" Paul's Commission, and Ours"

Sermon by Pastor David Layman

9 in series of 10

August 19, 2007

Acts 1:1-8

I Corinthians 9:19-23

Before the risen Christ ascended into heaven, Jesus commissioned his disciples, saying "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) We remember in the second message in our series on the Bible that God called Abraham and announced his plan that thru Abraham and his offspring, eventually all the peoples of the earth would be blessed. The Jews pictured this taking place when the peoples of the world would come to Jerusalem offering their tribute and praise. VIP's and powerful nations are accustomed to having others come to them, not the other way around. I had the opportunity to visit Persepolis, one of the capitals of the ancient Persian kingdom. Persepolis is in modern day Iran; I was there a few years before the Shah of Iran fell from power. But in this desert area, there are still magnificent carvings among the ruins of ancient peoples coming to bring their tribute to the king of Persia. The prophet Isaiah has the vision in 45:14 of "The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia...shall come over to you and be yours...they shall come over in chains and bow down to you."

That was the dream of many Israelites. For hundreds of years, ancient Israel was a second or third tier nation, who always wound up having to send their tribute to Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, or Rome. How they longed to see the roles reversed! Jesus came into the world as the Word of God made flesh, died for our sins, rose triumphant from the grave. The disciples eagerly asked "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" But instead of saying "Yes, now you guys get to be the king of the mountain, and all the nations of the world will come bringing their tribute to you," Jesus reversed their vision and sent the disciples out into the world: First to Jerusalem, which was the spiritual capital of the Jewish people. Then to Judea, the surrounding area, to Samaria, what had become a "semi Jewish" area, and then "to the ends of the earth". The Book of Acts, which relates the history of the early Christian Church, includes in its first 7 chapters Christian beginnings in Jerusalem, then chapters 8-12 include Judea and Samaria, and chapters 13-28 of Acts begin to tell the story of Christian outreach "to the ends of the earth."

Can a church which sits on its corner and ministers only to those who come to it, claim to be faithful to Christ's command? The 12 disciples of Jesus became "apostles" when Jesus sent them out into the world. The Greek word for apostle comes from "apo-stello", to be sent away from. The risen Christ sent his followers out into the world to make disciples. Perhaps no one in the early church did a better job of this than the Apostle Paul. Paul was ideally suited for this calling. He was a devout Jew. And he was also a Roman citizen who came from Tarsus, a significant city outside of the Holy Land, in what is now Turkey. God commissioned Paul to reach out to the Gentiles, those who weren't Jews.

Paul had an interesting strategy to proclaim Christ to everyone he could. We read in I Corinthians 9:19 "For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews...To those outside the law I became as one outside the law....so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some." Paul sought to find ways to identify with those he tried to reach with the Good News. Paul didn't say "Those folks are different from me; I don't want anything to do with them." He said "I want to find a way to connect with them and share the good news of Jesus with them." Jesus didn't commission his disciples to stay in a building on a certain street corner and play it safe, waiting for the world to come to them. Jesus told them to go out into all the world and make disciples.

Ashton and Norma Veramallay, who've been members here for 30 years, are products of those who went out into the world to make disciples of all nations. I'd like Ashton to share a bit with you now about how he and Norma came to be Presbyterians, and their home churches.

Ashton Veramallay:

As background information, Guyana, located on the northeastern coast of South America, was once colonized by the Dutch, French, and British. European settlement began in 1615 with the gradual establishment of cotton and sugar plantations.

>From 1781 onwards, the British played a larger role and gained possession of Guyana in 1814.

In 1834, slavery was abolished. The British then brought indentured laborers from India to work on the plantations, in place of West African slaves who had left. Immigrants were also encouraged to come from Europe, China, and India.

In 1838, the first batch of indentured laborers arrived in Guyana. Of the 414 East Indians, only 3 were Christians. Those three tried unsuccessfully to influence their colleagues to convert. But, the tide of immigration continued to flow. Our great grandparents were part of it.

The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in 1852 made the first concerted attempt to preach Christian ideas to the Indians. It was then followed by the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. All three churches had little success with the Indians because of their pride of country (India).

Presbyterians came to the rescue. The Canadian Presbyterian Church entered the scene in 1860 by establishing the Canadian East Indian Mission in Guyana. It appointed a number of East Indian catechists, that is, instructors, to work among the Indians on the plantations.

The Rev. James B. Cropper, one of the chief missionaries, was both a visionary and a pioneer. He concentrated on providing educational opportunities for the Indian population. He felt that if the Christian churches set up schools to educate the Indians, they would better appreciate Christian teachings and values, and would willingly convert from Hinduism and Islam. Our grand parents and parents bore testimony to that outcome.

So, Canadian and Scot Presbyterians established primary schools. Other denominations followed suit. I attended the Canadian Presbyterian School in my hometown; Norma attended the Scots'. We also worshipped in our respective churches. We were later married in a Church of Scotland. A few months after that, we came to the United States to further our education. And now, we are here in Richmond, Indiana. Blessed be the tie that binds.

We recently visited our hometown churches. They are persevering with the Lord's work in spite of declining membership as a result of migration and competition, especially from Pentecostal and Mormon churches.

Also, the parish system, having one pastor to serve 6 to10 churches in an ecclesiastical unit of area, means that the elders and members have to play an active role.

Today, Guyana has a population of less than 1 million people, of which 57% is Christian, 33% Hindu, and 9% Muslim."

Pastor David Layman:

Christianity is, indeed, world-transforming. The witness continues. But, obviously our task of spreading the Good News is far from over.

While I was at the New Wilmington Mission Conference, I heard Veeda Javaid,

head of the Presbyterian Board of Education in Pakistan. Presbyterians began

mission work in what is now Pakistan around 1850. Over the years, many excellent

schools and hospitals have been founded as a way to share the love of Christ.

Hindus and Muslims and Buddhists might initially say they have no desire

to become Christian, but many of them do want a modern education. The schools

Christian missions have founded and sustained may become one way of "becoming

all things to all people" in order to win some to Christ! These institutions

have been open to all people: Muslims and Hindus and Christians, and many

have freely come to the gospel through these schools and hospitals. Veeda's

mother was one of many poor and hungry persons who was fed and educated by

Presbyterian missionaries.

But in 1972, the government of Pakistan nationalized these Presbyterian schools, thus cutting off one of our most vital forms of outreach. In 1998, the government of Pakistan announced it would begin to return some of these schools to the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan. Unfortunately, many of the schools had become very run down and poorly managed under government control. Veeda told us how there was to be a ceremony where one of the Presbyterian boarding schools was to be returned to control of the Presbyterian Church. She was present for the ceremony. But some radical Islamists were organizing Muslims in the area to march on the school and forcefully prevent its turnover. Men had clubs, people were angry, and it was a frightful scene. Pakistani Christians have had their churches attacked and members killed in recent years. But when the protesters arrived, something amazing took place. Muslims who lived nearby spoke up. One said "My mother is a Muslim, she was educated in this place, and was treated kindly by the Christians." Another spoke up and said "My aunt is a Muslim, and she was educated here, and was always treated right, " and so forth. The witness of Pakistani Muslims who knew people that had been blessed by this Christian boarding school turned the tide, and the mob disintegrated! Pakistani President Musharraf is a moderate Muslim who, by the way, was educated at a Presbyterian college in Pakistan--perhaps one of the reasons he hasn't become part of the fundamentalist Muslim tide in Pakistan. As a nation, we have sent billions of dollars and many of our sons and daughters to this part of the world to fight a war. I would venture that if we sent 1/10 the number of missionary teachers and physicians as we've sent soldiers to the Middle East, we could safely bring home 9/10 of our soldiers! Shouldn't as Christians we be continuing the mission of sharing about the Prince of Peace not only to Pakistan, but throughout the world?

Paul wrote of how he had become "all things to all people, that I might by all means save some." Paul never denied Christ, and indeed, suffered a martyr's death. But what Paul is saying is that he tried to do whatever he legitimately could to reach out and meet people where they were, with the good news of Christ. That is our calling today. We can't stay burrowed in our beautiful sanctuaries and wait for the world to come to us. We must go out into the world with the good news of Christ!

That's why we've supported some of our young people in Campus Crusade work, and Young Life here in Richmond. That's why we've been involved in Habitat for Humanity and Hope House. That's why we've begun Christ's Ambassadors. That's why we support mission work at home and abroad.

The Good News of the Gospel is not only "Come and see", but "Go and tell!"

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