Happy Mother’s Day to all our moms, and welcome to the fourth week of our message series, “Groundbreaking.” A groundbreaking event describes something that's never been done, or seen, or made, or perhaps even ever thought of before. Usually, it surprises, often it shocks, and occasionally, it dazzles.

Easter celebrates the most groundbreaking event in history, an event that was truly groundbreaking in every sense of the word. Its impact isstill being felt. A third of the world's population follow and worship a Jewish carpenter from an obscure village in the middle of nowhere who lived 2,000 years ago. Somehow, the whole world has been touched and changed, one way or another, by the person of Jesus of Nazareth. And it all comes down to Easter. The resurrection proves that Jesus was who He said He was and could do what He said He could do. He was who He said He was, God, and He could do what He said He could do, anything. 

Here's another thing He said He could do. He said that because He could rise from the dead, we would too, that His friends and followers would follow the pattern that He established. The Resurrection was also groundbreaking because it's the event that launched the movement that's called the church. The church changed the world by introducing the world to the groundbreaking teaching of Jesus Christ. Groundbreaking teaching – like the teaching that it's better to give than receive. Or the groundbreaking teaching like blessing can actually come out of suffering, and sorrow, and loss.

Last week, we discussed this core principle that drove the church to break new ground; “We must obey God rather then men.” Today, we are continuing to look at what made the church so effective. Whenever you see an individual or a group, or an organization make any kind of significant impact beyond themselves and out in the world, you can be sure of one thing. That they are crystal clear about their mission and their message. That was the Church of the Apostles.

In order to understand that, what it was and how it played out, we need some background on the ancient world and what they thought about religion and God in general. Everybody, in the ancient world, or nearly everybody, believed in God. And everyone, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans had gods of their own. And there were lots and lots of them. Among the gods, there was a hierarchy with greater and lesser gods. Whoever your God, great or less great, the belief was that you lived your life under their favor or their displeasure.

With all of that in mind, we're looking at the 13th chapter of Acts of the Apostles. This chapter tells us about the Apostle Paul's first of three missionary journeys. These trips followed a template. Paul would go into a town and find the synagogue. Then he would look for an opportunity to preach in the synagogue on a Sabbath when everybody comes to church, and he would preach about Christ. So first order of business for Paul was always sharing Christ with the Jewish community.

In today’s first reading, Paul went to the synagogue in Antioch, and he preached about Christ. After his sermon, some people came to Christ, others were interested in hearing more. The ones who believed began to follow Paul and his companion Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas urged them to continue in the grace of God.

St. Paul was preaching grace. What's that? Well, grace is favor but it's a very unexpected kind of favor. It's favor from God. And it's a gift, it's always a gift that's freely given. You cannot earn or buy grace. It is unmerited. The ground-breaking message of Easter is that God very much wants to give this gift through Jesus Christ. And that's Paul's message there in Antioch.

Paul's message was so appealing to people who were caught up in endlessly playing games to try and win the favor of the gods and avoid their displeasure, that everybody in town came out to hear this new message. However, "When the Jewish leaders saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy and contradicted what Paul spoke." When Paul recognizes that he says, "It was necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you. But, since you reject it, . . . we now turn to the Gentiles for the Lord has commanded us, 'I have sent you as a light for the Gentiles.'" 

That was groundbreaking news to the Jewish leaders because it turns out, much to their surprise, God didn't just want a relationship with them. Instead, God sought to use the Jewish people to reach out to, to form a relationship with all people. The message of the gospel shatters the sense of exclusivity many of the Jewish leaders had. It insists that everyone is invited into a relationship with God and everyone gets into that relationship in the same way through grace. The Church of the Apostles understood that their mission was to share that message with the world. And as we've already seen, this understanding filled them with a sense of urgency, with bravery and boldness.

All of us should be filled with that same sense of urgency to share the message of grace through Jesus Christ to the world. One strategy we can use is “invest and invite”. Invest and invite, goes like this, "As individuals, we intentionally invest in relationships with people around us. In our neighborhood, in our school, community, at the office, on the soccer field. People around us who do not know Christ and His Church. And then, when the appropriate time comes, and it always eventually does, we invite them to join us here at our church. Invest and invite."

There are two main reasons why we don't. One reason is that we forget. We forget how good the good news really is. It's good news that you don't have to clean up your act or be some kind of perfect person before you can step into a relationship with God and experience His grace and favor.

The second reason, that we don't invest and invite, goes back to last week's message, we're afraid. At least we're afraid in the sense that we're embarrassed. We're reluctant.

Is there someone you know who needs to hear the message, the good news of grace and favor? And just in case you're not sure what the answer to that question, the answer is yes. There is someone you know who needs to hear about the message of grace and favor. Why not this week invest in them, in some way? Reach out, send an email, make a phone call, stop by their desk. Go a little bit out of your way, extend yourself and, if appropriate, when appropriate, invite them to church.

In today's gospel, Jesus speaks of the work and ways of grace, precisely as an invitation. He said, "My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me." That's an invitation. Here's a groundbreaking idea, people can actually come to hear the invitation of grace and favor through you.