Turning the World Upside-Down (sermon)

Acts 17.1-6 After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you." 4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason's house. 6 When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, "These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also.

What is your church known for? I know from experience that some churches are known for their chicken BBQ’s and turkey dinners, others are known for their pretty church building. And I wondered, as we were unpacking last week, what answers I would get if I just took a general survey around town--what is the church known for? And this leads to a second question -- what do we want to be known for? Is this a church that turns the world upside down? . . .Has the radical, life-changing message of Christ come here too?

I heard about a big city newpaper that ran a column where people wrote in to ask questions. One reader asked “If all the people in china jumped off a chair at the same time, would it move the world off its axis? Well, the writer did some “mathematical gymnastics”. He calculated the weight of an average chinaman, the height of an average chair, the force of that weight dropping that distance, multiplied it by the population of China, and found that the agrigal thump would be equivalent to several thousand tons of TNT, but it would not be a sufficient force to move the earth even a fraction of an inch off its axis. Yet in today’s passage, a hand full of people armed with the message of Jesus Christ did what a billion chinamen couldn’t and turned the world upside down. And I would ask this morning, has their message come here too?

First, has that message come to you personally. I’ve learned years ago not to assume, and so I’ll ask. If you’re here today and have never asked Jesus Christ to be your personal Lord and savior, then you’ll have the opportunity to ask him to come into your life today, to take that first step and to experience His radical transforming power for yourself. You see, we’ve all missed the mark, we’ve been guilty of sin, and the sentence is death. But if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Master, he will commute our sentence. He not only saves us, but he adopts us into the family! But we have to make a conscious decision to accept him. If you believe in your heart that Christ died for you and confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord, you shall be saved.

A youth pastor shared the story of a girl in his youth group, and for the sake of anonymity I’m going to call her Mindy. Their youth group took a trip to Colorado to work at a church camp for a week, and in exchange, the camp donated the equipment for them to go backpacking the next week. And they always tried to make two or three extra places available so they could invite someone from outside the group to come along. Well, Mindy was one of those invited, and she decided to go along.

Now you have to understand, Mindy was a “pretty girl”. She was a cheerleader, she wore all the right clothes, had the right friends, dated the right guys. . .and for a week she was going to rough it. There were many humorous stories that I could share: Mindy found out that raccoons like makeup almost as much as she did and that curling irons don’t work with out electricity. . .but during one of the evening devotions, Mindy’s eyes were opened to the message of Jesus and she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. And there was a marked change in Mindy the rest of the week. One the last night of the trip, pastor Dave was sitting by his tent and Mindy plopped down next to him. And she asked him a question that floored him.

“Pastor Dave, since Jesus gave himself for me, what can I do for Jesus?”

That brings me to the second question: What will you do with this radical message of hope? What can we do for our master and savior?

Pastor Dave’s response was so radical that it shocked Mindy. “School is starting next week. Go back to school next week and find the most homely, the most lonely, the most rejected girl and be a friend to her. Have lunch with her, hang out with her, love on her.”

Mindy thought about that for a minute, then sheepishly asked, “Is there something else I could do for Jesus?

Dave’s answer may sound radical at first, but you see, Christ commanded us to be his witnesses not only in Jerusalme and Judea (places where we are comfortable), but also to Sameria, to those people who our society rejects. You might not be in school, but you still have your Sameria, and Jesus calls us to go there, to that one who is broken, who is hurting, who feels like they are worthless, and he wants us to use his love to restore their sense of worth, to encourage them. And as the door opens, to share the life changing gospel message with them.

What ever happened to Mindy? Well, as Paul Harvey always says, here’s the rest of the story. Mindy accepted the challenge that pastor Dave had placed before her. She found that girl, and she made friends with her. She lost some friends because of it, but when she invited that girl to church, the girl found the same loving Savior that Mindy had found in the mountains of Colorado. And that girl went back to her school, and along with Mindy, she began to reach out to those who were lonely, rejected, and hurting. In two short years, something amazing happened. Mindy and her friends began to turn their school and church upside down. You see the message had come there too.

As we close, I have to ask you. Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not, I’d like to extend the invitation to ask him into your heart today. If that is you, pray with me right now. “Jesus, I have sinned. I need you to come and take my sins away. Make me clean. Come live in my heart as my Lord and Savior. Amen.”

If you know Jesus as your savior and Lord, I want to ask you: What can you do for Jesus? Who is he calling you to love? Will you turn your world upside down? Has the love of Jesus come here too?