Sunday Message
10/11/26

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EXTRAORDINARY CHURCH - Acts 15

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     Every single stage of my life has revolved around church. As an elementary student, junior high, high school, college, young adult, and right up to today, MY LIFE HAS REVOLVED AROUND THE CHURCH.

    

     Some of the best things that have ever happened to me happened because of church. I came to Christ in church. I was baptized in church. I gave my life to ministry in church. I met my wife through church. So, because church has meant so much to me, I have sometimes had a hard time understanding why somebody would not want to go.

   

Through the years I have asked people, “Where do you go to church?” And when they tell me they do not go, I have asked, “Why not?” Very seldom do I hear a theological answer. They Usually Do Not say, “I don’t believe in God,” or “I don’t believe in Jesus,” or “I don’t believe the Bible.” What I hear is, “We used to go.” “We got hurt at church.” “We bounced around and never found one we liked.” “The kids didn’t like it.”

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     What I have heard over and over IS NOT, “My problem is with God.” It is, “I JUST DON’T LIKE CHURCH.” And That Ought To Bother Those Of Us Who Love The Church.

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     People may walk into a church and feel as if everybody knows what to do except them. Everybody knows when to stand, when to sit, where the books are, what the words mean, and where the Scripture is located. They look around and think, “THESE AREN’T MY PEOPLE. I MAY BE INTERESTED IN GOD, BUT I DON’T GET CHURCH.”

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     If we are not careful, that is the message we send: GOLF is for golfers, HUNTING is for hunters, and CHURCH IS FOR CHURCH PEOPLE.

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     But here is the problem. If Church Is Only For Church People, Then Christianity Becomes Something Only For Church People.

     

     IF CHRISTIANITY IS JUST FOR CHURCH PEOPLE, THAT MEANS JESUS IS JUST FOR CHURCH PEOPLE. And before long, we make it sound as if Christ Himself is only for church people. Open the Bible and nothing could be further from the truth.

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     AN ORDINARY CHURCH IS FOR CHURCH PEOPLE. AN EXTRAORDINARY CHURCH IS FOR EVERYONE.

 

THE RESTAURANT WITH NO MENU

 

Imagine walking into a restaurant for the very first time. You have heard people say the food is wonderful, so you decide to give it a try.

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You walk through the door, but there is no menu. There is no sign telling you whether to seat yourself or wait to be seated. Everybody else seems to know exactly what to do. They know where to sit. They know what to order. They even know the waitress by name.

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Finally, somebody comes to your table and asks, “What’ll you have?”

 

You say, “Well...could I see a menu?”

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And everybody looks at you like, “A MENU? You don’t know what we serve here?”

 

Now, the food may be wonderful. The people may be wonderful. But you are sitting there thinking, “APPARENTLY EVERYBODY KNOWS HOW THIS PLACE WORKS EXCEPT ME.”

 

And sometimes THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOMEBODY WALKS INTO CHURCH FOR THE FIRST TIME.

 

We know When To Stand. We Know The Songs. We know what “The Invitation” means. We Know Where Matthew Is. We Know What Sunday School Is. WE KNOW WHERE EVERYTHING IS LOCATED. BUT THEY DON’T.

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And sometimes we forget that what is familiar to us may be completely foreign to them.

 

An Extraordinary Church Doesn't Expect People To Already Know The Menu. We Help Them Feel Comfortable Enough To Sit Down At The Table.

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BECAUSE OUR JOB ISN'T TO IMPRESS PEOPLE WITH HOW MUCH WE KNOW ABOUT CHURCH.

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OUR JOB IS TO HELP THEM KNOW JESUS.

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THAT IS WHAT CAN HAPPEN IN CHURCH. We can know so much, assume so much, and use so much church language that somebody who is just beginning to look for God cannot figure out how to get started. Our passion ought to AN EXTRA-ORDINARY CHURCH. We want Southside to be a place Where A Person Can Begin Right Where They Are.

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ACTS 15 — THE EARLY CHURCH FACED THE SAME PROBLEM

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     This is not a new problem. The church began struggling with it almost immediately. Acts 15 records one of the most important moments in the early church. When Christianity began, the first believers were Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. His disciples were Jewish. The church was born in Jerusalem. So those early believers naturally carried many of their Jewish customs with them.

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     That worked fine as long as Everybody Becoming A Christian Was Jewish. But then, Paul and others began Taking The Gospel Into Gentile Territory. Non-Jewish people heard that Jesus Christ had died and risen again, and they began putting their faith in Him. They did not know Jewish customs. They did not know all the religious rules. THEY SIMPLY HEARD ABOUT JESUS AND BELIEVED.

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     Then some people came along and essentially said, “Not so fast. Believing in Jesus is good, but there is more you have to do.” They began loading Jewish requirements onto these brand-new Gentile believers. What Jesus Had Made Simple, Religious People Immediately Began Making Complicated.

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READ ACTS 15:1 - Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, YOU CANNOT BE SAVED."  Now, you can understand why some of those Gentile men might have said, “I believe I’ll think about this a little longer!”

    

Paul and Barnabas strongly opposed that teaching. They knew what was at stake. This was not a little disagreement over church preference. THIS WAS A DISAGREEMENT OVER THE GOSPEL ITSELF. Are We Saved By The Grace Of Jesus Christ, Or By Grace Plus A List Of Religious Requirements?

  

 And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.

 

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

 

But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up saying, "It IS necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.

 

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the GENTILES would hear the word of the gospel and believe.

 

And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 - and He made no distinction between us and them, (Jew & Gentile) cleansing their hearts by faith.

 

“So, why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?”

 

“We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of God.”

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Peter stands up and reminds them that God had already accepted the Gentiles. God had given them the Holy Spirit. God had purified their hearts by faith. Then Peter asks a powerful question: Why Would We Put A Yoke On These New Believers That Even We Have Not Been Able To Carry?

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     In other words, Peter says, “Why are we making it harder than God made it?” Then he gives the answer in verse 11: “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

 

DON'T MAKE IT DIFFICULT

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Then James, the brother of Jesus, stands and gives what may be the key sentence in the whole chapter.

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READ ACTS 15:19 - “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”

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     I LOVE THAT. We should not make it difficult for people who are turning to God. James was NOT saying Truth Does Not Matter. He was NOT saying Sin Does Not Matter. He was saying, “Do not put man-made barriers in front of people who are trying to get to Jesus.”

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    God made the gospel accessible. Jesus said, “Come to me.” The Gospel Is Not that you clean yourself up, learn all the rules, understand all the terminology, and then maybe you can come. The Gospel Is That Jesus Did For Us What We Could Never Do For Ourselves. We Come To Him By Faith.

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     That is the kind of church I want Southside to be: a place where it is easy for people to hear about Jesus, easy to ask questions, easy to admit they do not know, easy to take the first step, and easy to discover grace.

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AN EXTRAORDINARY CHURCH HAS A CLEAR, EASY TO UNDERSTAND MENU FOR ANYONE TO SEE AND HEAR!

 

Church history shows how easy it is for Christians to complicate things. WE ADD Traditions, Preferences, Rules, Labels, and Arguments. Before long, an outsider looks at us and says, “You people cannot even agree among yourselves. How am I supposed to figure this out?”

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Why? Because Jesus did not come only for religious people. JESUS CAME FOR EVERYBODY. We do not believe church is merely for people who already know how church works. We believe the church is for EVERYBODY.

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• That means if you want Forgiveness, THERE’S A PLACE FOR YOU.

• If you have been Hurt by a church, THERE’S A PLACE FOR YOU.

• If you do not know where Ephesians is, THERE’S A PLACE FOR YOU.

• If you have Questions, THERE’S A PLACE FOR YOU.

• If you are trying to learn how to Pray, THERE’S A PLACE FOR YOU. 

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I want the most unchurched, biblically unfamiliar, “I-had-a-bad-experience-with-church” person in Granbury to be able to walk through our doors and say, “I don’t know everything these people know. I can’t find every book in the Bible. BUT I FOUND A PLACE WHERE I CAN CONNECT. I FOUND A PLACE WHERE I CAN START.”

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That’s why our MOTO IS CLEAR . . .

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EVERYONE’S WELCOME. NOBODY’S PERFECT. ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE.

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That is more than a slogan. That ought to describe Who We Are. EVERYONE’S WELCOME — because Jesus came for everybody. NOBODY’S PERFECT — because every one of us lives by grace. ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE — because when God begins changing a life, we never know what He may do.

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CONCLUSION — TWO CHALLENGES

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An extraordinary church is a church for everybody. That is why we serve. That is why we give. That is why we invest. That is why we invite people. We want to keep this church free from the clutter and barriers that make it difficult for people to find Jesus.

 

So, I want to leave you with two challenges. First, if Southside is going to be an extraordinary church, will you help us? Will you SERVE, GIVE, INVEST, and INVITE? Will you help us make sure there is always a smile and a seat for the next person God sends through these doors?

 

And second, maybe you are the person WALKING INTO THAT RESTAURANT You do not have to become religious before you come to Jesus. You simply take the first step of faith. Maybe today your prayer is simply, “Jesus, I need You. I believe You died for me and rose again. I am putting my faith and trust in You.” Let’s make sure Southside is never merely an ordinary church. By grace of God, let’s be an X- CHURCH — a church where EVERYONE can find their way to Jesus.