So it's Acts Chapter 11, and from verse 19 to verse 30 it's
page 1105 in the Church Bible. Now those who had been scattered
by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed
travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading
the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from
Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to
Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people
turned to the Lord. News of this reached the church
in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was
glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all
their hearts. He was a good man, full of the
Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were
brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to
look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.
So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and
taught great numbers of people. Their disciples were first
called Christians at Antioch. During this time, some prophets
came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit
predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire
Roman world. This happened during the reign
of Claudius. The disciples, as each one was
able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters
living in Judea. This they did, sending their
gifts to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
So Joe's going to come and preach.
Let me just pray for him as he comes.
Father God, thank you for your word, the Bible.
Thank you that it speaks to us even now.
Thank you for Joel and the work he's done to help us to
understand what you want to say to us today.
Please, would you be with him as he speaks and with us as we
listen. Amen.
And would you mind with the question sheets before you sit
down? Thank you.
So yeah, there's some question sheets that's going to help you
to follow along and maybe to think for yourself what we're
talking about through Acts Chapter 11.
So stick your hand up nice and high if you'd like a question.
Oh, Laura's going to do some as well.
Thanks. Nice and high.
If you like the question sheets, follow along.
You might have seen on the way in a word search with some
keywords as well. So if you'd like to do your word
search whilst you're listening to find some keywords, then you
can grab one of those ones as well if you haven't done that
too already. OK, whilst we're handing those
ones out and getting ready, got a little activity for us to do.
Sometimes we use labels, words to describe what a group of
people are like. So the word we use explains what
they do or what they value, what they're like, what gives them a
sense of belonging. To prove that, I've got 3
examples that are going to come up on the screen.
Geeks, Swifties. Goonas, so just whoever's next
to you, whoever you came with, have a little chat. 2 minutes.
What When you see these words, what do you what comes to mind
about the people that are being described?
If you know it all, maybe we'll see.
So have a go. OK, that was very exciting for a
minute and maybe you're realising that you're in one of
these groups now, which is a little bit embarrassing.
I don't know. I'm definitely in one of them.
So who wants to shout out? What do you think is a geek?
Anyone want to shout out just someone who's too smart for
their own good? Well, maybe.
Maybe. Chloe.
Would you think Greeks. Someone from Greece nearly
missing a letter? Greek.
Yeah. Geek.
Well, I would say go on, Thomas. Yeah, someone, someone who
thinks, thinks something is cool, maybe someone who thinks a
lot cool, but they might still be a geek.
This is what the Cambridge Dictionary says.
Someone who's very interested in a particular subject and knows a
lot about it. So dinosaurs, superheroes, video
games. OK, I'm going to put my hand
down now. Swifty.
Who knows what Swifty is, Laura, some obsessed with Taylor Swift.
There you go. Hands off if you're a Swifty.
If you're, if you're willing to admit it.
There's a few around, even Chris.
There we go. They listen to her music.
They watch her music videos. They buy her merch.
They wear her drums. They go to her concerts.
Maybe as well, getting a bit deeper.
They relate to her lyrics and the things that she's talking
about in her songs. I don't know.
That's a Swifty and a gooner. There's at least one gooner in
the room. There he is.
Go on, Mark. What's a Gooner?
Someone who's a big fan of the Guineas.
Big fan of the. No, no, no, no, no.
Sorry. Sit down.
Someone who is an Arsenal.
Arsenal Football Club fan. Yeah, they're the Gunners.
Gooner Dinner. There's something about that.
They love Arsenal. They may they go to their
football matches. They wear their red and white
football shirts or or other curves.
They feel very happy at the moment.
But it's not always been the case.
Depends how the football club is doing.
This is it. OK.
So how would you, what would you maybe say if I was to suggest
the group of people in our passage today, Christians.
What is a Christian? What makes a Christian?
Why would someone be called a Christian?
In Acts? So far we've seen the apostles,
the people who knew Jesus before.
He has sent it to heaven. That's what the apostles are.
They're sharing the gospel in Jerusalem and then in all Judea
and Samaria. We've seen that in that so far,
those who believed so far have been called the believers.
That's in chapter 4, chapter 6, they're called the disciples.
In chapter 8, they're called the church.
In Chapter 9, they're called those who are belonging to the
way. This is the way different way.
But finally, here in Chapter 11 verse 36, those who follow
Jesus, who belong to Jesus are called Christians first.
One says the disciples were called Christians first.
Antioch Christian literally means follower of Christ or
someone who belongs to Christ. They clearly gave this name to
them because this group were different from everyone else.
They needed to give a name to to these people.
They stood out from the crowd and the things they did, the
things they stood for, how they acted.
Potentially it was an insult to begin with us, the Christians.
That has been the case throughout history, but billions
of people today would identify as Christians.
So as we're looking at the church in Antioch in this part
of Chapter 11, we're going to see three things in this passage
at least that make Christians Christians.
First, they share the good news wherever they go.
Second, they see God's grace in one another.
And 3rd, they sacrificially love those who are in need.
And as we see these things, we'll see that being a Christian
isn't just to do these things, but it's actually to reflect the
one that they follow, to reflect Jesus.
So first verse between 19 to 21, they share the good news.
Anne's already helped us remember about chapter 8 when
Stephen was martyred and everyone thought, OK, what we're
going to do, I'm getting out of here.
They're scattered, terrible thing that's happened to
Stephen, but actually a great thing that is forced the people
to start scattering, to leave Jerusalem, to grant Judea to
Judea and Samaria to be Jesus witnesses just as he said that
they would be. And now they're following even
further to get to the ends of the earth.
Not quite there yet, but they're getting there.
They're out of Judea and Samaria.
They're getting further and further and further across and
they're taking the gospel across national boundaries now, maybe
into a new, into new countries, into new regions, onto an
island. But still to begin with, just to
the Jews, because Jesus is the promised Messiah, the promised
one that the Jews have all been waiting for.
They need to know that Jesus is the fulfilment, all the things
they've been waiting for. But as we heard with Cornelius
in the past couple of chapters of Acts, they said even the
Gentiles, to the Gentiles, God has granted repentance that
leads to life. It's not just the Jews.
Christianity is not just for the Jews.
Jesus is not just for the Jews. So here are some believers that
are not only crossing those national boundaries, but
cultural boundaries as well to share Jesus with those Greek
Gentiles that are in Antioch. So Anne already already beat me
through it to show the map. I like a map.
Here we go. Here's Phoenicia.
Some people think that's where Troy was.
That's another, that's another thing.
Cyprus, Antioch, they're getting further and further out of
Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. This is what Christians do.
They go out. They go out and they share the
good news of Jesus with people. They're following Jesus command
to be his witnesses. In Matthew we see his command to
make disciples of all nations, but they just can't help but
talk about Jesus, about this this man who's changed their
life. So that's what they go out and
do. The message of the gospel to the
Gentiles though is slightly different to the Jews because
Peter and Stephen we already heard explaining about to the
Jews about how the history of Israel is then fulfilled in
Jesus. But for the Gentiles, they say
in Antioch, they were worshipping Pagan gods.
They had their statues, they had their temples, they had all the
stories and the myths. These are the gods that they
were, they were following. Maybe they'd even been enemies
of Israel, not part of it. So the message has to change
here for them. Antioch was actually the third
largest city in the entire Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria
at that time. So it was big, and it was full
of what Roman, the Roman Empire is all about, full of false
idols known for its immorality. So the good news of the Lord
Jesus, though, is still for them.
It's still ultimately the same for everyone, even if it has to
come from a different cultural context.
For those pagans, it's still important to say that Jesus is
the Messiah. It's a bit of explanation about
what Messiah is, but Jesus is the Messiah.
He's the one chosen. He's the chosen one.
He's God's chosen one who's going to come and save all of us
from our sins. The good news is about the
Kingdom of God. We heard Philip talk about the
Kingdom of God in chapter 8, that all evil and all suffering
in this world, all the bad things and the wrong things in
this world will come to an end when God's perfect and a joyful
Kingdom finally arrives. And Jesus says the Kingdom of
God has already come in him. It's already here, but it will
come as well. This is the good news that God's
Kingdom is coming. And then just in chapter 10 to
Cornelius, peace said that there was peace through Jesus Christ.
Our natural state is that we are enemies with God.
By ourselves. We're enemies of God.
We're rejecting him and living against who he is and what he's,
what he wants for the people he's created.
But through Jesus we can have peace with God.
Through Jesus life and his death and his resurrection, we can
become God's friend, not his enemy.
We've become his child, part of God's family, and then we have
peace with one another as Christians unite around this
identity, as Christians as they all know the Jesus who has loved
them. And there's unity between
believers as well as between humans and with God.
So that's what the good news is that the Christians are sharing.
They're going out. They're showing the good news of
Jesus, the one who came to save people from their sins of the
Kingdom of God that is coming to make all wrong things right and
with peace where there where there used to be enmity.
But they're only doing what Jesus did himself.
We went through Mark a couple of years ago here and there's four
gospels that talk about what Jesus came to do and what he did
in the New Testament that you can read in Luke 4 especially,
Jesus was healing people in a place called Capernaum.
They wanted him to stay. But Jesus said I must proclaim
the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also,
because that is why I was sent. Jesus was sent to proclaim the
good news, and now he's sending the apostles, the disciples of
Christians. He's sending Christians to go
and do just as Jesus did, to share the good news with all the
people who will hear that they might trust in him.
And what happens when the good news is proclaimed where we'd
hear in Chapter 11? A great number of people turned
to the Lord. This isn't always how it goes.
There is often opposition. You might have experienced it
yourself. But when Christians go out and
tell the good news to those around, then the Lord's hand is
with them. And then he saves men and women
who hear as they hear, and they believe, and they put it their
trust in Jesus. So Christians go out and they
share the good news. Next, Christians see God's
grace, verses 22 to 26. In chapter 1011, we saw
Cornelius and his family saved, and then Peter reported back
what happened to the apostles and believes in Jerusalem.
And now they hear not only Cornelius, there's more people
who returned to the Lord, there's more people who are
being saved in Antioch. Was Cornelius just a one off?
Was it just a freak? Was he the exception?
Clearly not now. So they send Barnabas down, up.
Yeah, that's where the map was. They send Barnabas up to Antioch
to go and find out more. We heard about Barnabas in
chapter 4. If you have a really good
memory, if you want to flick back, Barnabas was the one who
sold his field to, to donate the money to the work of the church.
In Chapter 9, we met him as he was defending Saul.
Saul arrived and the and the disciples was like, well, this
is Saul, we can't have him. And Barnabas just said, no, no,
no, no. God has done something amazing
in Saul's life. Barnabas was defending Saul
there. I love Barnabas, he's a great
example for anyone who calls himself a Christian.
Not only does he give generously as he did with the field and see
the good in other people, we read here that he sees the grace
of God in action. He sees that he's got his eyes
open to what God is doing, and then he's glad.
When he sees God at work, He's happy.
It brings him joy when he sees what God is doing.
He encourages the believers to remain true to the Lord with all
their hearts, to keep believing in Jesus, and to do it with
everything that they have. It says that he was a good man.
It doesn't mean that he never sinned because we we're all
sinners and we all submit to temptation in sin, but that his
conduct was above reproach. People saw goodbye but thought
he's a good guy. I can't, I can't imagine he'd
ever do anything to hurt someone.
That's that's what people thought of him and he was full
of the Holy Spirit and faith. I think this is to say that we
see people could see the fruit of the Spirit that Paul talks
about, Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Those things were coming out of Barnabas which showed that he
was full of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit dwelt in him as a
Christian as it does for all Christians.
The Spirit is working in him. We could do a whole sermon
really on on Barnabas and what he has to teach us.
But I think I'd like to focus on how he saw God's grace in action
and how he encouraged one another because I think this is
a good example of what it means to be a Christian.
The grace of God means all that God has given, but all that God
is doing in his people. Grace by definition is a gift.
It's something that God has done.
It's not deserved, but it's God's doing.
So Barnabas we saw saw this in Saul.
When he heard about Saul's conversion, he saw how Saul's
life had changed. He said no, God's grace is at
work in this man, and God's grace is at work in anyone who
puts their faith in Jesus and trusts in him and becomes more
like him. He saw the grace of God and the
difference in the Christians in Antioch.
He went to Antioch, a Pagan city, and thought what is going
on here? And he saw God's work at God at
work in their lives changed from worshipping idols to worshipping
Jesus. That doesn't happen in normal
life. People don't normally do that.
So it must have been God at work.
He arrived at Antioch expecting to see what God is doing and he
saw it and was glad. Barnabas's name means son of
encouragement. That's what acts as early on in
chapter 4. So this is how he encourages the
Christians that are in the Antioch.
He's glad as he does it. He doesn't patronize them or or
he's not condescending to them. He's genuinely glad for these
people and sees the best in them.
He doesn't just encourage them to do better.
He's like, Oh yeah, keep going. Keep being, keep being really
good. Keep being really good
Christians. His encouragement is for their
spiritual life to remain true to the Lord, to keep believing in
him, to keep following Jesus commands as Jesus asked us to.
To keep showing up for Jesus even when it's hard and they're
tired. To do this with all of their
hearts, not just if they've got time remaining Jesus, not just
if you feel like it. Keep trusting in Jesus, not just
half heartedly with whatever's left over, but with everything
that they have. I'm fairly sure that Barnabas
was exemplifying this in his own life.
I don't think he was a hypocrite in this from what we, from what
we read about him. And he encouraged the Christians
in Antioch to do so too, because Barnabas, like the Antioch
Christians, did. He knew the good news about
Jesus that leads to eternal life.
He knew that it's worth it. He knew that living for Jesus in
this way, keeping true to Him with all your heart, is the most
important thing because it's the thing that leads to life.
And whilst Barnabas encouraged the Christians by pointing them
to the Lord Jesus, Jesus we see, encouraged the disciples by
pointing them to himself as well.
John 16 Jesus is talking to the disciples during the Last
Supper, just before he'd be taken away and crucified.
He knows exactly what's coming and he knows that following Him
will be difficult, especially when the authorities come
knocking and they fear for their lives.
So what does Jesus say? He says in this world you will
have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.
Jesus came to proclaim the good news, but he knew that his
followers would need encouragement to remain faithful
to Him. The Christian life isn't easy or
plain sailing, but it is the best life.
It's the life that leads to eternal life.
It could be easy just to give up when it's hard, But we need to
be encouraged to be faithful. That's what Barnabas did for the
Christians in Antioch. That's what Jesus did for the
disciples when he knew that trouble was coming.
Christians need to look to see God's work in in one another,
and they encourage one another to stay faithful to the Lord.
And third, they love sacrificially.
This in verses 27 to 30. The church in Antioch get a
pastor teacher to come and lead, to come and lead them.
As we read in verse 24, a great number were brought to the Lord
through the faithfulness of Barnabas and the teaching of
Saul. So that's where they are.
And suddenly these prophets arrive from Jerusalem up to
Antioch, just as Barnabas did, came from Jerusalem.
And they have a word to share that a famine is coming in
Judea. Luke adds this note in brackets
that the famine happened during Emperor Claudius's reign.
Why do we need to know that? It's just a famine is a famine,
isn't it? But I think it's a really
helpful thing to show that this story is based in history.
It's not just a helpful story to teach us and to that's going to
be interesting, but it's a real a real eyewitness accounts.
Claudius's reign was between AD 41 and 54.
So that helps us to time what's going on here.
There are other historical records to prove it, to prove
about Claudius and to prove that there are famines during
Claudius's reign. Access is a real story that
happened. Claudius had a really bad time,
by the way. It was famine everywhere.
He no one really liked him. It wasn't really his fault, but
anyway, that's Claudius. This isn't a famine, though,
like we read in Exodus, where food is nowhere and no one has
any food and they need to store it up.
There is food available, but there's a shortage which means
that the prices go sky high and the Christians in Judea can't
afford it. They're struggling more than the
Christians in Antioch are. They're vulnerable at this
moment. They need help.
So the Christians in Antioch see this, they hear about it, they
trust God and they club together.
They steward what God has given to them, steward the money they
have, and they gave to the Christians in Judea, those who
had, gave to those who hadn't. They sent it with Barnabas and
Paul and they they went and passed it on to the church.
There were churches that were there in Judea, just like those
first believers that we've read about.
In Acts 4. It says they shared everything
they had, so there were no needy persons among them.
The money was distributed to anyone who is in need.
In Acts 4, that was a bit easier.
They're kind of a smaller group in Jerusalem.
But as the church grows, Christians more and more need to
look out for one another in the church that are in need, even if
they don't expect to ever even meet them.
I wonder if the anti our Christians ever met.
The Judean Christians probably didn't, but because of Jesus
they sent their money to go and help those that are in need.
There's another evidence of the grace of God at work in those
new believers. Their unity in Christ, knowing
that they were Christians as those in Judea who were
Christians, meant that they were glad to give it.
They were glad to give their money to brothers and sisters
who are in need. And they're reflecting Jesus,
aren't they? Jesus so often had compassion on
those that he met, those who are in need.
Sometimes because they were hungry and they had nothing to
eat, sometimes because they were sick and needed healing,
sometimes because they were outcasts and they needed to be
loved. Every time a Christian
sacrificially gives and loves them brothers and sisters in
need, it's Jesus at work again through his people as they
reflect Jesus compassion and as they reflect Jesus desire for
unity in the church. It doesn't just have to be
money. It was money in this case.
It could be time, it could be other resources that you have.
This is the way that we can be Christians by because we love
others who are in need. So what what does this have to
do for us? Maybe you can starting to see
some things that that you can learn and that you can take from
what the Christians and Antioch were like.
Let's go back to those groups that we thought about before.
We kind of have a bit of an idea about what a geek is like, what
a swifty is like, what a gooner is like, what makes them tick.
So here we go. Here's Christians.
The church in Antioch helps us to understand what a Christian
is like, someone who belongs to Christ, what makes them tick.
What can we learn from the church in Antioch?
How can we then follow their examples to live distinctly as
Christians? Share the news of Jesus Wherever
you go. If you're a Christian, then you
know the good news because you believed in it, and you know the
good news because it has changed your life.
So go and tell others and know that as you do, the Lord's hand
is with you. He said you will be my
witnesses. He said go and make disciples.
His hand is with us as we do so, He'll give us the strength and
boldness to do it. We just need to ask Him.
Ask Him and He'll be very glad to help us and for us to know
His help and be expecting to see God at work.
We're told time and time again how people hear the good news,
they believe, and they turn to the Lord.
Let's expect God to work again. It might not be instantaneous.
It might be a really long process.
You might never ever see the grace of God in that person's
life that you share it with. But let's trust that God is
going to do that work. As we share the gospel.
Let's think where are the places where you can go?
We don't need to go to Antioch, but we do need to go out and
share the good news. Where could you share it?
Is it at school? In the classroom?
Is it at the office water cooler or the coffee machine?
Is it at your running club? Is it with your neighbors on
your streets? Ask for God's help as you go out
and know that His hand is with you.
We should see God's grace in others.
When you're with other Christians, encourage one
another and point out where you can see God's grace in their
lives. The way that they love their
husband and wife, husband or wife, the way that they support
their friends, the way that they serve in church.
Maybe just the fact that they keep on trusting in Jesus even
though life is difficult. Let's encourage one another that
we see God's grace at work in their hearts to remain true to
the Lord with all of our hearts. There might be a quick word on a
Sunday morning after the service, could be a WhatsApp
message during the week. It could be a handwritten card.
These are great ways that we can encourage one another.
They can have a huge impact on our witness to Jesus.
They keep have a huge impact on us.
Keeping believing in Him, remaining true to Him
sacrificially. Love those in need.
Consider how you can support and help those in need in the
church. Maybe you are in a position to
financially give a gift. That could be something.
Maybe you could cook a meal for a family, a family that having a
hard time. Maybe you can give an afternoon
to help someone in the house or just spend some time with them.
And we should consider as a church how we can support other
Christians in need in our church but also across the world.
Maybe we could be supporting a ministry that trains, equips,
churches in poorer countries. That could be one thing.
Or getting involved with Christian Aid organisations.
Or supporting smaller churches, smaller church plants nearby, Or
churches that in more deprived areas that are in need more than
maybe we are these Christians. What does a Christian look like?
Ultimately, these are some things that Christians do, maybe
some things that Christians can be like, but ultimately they
look like Jesus. When you think of a Christian,
you should hopefully think of Jesus working through people.
They're proclaiming the Kingdom of God just as he did
proclaiming forgiveness of sins in Jesus life and death and
resurrection, spurring one others on to live for him,
having compassion on those who are in need.
It doesn't come naturally, it's not an easy thing.
It's not something we can do on our own strength, but the grace
of God is at work here at Ave. The grace of God is at work in
your lives. And by that grace, Christians
can be Jesus witnesses to the ends of the earth.
So we'll have a couple of minutes.
Let's have spend a couple of minutes just reflecting.
Here's a few things that you can think about.
How can you live for Jesus in these ways in your life?
Let's praise Jesus for his example of compassion and love.
Let's ask God for help to become more like him than the things
that we do. So have a couple minutes and
then I'll pray. Our Father, we praise you for
the change that you made in the lives of those in Antioch, to
move from worshipping Pagan gods to worshipping the one true God.
We praise you for the good news of Jesus that changes lives,
that brings your people together.
Pray that you'd help each of us to follow that example of
sharing the good news, of encouraging one another, of
loving those who are in need. These are the ways that you wish
your people to live, but they're not easy.
We pray that you would help each of us to see the places where we
can do that and to know Your help as we do so.
Please give us strength and boldness to live for you with
all of our hearts. We praise you for Jesus, who is
the greatest example of these things, for His compassion, His
love, His boldness, His encouragement.
Please may we know that each of us, as we follow Him and trust
in Him in our lives, His name and for His sake, we pray.
Amen.