“An Encouraging Word”
Sermon Notes, Acts 15:22-35 NIV
Kent Simmons
AC 15:22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. [23] With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
AC 15:24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. [25] So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul-- [26] men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. [27] Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. [28] It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: [29] You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
AC 15:30 The men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. [31] The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. [32] Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. [33] After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. [35] But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.
Intro.:
What is the cost of encouraging others? After all, if encouragement means to breath strength and courage into someone or help someone to become confident or hopeful, isn’t our own strength sapped in the process? Doesn’t it take a great deal of effort sometimes to encourage others or even humble ourselves in order that others might progress? Isn’t there a cost for being the “wind beneath someone’s wings?”
So many Christian messages focus on how to be encouraged or how to encourage others and so few consider the cost to the one who is the giver of encouragement. Why? Because we assume there isn’t a cost to lifting up others so that they might be a winner at their own life struggles. Perhaps our own hedonistic tendencies fail to consider the person who helped to get us above or beyond our current crisis. Less pessimistically, maybe we just forgotten to thank those who have helped us after we have arrived victorious in our battle. Whatever the reason, those who bow, those who bend, those who step aside, and those who put us before themselves are the true givers of help and encouragement in times of trouble.
Such is the case before today.
Background
It is easy to villianize the believers (converted Pharisees, no doubt) who vocalized their opinion that new gentile converts should behave as Jews in their observance of Old Testament laws. While it is clearly true that their doctrinal position was suspect, nevertheless, their thoughts were every bit as valid for debate as any other in this new order or covenant of God to humanity. After all, only a relatively short period of time has passed since Christ was resurrected and the church established. They were trying to find their way as were all believers and looked to the Jerusalem Council for guidance and hopefully, support, (although they ultimately failed on the essential doctrinal view) for their concerns. On an aside, every church should be willing to consider members views and search the scriptures, which much prayer, to either validate or dismiss the veracity of individual claims or concerns. Well does Isaiah quote God in saying, “come now, let us reason together says the Lord.”
So, with a failed effort by this group of individuals to put a “yoke” on the believing gentile converts, but with some concessions as we will see in a moment, the Jerusalem Council sets apart Paul, Barnabas, Judas and Silas for the journey to Antioch and the deliverance of an encouraging word.
I. Bringing Encouragement-- The Cost of Personal Investment
AC 15:22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers.
a. 300 miles from Jerusalem to Antioch
b. More than week to travel?
c. The addition of Barsabbas (possible brother of Joseph Barsabbas, the losing candidate for apostleship between himself and Matthias) and Silas (Silvannis beloved friend of Paul on second missionary journey)
ILLS (sermon central)
On April 21st, in the year 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez sailed into the harbor of Vera Cruz, Mexico. He brought with him only about 600 men, and yet over the next two years his vastly outnumbered forces were able to defeat Montezuma and all the warriors of the Aztec empire, making Cortez the conqueror of all Mexico. How was this incredible feat accomplished, when two prior expeditions had failed even to establish a colony on Mexican soil? Here’s the secret. Cortez knew from the very beginning that he and his men faced incredible odds. He knew that the road before them would be dangerous and difficult. He knew that his men would be tempted to abandon their quest and return to Spain. And so, as soon as Cortez and his men had come ashore and unloaded their provisions, he ordered their entire fleet of eleven ships destroyed. His men stood on the shore and watched as their only possibility of retreat burned and sank. And from that point on, they knew beyond any doubt there was no return, no turning back. Nothing lay behind them but empty ocean. Their only option was to go forward, to conquer or die.
“Bringing encouragement to someone requires an investment of time, talent and resources.”
II. Bringing Encouragement-- The Cost of Diplomacy
[23] With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
AC 15:24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. [25] So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul-- [26] men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. [27] Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.
a. disturbed, troubled, risked-- all words that imply conflict
b. agreed, chose, sent, confirm-- all words that imply a conciliatory effort
c. In ministry, conflict resolution is one of the hardest aspects of a minister’s job. Typically there are three approaches to resolutions: Assimilate or Annihilate, Acceptable Casualties, and Pacify and Patronize.
1. Assimilate or Annihilate- “come on board or leave...”
2. Acceptable casualties- “some will not make the journey in the face of a greater cause”
3. Pacify and Patronize- “can’t we all just get along?”
ILLS (sermon central)
Tony Miano
Author Mary Ann Bird shared this very personal story in The Whisper Test. She wrote, “I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.”“When classmates asked, ‘What happened to your lip? I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.”“There was, however, a teacher in the second grade that we all adored—Mrs. Leonard [was her] name. She was short, round, happy—a sparkling lady.”Annually we had a hearing test . . .Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back—things like “The sky is blue” or “Do you have new shoes?” I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth. [They were] seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said in her whisper, “I wish you were my little girl” (Quoted in Larson, p. 90).Like Mary Ann Bird, born with a cleft palate, each and every one of us is born with a cleft heart.
“Bringing encouragement costs us... diplomacy is work....”
III. Bringing Encouragement-- The Cost of Consideration
[28] It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: [29] You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
a. Just because Christ came to set us free from the “yoke” of Old Testament law, traditions, mores, norms, and history were not erased from the lives of Jewish peoples. On the essentials unity, on the non-essentials liberty.
b. But this liberty involved consideration... These practices were an abhorrent behavior in the “social” eyes of the Jews.
c. To overcome this, the Jerusalem Council exhorted, from a practical position, the abstinence of these practices in order to promote good will.
d. Paul would later say that he had become all things to all people in order that he might save some... that we should not lay a stumbling block before our brothers and sisters in the Lord... that everything is permissible, but not everything beneficial.
ILLS (sermon central)
During the building of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths. Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net be hung under the bridge to catch any who fell. Finally in spite of the enormous cost, the engineers opted for the net. After it was installed, progress was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell into the net but all were saved.
Close
Compromise is the safety net for the family of God, but just as the net over the Golden Gate bridge cost a great deal of time and money, so too, encouragement costs. Whether it be a personal investment of time , talent and resources, a diplomatic act, or a compromise on non-essentials, an encouraging word costs.
In what ways are you willing to spend your “grace,” your encouragement on someone else this week? By the way, the outcome? [31] The people read it and were glad (great joy, rejoiced, rejoiced for the consolation) for its encouraging message.
An encouraging word-- ultimately it’s worth it!
