation to his church, which is trying to be faithful and loving, and an exhortation to the church that we also remain faithful and loving as we come in to dark and cruel days. His article Dr. Heath Lambert.
His article is worth a read. His wisdom is worth heeding, and his experience, we should expect, will become more and more the norm in the culture in which we live. Does your church really believe that? Did your preacher really say that? The Word of God divides? And while it sounds conciliatory and even desirable to say, can we all just get along?
We all want to fight. Can't we all just get along? The answer has to be no. Not if the price of our peaceful coexistence is the abandonment of the truth that says there is such a thing as sin. God is merciful and gracious and willing to forgive that sin. But sinners who won't repent and sinners who won't receive God's forgiveness are placing their eternal souls in jeopardy.
We can't give that up. We can't stop with that message. We can't stop preaching that even if people hate us for it, even if they hate us for it, we have to love them enough to hold to the truth, even if it's personally costly. It was costly for Paul environments. We've read their faithfulness led to persecution, to derision and threats to their lives.
At the city in Antioch, 1350, Chapter 13, verse 15, the Jews incited the devout women of high standing, and the leading men of the city stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district. I don't know if you've ever been kicked out of a town. I suspect some of you been kicked out of a bar.
I don't know if you've ever been kicked out of a town. I don't think it would be a good thing. I don't think it would make you feel good to be disinvited from a region, which is what happens. That's exactly what happened. Get out. We don't want you anymore. We don't want to hear from you any more. And at can't Iconium, when an attempt is made to mistreat them and stolen them.
Paul and Barnabas learned of it and they stayed. And endured the persecution, but they had to eventually flee for their lives. Newsflash Friend Evangelism can be hazardous to your health, right? In the interest of full disclosure, you should know this that if you intend to fulfill the Great Commission that Jesus has given to the Church, you actually go out there and tells somebody about the gospel.
It could be hazardous to your health. Saints through the ages have known this, that faithfulness can be personally costly. Christians around the globe in numerous regions of the world right now live under this reality daily and maybe even still sitting here in this country. You can envision the time coming. You just can't get your head around a time coming in this country.
We're speaking about Jesus and standing firm on the positions of Scripture. It's going to invite some sort of harm to you that I know that's happened to Christians historically, and I know it's happening around the world, but it's just not going to happen to me. But you know what? If you are in that camp, I bet this 20 years ago you never would have thought that traditionally held biblical stances would be labeled and believed by many as hate or bigotry.
A passage today reminds us of what has been true in the past and prepares us for what may be true in the future. We should not, as Peter urged his readers, be surprised at the fiery ordeal among us. Peter's Peter's readers are being persecuted for their faith and their suffering as a result of it. And he says you shouldn't be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, as some 53 tells us this, doesn't it?
Those who themselves do not call upon God will treat the people of God cruelly. We should anticipate this. We should acknowledge it. We should decide now that we're going to be faithful despite it, that we're going to be faithful. That is that is the message. Hold the cause. Fight the good fight. Stay in the faith. Do not be of those who slide back, who fall back.
Paul environments have driven out of City and Antioch. They persevere. Persevere, as I say, through that persecution at Iconium until their lives are literally threatened as an assassination plot being hatched. They thought at that time they thought it would be best to live to preach another day. So they they bail out of there to move on. What they didn't do, though, catch this in either setting.
What they didn't do was abandon the truth of Jesus. What they didn't do was set aside the proclamation of the gospel. What they didn't do was change the message because that that would have helped. If you can just tone down your rhetoric a little bit. We can all get along. They didn't do that. They didn't stop talking. They were not intimidated.
They were undeterred. They would not be silent. They would continue to risk. And if tradition holds true, lose their lives to bring the sweet story of salvation to a world where many would not receive it. Does that determination remind you of anyone? Church.
For one to risk his life to bring the sweet story of salvation to a world where many would not receive it? Of course it does. I'm sure it does. This Jesus John Chapter one. He came to his own at his own received him not, but as many as received him to them. He gave power to become the children of God.
He gave his life so we could be saved. He endured great suffering to bring us salvation. Would you be willing to suffer for the salvation of others? Are you willing to suffer for the salvation of others? Are you ready to suffer for the cause of Christ?