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October 22/23, 2016
Jason Meyer | Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”—Acts 4:12
Introduction
Brief Overview of the “Fill These Cities 25 x ’25” Series
This is now the seventh sermon in the nine-week “Fill These Cities 25 x ’25” series. Let’s briefly summarize where we have been, where we are now, and where we are going in these last three weeks: Introduction, three weeks on the greatness of the Triune God, and five weeks on the call to pray, go, and give.
In the introductory sermon of the series, we said one of the aims of 25 x ’25 clearly targets unengaged people groups. We are asking the Lord of the Harvest to take 25 people groups off that list of having zero access to the gospel because people from our church were sent to engage them with the gospel.
For services this weekend, 568 different types of prayer cards were printed for your worship folders. The card you are holding is held by you and five other people in our church. Might God put it into your heart right now (along with five others) and light a fire to pray for these unengaged people groups.
Let’s feel this burden together for these people before we pray. More than 70,000 people die everyday in the unengaged and unreached world without the chance to even hear the name of Jesus and hear about his salvation (From The Coming Revolution: Because Status Quo Missions Won't Finish the Job, by Mark Baxter). Put that number into perspective. I live in Roseville. The population of Roseville recorded in 2016 was 33,660. More than twice the population of Roseville dies every day and dives headlong into the eternal agonies of hell, and they did not even have the chance to reject the salvation Jesus purchased—let alone receive it. They never knew the name of Jesus. They never knew what he did for them. Let’s plead with God that the people groups on these prayer cards we are holding up might go from the list of being unengaged all the way to being in the Lamb’s book of life, gathered around the throne with every tribe and tongue, singing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” [Pray]
What will guide this burden the Lord has given us? Is the burden biblical? Is this aim attainable?
The Global Focus 2016 Theme Verse: Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
This text has two key concepts: (1) the Need and (2) the Name. The need is salvation (you see it repeated twice). The simplest way to talk about salvation is to realize that it means the need to be saved from something (infinite wrath, everlasting agony and death) for something (infinite love, everlasting life, ever-increasing joy).
The name here is the name of Jesus (no one else, no other name). The main point is simple and straightforward: Salvation is found in Jesus alone. The need and the Name come together. The need is met only in the Name. Jesus is the only way to be saved (to have the experience of a doubly infinite, everlasting rescue).
That is the point of the passage. We could say a lot about it. But I want to bring together exposition and application immediately for the sake of a clear trumpet blast. What does the trumpet blast of this text mean in terms of a call to engage the unengaged peoples. Let’s take the need and the Name of this text and apply them in order to count the cost of this call from three angles: (1) count their cost, (2) count our cost, and (3) count His cost.
No surprises here. Here is what the end of the service will look like. So here is what we are going to do. I am going to call three groups forward: (1) current global partners (already sent), (2) those currently in the Nurture Program (preparing to be sent), and (3) those feeling a fresh stirring to pray about being sent. I am even going to ask about a stirring for some to engage the unengaged—we will do this carefully but clearly. As you listen, pray and obey.
Count the Cost From Three Angles
1. Their Cost (What It Means to Be Unengaged)
Consider the cost of being lost. Today there are an estimated 7.3 billion people in the world. If the population rate of growth stays the same, that number will soar to 9 billion people in 20 years. The problem is not merely mathematical—like saying there are lots of lost people. What hit me so hard last year was the realization that there are different levels of lostness: (1) lost people, (2) unreached peoples, and (3) unengaged peoples.
First, there are many lost people. They are lost and don’t know Christ, but they have the benefit of being surrounded by a strong gospel witness. There is a strong gospel witness because there are so many gospel-believing and proclaiming churches and Christians.
Second, there are unreached peoples. This is a different level of lostness. It is bad enough to be lost in a place with a gospel witness, but it is far worse to be lost in a place without any strong gospel witness. The Joshua Project distinguishes 16,562 people groups in the world. Of these 16,562 people groups, 6,847 people groups are still categorized as unreached with the gospel. The standard definition of “unreached” means that the people group consists of less than 2% evangelical Christians. The reason why so few are reached by the gospel is that there is a weak gospel witness because there are few gospel workers. See the need? More than 6,000 people groups representing 2.7 billion people have a very small chance to hear about Jesus because there is such a very small Christian witness.
Third, there is a level of lostness worse than “unreached.” This is the outer rim of lostness. It is worse to be both unreached and “unengaged.” What does it mean to be “unengaged?” We have used the definition from a ministry called Finishing the Task.
An unengaged people group is a group that has no full-time workers attempting to do evangelism and church planting.
Typically, unengaged people groups and unreached people groups are lumped together. They are inseparable, but they are also distinguishable. Every unengaged people group is by definition unreached, but unreached people groups can be engaged. Recall that a people group is unreached when the number of evangelical Christians is less than 2% of its population. It is further called “unengaged” when there is no church planting strategy consistent with evangelical faith and practice underway.
There are 1,221 unengaged people groups that Finishing the Task has identified. I heard from someone connected to Bethlehem doing missionary work in the Himilayas, where there are people that are not only unreached, unengaged, but totally unknown—that is, they are not even on the list.
Our passionate concern for Christ’s glory and their joy come together here. Christ should have first place everywhere in everything. Among these people Christ is unknown, un-translated, unheard of, unheralded un-adored! He doesn’t have first place—he has no place. The whole people group is headed for the worst place (no joy, no mercy, only weeping and everlasting misery). And there are no plans on the part of God’s people to do anything about it. We are not ok with these things! It is not ok that Coca-Cola and pornography are working harder than we are to reach them, only to profit from them through their products. They will reach them for a price. We want to reach them because our Savior already paid the price.
One cannot be saved without first knowing the Savior. Unengaged people groups are the most lost, the most out-of-reach of salvation, because they have the least access to knowing the name of Jesus. They have an equal need for salvation along with everyone else, but they do not have equal access to the salvation, the name of the Savior. They have zero chance to know the Name because they have zero access to the Name.
The tragedy intensifies at this point because the people who know the name, in fact the people that are called by his name (Christians), are not telling them. No even worse—they are not even targeting them so that they can eventually tell them. We can’t ignore 70,000 people dying every day without the chance to know the name of Jesus.
Put this tragedy into specific perspective in terms of missionary workers and ministry money. One would think (hope) that the most lost places on earth would be the largest targets for missionaries. But 90% of all foreign missionaries work among already-reached people groups (Winter and Koch, Perspectives, p. 543). The places that need workers most are receiving the fewest.
In terms of money given for ministry. American Christians spend 95% of offerings on home-based ministry, 4.5% on cross-cultural efforts in already-reached people groups, and .5% to reach the unreached (The Traveling Team). In other words, if you look at the distribution of foreign mission funding (that 5 percent referenced above) … 87% goes for work among those already Christian, 12% for work among already evangelized, but non-Christian, 1% for work among the unreached people (Baxter, p.12). The 38 most unreached places in the world receive the smallest amount of money [.1% of all Christian giving is directed toward bringing the name to those places, (Barrett and Johnson, p. 656)].
We have compassion for all lost people, especially those who are the most lost. Don’t those who have the least access to the gospel deserve more of our compassion and evangelistic efforts? There is certainly a greater cost involved in bringing the gospel to those who are the most out of its reach. It will cost more. What will it cost?
2. Our Cost (What It Will Mean to Engage Them)
What does it take for an unengaged people group to go from unengaged to engaged?
A people group in not engaged when it has been merely adopted, is the object of focused prayer, or is part of an advocacy strategy. Finishing the Task adopts the International Mission Board understanding of what it takes for a group to become engaged. At least four essential elements constitute effective engagement:
I would like to highlight a few of the challenges (“costs”) at this point. One of our global partners works with a sending agency in a sensitive area of the world. This agency has a long history of engaging unreached peoples in the country. They have set their sights on raising awareness for unengaged peoples. This agency took on the challenge, and 3 or 4 years ago they adopted four unengaged, unreached people groups. They worked hard to send teams to them. Long story short: They engaged them … for a while. Some of the unengaged groups they focused upon have gone back on the “unengaged” list because some of the workers burnt out in just a few years. The group grew too quickly and has since had to regroup to strengthen their field people more. They still have a passion for the unengaged, and they even hope to pick up another unengaged group in the next few years, but they have learned a lot through their experiences.
What were some of the challenges? They struggle (1) to know what to do for their kids’ education, (2) to learn another language, (3) to adjust to a completely different culture, (4) to avoid burnout, (5) to find an identity among the people that makes sense, (6) to have sufficient funding.
We are not naïve. Don’t you think we will face the same struggles? People we send will also struggle to keep a visa and entrance into the country. There is usually a reason why these people groups are unengaged. We must have (1) realistic expectations, (2) robust pastoral care for the people we send, and (3) sustainable strategies.
First, while it is a good thing to have people groups engaged for a few years, we aim higher: Our gospel ambition is to see them go from the unengaged list to an entirely different list—the Lamb’s book of life. Being added to the Lamb’s book of life will take long-term engagement on the part of those proclaiming the Name.
Second, sustained engagement will take a ton of pastoral support. We must continually seek to strengthen those we send so they can be sent and stay. They will face strong opponents, intense spiritual warfare. This raises questions about member care. The Nurture Program will have to do specific training, Barnabas teams may need to step up and be trained specifically in how to offer the best support possible. The consequences of caring for families might sensibly involve more counseling care, educational options, support in helping workers find ways to rest and recuperate, etc.
Third, the only sustainable strategy will be to form partnerships with indigenous workers. We must have dynamic partnerships as a dominant core value in our strategy. We must look to support indigenous workers in helpful ways (that also don’t hurt).
Put the cost into perspective. The problem looks big. In fact, it looks potentially paralyzing at first glance. Those peoples are too lost—too difficult to engage. But what have we learned in this series? We must re-size things in the light of God’s greatness. Things that look big to us are small to him.
Turns out we were wrong about how big the universe is. “There aren’t 200 billion galaxies in the universe. It’s more like 2 trillion. Yes, trillion. That’s the latest from NASA, which announced Thursday the number of galaxies in our observable universe is 10 times higher than previously projected.” 90 percent of the galaxies have not even been studied yet. They are developing bigger, badder telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/13/health/hubble-telescope-galaxies-trnd/index.html).
People stagger at these numbers. Billions of trillions? We are just talking about stuff we haven’t seen. God talks as one who has created, seen, sustained, and named: “Oh, that star—I call that one ‘Quasar’ and that one is ‘Kaiser.’”
We remember that he measures the waters in the hollow of his hand. 332.5 million cubic miles in which each cubic mile is equal to 1.1 trillion gallons! How much water is that? God says, “about this much of my hand.” The nations that look so big and difficult to reach are like a drop of water or a speck of dust or a piece of lint.
The Jesus who holds all things together (all the universe) can hold your life together if you go. Can 25 unengaged people groups be engaged in 10 years? “Lord, you know.” Ezekiel 37 reminded us that they are not too dead for the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Great Commission was not to make disciples of lots of people, but all the peoples (Matthew 28:19). You can go to these places and be an ambassador, not an idiot, because Jesus has all authority there and his presence will be with you there always. All history is heading there: Every tribe, every tongue, every people—around the throne worshiping the Lamb who was slain for them all (Revelation 5:9). The unengaged must be engaged if they are to be there around the throne.
3. His Cost (What It Took to Engage Us)
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.—Acts 4:12
Think of the theme of Jesus as Savior in Luke/Acts. No one under heaven could reach heaven so the Son of God came from heaven to earth to seek and to save that which was lost. Time and time again, Luke makes it clear that salvation was Jesus’ emphatic, explicit mission. Now watch in Luke’s Gospel as he goes to the cross to purchase the salvation he has proclaimed. It has all built up to this moment—the last 24 hours of his earthly life. He is on trial standing before a Roman judge appointed to this province, named Pontius Pilate. What a moment. What a sham trial! Here is Pilate giving the crowd a choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Do you see what is happening here? Jesus (Son of the living God) vs. Barabbas (the thug and rebel). Barabbas deserves the chains and the cross. He is on death row, and he should be. But the crowd chose Barabbas. “He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will” (Luke 23:25).
It was their will to leave a guilty thug unpunished and Jesus punished. Jesus? What has he done? Heal the lame, the leper, the blind, the demon-possessed, the woman with the flow of blood. They chose Barabbas. What?
Jesus stood there silent. What was he thinking? We already know because of what he said hours earlier that evening. “Father … not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). At this moment, that meant, “OK, Father. Let them have Barabbas. It is not just their will, but Your will.” Why? What is the plan?
Two criminals were crucified next to him (Luke 23:32). Jesus breaks his silence by praying “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (v. 33). The people stand by watching, but the rulers are scoffing at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” (v. 35). The soldiers mock him (v. 36). They tell him to save himself (v. 37). Such awful irony: He could save himself, but then no one else could possibly be saved. The fellow criminals are railing at him to save himself and them. Suddenly, there is a breakthrough moment, an eternal game changer for one person in the story. One guilty criminal rebuked the other by reminding him that they deserved to be condemned—receiving what their deeds deserved—but this man has done nothing wrong (v. 41). One of the three was not guilty.
Why is he being condemned on this cross if he doesn’t deserve it?! Maybe he is doing it for me—taking my condemnation so that I can hear the heavenly Judge say, “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” He is the King and he has an eternal kingdom that transcends even the grave. He just said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He believed Jesus was Lord (the King) of heaven. Jesus would be alive—returning to that kingdom after the grave.
How did Jesus respond to him? Did he say, “Weren’t you just mocking me?” Too bad, punk. You blew it. You lost your chance. You made your bed, now sleep in it forever. No way. He is so ready to receive and forgive and save.
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”—Luke 23:43
Do you see the plan and the price? In the Father’s plan, he would have to treat his beloved sinless Son, Jesus, like a guilty criminal in order to treat a guilty criminal like the beloved sinless Son, Jesus.
What the nations need is what everyone in this place needs right now. Some of you know it and have received it. Others have not. Most of the world thinks they need something like religion—man’s pursuit of God; what man needs to do to reach God.
No one under heaven can reach heaven. You are guilty—a slave to sin. You can’t save yourself. You can’t set yourself free. I am going to shake myself free. No you won’t. You are no match for the powers of hell and the urges of sin and the flesh. The world thinks the problem is outside of us and the solution is inside of us. That is so wrong. You will never overcome. You will never win. You can’t. There is no solution in you that can overcome the problem in you. Your own goodness, your own discipline, and your own devotion will never be enough.
The problem is inside you and so the solution has to come from outside of you. It did. He has a name. There is only One that came from heaven to save you and bring you to heaven. There is only one. He is the one who took your place. The one who said, “Yes, Father. Let the guilty go free. Let me be punished on the tree so that all the guilty can go free forever. I have counted the cost and I choose the cost. Freely—no one takes my life from me. Take it. I’ll pay for him. I’ll pay for her. I’ll pay for them.
The greatest challenge out there is the same challenge in here right now: believing the gospel. Could it be that there is a God with a love so scandalous, so deep, so high, so welcoming, so all-inclusive, so all-powerful, so all-sufficient, so unstoppable, and unfathomable. A sinless Savior that says, “Give me your sins. I will walk to that whipping post you deserve. I will hang on that cross you deserve to be nailed to. I will die so you may live. I will pay the price. Do you hear the love? Hear me, “I chose the nails. I chose the spear. I chose the manifold disgrace ... for you … for your freedom, for your life, for your eternal joy. I endured the cross for the joy set before me of you becoming part of the heavenly family. What I have done is enough. It is finished. Believe it. Receive it.
Awareness of guilt is the great game changer. I sometimes hear people who are offended that Christians would say there is only one way to be saved. I guarantee you that if someone is trapped on an oil rig out in the middle of the ocean that is going to blow sky high and a rescue helicopter comes, no one has ever or will ever say: “O how narrow of you—one rescue option. Only a helicopter? I can’t believe I can’t choose between a helicopter and an aircraft carrier. How intolerably narrow.” You are not complaining about there being one way. You are just thankful there is a way. How much more so when you know you are guilty and don’t deserve to be rescued. You run to the rescue: The only substitute who came from heaven to take my guilty place.
Conclusion
So what is missing? Salvation was accomplished by the Son and can be applied to specific people by the Spirit. God makes the impossible possible. What is missing? Not the accomplishment of salvation, just the announcement of salvation. The thing that is possible and indispensable is what we can do and are called to do. Salvation just needs to be announced in Jesus’ name.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”—Romans 10:13–15
Sent. That is the prerequisite. Are any of you sent? Sent to preach the good news of salvation in Jesus’ name. So here is what we are going to do. I am going to call three groups forward: (1) current global partners (already sent), (2) those currently in the Nurture Program (preparing to be sent), and (3) those feeling a fresh stirring to pray about being sent.
Now of those three groups … I want to ask this question so carefully and yet specifically. We do not believe that some global partners are First Class and some are Second Class. We wouldn’t say emergency room workers are more important than family doctors, for example. But we are asking a question and we are asking it with trembling knowing that it will take more care and the difficulty may be greater, even a greater risk to your life. Are there any here who are feeling a fresh stirring to pray about being one of those who will go out to engage the unengaged? We will pray for everyone together and we will all count the cost together—to be sent in a manner worthy of the Name.
Sermon Discussion Questions
Main Point: Salvation is found in Jesus alone.
The outline of the message is an application of that main point to the problem of unengaged peoples. We will count the cost of the unengaged from three angles: (1) count their cost, (2) count our cost, and (3) count his cost.
Outline
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a blood-bought grace to count the cost and advance the mission of engaging 25 unengaged people groups.