Acts 11:27-30

Introduction

What is the question that the world is asking about the church? Believe it or not, the main question is not about which church is the true church. People are not lying awake at night wondering of the Anglicans or the Pentecostals or the Baptists have a corner on the truth. That is not to say that truth is not important, but people have a different question about the church.

The question that people are asking is: Does the church have any relevance for today? What is the point having the church? Is it nostalgia for simpler times? Is it to have caretakers for beautiful old buildings? Or is there some relevance for today?

Some Christians get nervous when we speak about relevance. It suggests an adaption that is at best, unnecessary and at worst, dangerous. The church is not supposed to be relevant, the church is supposed to be preaching the unchanging gospel. I will say that even our most traditional view of presenting the gospel was at one point an adaptation to changing circumstances.

But that brings up the question: Is the role of the church simply to proclaim the message of spiritual salvation? Is everything else a distraction? Many people think so.

The problem is that even Jesus spoke on more than just how to get to heaven. Much of what Jesus taught was extremely practical and had much to do with how to be better people right here on earth. And the early church in Acts also saw their role as more than just changing people’s destination on their flight to eternity. That is what we are going to look at today.

One of the phrases that irritates me is “So heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.” I believe that what the Bible actually teaches is that we are “So heavenly minded that we are earthly good.” That’s what we are going to take a look at.

Meeting the Need Then

Last time, we saw how revival broke out in Antioch. The apostles in Jerusalem sent Barnabas and Barnabas sent for Saul. Some amazing things happened. This was causing such a commotion that more people from Jerusalem to see what was happening. This included a prophet named Agabus. You would expect him to prophesy something specifically about the Antioch church. And he did, just not the way we might think. Agabus prophesied that a great famine was coming. But this famine was not centred in Antioch, in fact it is suggested that the greatest need would be in Judea, the area surrounding Jerusalem. What did this have to do with Antioch?

The response to this prophecy is that the disciples in Antioch began to collect money for the believers who were living in Judea. There are some important things to notice here. There was no compulsion about how much each person should give. It was based on their ability to give. If a family did not have much money, they did not have much money. It was all based on their means. Another thing of note is who would receive the money. It was the believers in Judea, including Jerusalem. These were the people who struggled most with the non-Jews directly following Jesus. They were giving money to those who were at least semi-hostile to how they were doing things. Finally, this says something about the general principle of giving in the New Testament. Almost every description of money being collected by churches was to go directly to the poor. There were no church buildings and no pastoral staff to pay for and so the budget had one line item: the poor. That is not to say it is wrong for us to use money in other areas, but it is something to think about.

I want you to see is that two things were happening here. There was a spiritual initiative and a physical response. Agabus prophesied that a famine was coming. The church responded to this by collecting money to care for the victims of the famine that were in Judea. Here we see a church that was relevant to the circumstances but they did by listening to what the Spirit was saying through the prophet.

Meeting the Need Now

I remembering watching a documentary about some of the things churches were doing in Central America. Some churches were actively reaching out to the poor, attempting to relieve their physical suffering. But there was one pastor who was quite critical of that. He saw the church’s role as simply communicating the gospel of salvation. He explained that the church needed to get people saved and once saved, God was free to provide for their physical needs if God wished. I knew that response was wrong, even though I did not know the Bible enough to explain it.

It is true that the church has been entrusted with the message of the gospel. We point people toward Jesus. No debate. But it was never supposed to be an either/or situation when it came to spiritual and physical needs.

We have watched different things happen in Acts as people listened to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes they were guided to explain the gospel to some stranger and sometimes it was to collect money for victims of a famine. The point was to respond to the need that we encounter as the Spirit guides us.

Sadly in the early 20th century, there was a split within the church in North America. The split was between the preaching of a spiritual gospel of salvation and the living out of a social gospel of charity. You had to choose one or the other and there was no room for compromise.

When I look at this chapter of the church I shake my head, even though I have been a member of churches on both sides of the debate. The Bible teaches that church is being the church when it does both.

What does that look like for us today? It is interesting that the passage we are looking at is in the context of a widespread disaster, in that case a famine. Here we find ourselves on the tail end of a worldwide pandemic. Does the church have anything to offer to a post-pandemic world?

I believe that we do and that this is the time that we prove our relevance to the world. Once the vaccines have all been given and the masks put away, there will still be great needs. We are seeing a mental health crisis in our world. We are seeing a rise in addictions and broken relationships. Homelessness is rampant. We can’t solve all of these issues but we can begin to partner with organizations that are doing something, joining with them as they make a difference.

On the day I wrote this sermon, I bumped to a person that I knew from our Saturday night services. He began to tell me that this building saved his life. Obviously the building didn’t do it but the life-saving experiences took place in this building. Between the Saturday outreach we offered and Alcoholics Anonymous, which meets in our building, this building represents hope for a desperate situation. He was deeply thankful for this church.

The nuts and bolts of how we make this happen is the same old thing I always preach: time, talent and treasure. By volunteering and by supporting this church financially, you help the church to be the church.

Conclusion

We are beginning to emerge from a long and draining pandemic. Many of us are saying that we are looking forward to getting back to normal. While I understand the sentiment behind that, it would be better for us to long for the church to be the church. I call this series “Being an Acts Church” not because we should duplicate their methods but because we should be inspired by their example.

The early church became aware of a famine that was going to be difficult for many people. The response was to collect money to send to the needy, including the needy that they had a strained relationship with. We as a church are very aware of the needs that have resulted from this pandemic. This is our time. This is the time for the church to be the church. We are a small church. But we have people and we have a budget and we have a building and more than that, we have a great big God. As we seek God’s guidance for where to put our efforts, let’s prepare our time, talents and treasure for the mission ahead of us.