FOCUSING ON MISSION

Turn with me, if you would this morning, to the book of Acts in the 15th chapter.
Let's look to the Lord in a word of prayer, and then we'll look to His Word.

Father, we come into your presence now to ask for your blessing, to pray that we might open our hearts and minds to the Word of God; that we might be sensitive to what it is that God wants to teach us. I ask and I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

I know that my time on communion Sunday is limited, but I don't let the clock affect that limitation, and so I'm going to go through this message as quickly as I can and share with you what God's laid in my heart for you this week. Last week, we looked at there is dissention in the early church. The dissention has been caused because of a couple of things.

Number one: There's a group of people that believe that you cannot be saved without keeping the law of Moses. The Gentiles have been coming to Christ. The word "Gentile" means heathen. They have been coming to Christ in great numbers, and now that they've come to Christ, they want to become part of the fellowship of believers. The Jewish believers and the and Gentile believers are struggling now to bring it together.

There is great change coming on the scene, and a group says you cannot be saved unless you have become a keeper of the law of Moses and to be circumcised.

The second problem they had is we can't have fellowship with believing Gentiles.

Jews had a law that no Jew could ever eat with a Gentile. No Jew was ever to fellowship with a Gentile. They were much better. But in Christ, there is no such thing as Jew and Gentile. We are all part of the body of Christ.

These changes are taking place within the church and it is causing division. And what we get a chance to do is we get a chance to look at it. We get a chance to see what the divisions are. We get a chance to see how they handle them, and we can look it in two ways.

Number one, it's a historical event. It happened.

Number two, we can say that it's part of a holy scripture, and not only is it a historical event and it happened, but there is something for us to learn. There is something for us to look at. At the foundation of this division were several things. Number one, the Gentiles looked different. Number two, they talked different. They smelled different. They worshipped differently, and their morals were different, and there's a few other etceteras that we can throw in there, and today, you are going to find out in today a church that wants to grow in Christ and a church that wants to be effective in the world in which we live today.

Our church, if we want to do this, is going to experience some of this same dissention, because any time you endeavor to reach out into a world in which we live in, you're going to be trying to reach people who might look different, talk different, smell different, and worship different, and in today's world, the morals are different.

And we have to ask ourselves how do we reach lost people in a world in which we live. In Garden Grove alone, there is 168 different dialects. If our church is going to have an impact in the community, we should probably have some of them in our congregation, people that speak different languages.

I've always been told that the church in America needs to have a homogeneous congregation. That means we're all the same. But it looks to me like, in scripture, that God doesn't want homogeneous, he wants heterogeneous. In other words, there's differences.

These differences can cause division. These differences can cause dissention, but Christ is the one who makes it all blend out. In Christ, we're all the same, and the message to the church is this: Don't have divisions in your congregation because people look different, talk different, smell different, worship different.

When we first started building the plans for this knew building, I went next door when the Vietnamese church bought that property, and I went next door, and I told the pastor this: I says, look, if you'll let us USE your parking lot during the daytime so that we can park our cars there and have the whole back area for our school to play on the basketball court and do other things in the parking area, if you'll let them do that, when we get this knew building built and we have this huge fellowship hall, I will share the fellowship hall with you for special events and weddings and funerals and anniversaries that you have. We will share that with you. I'm going to tell you right now what's going to happen. When they come over and use our facility, they cook different and they smell different. Somebody's going to come into me and say, ooh, it smells so weird in here. You know what? I don't care. Don't bring that complaint to me, because I want to reach out to our Vietnamese Christian friends next door and share with them something that God has given to us, because every single day they share with us something that God's given to them. Don't talk to me because it smells different. We'll just put new deodorizer things in there if we have to.

And if we want to reach people, if we want to reach out into our community, there's going to be some differences that take place, and I think this passage teaches me some of these things. If the church -- the church has a choice, and Bethany has a choice. You can focus on the differences like they were doing in Jerusalem, or you can focus on the mission of the church, and the mission of the church is to do two things. It is to lead men and women and boys and girls to Jesus Christ as their savior, and it is to teach them or disciple them in the ways of God. If we are not careful, and we endeavor to reach into this modern generation, we will want people in our modern generation to get the same morals that we have now and to get the same character that we have now in Christ before they can ever become part of our fellowship, and that's where we'll mess it up.

If we stay focused on the mission, and if we reach people on the mission of Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, God will take care of the moral issues and will take care of the differences, but if we if we focus on the differences, we will never get the differences taken care of, and we'll never get the souls into the Kingdom of God.

And we have a challenge, and that's what this passage teaches us.

There are struggles in this passage. Change in the organized church is often unacceptable. The word "change" is a very terrible word in American church today. The word "change" divides people. The word "change" splits people, and the message of Christ and him crucified can never change. The message can never change.

But, ladies and gentlemen, I've got news for you; the methods will always change. The methodology of reaching people will change, but the message can never change. The message is Jesus Christ. But the methodology was you've got to receive these heathens. These people that you would never ever have eaten with before under the law, these people who are not under the law, these uncircumcised heathens are going to become part of the body of Christ. That was tremendous change for them, and some of them were unable to do it, unwilling to do it.

This passage teaches me that the mission is to reach the lost and to disciple them, and we will stress -- will we as a church stress the differences or will we stress the mission?

Changes are coming if we are going to reach people for Jesus Christ. Now, listen to me carefully. I am not saying to you that the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments and all of that -- I'm not saying to you that that is sinful. It's not. I'm not saying to you that the law of Moses is outdated. I don't think it is.

I think the Ten Commandments are vital for every born again believer. I think it gives us guidance and direction of how God wants us to live, but it is not guidance and direction for how God wants the unsaved to live apart from Christ, because the unsaved can't do it. The law was only meant to show people their need of Christ, and once you become a Christian, then God has some things in store for you. God wants to change your life, and then change becomes part of the individual thing and people don't want to change, and it's a struggle for them, but for the church we need to stay on mission. We need to understand mission. We need to understand leading people to Christ and letting God lead them in the changes that are going to take place in their life. And I don't think the law of Moses should be ignored, but I also don't believe that it should be first and foremost and up front when reaching people for Jesus Christ. All people are sinners, and we need to come to Christ by faith, and we need to let him do his job. Let me read for the text.

There are two speakers in the text. One is Peter, and one is James, and both of them speak to this issue.

I'm going to start with verse seven of the text and like to read through verse 21 and ask that you follow along with me in the 15th chapter of the book of Acts as we endeavor to understand what it's saying:

"And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to him, 'Brethren, you know that in the early days God made choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.'"

He said that's a fact. All of that that's happened is from God, and

"'God who knows the heart bore witness to them giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us.'"

He's talking about when the gospel went to Cornelius' house, and how they even spoke in tongues in there. The same thing happened in Cornelius' house that happened in Pentecost.

"'And he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.'"

Notice the stress. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile. He cleansed their hearts the same way we did ours, by personal faith in Jesus Christ.
"Now, therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our father's nor we have been able to bear.'"
He says to them in essence, 'our father's were not able to bear this law, and we were not able to bear this law either, and this law did nothing for us to bring us to the peace of God. Only faith has done that. Why do you require other people to bear something to which has never helped you.
Verse 11: "'And we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they'"
also. He says they came to faith just like we did. They believed in God. They believed in Jesus. They believed in the resurrection. They believed in salvation of sin, and we came to Christ the same way as they had. We are brothers and sisters in the Lord.
"And all the multitude kept silent."
They kept silent because they were reasoning in their mind what he was saying. It began to make sense to them, and
"all the multitude became silent. They were listening to Barnabas and Paul, and so they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles, and after they had stopped speaking, James answered saying"
This James is the brother of Jesus. He is the pastor of the church in Jerusalem and I believe he's the head of this counsel. He's the chairman of the board so to speak. He stands up and says this:
"'Brethren, listen to me. Peter has related how God confirmed himself about taking from among the Gentiles the people for his name sake. And with this the words of the prophets agreed,'"
and he begins to quote Amos.
Amos says that "'after these things I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen and I rebuild its ruins and I will restore it in order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord.'"
And this is the point that he's making right here:
"'And all the Gentiles who were called by my name, says the Lord, who make these things known from old.'"
He says in verse -- verse 17 that all of the Gentiles who are called by my name he says listen Amos told us that this would happen. Amos told us that God would go into the Gentile world and will take people from there and bring them to us. It is part of the prophesy that's been fulfilled, and he's building on the case that you need to accept differences.
Now, in verse 19, he says, "'therefore, it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles.'"
In other words, we don't put on them this law and make to them these requirements,
"'but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from that which is strangled and from blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him since he is read in the Synagogue every Sabbath.'"

Now, what does that mean? He is asking that the Gentiles listen to him. He is saying to them I am going to write them a letter. I am going to ask them to abstain from four things, and the reason I'm going to do this is because there are Jews in every city. There are Jews in every city, and in the Synagogue, they read about Moses every week, and in order for us to have harmony within the body of Christ, these believers who have come to know Christ I'm going to ask them to do four things.
I'm going to ask them to abstain from MEAT that has been offered to idols.
Here are the four things: Abstain from MEAT offered to idols. Why? The Apostle Paul later on says this, that when a person goes in and sees people eating MEAT offered to idols, it causes them to stumble.
They don't understand that. It's a thing with the weaker believer and the weaker brother. It's something that's going to cause problems. He says I'm going to ask our Gentile brethren to do something for me. I am going to ask them to stop eating MEAT offered to idols. They can eat whatever MEAT they want to, but please stay away from MEAT offered to idols. It causes people to stumble. It causes them to wonder. It causes too many questions in their lives, and if we're going to be a church that reaches out to people, we are going to have to ask ourselves what causes other people to stumble, and we're going to have to ourselves to give that up, not because we've got rules to go to heaven, but because we're on our way to heaven, so he asks them would you guys be willing to do this.
The second thing he asks them to do is to stay away from fornication. This is the word pornia. This is not just - fornication is defined in English as sex prior to marriage, but in the bible the word pornia means all kinds of sexual deviation.
The Gentiles were obsessed by sex. They lived in a world that was obsessed by sex much like we do today, so he says to them in order to maintain fellowship, in order to maintain unity within the body of Christ, I'm going to ask the Gentiles to leave their system of sexual gratification outside of marriage and to leave that and to live a godly life.
Pornia for us today pornia would have to do with pornography, with all kinds of pornography. It would have to do with pre-marital sex. It would have to do with adultery. It would have to do with incest. It would have to do with all of those things that our society is structured around, not in order to get to heaven, but because you are on your way to heaven, he says I am going to ask them in a letter if they will live holy before God.
And then the third thing he asked them, he says I want them to stay away from animals that have been strangled, and the second one is close to that is that I want them to stop drinking the blood of animals.
The pagans would drink the blood of animals. Why I'm not sure. And they would eat animals that would be strangled, and God told the Jewish people I don't want you to drink the blood.
You know, if we were to follow dietary Jewish laws, when you go into a restaurant, you should never say I'd like to have it rare. God doesn't want you to eat blood of animals.
And now we understood doctors tell you that if you eat your MEAT rare, it messes up your arteries. You need to have your MEAT done well done. Well, you can decide what you want to do with that.
But he was saying because the Jews had been taught this and the Jews have lived under this concept like that and it's part of their dietary law, he says, look, I'm going to ask you to do something, I'm going to ask you for the sake of peace and harmony within the church, I'm going to ask you to give up these four things, and you will find as we move through the scripture that they were willing to do this once they came to know Christ.
In other words, they said to them at first you cannot be saved unless you adopt our laws, and then they said, no, we're not going to put that yoke on them. We're not going to put that burden upon them. Our father's couldn't do it and we couldn't either. We've come to Christ by faith. But now that we've come to Christ and we're brothers and sisters one of another we've got to watch how we live. We've got to watch that we don't cause a weaker brother to stumble. We've got to be conscious of how we're living.
So I'm asking you, I'm praying for you. I'm sending you a letter. Would please do these four things, and in their culture, these four things were very important.

Let me ask you something: What would be willing to give up for a brother? What would you be willing to give up for not to be saved but because you are saved?
Let me give you an illustration. A number of years ago a man came over here from Jerusalem to the United States, and he was studying in one of our universities, and he was attending a Baptist church. In the Baptist churches, they love to have - and we do, too -- but potlucks, and during the potluck, they have ham sandwiches, and this brother had come over from Jerusalem, and he was an unconverted Jew, and by the churches loving him and receiving him, they led him to Christ, and then they were going through the line. The ham sandwiches, he decided to pass over the ham sandwiches, and someone came to him they said, you're no longer bound by Jewish law.
You can eat the ham sandwich now. You're no longer bound by those same restrictions, and he says this, he said, I know. I have the freedom in Christ to eat the ham sandwich, but I'm going to choose not to.
He says, "Why? Why would you do that?"
"Because when I go back home, the first thing my father will ask me is, 'Son, Have you defiled your body by eating pork or ham?', and I want to be able to say to him, 'No, Father, I have not.' I want to be able to say to him, 'I have not, but, father, listen, I have found Christ.' But if he asks me 'Have you defiled your body?' and I said, 'Oh, yes, I have freedom in Christ to do whatever I want to do.' Then he will be shut down to the message. The mission will be stalled. The opportunity will be stopped because I've taken the liberty." But he says "I'm going to choose not to take the liberty. I'm going to choose to abstain so that I can be on mission with my father."

Have you ever thought about how you live your life? I mean I meet people a lot of times that say "I don't care. If so-and-so is offended by what I do, that's their problem." Maybe it's not. Maybe it's your problem. Have you ever thought about laying down a liberty? Have you ever thought about laying down something that it would be perfectly okay for you to do, but you lay it down because you want to stay on mission? You give up something, not so you can parade around and say, "Look what I did. Look what I did. Look what I did." But because God says to you "Lay it down so others might know the truth."
I think that we at the church need to ask ourselves is "Are we ready for the mission? Are we ready for differences? And what might they be? " And to ask ourselves that when differences arise to always, because of this time that we spend together, to ask ourselves "Is this a difference, or are we on mission?"
And if we're going to reach people, we have to stay on mission, because where the mission is, the presence of God is always there. When you meditate and you have focus on the differences, I'm not sure the presence of God is there, and so, in order to get the presence of God and to get the power of God, to get the presence of the Holy Spirit to convict, we must stay on mission, and I hope that means something to you, but that's how God will bless the church, and that's how God will bless you.
But I'm going to ask you right now, is there anything that God's asked you to give up that other people seem to have a freedom to do, but God's asking you to give it up so that you can stay on mission with someone that God has brought into your heart and brought into your life?
Maybe the way the church begins to mold its thinking is it begins with each and every one of us as individuals to say to ourselves, will we focus and major on the differences or will we focus and measure on mission, and the mission is to win the lost and to disciple them through Jesus Christ.
That's the message that's in this. And the lesson is simply this: Go do it. Go do it. Go make the mission what it's supposed to be. Don't major on the minors. Focus on the mission.
Let's stand together.
Father, we probably don't even really know what we're talking about this morning in terms of specifics. I know some things that I'm talking about in my own heart and mind, but I don't know what the challenges are ahead of us if we take seriously reaching our community for Jesus Christ.
I don't know what differences we're going to have to tolerate in order to stay on mission. But, God, I pray we can stay in the center of the will of God and stay on mission that the end of result might be that Jesus Christ would be glorified, not only in the church, but in the lives of its people.
I pray a blessing upon our congregation today. I believe that you have laid before us somewhat of a challenge.
Is it because you are planning to do something for us in the next few months? Is it because you're preparing our minds and hearts for outreach? Is it because you have something in plan? I pray that you do, and I pray that we would be followers of the will of God.
I ask now and pray that the Word of God would penetrate to our hearts and the end result would be we would stay on mission as a church that God might be glorified.
Bless these people.
In Jesus name I pray, Amen.