Commanding Attention: The Impact of a Church on Fire
Today, I want to talk about being on fire. Friends, when things catch fire, they make the news. Just this Friday, three of the main train arteries going into Paris were hit by arson attacks causing mass disruptions on the French train network. Saboteurs also attempted to knock out the Lyon-Marseille line, but that attack was foiled. These are the four main train lines going into Paris. Signal boxes connecting Paris with major cities to the northeast and southwest were damaged by fires in a massive arson attack. Whoever planned this knew the disruption would get some attention. Repairs will be going on all weekend. The fires will affect 800,000 passengers. This comes as Parisians take long summer breaks and as the capital city hosts the Olympic games. And so the point is this: when things catch fire, they cause disruption, they command attention, and they make the news. I believe the Lord wants to remind us all again today that this is what the mission of the church looks like. The mission of the church is to catch fire, cause disruption, command attention, and make the news.
Being on Fire Commands Attention
The second thing that we see in our passage today is that when the people of God are on fire, and the church is on fire, it commands attention. We see this in Acts 16:19-20: When the businessmen/owners realized that their source of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
The culture the early church ministered to was very different from the post-Christian United Kingdom. As Christians, we still have the right to talk about our faith in the public square, even though it’s challenging. Our passage tells us that when we talk about our faith on mission, whether it’s through social action projects, street drama, music, testimony, healing chairs, preaching, or one-on-one conversations, the good news of Jesus always commands attention.
Two years ago, an American millionaire YouTuber called IShowSpeed (Speed) was walking through city centre Manchester to see Ronaldo play football when he heard a street preacher talking about Jesus outside the Skechers store on Market Street. What was being said was so powerful it commanded his attention. He walked over with his crew to laugh at a preacher called David Lynn from Canada and got involved in a conversation because David Lynn knew who he was. Speed walked away from his conversation with the preacher challenged and unchanged, but amazingly, another millionaire YouTuber called JiDion saw the whole thing on YouTube. JiDion was massively challenged by the preacher’s arresting words. What David said so commanded JiDion’s attention that he surrendered his life to Jesus and deleted his YouTube account, worth millions of dollars. Raffi got saved on YouTube listening to JiDion and other Christian content. Levi has had seasons listening to JiDion. All JiDion talks about now is how Jesus has become the main thing in his life.
Conclusion
And so the point is this: What you do in sharing your faith this week on mission is going to command attention. People you will probably never see again are going to be profoundly affected. Paul’s healing of the demon-tormented fortune-telling slave girl commanded the attention of the business owners, who brought Paul and Silas before the authorities. The point is this: Being on fire for Jesus commands attention. Paul’s boldness led him to a slave girl so the Holy Spirit could heal her. Paul’s boldness gave him an opportunity to speak to the business community and local officials about Jesus. This week you are all going to be amazed at who the Holy Spirit will lead you to and allow you to speak life to. You will be amazed at your ability to command attention.
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