Introduction
I was once walking around a town on the south coast
of England in the late 80’s when I came across a church and noticed the large
black sign board outside. It said in large gold letters “Mount Zion Chapel.”
And underneath were three words. What three words do you think they’d want to
say to the world outside? Welcome to all? Do come in? House of prayer? God
loves you? Jesus is Lord? Believe me, I am not joking, the three words they
chose were “strict and particular!”
The term actually refers to their policy on
membership and communion. But I didn’t think to myself “That looks friendly,
let’s go there on Sunday.”
In my research for this talk I found that that
church no longer exists. It was sold for demolition and redevelopment. It’s
dead.
Churches do become sick and sometimes die. The book
of Revelation tells us that Jesus is prepared to close churches that forsake
their first love. This church could close one day. There is a course of action
we could take that would lead to decline, and eventual closure. I hope that
will never happen but the truth is that it could.
How would we know if we were becoming sick? What
are the signs of a healthy church? If you want a biblical model of a healthy
church as a kind of yardstick, you could do a lot worse than the church at
Antioch which is the subject of our two readings from Acts this morning.
Was it a perfect church? No. We know Antioch had
some difficulties. For example, two of its leaders had a barnstorming argument
at the end of Acts 15. Paul held up the churches in Philippi and Thessalonica
as shining examples for other churches to emulate but he never did for Antioch.
Maybe knew a few home truths about it that we don’t read in Acts.
But there are 7 signs of health in this local
church that I long for at All Saints’.
And here they are;
Contagious friendship
Wider-church partnership
Teachable
membership
Prophetic worship
Generous stewardship
Inclusive fellowship
Team leadership
1) Contagious Friendship
No one knows who started the church in Antioch. It
came into being, humanly speaking, almost by accident. After Stephen was stoned
to death in chapter 7, persecution broke out and many Christians had to leave
Jerusalem, running for their lives. This is where we started today out in v19.
It's natural that some of these believers would
head for Antioch, even though it was about 300 miles away, because it was a
large city, well over half a million people at that time. In fact, it was the
3rd city of the Roman Empire (only Alexandria and Rome itself were greater in
size).
As these displaced believers fled with their
families, naturally enough, they talked to people about Jesus. “You’re not from
here, what are you doing in these parts?” “Oh, we had to leave Jerusalem because
people were trying to kill us.” “Why was that then?” “Well, it’s because of our
faith. They’re trying to wipe us out.” “Oh? What faith would that be then?”
And as they began to share their faith with people
they met and got to know, others became Christians. This is what I call
contagious friendship.
Raise your hand please if at least part of the
reason you are a Christian today is because of someone else you admired or who
loved you or brought you to church or something like that? You see? Contagious
friendship. That’s how the church started to form and grow.
That’s the main reason churches grow now. People
talk about Jesus to others. Churches become unhealthy when nobody in the church
really knows anyone or talks with anyone outside the church about Jesus any
more.
Up till this point, some Gentiles had come to
Christ. The Ethiopian official. Cornelius and his household. But this was the
first time anyone had heard about Jesus without knowing something of the Old
Testament. These new Christians in Antioch were complete outsiders.
Verse 21 tells us that the Lord's hand was with
them, (that’s wonderful isn’t it? Do you feel that the Lord’s hand is with
you?) A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
2) Wider-church Partnership
The second sign of a healthy church is wider-church
partnership. In v22-23 the church down south sent Barnabas the encourager to
support them. Then in v25-26 Saul the Bible teacher came down from Tarsus to
give them some foundational teaching in God’s word.
In v27 they bring in some prophetic ministry from
Jerusalem to speak into their life of the church. In v30 they send Saul and
Barnabas out with some financial support to the churches in Judea.
I love this flowing in and out from different
churches of people and ministry. It’s not “you in your small corner and I in
mine.”
This is why we’re part of New Wine, an
international network of churches. We want the inspiration of the wider church
to impact us. Wasn’t it great to have Paul McWilliams with us last month?
We have Ashley here thanks to our partnership with
Youth for Christ and the Vine. In healthy churches ministry flows two ways.
In Antioch, they gave away the best they had. In
chapter 13, v2-3 they sent out two valued, key leaders, 40% of their leadership
team, in one go. Why would they do that? They wanted to bless others with the
gospel. Give it away. They had a bigger vision than just watering their patch.
When you think of this church releasing John and
Janet out to Long Newton 15 years ago, sending Alan and Nicky out to Stockton
seven years ago and Sylvia to Egglescliffe nine months ago, so have we.
Although we love them and miss them, we can see blessing being carried out from
here and bringing life to other places. Long Newton and the Parish Church were on
the verge of closure. They’re now brimming with life. And new people are
starting to come into the church at Egglescliffe as well.
I believe this is the fulfilment of a prophecy we
had here some years ago of the river of life, a torrent of blessing flowing
from the chancel, through the nave and out the doors to the wider area.
I want All Saints’ to keep resourcing other
churches and help them come alive in the Holy Spirit. And as we give away
blessing, God pours more in. Healthy churches reproduce life.
3) Teachable Membership
Every healthy church will have sound Bible
teaching. I’ve mentioned that Barnabas brought Saul in to do some teaching with
them. There were so many non-Jews coming to faith in Christ with no knowledge
of the Bible at all and they needed a lot of teaching so v26 says that for
a whole year Saul and Barnabas met with the church and taught great
numbers of people.
Ben Stuart, who leads a fruitful student ministry
in Texas, said at the Desiring God conference this year, “I have never met a
strong Christian who doesn’t read God’s word every day. And I have never a weak
Christian who does.”
Nicky Gumbel tells the story of a man who went to
see his vicar and he said, “I don’t read my Bible.” And the vicar said,
“Well, you should, why don’t you?” He said, “Oh, it interferes with my work.”
So the vicar said, “Interferes with your work? What do you mean?
What do you do?” He said, “Well, I am a pick-pocket!”
The biggest reason, I think, that people don’t grow
in their Christian faith is because they don’t read the Bible. Healthy children
will only grow if they eat and in the same way this is food. Jesus said,
“People cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the
mouth of God”. It’s spiritual food. And we need it grow.
As we read, we are encouraged. As we read, we see
the lives of the great men and women of God that challenge us. As we read the
Psalms we read about people who are going through the same difficulties that we
have. Each day, as we read this book, if we do it on a regular basis, God
will speak to us.
David Suchet, the actor who plays Poirot, came to
faith reading a Gideons New Testament in his hotel bathroom and said this, “I
find the Bible fascinating because on every page I meet God, and in meeting God
I meet Jesus.”
4) Prophetic Worship
But Antioch didn’t only have teachers, they had
prophets as well. A teacher in the church helps people see truth by opening the
scriptures and it takes study and planning to do that. Prophets don’t prepare
sermons; they bring direct revelation, a visual picture or a picture or some
other revelation from God.
There were two Christians in a train when there was
an announcement from the driver that the brakes had failed and the train was
running down a hill, out of control. One Christian says to the other "Oh
no, we're going to die!" His friend just yawns and looks at his companion
and says, "don't worry, it's going to be o.k. There's unfulfilled prophecy
in my life."
People are screaming and panicking. The first
Christian says "What prophecies?" "Well", says the second
one "Someone once had a word from the Lord that I was going to walk away
from a train accident without a scratch.” The first one says, “What else did
the prophecy say?” The second one says, “That I'd be the sole survivor!"
Actually, the Bible says that "those who
prophecy speak to people for their strengthening, encouragement and
comfort." (1 Corinthians 14.3).
What is prophecy? Is it God's word? The Bible certainly is
God's word. So is prophecy equal with scripture? If not, how much of God's word
is there in prophecy? If someone prophesies do we have to follow what he or she
says?
Prophecy is saying something that God has
spontaneously brought to mind. V27-28 say this: “During this time, some
prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood
up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the
entire Roman world. This happened during the reign of Claudius.”
There are detailed records of this period and the
reign of Claudius was indeed remarkable for frequent famines. (They occurred in
the 1st, 2nd, 4th 9th and 11th years of his reign). There were food shortages
and blighted harvests all over the empire during that time. But there never was
one great empire-wide famine.
Agabus was obviously inspired but not 100%
infallible. So when we prophesy it’s part God's revelation and part our
interpretation of it.
That's why 1 Thessalonians 5 says "Do not
treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good."
Clearly implying "don't hold on to the not so good." 1 Corinthians 13
says “We prophesy in part.” So we need to catch what God is saying
and filter the bits that are from us.
And 1 Corinthians 14 says "Let two or three
prophets speak and let others weigh what is said." You don’t weight
scripture to discern which bits are true. It’s all true. So, prophecy today
should not be considered as equal to God's word in authority.
Healthy churches will encourage prophetic ministry.
In healthy churches people eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.
5) Generous Stewardship
The fifth mark of a healthy church is generous
stewardship. “I think” said Jim Carrey that “everybody should get rich and
famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see it's not the
answer.”
A healthy Christian is a giving Christian and a giving
Christian is a joyful Christian.
The church accounts say as much about our spiritual
health as any other document in this church.
Susie Thorp, who used to be a curate here, once
taught me a prayer to say as the offering is brought forward. You lift the
plate up with its envelopes, its banknotes, and its loose change and you pray,
“No matter what we say or do, this is what we think of you.”
And that’s true because Jesus said “Where your
treasure is there your heart will be also.”
In verse 29 the Christians in Antioch decided, each
according to his or her ability, to provide financial and material help for
their brothers and sisters in Judea. That's an expression of generosity in
itself. But when you look a little closer, you see it's not just generous, it's
sacrificial.
Reading from verse 28, you notice that this
collection of funds for victims of famine was a response to Agabus’ word that
famine would affect the entire Roman Empire. Antioch was in the Roman Empire.
In other words, they decided to give away some of what they had, knowing that
they themselves would be hit by shortages.
If you knew you were going to lose your job
tomorrow, you might tighten your belt a bit. The Antioch reflex reaction is to
not to say: "how can I manage?" but "how can I bless others who
will lose their income at the same time?"
Antioch is a great role model for giving. I love it
that over and above our committed giving to the Lord’s work here we sent over
£2,000 to Christians in Iraq and Syria last month. I love it that, over and
above our committed giving to the Lord’s work here, we’re blessing communities
who have nothing in Romania with these shoe box gifts of love. I love that.
Because healthy churches are generous churches.
6) Team Leadership
Sixthly, team leadership.
Two guys were working along the roadside. Someone
came by and couldn't understand what they were doing. So, he said, "I see
how hard you're working, but it seems that one of you digs a hole, and then the
other guy fills it back up again." So they look at him and say "Oh,
the third guy who plants the trees in the hole is off sick today."
I’ve been on leadership teams like that… Not here
thankfully. In 13.1-3, we get a glimpse of the leadership of a healthy church.
No trace of one man ministry. It was a fully functional team.
There are five leaders with different but
complementary gifts. They pray together, fast together, worship together, seek
the Lord's face together and hear from God together.
Healthy churches raise up leaders with spiritual
gifts to work in teams.
Some leaders are DOTs – doers of tasks. The best
leaders are DOPs – developers of people. If you’re a doer of tasks, you get
things done but when you eventually go, there’s no one around who can do what
you do. If you’re a developer of people, when you leave, you’re hardly missed
because you’ve left a legacy of trained teams who are leading ministries.
7) Inclusive Fellowship
Those mentioned in v1-3 were obviously from
different backgrounds. Barnabas was a Cypriot, Simeon was a black African,
Lucius was a Jew from North Africa, Manaen was from high places and Saul was a
Roman citizen from Tarsus. It was a diverse, multi-ethnic and international
church.
I once had an ethnic Jew from England and an ethnic
Arab from Morocco in a church I led. Jews and Arabs; two peoples who have hated
each other since Isaac and Ishmael. But these two guys were great friends. They
would hug each other during the Peace and bless one another with tears because
the Holy Spirit has made them brothers in Christ. Isn’t that beautiful? That’s
just so Jesus isn’t it?
Ending
Finally, I want to say this. When the church
started in Antioch there was a problem. Nobody knew what to call them? Up to
this point, believers in Jesus were just considered as eccentric Jews. But in
this new church, most of the believers were Gentiles. So the question arose,
what should we call these people?
Verse 26 says that was, in fact, the locals who
gave them the nickname ‘Christians.’
Some churches are named after what most
distinguishes them. A group of charismatic believers in the 17th Century used
to shake as the Holy Spirit fell on them so people called them... Quakers. Another
group of Christians sprung up in the 18th Century who were rigorous and
methodical so people called them... Methodists.
Other churches are named after their leaders.
Lutherans are named after... Martin Luther. Mennonites are named after... Menno
Simons (you knew that didn't you)?
As the believers in Antioch became a recognisable
group, people will have asked them out of curiosity, “What’s your religion all
about?” Christ. “Which gods do you worship?” Just one; Christ. “Who’s your
leader then?” Christ. “Yes, but who’s in charge?” Christ. “I know, but who
actually runs this church?” Christ.
It’s like that story of the little boy who learned
by the age of 5 that the answer to every question his Sunday school teacher
asked was Jesus. Until one day she said, “Who can tell me what’s small and red
with a big bushy tail and stores nuts for the winter? So he put his hand up and
said “Miss, I know the answer’s Jesus, but I think it’s a squirrel!”
I will measure the health this church by how much
people love to talk about Jesus and what he’s done for them. It’s all about
him.
Let’s pray…
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 2nd November 2014
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