Unexpected Fruit
- Mark Lauterbach
- Apr 6, 2008
- Series: Home page
Jesus advances the Gospel and builds his church against all opposition. No, he turns opposition into opportunity. He also uses limited resources to do his will.
The church in Jerusalem was persecuted. People fled for their lives. They left much of what they owned behind and scattered to the four winds. But they scattered like seed.
As they went in search of new homes, new work, new friends, new places to buy groceries . . . they gossiped about Jesus. They asked people if they had heard about him. They told people the simple story of what God had done in Christ -- in his death and his resurrection. The announced that sin was overcome, judgment satisfied, and death was crushed. They scattered the seed of the message.
And the Savior brought fruit from the scattered seed. Some scattered the seed of the Gospel among Gentiles. Jesus brought fruit there too. In Antioch there was a great harvest. A church was formed. Barnabas, a humble man full of faith and joy, came and encouraged the work. He grabbed Saul from Tarsus and they taught together for a year. The church grew and prospered.
What began as persecution resulted in the founding of the mother church for the whole Gentile Mission. In the next few decades Antioch would be instrumental in founding dozens of churches in cities all over the Mediterranean world. God scattered the believers from Jerusalem. They sowed the message of the Gospel everywhere they went. They sowed generously. The church was planted in Antioch.
It is all the Savior's work.
At Grace Church in San Diego we look to the Lord Jesus to enable us to scatter generously and to see his hand in a great harvet.