Is He still building His Church?

Where: College Baptist Church

When: November 11, 2001

Why: To show that the work of God continues in building His Church through all circumstances to His glory; to show that He is glorified and His purposes are being fulfilled when are aware of and are apart of His "church building program."

Text: Acts 8:1-8

Background and review

The book of Acts is the historical account of the spread of the early church. It begins with the last words and last visible contact the disciples had with the Lord Jesus Christ. It records their obedient trust in Christ as they waited for the Spirit He promised who would give them power to fulfill the mission He had given them.

Acts 1:8 records, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The mission was also clearly stated by Christ in Matthew 28:18-20, which we commonly call the "Great Commission." Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

The essence of this mission was rooted in the very character of the One who gave it. In Matthew 16 Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was. "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." Jesus focused and personalized. But you? Who do you say that I am? Peter boldly replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." In response our Lord Jesus declared, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades  will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:13-18).

The mission of the church grows out of the character and glory of God Himself. In His very essence, He has always been motivated by love and justice- love for His people and the need for justice to be established in our offense against Him through sin. On this rock, I will build my church.

It is His glorious plan to build His church through His church, through Spirit-filled, obedient Christian who are God-saturated, God-motivated, and God-empowered.

In Acts, we witness His Holy Spirit coming on His children. They are totally dependent on Him so that through them He builds His church. He changes their character. He gives them power and boldness and love. He gives them wisdom to deal with internal, family differences. He builds His church.

Almost immediately, we see opposition to Christ's kingdom building through His church. Opposition is ever present. The religious establishment of the day is tragically controlled by the king of another kingdom. There is a clashing of values, expectations, and world-views. The Sanhedrin constantly pressures the church, hoping to intimidate the baby saints from obeying the commission that has been given to them.

The waves of pressure- which is persecution- crest and curl as Stephen, a Spirit-filled table-waiter, speaks boldly in defense of Christ's purposes in the world, tracing the finger of God through history to the ultimate sacrifice and victory of Christ on the behalf of His Church.

The rocks are still bouncing off of Stephen's body when we pick up the story in Acts 8. He has just breathed his last breath having prayed a prayer that is a church-building, kingdom cry echoing the words of the very one upon whom the Church is built: Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

Text

Acts 8:1-8. And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. ² Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. ³ But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. ⁴ Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. ⁵ Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. ⁶ When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. ⁷ With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. ⁸ So there was great joy in that city.

Transition

Jesus Christ is building His church. Even through circumstances that we do not understand, He builds His church through His church's obedient fulfillment of the mission He has given His church.

It is Hisglorious plan to build His church through His church, through Spirit-filled, obedient Christian who are God-saturated, God-motivated, and God-empowered.

In our text this morning, we observe two important developments as Christ fulfills His glorious plan to build His church: (1) Christ uses persecution to scatter His church, and (2) Christ uses Spirit-filled people to build His church.

Christ uses persecution to scatter His church

Acts 8:1-3. And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. ² Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. ³ But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

The rocks are still bouncing off Stephen's body. His blood is still warm. And we are introduced to the zealous Hellenistic Pharisee, Saul.

We know that Saul will become the great apostle Paul. For the time being, he becomes the arch-enemy of the church.

8:1 tells us that with Stephen's death, great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem. There had been opposition and threats. Now things heat up. Opposition intensifies to a stoning which ignites into great persecution.

Saul begins to destroy the church. He was aggressive. The word for destroy is used only here in the whole New Testament. It means to ravage, devastate, ruin. Kent Hughes says this "suggests sadistic cruelty, like a wild boar tearing a victim's body apart." Later in Act 22:4, Paul testified that he was a merciless, vindictive man: I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵ as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. In Galatians 1:13, Paul declared, For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. He was relentless in his focused, ravaging, destructive pursuit of the church, dragging off men and women, throwing them into prison.

Can you imagine how the young Christians must have felt? Most of them were new in their faith. The church hasn't been around that long. They're learning a lot meeting regularly with the those who walked and talked with Jesus. But they are relatively new in their faith. Their faith must have been mingled with fear as soldiers banged on their doors, maybe knocking them in, dragging them to prison, perhaps leaving children behind defenseless.

There are times when we don't understand what's going on. Even when we don't understand we must cling to what we know. And this is faith. Though I'm sure this was terrifying for the young church, I imagine they strengthened each other with the words and truth they had about Jesus. "Do not loose heart. Remember what the Master said. ‘No servant is greater than his master.'  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.' Do not loose heart."

This is true today too, isn't it? We often face circumstances when we don't understand the what's and why's of things. Sickness. Job changes. And towers crumbling. But even though we don't understand things, we cling to what we know- and this is faith. We know God is sovereign. We know He loves us and all the world. We know He is building His church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18)

As persecution intensified, as people were dragged off to prison, a wonderful thing happened. The persecution caused people to scatter to other places. Look at what happened, according to 8:4. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Christ is building His church through His church.

The Christians are scattered but in the process Christ uses Spirit-filled people to build His church. And that is the second truth we want to observe in our text this morning.

Christ uses Spirit-filled people to build His church

As the church scattered under persecution, Spirit-filled Christians proclaimed the good news about Christ's kingdom everywhere they went. We see this immediately through Phillip, another Spirit-filled table-waiter. I reemphasize this because the work of the kingdom is done through the power of the King. And He gets the glory. It is His work. He is building His church. It is His power. It is our surrender to Him through which He builds His church. He uses ordinary people, in faith filled with Himself, to accomplish His mission in the world.

8:5-8. ⁵ Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. ⁶ When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. ⁷ With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. ⁸ So there was great joy in that city.

Isn't this amazing? Isn't this awesome? Isn't this inspiring?

Think of how God's hand is at work in all this. Phillip was a Hellenistic Christian Jew. A Hellenistic Jew was one of those Jews from the Greek Gentile world who wasn't quite pure culturally in his Jewish-ness. The real Jews looked down on those Hellenists. Furthermore, Phillip was a Christian- not a real popular group with the establishment right now.

Consider how God sovereingly fits the pieces of the puzzle together to accomplish His mission to build His church even as the gates of Hell seek to prevail against it. Here is a low-life, Hellenistic Christian, culturally impure Jew running for his life from the establishment to Samaria. The people of Samaria hold little love for the establishment, which considers them culturally impure, low-life, half-breeds. Hey, we got a lot in common here!

Phillip is full of the Spirit. As he is on go, he still proclaims the truth about the kingdom of God. He tells the people about Christ. Christ validates Phillip's message by performing wonderful miracles through the table-waiter. Demons come out of person after person with dramatic shrieks. Paralytics and cripples are healed. There is great joy in the city. Christ is building His church!

Is Christ still building His church?

Is Christ still building His church?

That's a rhetorical question, isn't it? The answer is yes. I think we have already established it.

We strengthen our faith by reaffirming this truth to ourselves, by living by it, by being aware of what Christ is doing in our worlds to accomplish that task, by prayerfully strategizing how we can keep in step with His kingdom work.

Like the early Christians facing great and intensifying persecution, we may wonder- and even be dismayed- at the circumstances in our world today. Last week, we were gripped moved by the incredible suffering of the persecuted church in our day as we participated in the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. We still are in shock from the 9/11 attacks. We may find our faith is mingled with fear. We must strengthen each other remembering the truth of God's Word. I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Matthew 16:18).

At first we shake our heads in dismay at the 9/11 disaster. Is Christ still building His church? Then we realize the harvest of prayer in our nation today. Then we refocus on the sovereignty of God. Then we see a nation rallying to justice.

And just beyond our line of vision, on the other side of the globe the eternity of a group of people called the Dalits. Perhaps in God's eternal purposes as He builds His church these people who are the untouchables of India will become members of the family.

For months, the Islam faith has been courting the Hindu Dalits. If they would just convert to Islam in mass then they would be able to break the extreme prejudice and social injustice that the caste system has placed upon them.

But then, under the sovereignty of God, 9/11 occurs. As a result, Islam is not so attractive. Killing innocent people unjust and unloving, just like the social oppression under which they live.

Six days ago, November 5, a token representation of the Dalits gathered in Delhi for a mass conversion. A million were expected to congregate, but the government banned the gathering and riot police cordoned off the city to prevent the Dalits from coming to the meeting. Still, an estimated 100,000 people joined the rally.

They are led by Ram Raj, a Dalit with a Ph.D. who has a government ministry position. At first it seemed as if Ram Raj would lead his caste to covert to Christianity but in the end he chose Buddhism. (Perhaps one motivating factor was to avoid persecution that may come with conversion to Christianity, but that is speculation.)

Ram Raj is very open to Christianity. At the rally he let Christian leaders to speak. It's reported, "Two senior Christian leaders, (Dr.K.P. Yohanan and Dr Joseph D'Souza) were allowed to speak to the crowd. These men gave the Dalits their pledge that they and their Christian organizations loved them and would welcome them. (Quotes from K.P. Yohanan's speech are in the report by Tom Briggs.) The Dalits responded very positively to his message.

"Ram Raj spoke at length about the love and support he had received from the Church in India, and how the body of Christ supported freedom of choice for the Dalits. He asked the Christian community to continue to help them in every way possible.

"There was applause as he shared about the solidarity that Christians had pledged to the Dalits. He said, ‘Thank You for Opening Your Heart to Us.'

"Rick Wood of Missions Frontiers Magazine of the US Center for World Missions says, ‘The importance of this event is that Christians leaders were allowed to speak and that they were received warmly by the crowd of around 100,000 Dalits and that the Christian leaders are taking a strong stand in favor of Dalit independence from Hinduism. This may open up a fantastic opportunity for the Christian church in India to be seen as the allies of the Dalits in their struggle for dignity and liberation. As a result, the 300 million Dalits could see following Christ as a very attractive option for their new lives outside Hinduism.' (http://davidmolly.net/update/Dalits-Report.html)

"For the first time in many, many decades the Christian Church was defended openly from a public platform in the glare of international media and the right of the Dalits to seek solidarity with Christians." (http://davidmolly.net/update/Dalits-DSReport.html)

At the rally, 8,000 meals were distributed from Christian organizations and 14,000 copies of the Jesus Film.

The church in India asks for our prayer. Prayer for the Dalits openness to Christ. Prayer for the Indian church to rise to the occasion. Prayer for a great harvest among these 300 million people who never before have been so open to the love of Christ!

Conclusion

It is God's glorious plan to build His church through His church, through Spirit-filled, obedient Christian who are God-saturated, God-motivated, and God-empowered.

What's that have to do with us? He's still doing it. He still want so to do it through you. And through me. Through CBC. In Hillsdale. In India. In every corner of the earth.

We may face times of uncertainty. We may have life circumstances that we don't understand. But Jesus Christ is still building His church. And He is doing it through His church.

Let us look to Him. It is His church. It is His mission. He is the one who does the work through us. His love is more than enough. His power is abundant. He is building His church.

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