Not Merely Converts

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After a couple of weeks off, this week we are picking back up in the incredible story of the church in Acts. My Minister of Students walked the congregation through Acts 12 last week (click here and tune to the 35:30 mark to catch his excellent treatment of it), so this week we are on to the next part of the story in Acts 13-14. This is where we find the travelogue of Paul’s first missionary journey. Travelogues like this can make for tough point-seeking, but as the story unfolds on Paul’s disciple making efforts, we discover a series of principles worth considering in our own similar efforts. Let’s explore these together as we see that merely making converts to the Christian faith is not our goal.

Not Merely Converts

For nine weeks now we have been working our way through the story of us; the story of the church as told by Dr. Luke in the incredible narrative of Acts found in the Scriptures. And we’ve learned all kinds of things along the way about how we should be doing church if we are going to rightly stand in the long history of tradition that stretches out behind us. We’ve learned that people best connect to Jesus through the three-fold ministry of powerful words, loving actions, and an attractive community. We’ve learned that the way we survive the myriad of challenges all churches face is by being boldly committed to advancing the message and mission of Jesus and by taking the church as seriously as it deserves. We’ve learned that sometimes this kind of boldness sparks persecution, but also that the only response that will get us through these challenges is to double down on Gospel boldness. We’ve learned that when we do our part, pairing our efforts with those of our Father who always does His part, the church grows, and that having as many people as is possible in the church is the point of the whole endeavor. Indeed, if we’re not reaching people with the Gospel message then what on earth are we doing wasting our time and money on all of this for? We’ve been impressed by the fact that our whole identity as Jesus followers is built on the idea of including everybody. “Christian” is an inclusive identity. Just last week, after taking a week off to hear about all the work God did among our students this summer at camp, Nate walked you through the remarkable story of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison, and helped us see that when we pray big, bold prayers, God just may answer them and we need to be ready for that.   

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Digging in Deeper: 2 Timothy 3:13

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“Evil people and imposters will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What if the people around you weren’t who you thought they were? Maybe you’ve had that experience. You thought you knew someone really well, and then seemingly out of nowhere they did something so profoundly out of character as far as you had understood it that you were struck with a powerful sense that maybe you didn’t actually know them at all. Depending on how close you are to the person with whom you had this experience, this could be a pretty painful discovery. I know of a woman who discovered after more than two decades of marriage that her husband had a completely separate family including a woman he called his wife and kids. Learning people aren’t who we thought they were can be intensely disorienting for us. But what if we learned they weren’t simply not who we thought they were, but were in fact aliens who could assume the identity of anyone around them. Then we’d be living in a comic book world. It is this very comic book world that was the focus of Marvel’s latest streaming release, Secret Invasion. Let’s talk about what worked, what didn’t, and the Gospel implications of a series with enormous potential, but which couldn’t quite stick the landing. By the way, if you haven’t watched the series yet, proceed at your own risk. This is going to be full of spoilers.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 10:7-11

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“Pharaoh’s officials asked him, ‘How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?’ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. ‘Go, worship the Lord your God,’ Pharaoh said. ‘But exactly who will be going?’ Moses replied, ‘We will go with our young and with our old; we will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds because we must hold the Lord’s festival.’ He said to them, ‘The Lord would have to be with you if I would ever let you and your families go! No, go – just able-bodied men – worship the Lord, since that’s what you want.’ And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As a dad of three boys, one of the things I most enjoyed when my boys were little was wrestling around with them. As they’e gotten older (and bigger), it’s not quite as much fun as it used to be as they are big enough to gang up on me…and occasionally beat me. Especially the oldest who just nearly looks me in the eye now. Still, as I’ve gotten older, my stamina isn’t quite what it used to be. When I’m ready to be done, I’ll stop holding back so much to the point they know they’ve lost. I’ll ask if they’re done. And while they’re mostly done, they want to get one last shot in. So, while they’ve yielded almost completely, they’re not quite ready to give up entirely. As a result, I’ll keep piling on. Pharaoh wanted the plagues to stop. But he wasn’t willing yet to yield completely. Let’s talk about Pharaoh’s folly and our willingness to do what God says.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 10:1-4

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“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may do these miraculous signs of mine among them, and so that you may tell your son and grandson how severely I dealt with the Egyptians and performed miraculous signs among them, and you will know that I am the Lord.” So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may worship me. But if you refuse to let my people go, then tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

C.S. Lewis once wrote that in the end there will only be two kinds of people: those who say to the Lord, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom the Lord will say, “Thy will be done.” It makes for a wonderful and thoughtful bit of prose, but he’s not quite right. His point was that those who finally oppose the Lord will be able to be eternally separated from Him. In other words, their will to be separated will be accomplished. Beyond that, God’s will is what will happen. Pharaoh arrogantly thought he could oppose the Lord’s will and do what He wanted. God wanted him to know that he was going to lose this contest of wills and power. Because he hadn’t listened thus far, God was about to turn up the volume even more.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 9:13-18

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“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. For this time I am about to send all my plagues against you, your officials, and your people. Then you will know there is no one like me on the whole earth. By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth. However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you my power and to make my name known on the whole earth. You are still acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go. Tomorrow at this time I will rain down the worst hail that has ever occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We’ve talked about this before, but one of the reputations God has resulting from people’s reading the Bible without understanding is that He is all anger and wrath. He looks for opportunities to judge, and delights in raining down excessive punishment on people for the smallest and silliest things. At a glance, the plagues in general, but especially this seventh plague seems to be a case in point of this. After all, what else are we to call a deadly hailstorm? Yet this plague is set within the longest narrative any of them have so far received, and this narrative paints a very different picture of God than a mere cursory reading reveals. Let’s talk today about God’s character, the judgment for sin, and why you really can’t understand one unless you understand the other.

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