November 18 - Acts 11:19-30

Some of you who are on social media have been a bit concerned lately. Asking us if we're moving house. Because you might have spotted a few things coming up in buy swap and sell.

The reality is; I'm not sure if you'll take this as good news or not. That we're not moving on. We're just decluttering.

The painter is coming through in the next couple of weeks. And so Lou's taking it as an opportunity to strip things back to the bare minimum.

And so my boots for example, which have decorated the corner of the TV room for the last four or five years. Have got to go.

Along with the ice cream attachment for the kitchen aid that we've only used once. Talk to me for a good deal after church.

Decluttering. It's actually refreshing. Good for the soul. To think through what's really needed. And what's not. What's essential. And what's just in the way.

Not so much in terms of the pot plant stand or the old hymn books in the box out the back; but in terms of what we do and why?

Because you know, like any sort of clutter, it can just build up. So much stuff.

Which in a way was at the first real non Jewish church. In the city of Antioch. third biggest city in the Roman empire. Half a million people, about three hundred kilometres north east of Jerusalem. A place with the significant first that you might have noticed in our passage that...

Antioch in Syria is the place where world Christianity got started. And this first Christian church; it's got a vibrancy and a simplicity and a sense of strategy and vision that's worth noticing.

And as we've worked to refine our own vision and declutter, we're boiling down to four key words. That we think should define our focus.

INVITE

Here's the seed a church starts from. Christians. Inviting other people to follow Jesus with them.

It's that simple. And so we want to be a church that's inviting others to follow Jesus with us.

A church looking outwards at our friends, our neighbours, our family members, our workmates, and saying "we want to invite you to follow Jesus with us." And it's great!

If you're here for the first time this morning, that's what we're saying to you. We're here. To invite you to follow Jesus.

We're persuaded that following Jesus is a team sport that we're meant to do together. And so if this is your first time today let me say it very clearly, we want to invite you to follow Jesus with us.

Which is the invitation that ignites the church in Antioch. Christians in Jerusalem, they've been run out of town by persecution. Stephen. A key leader. Has been stoned to death. The crowds are out for blood.

But everywhere they go, these refugee Christians are sharing the invitation to follow Jesus. They can't stop talking about him. First of all to other Jews, in verse 19. But then radically. In Antioch. It's where it starts to snowball. And they start speaking to Greeks also. Telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. Because this is an invitation for everyone.

You can follow the words on the screen. Or in your bible, it's Acts 11 from verse 19.

And before long, Barnabas comes up from Jerusalem to help pastor them. And a great number of people are brought to the Lord. Verse 24. Because they can't stop. inviting people to follow Jesus with them.

Invite other people to follow Jesus. Invite other people to follow Jesus with us.

We want to be a church that you love inviting others into. That you're invested in inviting others into. With the prayer that God adds to our number.

There are all sorts of ways we're already working together to do that. Invitation events. Like Food for Thought Dinner. Summer Sweets and Stories last week. And we need the teams that make those events happen to understand exactly why we're doing it. Because we want to invite people to follow Jesus with us.

We want to rebuild and refresh our welcome teams. More people active on a Sunday looking for new faces. So when people turn up, they actually get to experience the fact that we're inviting them to follow Jesus with us. And not just ignoring them.

And the thing we're really excited about for the year ahead is we're developing the Startup course. To take people into the next steps.

We're excited to be able to tell you about a new initiative, that's been in the melting pot for some time, and which we aim to launch next year. It's called... Startup.

And it's all about... inviting people to follow Jesus... with us... here at MPC.

In a nutshell, Startup is a 3 week course introducing newcomers to MPC. And it does that by telling them... more about Jesus, more about church... and more about themselves!

Why run Startup? Because we'd love newcomers... to become old-timers. Whether they've been Christians for years or are just checking out Jesus, we want newcomers to feel loved, valued and informed.

We want people who visit MPC to: One. Experience a warm welcome on Sunday... Two. In the week following to receive a friendly email or call... Three. To meet new friends at a newcomers lunch... Four. To attend... Startup.

GROW

In maturity.
growing... more like Jesus... together.

And if they're going to grow in maturity,
Barnabas needs help in teaching them.

Brings him back to Antioch.
And look what they do.
Verse 26.

Acts 11:25, "... for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught... great numbers of people."

Because it's the word that brings people in.
And it's the same word that builds people up, grows 'em.

I was chatting to a friend last Sunday about the fact that God's ways are not our ways.

We always want life to be easy, comfortable, carefree.
Yet God often takes us through hard problems and difficult pain.
'cos it's in our pain that He works His good purpose, He grows us.

To southern Turkey. Lystra. Iconium. Pisidia.
Verse 22.
strengthening the disciples.

Encouraging them to remain true to the faith.
Look what they're saying.

Acts 12:21-22 "... we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God... "

We grow. Through the word.
We meet around it, we teach it, we learn from it,

Bringing our kids to KidsChurch.
And in midweek Growth Groups.
And meeting up in our families

Or one-to-one with a friend or workplace colleague
To read and hear God's Word,
So we grow.

And others grow.
big. strong. healthy.
mature.

here's a tiny slice of a video from the Women's Summer Sweets and Stories night,
where Tracey talks about how it's been for her.

Today we're getting our first look at the four big words. Invite. Grow. Love. Send. But once school goes back next year, our first major teaching series will be a week each on these four big words. For each word we'll see how it was central in the purpose and teaching of Jesus himself, and also in the later New Testament. Doing it over four weeks will give us a chance to reflect more deeply together as a church on what it could look like in practice if we focus on these four things more consciously.

With that foundation in place, the other four major series of 2019 will be shaped around, you guessed it, the four big words.

Next we'll have a series that's especially good to invite people to: nine of the best things Jesus ever said. We'll be picking out from all four gospels some of Jesus' best, most inviting one-liners. Like "I didn't come to call the righteous", "I didn't come to be served but to serve," "Come to me and I'll give you rest," "Don't worry about anything," "Don't judge others". Teachings of Jesus that actually make a fantastic introduction to who he is, what he's done and what he offers. At MPC we work hard to make every Sunday one you could invite a friend to. It's just these Sundays series will be especially good for inviting. The series will go all the way up to and include Easter.

Then we've got grow where you're planted, on Paul's letter to the Colossians. Now, often at MPC we try to get through large parts of the Bible at a time. It's all God's word and we want to hear all of it. Sometimes though it's good to slow things right down. And in this series we'll be looking at 4 chapters over 8 weeks. Taking the time to go in depth. On what Christian growth actually is, why it's so necessary, how it actually happens, what works in practice and what doesn't.

Then in the second half of the year we've got the spirit of love where we'll trace the centrality of love throughout the whole Bible. We'll see why love is so important to God's plans for whole world. And we'll have a chance to think really practically about what it could look like to love those around like Jesus has loved us. And how we can actually do that.

Finally, we'll focus on Paul's second letter to Timothy in sent by Jesus. We'll see why it's so important to be training up people to serve Jesus. How they should be trained. And why, painful as it can be, it's actually essential to send them out to serve Jesus elsewhere. It may even be a chance, scary as it might be, to consider whether you are someone who should be trained and sent out yourself.

It's a big teaching program. I'm looking forward to it. But I know it won't really change us as it should unless God himself is in it. So let's pray for that now.

We thank you for your word the Bible. Thanks that it's all focused on the good news about Jesus. Thanks that the same good news we can invite people to hear is the same good news which grows us. So we pray for all ways which we'll share your word together in 2019. In growth groups, in sermons, in our singing together, in our conversations with each other. Father, please don't let your word not fall flat. Please apply it our minds and hearts by the power of your Spirit, so that it really grows us. Both for our good and for your glory. In Jesus' name we ask this, Amen.

LOVE

Now it's no secret, Jesus said to his disciples that he was giving them a new commandment. If you went to a Christian Youth Group anywhere in the world in the 1970s and 80s I reckon you would have sung it. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. Which back then in the 70s particularly was right on with the hippy kind of vibe.

But the point of it is, when it comes to the kind of love Jesus was talking about in John chapter 13, it's not just a feeling. It's right at the point where Jesus has just got down on his knees. And washed his disciples feet as if he was the lowest of servants.

Sacrificial. Serving. It's about counting others. As worth more than yourself. About real care.

And you notice, this church full of Cypriots and Greeks and Antioch-ans. Not only are they suddenly welded by Jesus into a multicultural family; but their first project together is astonishingly practical. The Holy Spirit, in a very practical way inspires Agabus with a long range weather report. Through the Spirit, verse 28, he tells them there's a famine coming. That's going to sweep across the entire Roman world, but particularly, it seems, Judea. Jerusalem. Where the message of the gospel has come from. Central Office. Where Barnabas has come from to help them.

And so the disciples, these brand new Christians; as each one was able. You can see it in verse 29... to the best of their ability... each of them decides to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. And they start up a collection; and then send it down to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Saul.

Because no matter how far they're spread, no matter where they've come from, no matter that they've never actually met them. These are their brothers and sisters. And they love one another. And that love. Gets organised... into generous action.

Love. Expressed as community. Expressed as family. Expressed as generosity. Expressed as service.

That's what church is meant to look like. As we learn what it means to love like Jesus.

Loving like Jesus is the reason that every year we run our Christmas appeal. A focus on helping in a real way. Somewhere else. Doing exactly what the church in Antioch did. For the same reason.

Last year's healthy bones appeal had an astonishing impact in Goma; where the Heal Africa Hospital has been able to X-ray and treat dozens of kids with fractures; who otherwise couldn't have afforded it.

And moving our focus a little further north. To "The A1 Institute for Congolese Dentists" in Aru on the far north eastern tip. Where Graham and Wendy Toulmin, who some of you know, have been spending their retirement training dentists. In a place where people are desperately poor. Here's a video...

You can read about it later in the flyer. And as usual, we'll be ramping up the appeal towards Christmas with the goal of raising $12,000. Which will go 100% to the target of supporting student fees and clinic start-ups. Under Graham and Wendy's oversight.

Look, projects like that grow out of a loving community here at home base. And as large church that's always a challenge. Because there are always going to be sadnesses and struggles that go un-noticed. And people who are disappointed. That happened in the first church as well. And yet at the same time I keep hearing stories of love in action around our church family, and hearing from people who have been helped and encouraged that make my heart sing.

For 2018, the Board of Elders has asked Louise Campbell who is very near and dear to me to take on a new role. unpaid. As our care co-ordinator. And we're going to find out a bit more about that now.

Care co-ordinator. What's it mean?
How will it work?
How do you want people to step up?

SEND

One more key word and we're done with our declutter. And that's the word send.

Which is one of the most striking things about the church in Antioch, and the role it plays in the next seven chapters of the book of Acts and the history of the early church. Because Antioch goes into mission mode. And sends Saul and Barnabas on the first ever international mission trip. To Cyprus. And then up to southern Turkey.

Here's a church that's committed to sending out and supporting their best guys to invite people to follow Jesus and to start churches. Where ever they can.

Notice this. Acts 13 from verse 2... "The Holy Spirit says to them, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them.' 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off."

And from that point on, Antioch becomes home base as they come and go, reporting on progress, heading off again to check on progress; nurturing. Gospel growth.

Now friends, God is a sending God. Mission. Right from the start. Has been at the heart of the church. Sending. And supporting.

Which is something that here at MPC we've been committed to for years. And are committing to for the future as well.

We've sent off the seeds of a whole new church to Eatons Hill. They're called Christ Central Presbyterian Church.

A great team lead by Garnet Swann. Growing and thriving as a church. In all kinds of exciting ways.

We sent off the seeds of Village Church Kelvin Grove. Out of Latechurch. Multicultural ministry, uni based ministries; right on the edge of the city.

I just want to flag at this point that our send goal; it's a long term commitment to more planting in the future. And building a base to send off and support a new generation of leaders and pioneers to do what we've done at Village and do what we've done at Eatons Hill all over again. Watch. This. Space. And every time you hear send, keep it in mind. Not in 2019. But not far beyond.

QTC Students. Like Luke Peterson. Ministry trainees. Through the MTN Program. Like Micah Gibson, who's finishing his term with us at the end of the year.

In 2019, the Board of Elders is recommending the appointment of a new trainee. Who I'm glad to introduce to you now: Sarah Fry...

Part of our send goal is supporting overseas partners too. It's a key part of our budget. And in 2019 we're going to continue supporting Keith and Marion Birchley in their work with Uni Students in PNG. And a new partnership

But most fundamentally, I want to say we want to be a church that's sending each of you; into your neighbourhood; into your school; into your workplace. As a really well equipped ambassador of Jesus. Inviting the people where you are... to follow Jesus with you. Inviting. Growing. Loving. Sending. To invite. And grow. And love. And send.

This being Vision Sunday, you'll be expecting to hear a bit about our budget and our building project.

Can I say thanks. For your giving in 2018. Which has been really encouragingly almost exactly on target. We've taken Doug onto the team this year with a lot of associated moving costs. And we've met all those goals.

You've got a copy of the budget for approval next Sunday morning. And a summary from the Management Committee.

A quick word about our building. Which has been with council for Development Approval. They've come back with questions about noise in the neighbourhood and they're asking for a fence.

Which has this week been added to the drawings and going back to council this week.

And in a way it's encouraging because compared to some of the big stuff in the design, a fence is small stuff.

Now in all this, there's one thing to remember. Because there's always the danger of forgetting whose work it is that we're doing.

Later on Paul writes to the Corinthians, I planted the seed, Apollos watered the seed; but it's God who grows the seeds.

And you'll notice that's exactly the same here. In everything the Antioch church is doing, in everything Saul and Barnabas are doing, squint your eyes a bit and look closer, and be reminded...

Chapter 11 verse 21. the Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. Verse 23. Barnabas arrives in Antioch and he sees what the grace of God has done.

Chapter 13 verse 1, it's the Holy Spirit who moves them and sends Saul and Barnabas on their mission. Preaching the good news of Jesus. Inviting people. To follow Jesus with them.

And when they come home to Antioch in chapter 14 verse 27, they report on all that God has done through them as he opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. The Father. And the Son. And the Spirit. All at work. Which is why all the way through the account you see that they're at prayer. Committing one another to the grace of God; for the work he's given them. Praising him and not themselves for the results. While they get on with the business of inviting and growing and loving and sending.

There you go. Decluttered church. Doing what a church should do. And praying God will do what God will do.

I want to finish with a couple of significant thank yous. We'll be shaping some key ministries around what we've spelled out this morning. And there'll be lots of scope to step up and be involved.

But at this point I want to recognise a few key ministries with us that are winding up.

Thanks to Bruce. Who's stepping down as music co-ordinator at the end of the year after 19 years in the role. Co-ordinating teams; and rehearsals. Organising music arrangements. And slides. Making it all happen. Choosing songs. Going to be missed immensely.

Thanks to Simone Gately and Louise Fairhurst. Both stepping down from their kids' ministry roles at the end of this year. What a fantastic job they've done with our kids.

Thanks to Louise Campbell who's stepping down from the leadership of our Women on Wednesday ministry after 20 years. Making a profound difference to the life of a generation of MPC women. Into the new care co-ordination role.

2019 is going to be a year with lots more opportunities to serve. In a way that's decluttered. As together we get on with inviting and growing and loving and sending. In the pray that God uses our church like he used that first Christian church in Antioch... to grows more and more followers of Jesus.