A.In the Great Commission (Mark 16:15-16), Jesus sent His disciples into all the world to preach the gospel.Within about thirty years, they had achieved their mission (Col. 1:23).
B.As the apostles and other preachers of the gospel spread the message throughout the world, they brought salvation to many souls, but they also "upset the world” (Acts 17:6) as they went.
C.Today, the truth of God’s word is still upsetting the world, but we must be as determined as the apostles were to press forward with the message of salvation.
II.THEY UPSET THE WORLD
A.Jesus upset the world first when He began to reveal the truth of His gospel.
1.Jesus "came to His own, and those who were His own did not received Him” (John 1:11).Not even the Jews, who had the prophecies of Christ, recognized that Jesus was the Anointed One.
2.Some men, like the Pharisees, were offended by Christ’s teachings (Matt. 15:12).Jesus was a stumbling block to such people (1Cor. 1:22-23; 1Pet. 2:8).
3.Eventually, many of Christ’s own disciples turned away from Him because they could not bear His teachings (John 6:60, 66).
4.On several occasions, men were so angry with the words of Jesus that they sought to kill Him (Matt. 21:46; Mark 12:12; John 7:1, 30, 32, 44; 10:31, 39).
5.At last, the Jews were so upset by Jesus that they did kill Him by crucifixion at the hands of the Romans (Matt. 26:3-4; John 11:53).
B.After Christ’s ascension to the Father, His apostles and preachers continued to upset the world with the full gospel message.
1.A short time after the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles, Peter and John were arrested by the Sadducees and commanded by the Sanhedrin not to preach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:1-22).
2.Later, all of the apostles were arrested by the Sadducees and beaten by the Sanhedrin for preaching Jesus (Acts 5:17-42).
3.Stephen was stoned to death by the Sanhedrin for preaching Jesus (Acts 7).
4.Saul led a great persecution against all Christians from Judea to Damascus (Acts 8:1-4; 9:1-2).
5.James was murdered and Peter was arrested by Herod for preaching Jesus (Acts 12:1-5).
6.Saul (Paul) and Barnabas became the recipients of persecution on their first journey to preach Jesus throughout the world (Acts 13:50; 14:5; 19-20).
7.This pattern of persecution continued on Paul’s second gospel preaching journey. Consider what was said about Paul and his companions.
a.In Philippi: "These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans” (Acts 16:20-21).
b.In Thessalonica: "These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:6-7).
c.In Corinth: "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law” (Acts 18:13).
d.Compare these words to the Jews’ accusations made against Jesus before His crucifixion: "We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (Luke 23:2).
8.On Paul’s third journey, he continued to upset the world wherever he preached Jesus.
a.In Ephesus, Demetrius the silversmith said of Paul, "You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all” (Acts 19:26).
b.In Jerusalem, the Jews accused Paul, saying, "Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place” (Acts 21:28).
c.In Caesarea, the Jews approached Felix about Paul and said, "For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5).
C.In the years since the New Testament times, the gospel of Christ has upset the world in every generation.
1.History tells of countless numbers of men and women who have been persecuted even to the point of death because they preached and practiced the gospel of Christ and upset the world.
2.This persecution has come from many sources, including governments, churches formed by man’s traditions, and other religions.All of these have been upset by the preaching of Jesus.
III.WE MUST UPSET THE WORLD ALSO
A.If the world of Christ’s time was upset because of the gospel, then we should expect nothing less today.
1.True gospel preachers have never been in the business of appeasing men.Paul wrote, "For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God?Or am I striving to please men?If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10).
2.Jesus warned of that He would upset the world, saying, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34).
3.It should come as no surprise that the world is upset by Christ’s gospel, for the world hated Christ when He came and it hates those who preach Him now.Consider His words in John 15:18-25:
"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.He who hates Me hates My Father also.If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’”
B.Consider some issues that are upsetting the world in today’s generation.
1.The gospel truth that Jesus is the only way to salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) is upsetting to those who reject Him, such as atheists, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, etc.
2.The Biblical message that there is one body of Christ (1Cor. 1:10; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4) is upsetting to those who believe in the unbiblical, denominational system of Christianity.
3.The gospel requirement of baptism of believers for their salvation (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1Pet. 3:21) is upsetting to those who have embraced man’s traditions concerning salvation.
4.The New Testament’s directions concerning true and spiritual worship (John 4:24) is upsetting to those who wish to add unscriptural practices to the worship assemblies.
5.The New Testament’s revelation for the limited work of the church (1Tim. 3:15; 5:3-16) is upsetting for those who want to make the church into a general charity for almost any cause.
6.The Bible’s prohibition of fornication (1Cor. 6:12-20; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 5:3; 1Thess. 4:3-7) is upsetting to those who want to indulge their fleshly lusts like unreasoning animals.
7.The Biblical condemnation of homosexuality (Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Rom. 1:26-27; 1Cor. 6:9-10) is upsetting for those who want to participate in or approve of this abominable behavior.
8.The foundational truth that marriage is a God-given covenant between a man and a woman for life (Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:22-33) is upsetting to those who want to corrupt marriage and redefine it.
9.The Scriptures’ teaching regarding the submission of wives in marriage (Eph. 5:22-33) is upsetting to feminists who resent God’s design and rebel against Him.
10.The fact that God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16) and forbids remarriage in most cases (Matt. 5:31-32; 19:3-9) is upsetting to those who want the liberty to trade spouses for any cause.
11.The Bible’s condemnation of abortion (Ex. 21:22-25; 23:7; Deut. 27:25; Ps. 106:37-38; Prov. 6:17) is upsetting to those who want to define such shedding of innocent blood as a "women’s health issue.”
IV.CONCLUSION
A.When the world was upset and the majority rejected the gospel message, Jesus and His disciples did not waver or alter their message.They went right on upsetting the world.
B.How will we respond to an upset world today?Will we change, soften, or reinterpret our message to avoid upsetting them, or will we "retain the standard of sound words” (2Tim. 1:13)?
