What Others Should Know About Us

What Others Should Know About Us

“What Others Should Know About Us”

(Acts 11:19-30)

Series: The Church on Fire!

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

First Baptist Church Henderson, KY

(11-18-07) (AM)

 

  • Take God’s word and open to Acts, chapter 11.

 

We are already nearly midway through a series of messages from the book of Acts, a series entitled “The Church on Fire!”  We have been studying the first church in Christian history, how God birthed the church and grew the church.  We’re studying about fulfilling the Great Commission given to us back in the first chapter, Acts 1:8, where Jesus said that the Spirit of God fills us in order to help us witness to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the utter ends of the earth.  In other words, we are to share Jesus Christ with people everywhere at every opportunity.

 

We left off at verse 18 so we’ll pick up in chapter 11, verses 19 and following.  Here at the end of chapter 11 we are reading about the spread of the Gospel to the non-Jewish areas to the north of Jerusalem.  Let’s check it out and then we’ll see how this text applies to us today.

  • Stand in honor of the reading of the word of God.

 

19 Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.  20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 

21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. 

22 Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. 

23 When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. 

24 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 

25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. 

26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. 

27 And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. 

28 Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. 

29 Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. 

30 This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

Recently I was doing some research on the internet and I came across a number of unusual churches and church names.  For example, did you know there’s a church in Jackson Kentucky known as “The Happy Church?”  The Happy Church.  In Denver Colorado there’s a church called, “The Scum of the Earth Church.”  I’m not kidding.  Google it when you get home.  “Scum of the Earth Church.”  What does that convey to you?  There are many churches in the Southwest called, “Cowboy Churches.”  In Tulsa Oklahoma there’s a church called “The Guts Church.”  And in Mission Viejo, California there’s actually a church called “The Hot Rod Church for Sinners.”  What do you suppose they’re known for?  What do you suppose they’re trying to convey in that name?

 

Well, as we read the latter part of this chapter I’m not going to be talking about “The Happy Church,” the “Scum of the Earth Church,” or even the “Hot Rod Church for Sinners.”  I’m going to be talking about First Baptist Church Henderson and I want to talk about what our church should be known for.  According to the Bible there are some things that others should know about us.  First:

I.  We Should be Known for the Gospel (19-21)

 

The passage begins in verse 19 by reminding us about what happened back at the end of chapter 7 and the beginning of chapter 8.  Remember Stephen?  How many of you remember Stephen?  He was sharing his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what happened?  He was killed by stoning.  And the bible says that, after his death, a great persecution arose so that Christians fled out of Jerusalem and began going all over the place.  So God took what the enemy meant for bad and turned it for good.  That’s what verses 19 and following are talking about, the spread of the church under the sovereignty of God.

 

19 Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia (that’s modern Lebanon), Cyprus (that’s an island in the Mediterranean Sea, you can look it up later.  I’ve got a good friend I went to seminary with who was born in Cyprus.  His name is Doros Zachariades.  How many of you think that’s obviously a Greek name?!), and Antioch..

 

Now Antioch was the third-largest city in the Roman Empire only after Rome and Alexandria.  It was a big city; some 500,000 people.  There were a lot of pagans there, a lot of people who needed to hear about Jesus.  So the Christians back in Jerusalem are like, “Let’s get out of Dodge,” you know.  Let’s get out of Jerusalem for our own safety and we’ll take the gospel with us since that’s what Jesus told us to do.  So they went as far north as Antioch.  Just to give you an idea, Antioch is about 400 miles north of Jerusalem.  So it’s like our leaving Henderson and going as far north as Lake Michigan.  “Let’s go take the message to Chicago!  Anybody want to go?”  So they went north and the bible says they were “preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.”  That is, the Jewish believers were finding other Jews in the synagogues and sharing the gospel with them.  It made sense because the Jews would have been familiar with the Old Testament and so the Jewish Christians are showing them how Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah.  But then, look again at verse 20:

 

20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene (a city in Northern Africa), who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 

 

Now that word “Hellenists” is better translated “Greeks,” meaning Gentiles, non-Jewish persons.  That’s the point of what’s happening here.  Not only is the gospel being shared with Jews, but also with non-Jews.  See, we’ve not read too much about non-Jews being saved yet.  We’ve read about the gospel going out to the Samaritans, people regarded by the Jews as something of “half-Jews.”  Then we read about the Ethiopian eunuch.  Remember him?  He was saved.  Then for the last two weeks we read about a non-Jew by the name of Cornelius.  He was saved along with his family.  But now we read that some Christians from Cyprus and Cyrene are sharing the gospel with lots of non-Jews, lots of “Cornelius,’” okay?  So what happens?  Look at verse 21:

 

21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. 

 

Growth.  How did the church grow?  They got the message right.  The Bible says in these verses that they were “preaching the word” and “preaching the Lord Jesus.”  The word “preaching” there is not like the preaching I’m doing right now.  It’s a different word in the original.  It is the word from which we get “evangelism.”  The Christians were evangelizing, sharing the Good News of Jesus with others, sharing the gospel.  The gospel: Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose the third day for your justification.  He is the only way into heaven.  The gospel!

 

So they had a powerful message.  How did they share it?  “The hand of the Lord was with them.”  God promised to give them—and us—power by way of the Holy Spirit.  Remember Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be My witnesses.”

 

So they grew because they had a powerful message that they shared in the power of God.  That’s the main thing we’re to be doing here at First Baptist: sharing the powerful message of the gospel in the power of God Himself.  If we’re not sharing the gospel we’re not a church.  Okay?  I mean, we may grow something through marketing, but it won’t be a church.  I mean we could fill a stadium and I could smile and preach “warm fuzzy sermons” and write a book entitled, You’re Best Life Now! but it won’t be a church if there’s no preaching of the gospel.  It’s the gospel that changes lives.  It’s the message of Christ’s death for your sins and how you and I must repent and turn to Him and receive the forgiveness only He offers and then live for Him and share that life-changing message with others.

 

What should others know about us?  We should be known for the Gospel.  Secondly:

 

II.  We Should be Known for our Grace (22-26)

 

The Bible says in verse 22 that “the news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.”  See, the Christians back in Jerusalem are Jewish Christians.  They are Jewish believers and maybe most of them had heard about the Ethiopian Eunuch or about Cornelius and they’re like, “It’s pretty cool how a couple of Gentiles can be saved like we are,” but now they’re getting word that it’s just not one or two Gentiles, it’s like a whole bunch of them in this non-Jewish, pagan metropolis of Antioch.  So they’re like, “Let’s check that out.  Get Barnabas to go up there and see if it’s true.”

 

I love Barnabas.  We were introduced to Barnabas back in chapter 4.  Remember, Barnabas is not his real name.  His real name is “Joses” or “Joseph,” but remember the apostles gave him the name Barnabas.  They gave him this nickname because it means “son of encouragement.”  Barnabas was an encourager.  A great many of you are encouragers.  You’re just a joy to be around.  You encourage me and you encourage so many in this fellowship.  God help me be a Barnabas to you.  What did Barnabas see when he traveled the 400 mile journey north from Jerusalem?  What did he see in Antioch?  Verse 23:

 

23 When he came and had seen—(what?)—the grace of God

 

That is a fascinating statement, isn’t it?  Barnabas had seen in the new believers at Antioch “the grace of God.”  When I first read that phrase in verse 23 I thought to myself, “How do you see the grace of God?”  We talk about grace.  We talk about God’s “Amazing Grace” and how God showers His grace upon us.  But how do you see the grace of God in a church?  How do you see the grace of God in a people?

 

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he’s talking about the church and in chapter 4 verse 7 he says, “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift” and then he goes on to talk about spiritual gifts, gifts he also mentions in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, gifts like teaching, giving, encouraging, healing, and showing mercy.  So the grace of God is evident in our lives when we’re using the gifts He has given us.  You can see the grace of God in a church whose members are using their gifts.

 

I think of First Baptist Church Henderson and I think about all the folks who use their gifts for God’s glory here, so many volunteers, so many people “behind the scenes.”  We’ve got a great staff here, but so many things happen the staff has nothing to do with.  Just yesterday I came by the church to do some work and I see members of Brad and Mandy Whitmore’s Sunday school class out here raking leaves, making things pretty for today.  I see the grace of God in that.  And so many of you are doing things like that all the time.  Nobody else knows, but God.  The grace of God.

 

So when Barnabas saw the grace of God working in the Christians at Antioch, the bible says, continuing in verse 23:

 

, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. 

24 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 

 

Note that about Barnabas.  He saw the grace of God and was glad and then did what in verse 23?  He “encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.”  Why did he encourage them to continue with the Lord, to “remain true” to the Lord, as some translations have it?  Because: sometimes it’s tempting to give up.  I love Barnabas!  What an encourager!  He knows the reality of living the Christian life in a non-Christian world.  He’s like, “Don’t you guys give up, now!  Stick with it!  Keep running the race!”

 

Do ever just want to give up sometimes?  There’s a joke among preachers about how discouraging ministry can be.  Preachers talk about preaching on Sunday and wanting to quit on Monday.  And sometimes I think, “Monday?!  Man, there have been times I wanted to quit on Sunday,” you know, while I’m preaching.

 

Do you ever want to give up, to throw-in the towel?  We need more Barnabas’s to come along and say, “Keep going.  Don’t give up.  It will be worth it in the end.  Stay faithful to the Lord and His word.  Remain true to Him.”  Don’t give up!  Don’t give up on your church.  Don’t give up on your Sunday school class.  Don’t give up on your devotion time.  Don’t give up on your witnessing.  Don’t give up on your prayer life.  Don’t give up on your sexual purity.  Don’t give up on your wedding vows.  Keep running the race!

 

Some time ago Adrian Rogers told the story about Bear Bryant, former coach at the University of Alabama.  At the end of one game, there was just about a minute left to play and Alabama was 5 points ahead an on the other team’s 5-yard line.  As the clock wound down, there was just enough time to run two or three more plays, but then the quarterback got hurt.  So Bear Bryant called in his second-string quarterback who happened to be the slowest guy on the team.  Coach Bryant said, “Now, son, I want you to go in there but all I want you to do is take the ball and I want you to just hand it off to the running back; just run the clock out.  Whatever you do, don’t throw a pass.”  So he said, “Yes sir, coach.”

 

And the quarterback went in there and the first play he handed off the ball and the seconds were ticking away.  The second play, he handed the ball off again and the seconds ticked away.  And on the last play of the game the quarterback got the ball and in the end zone he saw a big, tight-end just standing there all alone in the corner.  He thought to himself, “This is my time for glory!”  So the quarterback threw the football, but what he didn’t know is that over in the other end of the end zone was the other team’s All-American safety, the fastest player on the field.  He had seen exactly what was getting ready to happen so when the quarterback threw the football he ran over there and just snatched it away from the tight-end and began to run down the football field as fast as he could with that second-string quarterback chasing after him.  They ran the entire length of the field and finally got to the 1-yard line where the quarterback managed to tackle the guy just inches from the end zone.

 

So the game was over and Alabama won by just 5 points.  When Coach Bryant went out in the middle of the field to see the other coach the other coach said, “Bear, I don’t understand.  Our scouting reports told us that your second-string quarterback was the slowest boy on the field and we know that our All-American safety is the fastest boy on the field.  I don’t know how your slow boy caught our fast boy on the 1-yeard line and saved the game.  Do you?”  And Bear Bryant said, “Well, coach.  It’s like this: your boy was running for 6 points.  My boy was running for his life!”

 

Listen: Don’t give up.  Keep running the race.  That was Barnabas’s message to the Christians at Antioch and it’s a message for you and me, too.  What else did Barnabas do when he saw the grace of God?  Verse 25:

 

25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. 

26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. 

 

An interesting little Bible trivia there at the end of verse 26: “the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”  Where were the disciples first called Christians?  In Antioch.  The word means “followers of Christ” or “Christ-People.”  Most scholars believe the word “Christian” originally conveyed scorn or ridicule, kind of like calling people, “Jesus Freaks” or “Bible Thumpers,” but who cared?  Just like today, it doesn’t matter what people call you.  What matters is what is true.

 

But look again at verses 25 and 26.  Barnabas sees the grace of God in the Christians there and encourages them to keep running and helps them grow in grace.  He goes and gets Saul so that Saul can come to Antioch and the two stay there a whole year, teaching the people.  Our commission is to “make disciples,” which means that evangelism includes discipleship.  We must share the gospel with people and we must help them grow in the Lord Jesus Christ.  That’s why every single one of us should be reading and studying the Bible regularly.

 

In 1 Peter 2:2, Peter equates our reading of the Bible with a newborn baby’s drinking of milk.  It is nourishment to the soul.  I remember a restaurant in Gainesville, Georgia called, “The Soul-Food Café.”  Our church is like “the Soul-Food Café.”  We come here to feast upon the soul-nourishing food of the Word.  It’s how we grow in grace.

 

What should others know about us, about our church?  We should be known for the Gospel.  We should be known for our Grace.  Thirdly:

 

III.  We Should be Known for our Giving (27-30)

 

We should be a giving church.  Look at verse 27 and following:

 

27 And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. 

 

Now in one sense these guys were a bit like the apostles we mentioned before.  If we call people “prophets” today, it’s not in the sense that they were prophets in the New Testament, because these guys spoke for God before the New Testament was written down and completed.  Since we have the completed New Testament, we no longer have need of these guys who spoke for God, often foretelling future events.  But they were around in the early church.

 

28 Then one of them, named Agabus (how’s that for a name?  Sounds like “Abacus,” the counting thing), stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. 

29 Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. 

30 This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

 

So this prophet, Agabus, gives this visual illustration of a famine that will come soon and spread across the Roman Empire.  So what do these new Christian believers in Antioch do?  They’re like, “Hey, we’ve got brothers and sisters who need some money down there in Jerusalem.  Let’s send some money down to them through Barnabas and Saul.”

 

That’s pretty remarkable when you think about it.  I mean, for a long time, the Jews sort of looked down their noses upon the Greeks, the non-Jews.  But here you’ve got these non-Jews, these Greeks, in Antioch and they’re like, “Hey, those guys down there need help, let’s send it.”  Imagine when the Jews in Jerusalem received that money gift from Barnabas and Saul.  They’re like, “Where’d you get all this money?!”  And Barnabas and Saul say, “From the Gentiles.”  Wow.

 

See that’s the power of the Gospel.  It changes people!  God gives His grace to save us and then others see that grace working-out in our lives.

 

Wednesday evening after our business meeting I went and listened to the choir for a bit.  Heath was leading them in practicing this song, “Miracles.”  The lyrics are:

 

“It took a miracle to put the stars in place.  It took a miracle to hang the world in space.  But when he saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace.”

 

  • Stand for prayer.