Printer Friendly VersionIn Acts 17:6, an unbelievable claim is made: "These who
have turned the world upside down have come here too” (NKJV). In a short
amount of time, two men, Paul and Silas, have been charged with changing the
whole world. Yes, it was a bit of hyperbole, an overstatement if you will,
but the feeling was that since these two guys had been sharing this gospel,
the world hadn’t been the same. Think of that: most churches aren’t
even known in their communities, yet these guys are being accused of changing
the whole world! This illustrates an important principle of the Church: People
are far more ready to hear the Gospel than Christians are ready to tell them.
In Acts 13 Paul and Barnabas are in Pisidian Antioch, and within
one week the people are so hungry for hope that nearly the whole city gathers
to hear the Good News. Acts 13:44: “On the next Sabbath almost the whole
city gathered to hear the Word of the Lord” (NIV). It was the same in
every town to which they went: “At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as
usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great
number of Jews and Gentiles believed” (Acts 14:1-2). In the city of Derbe:
“The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. They preached the good
news in that city and won a large number of disciples” (Acts 14:21, NIV).
Nearly everywhere they went it was the same story. God was working through
their lives because they were making themselves constantly available to Him.
The Good News of the Gospel is still the same: God has looked
at our lives and judged them to be far off, missing the mark of His purpose
(Romans 3:23-24). But God has not left us without hope!
In his book, Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCort chronicles his
own life growing up in Limerick, Ireland, and immigrating to the United States.
His life was not pretty and certainly wasn’t godly. But throughout the
book he constantly refers to his unhappiness and misery. He makes reference
to the sins which just burn in him like a fire, but he never thought the church
would have any hope for him. He constantly mentions his need to confess his
sins, but he never does for fear that they’ll run him out of the church.
That’s the way so many people in our world feel. They know they’re
in trouble but they need some good news.
Enter the Gospel of Jesus! Romans 6:23: “For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(NIV). Romans 8:1-2: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit
of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (NIV). It’s still
Good News to those who hear it today, twenty-one centuries later!
When we’ve had an encounter with the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are
not left the same as He found us. In other words, He turns our worlds upside
down, too! Acts 19 records some powerful housecleaning by the Holy Spirit:
“Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil
deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and
burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total
came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely
and grew in power” (Acts 19:18-20).
Think of that! A drachma was a silver coin worth one day’s
wages. They burned the value of fifty thousand drachmas, or 192 years worth
of wages! That’s quite a housecleaning! Many of you, when you came to
the Lord, when you repented of the lives you led, you had a housecleaning,
too!
Acts 19:24-26: “A silversmith named Demetrius, who made
silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen.
He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said:
‘Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see
and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of
people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia’”
(NIV). Demetrius was incensed that the Gospel’s impact was such that
being a silversmith was beginning to look a lot like being a tax collector!
People wanted out of their jobs. In addition, no one was buying their little
trinkets and idols from the shrine of Dianna, and the Temple of Dianna was
beginning to get a bad reputation, too! Now, hold on here! This is too much!
But that’s what happens when a world is turned upside down! Are you ready?
The Sovereignty of God
The book of Acts gives us such a great look at how the Lord
is always sovereign and always in control, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Jesus wants to build His Church. That’s a given! Matthew 16:18: “And
I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and
the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (NIV). We must never forget
that the Lord must be the builder of the house. Psalm 127:1: “Unless
the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain” (NIV).
Therefore, we must remember that being a Kingdom builder is
not about “building a better mousetrap,” as some in the Church growth
business espouse. It’s about being a witness to what the Lord is doing.
Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and
to the ends of the earth.” We must remain witnesses to what He is doing!
I Thessalonians 5:24 tells us, “The one who calls you is
faithful and he will do it” (NIV). While that verse is really speaking
of our sanctification, the premise is that we don’t do these things;
God does them in us and through us. God will accomplish what He purposes in
us. Philippians 1:6: “being confident of this, that he who began a good
work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”
(NIV). Pentecost is all about the Holy Spirit’s power working in us and
through us. We can’t turn our world upside down. But Christ in us can!
Paul and the others didn’t just run off and do things they
wanted. They were guided by the Holy Spirit indwelling them. When Philip was
directed by God to go down the road to Gaza, he met an Ethiopian eunuch, and
in the process he left an indelible mark on the work going on in Samaria.
In fact, it was the direct fulfillment of what Jesus had told the disciples
they would be doing: witnessing in Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria. Here
was Phillip in Samaria with thousands of converts—a whole city stirred
up by the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit said, “Leave the city and go down
the road to Gaza where you’ll meet one man.” Many today would be
offended to give their time and talents for just one man but Philip went because
it was a God thing!
When making doctrinal decisions, the disciples consulted the
Lord (Acts 15:28). Decisions about where they’d go to preach the Gospel
and begin new churches were left in the hands of the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6-8).
Decisions about who would serve where, were directed by the Holy Spirit (Acts
13:2-3). For thirty years they went where the Spirit led and did what the
Spirit told them to do. Being a world changer means that you are able to set
clear spiritual priorities.
Nothing can stop what the Lord wants to do. Nothing! As Jesus
said, not even the gates of hell could prevail against Him building His Church!
For several hundred years each world power thought they were
in complete control of the world and the events of the world. But they were
never in charge; God was. Rome thought they were keeping the world at peace
with the Pax Romana, and the building of Roman roads for massive military
movements. But they were simply the instrument God used to prepare the world
to hear the Gospel. The Babylonians thought they were in charge when they
conquered the world and dispersed the Jews, taking some into captivity in
Babylon. But they were merely the instrument whereby God established the synagogue
system of Hebrew worship. Alexander the Great thought he was in charge when
he conquered the world and desired to spread Hellenism around the globe and
make Greek the international language. But he was merely the instrument God
used to have a common language for the entire world to hear the Gospel.
When God decided the time was right to change the world (Galatians
4:4), He sent His followers along Roman roads in peace to synagogues all over
the known world, speaking Greek and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom
of God! Who’s in charge?
Do you ever consider what God might want to do in your life?
Through your life? Through your gifts and talents? He wants to change the
world through you!
Bloom Where You’re Planted
If we’re going to be world changers, we have to learn to
bloom where we’re planted. Each week I meet with people who have lost
sight of God’s vision for them and for their lives. They’ve lost
sight of it at home; they’ve lost sight of it at work; they’ve even
lost sight of it at play and in all their relationships.
Remember: God will build His Church and He wants you to be a
witness of what He is doing! God knows where you work and He knows that you
work for Him! Colossians 3:17, 23-24: “And whatever you do, whether in
word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
the Father through him. . . . Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,
as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive
an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving”
(NIV).
Be the best you can be. There are those there who need to know
the Lord, right where you are . . . but you’ve got to bloom!
God knows there will be difficult times. Paul was beaten, stoned,
flogged, exposed to death, imprisoned, given forty lashes five times, beaten
with rods three times, shipwrecked three times, left at sea, experienced constant
travel, bandits, floods, hatred, no sleep, no food, and no rest. There is
no doubt that the enemy is working overtime to sidetrack and discourage you!
There is hardly a more debilitating blow to the Kingdom of God than to have
discouraged Christians!
When we get discouraged and defeated by the enemy we often take
our eyes off the prize and look at our circumstances. Because Paul understood
that this was how his flocks were feeling, he reminds them of his hardships,
not to say, “Look how hard I have it.” But to remind them that though
he was in prison, the Word of the Lord was not! All the disappointments, all
the hardships, even being in prison was actually helping to advance the Gospel!
Caesar’s best . . . his crack soldiers became part of the
Praetorian Guard. They were elite soldiers who worked in groups of four, and
every six hours they would come in with a fresh set of guards for Paul. They
thought this would help to shut down this Gospel menace. But it didn’t
shut down the Gospel. Paul was actually leading Caesar’s best to the
Lord! Every six hours they’d bring him a fresh batch of sinners to work
on, and he’d share Christ with them! (Talk about a captive audience!)
You’ve got to love Paul’s slightly veiled reference to this in his
letter to the Philippians: “All the saints send you greetings, especially
those who belong to Caesar's household” (Philippians 4:22, NIV). Paul’s
circumstances were difficult but because he was imprisoned, lives were being
changed.
It’s a question we should ask ourselves. Are lives being
changed and influenced for Christ where we work? Because Paul was in prison,
others responded to God’s call to get out there and preach the Gospel.
Because Paul was in prison, the Church became the recipient of his letters
which ultimately became God’s tool for helping us to know how to be the
Body of Christ! All because Paul bloomed where he was planted!
How about you? Let me tell you this: I believe with all my heart
that Christ Jesus has you right where He wants you to be. Right where you
are, people are hungry! Right where you are, people are searching! Right where
you are, people are ready! Right where you are, people are perishing! What
are you going to do about it?
Will you be like Peter and give witness to the life change Jesus brings? Will
you be like Phillip who was so responsive to the Holy Spirit that he went
and spoke with this Ethiopian eunuch? Will you be like Paul and Silas, and
determine that no matter what you’re up against when you do your work,
people will know you are a believer in Christ Jesus? So that even when troubles
come—and troubles always come--they’ll be able to ask you how they
can be saved?
Because of Pentecost, the Book of Acts is a book of action! In the next thirty years, what would you like to see? I want to see my world turned upside down! How about you? Are you with me? Then let’s do it!
