Responding to the Gospel

  • Mark Lauterbach
  • Apr 27, 2008
  • Series: Home page

No one had done this before.  No one had taken the message about Jesus and ventured deliberately into the vast world of the Gentiles.  Some had been scattered by persecution and gone back home and spoken of Jesus as they went.  But going with intention was new.

God called a church to participate in the advance of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  The church responded and sent out their own -- Paul and Barnabas.  2 years and 1500 miles later they reported that God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles and God had done great work through them.

The church in Antioch became many churches.  The predominantly Jewish church became more and more Gentile.  The first fruits of witness brought great fruit.  How did it happen?

 In Cyprus, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe Paul and Barnabas did one thing -- they proclaimed the Gospel, the message of God.  That is all they did.  They entered the synagogue and told the Jews that the Messiah had come.  They turned to the Gentiles and offered them forgiveness from the true God.  

There was response.  Some hated the message and persecuted them.  They were driven from city to city, often at risk of their very lives.  One time it seemed as though Paul was dead.  Some believed.  Many believed.  

Why the difference?  God explains that in Acts 13:48 -- as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.  It was not that some people were more religious and open than others.  No, normal humans are hostile to the true God, even when they are religious.  The reason some responded was that God called them.  They had been chosen, and then, when the Gospel was proclaimed, God acted upon them and they believed.  

No where does the New Testament encourage the notion that better methods bring better results.  Not at all.  The NT says the issue is the messaage -- Christ crucified as sin-bearer, Christ risen from death -- and there is no better message. 

And when God called them, they were not left on their own.  There is no evangelism in the NT without planting of churches.  No one ever counts decisions and leaves the new born believers to fend for themselves.  Paul and Barnabas, at the end of their preaching mission, and just around the corner from Antioch, go BACK into the cities where their lives had been threatened.  They went to care for the new believers, and to establish churches, appoint elders, and entrust them to God. 

When the message is made clear, we see where God is at work.  God is at work ahead of us.  Explaining the Gospel shows where he is doing his work.

At Grace Church in San Diego, we want to be part of God's work by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We want the fruit of the Gospel to be established in churches and for churches to mutliply.