Turning the World Upside Down The Example of the Early Church

Acts 17:6 NKJV But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” These who have turned the Turning the World Upside Down world upside down

Turning the World Upside Down Meant to be a derogatory statement The Jews did not want to be told to change  Their whole world was being shaken up People today are the same way!

Turning the World Upside Down Another interpretation:  Very positive way  They WERE turning the world upside down  They were trying to make changes that would influence the whole world!

Turning the World Upside Down Discuss with this lesson:  What kind of attitude does it take?  What kind of action does it take?  Are we doing our part?

Why Turn The World Upside Down? Not for prestige… Not because it was easy…  2 Corinthians 11:22-28

Why Turn The World Upside Down? They believed in what they had  The Gospel of Christ!  It was valuable, and they knew it! Acts 3:1-10 They believed everyone needed to hear it  Mark 16:15-16  They took this command seriously! Colossians 1:23

Why Turn The World Upside Down? They believed that what they had was worth dying for  Stephen Acts 7:54-60  Stephen had other options: He could have not taught the gospel at all He could have stopped when the crowd got angry He could have changed the message  But the truth was too important to him!

Why Turn The World Upside Down? This reflected their attitude toward what they had  It was valuable  It was important for all the people  It was worth dying for But, they had to go beyond attitude!

First Century Disciples Were Active! The results in the first century came because Christians were active  They taught  They believed they held the responsibility to spread they gospel  1 Corinthians 9:16  Jeremiah 20:9

First Century Disciples Were Active! They were not content just to have the gospel for themselves  They HAD to teach others  They used every opportunity to teach

First Century Disciples Were Active! They were active enough to draw the attention of other religious leaders They were…  Forceful  Not trying to spare feelings  They were trying to convince people to change  They were blunt Acts 2:22-24

First Century Disciples Were Active! Their teaching drew attention  The Jews knew exactly what was going on  The Christians did not try to hide their activities from them Being a Christian was dangerous in the first century!

Applications for Us Can we be recognized as the type of church these men and women were a part of?  Is the gospel valuable to us? Proverbs 23:23  Just how valuable? Shown by how we treat the gospel Do we teach it, or is bound up in our Bibles, gathering dust on the shelves?  Is it important enough that every person on earth should hear it? If so, have our neighbors and friends heard it from us?

Applications for Us Spreading the gospel is an individual responsibility  Do not become disappointed if results do not come fast enough

Applications for Us Is the gospel worth dying for?  Serious question  Is the gospel worth losing family over?  Is the gospel worth losing friends over?  Is the gospel worth losing a job over?  Matthew 10:37-39

Applications for Us Are we active in spreading the gospel?  Each one of us needs to fulfill our own responsibilities!  Each must bear his/her own load!

Conclusion Acts 17  These men did indeed turn the world upside down  We can be successful in doing the exact same thing We have to be willing to work in the community What will we do?  Success or failure?  Are we doing our part?