Acts 11:19-30
I don't know if you noticed this. I did not notice this when I woke up this morning, but my shirt color somebody pointed this out is Boise State colors. They pointed that out after the first service.
I'm going to put a picture on the screen here in a second. And I want you to tell me if you know who it is. And you should respond quicker than the first service because they did not have an extra hour and a half of sleep and probably have not drank as much coffee as you did this morning.
So let's put the picture up on the screen. You tell me if you know who it is.
Who? Oh man, that was quick. So much quicker than the first service. That's excellent. So in case you didn't hear, this is Roger Bannister. What is Roger Bannister known for? Breaking the four minute mile. That's absolutely right.
See, you guys are a smarter group than the first. I wasted 3 minutes in the first sermon just on that. Here's the thing about breaking the four minute mile. Nobody believed that anybody could actually do it. Track coaches said it's not possible. It had been pushed down to four O-5 by a Swede and the record stood there for 10 for 10 years. And again, track coaches actually thought that it was impossible. To break the four minute barrier that humans simply were not capable of running that fast for that heart, that was the general feeling
of the day.
But Bannister, an English medical student at the time. Didn't agree with their assessment of the human body's capabilities. And so he gathered with a couple
of his friends, one Chris Chataway and one Chris Brasher, and they began a very determined, a very strategic assault on the four minute mile, determined
to break through the four minute barrier and they trained hard. And they prepared diligently. And on May 6th, 1954, in Oxford, England, there was a race that they had been targeting. They hadn't told anybody about this, but in their minds they had circled it on the calendar. And Chris Brasher set the pace for the first two laps as it was planned. And then Chris Chataway took over for the lead in the third lap. And when the time was about 3:07 at the end of the
third lap. Bannister, who had a huge kick, took over and he was running by himself. He led the entire last lap and as he approached the tape.
You'll see it if you look at it on YouTube. Don't do it now. But you'll see it. He lunges for the tape and then he collapses into the arms of some of his friends. He had exerted himself to the “Max”. He had nothing left to give. And then the announcement came over the PA system and the time, 3 minutes and 59 seconds.
And the place went crazy again. Look it up after church on YouTube. Here's the deal, though. It's interesting because in the time of 3m59sec, five won't even win you some high school meets today. Although the mile is in the marquee event that it once was, what's really interesting is within a couple of weeks of Bannister breaking through the barrier.
There was another man, John Landy, an Australian, who went below 4 minute miles. A 4 minute mile and then all sorts of others started to do the same. It seems it was a barrier that existed far more in the minds of people than in human Physiology. And, you know, it's interesting. In almost every area of life, there are breakthrough moments when people do what others say is impossible. They do the previously unthinkable barriers that existed, that people said could never be broken, all of a sudden are broken. And what happens is a whole new way of life emerges. These people are called pioneers.
They're called Trail Blazers. They're people who see a barrier. They think strategically about the barrier. And then they commit to not letting the barrier stop them, but to break through the barrier. And in so doing, they blaze a trail for other people to follow. Now, this morning in Acts Chapter 11, you can go ahead and turn there if you want.
We're going to see a couple of individual Christians. Who broke through a major barrier and will see the characteristics that enabled them to breakthrough a significant barrier and reach their culture with the message of Christ and as we do, the goal isn't simply to look back in wonderment, but the goal is to look at our own lives and to consider if the characteristics that led them to breakthrough that barrier and reach that culture with the message of the gospel is the same defining characteristics of our. Individually and of your life as a church, as a faith community.
So with that in mind, Acts Chapter 11 is where we're going to be. And we're going to look at verses 19 through 30 this morning. So Acts Chapter 11 again, verse 19. Here's how Luke records it.
“Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen, they traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews.” (vs 19)
So this persecution started with the stoning of Stephen, if you know the story back in Acts Chapter 7. Back in Acts chapter 8, what it did is it forced all of the believers except for the apostles out of Jerusalem. And Luke tells us some of them went up to Phoenicia, others to Cyprus, and then others to Antioch. And this is actually pretty incredible. Let me let me put a map up here. Look at this map.
So some of them. They spread out to the island of Cyprus. Some stayed along the coast in Phoenicia, and some traveled 300 miles from Jerusalem. And they arrive in Antioch. And here's what you need to know about Antioch because you see it on a map and you're, yeah, So what? Here's what you need to know about Antioch. This is Syrian Antioch. There's Pisidian Antioch up in Turkey, and then there's Syrian Antioch. And by Luke's time, Antioch had grown to become the third most important city. In the Empire of Rome, of course, was first, and then Alexandria and Egypt, and then Antioch with its 600,000
citizens was third. So it's an incredibly important city. And it was also very multicultural. You had Romans, you had Greeks, you had Jews, you had Arabs, you had Persians, you had Egyptians.
All were living in Antioch. So it was this incredibly very multicultural city. It was also very pluralistic. Meaning the worship of multiple gods within the city. What
were just a couple of miles outside of the city was another little city called Daphne, which was known for the worship of the gods Artemis, Apollos
and Assarte. So very pluralistic. It was also a commercial center. The wealth of the East flowed through Antioch on its way to Rome. The armies of Greece
and Rome marched through Antioch. It was sophisticated and tolerant. And lastly Antioch was completely immoral. Completely. Immoral.
Just outside of the city there was a park or Grove of trees known as the Grove of Apollo. And it was a notorious location for licentious sexual indulgence. Essentially, it was an outside brothel, and people went there specifically to engage their sexual appetites.
So Syria and Antioch, it's a multicultural commercial center, very pluralistic and immoral.
Well, what will the Jews do? What will these Jewish Jesus followers who were forced out of Jerusalem, how will they respond? What will they do? Well, did you notice who they spoke the Gospel to?
It says in the second part of verse 19. Look at it again. It says they spoke the word which is a synonym for the gospel. They spoke the word to no one except the Jews. Please catch that. Even though Jesus had told them 8 to 10 years earlier that they're to take his message all over the world to every ethnic group. But for them, that was a barrier that for many Jews seemed impossible. They couldn't wrap their minds around it because they had traditions in which they were taught to have no dealings with the Gentiles, no dealings with the Samaritans. And they were to watch where they ate and they were to watch what they were or you'll become unclean.
Even though Jesus told Peter in Acts chapter 10 not to call anyone impure, that he had rendered clean, and he was talking about the Gentiles. But for these Jews in Antioch, they were bound in their thinking. And let's be honest, it's just so much easier to associate with people of our own kind. Who dressed like us, thought like us, voted like us. And that's what these men were doing. They were simply associating with and befriending and telling the good news of Jesus to fellow Jews, to people who looked just like them and dressed just like them.
But then one of the most remarkable things happened. Look at verse 20.
But there are some of them. Men of Cyprus and Cyrene who on coming to Antioch spoke to Hellenists also. Preaching the Lord Jesus and in most of your translations it will say Greeks there instead of Hellenists and that's probably a better rendering. These men, though these guys from Cyprus and Cyrene, they looked at the situation, they faced the barrier and they said we need to talk to
some non Jews about Jesus. They took this tremendous step of faith and they started talking to all of these gentiles about who Jesus is.
Now I say that, and that doesn't seem to strike anybody as all that amazing.
I look at your faces. You don't seem amazed by that. Do you know how amazing that was at that moment? Nobody was raised in that culture. We look at this kind of high school runners today. Look at banisters 4 minute mile, man, no big deal. But you've got to know in that culture, in that day, nobody thought of doing this. But these guys did. All of a sudden they started talking
to non Jews about Jesus and look at what happens verse 21. “And the hand
of the Lord was with them. And a great number who believed turned to the Lord and the report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.
And they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
Do you guys remember who Bartabas was? In Acts chapter 4:36 & 37, he sells a large tract of land and he gives the money to the apostles, and the apostles give him the name Barnabas, which means son of a current son of encouragement.
And I'll tell you, in the New Testament, outside of Jesus, there's nobody else I'd rather hang out with than Bartamus. I'd love to study Paul's theology, but I'd like to be a friend to Barnabas because he was an encourager. He was a risk taker. He was an incredibly generous man, both financially but then also
emotionally with people. You can see he's the perfect guy to go up there and encourage this work.
And so the church and this report comes to him and they're thinking, well, who can we send up there? Who can we send up to Antioch, that immoral city and check this out. And they say, Barney, my man. How would you like an all paid
trip up to Antioch? And he says OK, well let's go. And so they sent him up there. Verse 23.
“When he came he saw the grace of God. He was glad, and he exhorted the mall to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great many were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch for a whole year. They met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. In these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and
one of them named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit. That there would be a great famine all over the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers and sisters living in Judea. And they did so by sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.”
What enabled the Christians in Antioch to break
through a significant barrier and reach people who
are far from Christ?
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]
OK, we'll stop right there. OK, here's what I want to do. I want to go back and I want to look at the characteristics of these Christians that enabled them to break through some significant barriers.
There's five characteristics that these Christians
Antioch shared that the Lord used to birth this new community in Antioch. Who goes on to become the headquarters of the Christian movement for the next 200 years? The reason you're sitting in church in Boise is because of the church in Antioch. So what are these five characteristics? Let me give
them to you.
● First: They were confident in the Gospel of God (v. 19-22)
And again, when I give them to you, the goal here is as we uncover these characteristics. The goal is for you to say, are these characteristics true of my discipleship to the Lord Jesus Christ individually, and are they true corporately at faith community? So what are the characteristics? Here's the first one. They were confident in the gospel of God. They were confident in the gospel of God. Think about it. This whole thing started because there were some guys who
caught a vision. That the people of Antioch could be 1 to the Lord. If they were simply told about Christ, they weren't content just to tell the message of Christ to fellow Jews. They wanted to tell the message of Christ to all sorts of different peoples to Gentiles as well. They weren't.
They had a holy and one of the ways you could say is they had a holy discontentment. That it wasn't just for one group, it was for all people groups. They were confident in the gospel of God. That the gospel was for everybody, for all types of people, regardless of their racial or cultural background. They saw these people, these Gentiles, not as problems to be fixed. But as people
for whom Christ died. And for whom Christ wants to redeem. And they started telling them about the message of the gospel.
Well, who was it that did this? Who was it that led this breakthrough? Let me tell you who it wasn't. It wasn't the apostles. It wasn't the elders. It wasn't the paid clergy. Well, if it wasn't them, who was it?
We don't know. Which means it was anonymous, unknown heroes of the faith who were so in love with Christ and so confident in the gospel that they shared it freely with others. This work in Antioch, it wasn't a church program. It wasn't a church outreach. It was everyday Christ followers committed to and confident in the gospel.
And I'll just tell you, I'm convinced that's still the best pattern to follow. Listen to Richard Halverson. He's a former pastor, chaplain for the United States Senate. He says this. “He says Jesus Church. Does not make its maximum impact on the world through its so-called professionals, preachers, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, directors of Christian education. No, it makes its greatest impact through laypeople. It is through the people of God in whom Christ dwells by his Spirit that he speaks. His word and does His work. The people of God influence the world. That's a great word by the way. Influence they don't mandate. The people have got to influence the world for Christ wherever He has sent them, wherever He has planted them.
Through his people, Christ is infiltrating all the units of society throughout the earth. I love that quote. Again, the work at ANEC, it wasn't a church program. These were everyday Christ followers. So you and I are assimilating their lives into the community of Antioch, in their places of work, in their places of play, in the neighborhood at the Antioch Soccer club. And taking a risk, and it is a risk, is it not. When you open up your mouth and start telling other people about Jesus, it's a huge risk, taking a risk and telling people about Christ.
But they had great confidence in the gospel.
So let me ask you this question. When was the last time? You shared the message of Christ with someone who you knew. Their background was decidedly different than yours.
When was the last time you shared the message of Christ with someone whose background you knew was decidedly different than yours? You see one of the evidences that you don't have great confidence in the gospel.
If you're unwilling or emotionally unable to share the gospel with those who don't think like you, look like you, dress like you, vote like you.Christian Friend you should have great confidence in the gospel and the apostle Paul.
In Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, “I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. First for the Jew and then for the Greek.” Now catch that it's the power of God for salvation. Which means you should have great confidence in the gospel because God has uniquely placed you in this location. God has uniquely equipped you, and when you enter into a conversation with another person about the person in the work of Jesus Christ, God's Spirit empowers your words and the voice of Christ is heard through you. So you should have great confidence in the gospel now as a sidebar, not a part of the main deal, and this is free of charge.
Would you notice that these guys didn't complain about the culture that they found themselves in? Think about it. Because here they are in Antioch, not Jerusalem. And they didn't look back and complain about where they were. Rather what they did is they looked forward to how the Lord might use them in that location. They didn't complain that the culture had changed up on them. They think about it, they were living in a very immoral, pluralistic, multicultural community, every bit as immoral. And pluralistic and multicultural as the culture we find ourselves living in and the temptation for Christians. Is to look
back with nostalgia And wish that we were living in the 1980s. But the 1980s aren't coming back, and God hasn't called you to minister in the 1980s. He's called you to minister in this day. He's called us to minister in this day and to go to the people that he surrounded us with. And our goal as Christians is to find ways to bridge the cultural barrier between the gospel and the culture in which we live in.
● Second: They were changed by the Grace of God (v. 23a)
So the first character, the first characteristic that we see here that led these
individual Christians to break through this significant barrier is that. They were confident in the gospel of God. Here's the second one. They were changed by
the grace of God. They were changed by the grace of God. Look at verse 23.
(vs 23) “When Barnabas came and he saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose”. So Barnabas goes up there and we read, or we read. He saw it, or he witnessed the grace of God.
Well, how do you do that? How do you see or how do you witness the grace of God? Well, let me ask you this. What's #1 of the biggest issues that our country has faced since its inception? And it's on the news every single night.
Race relations, rest relations, the tension that exists between people of different cultures, people of different nationalities, people of different races.
And Barnabas, think about this. He goes up to Antioch and he sees this new community of believers that are made-up of Jews, made-up of Greeks, people from North Africa, some from Cyprus. And what they're doing is they're all living in harmony with one another. Well, how could that be? Well, here's how. Because the gospel says we're all on equal footing. Before the Lord, and what unites us in Him is far greater than any of our differences. And you'll see
in healthy churches.
You'll see harmony intergenerationally. Between people who are young and people who are old, you'll see harmony between the races, you'll see harmony between those who are affluent and those who aren't.
Why? Because Paul tells us in Galatians 3:28-29, “That there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male nor female. For you're all one in Christ Jesus.” So the gospel unites us. But here's the second thing it does. It also infuses us as we follow the way of Christ and what was the way of Christ?
Not to look to his own needs and interests, but to look to the needs and their
interests of others. Which is why Paul tells us in Philippians 2:4. “Let each of you look. Not to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
And mature healthy Christians will let go of their preferences, whether it's
in worship music or in dress, or in some other tradition. They'll let go of their preferences. For effectiveness.
And if we want to reach the surrounding culture with the gospel, we've got to
do the same. Jot down. If you're a note taker, jot down First Corinthians 9.
It's where Paul says to the Jews, “I became like a Jew that I might win some, and to the Gentiles I became like Gentiles so that I might win some. I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some.”
And so when Barnabas gets up to Antioch. He witnessed great harmony, He witnessed self sacrifice, He witnessed laying aside of preferences for the
good of the gospel. So what enabled them to reach their culture?
First, they had great confidence in the gospel of God.
Secondly, they were changed by the grace of God.
Third, they were committed to the Son of God, absolutely committed to the Son of God.
When Barnabas gets up there and he sees the great harmony that was taking place, the harmony that existed, he encouraged them. Look at the second part of verse 23. He encouraged them to remain faithful. To the Lord. With steadfast purpose. Barnabas realizes that these young believers could easily get sidetracked. They could easily get distracted or fall away from Christ. And so he wants them to remain devoted to Christ with their complete hearts. And here's the reality. Break through churches that really impact their community long term they remain focused on the life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
They don't see the gospel message as the ABC's of the Christian faith,
and then they move on to something more important. They don't do that.
They recognize that the gospel, they realize the gospel is the A-Z of the Christian faith because Jesus's words and his ways become the paradigm for how we see and how we live our lives. And as a church, the methodology may change but the message about the Lordship of Jesus Christ is non-negotiable.
Absolutely non-negotiable. So these believers in an act know, they were confident in the gospel of God. They were changed by the grace of God. They were committed to the Son of God.
● Third: They committed to the Son of God. (25).
So Barnabas went to Tarsus. To look for Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for a whole year they met with the church and they taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians.
This is such an amazing scene. I don't know if you realize how much of an amazing scene this is, because think about it, Barnabas is kind of like the lead pastor at this point, and he knows that his gifting is an encouragement and
not necessarily teaching. And so he leaves the Church in Antioch for a season, he travels up north to Tarsus, which is like 160 miles away, and he finds Saul and he brings him back back to Antioch. Saul or Paul, he brings him back to Antioch so that he could teach the word of God.
That's an amazing scene. Remember, there's no cell phones. There's no e-mail. There's no way to track each other with your mobile devices. Saul's been up in
Tarsus for about 8 years after his conversion teaching the Word of God. And Barnabas realizes for a church to continue to thrive, for a church to break through and connect with their community, what they need is a steady diet of being taught the Word of God. And in every healthy church, what you'll see is you'll see a depth to the teaching of the Word of God. And you'll see Christians.
Bringing their Bibles to church, expecting to be fed and you'll see somebody opening up the word of God. And doing their very best to explain it and apply it. And you'll see individual Christians. Individual Christ followers growing in their understanding of the Word of God and overtime what happens.
As the Spirit uses the word of God spoken in your life, what happens is the church as a whole and individual Christians will develop character that stands in sharp contrast to the rest of society. Which is exactly what you see here in Antioch because notice it says in verse 26 that they were first called Christians in Antioch. The very first time it comes about is in an act because these people, their character, had been so radically transformed that the community at large started to recognize they were actually becoming like Christ. The community at large recognized these people were distinct. Because they were committed to the Word of God, which ultimately shaped their character into Christ's likeness. So what enabled these people? Well, again, they were confident in the gospel of God. They were changed by the grace of God. They continued, or they were committed to the Son of God, and then they continued in the Word of God. Here's the last one.
They were compelled by the Spirit of God. Well, where do I get that? Well, it's in that last section with Agabus, when Agabus comes and he predicts that a famine is going to strike Judea. And Luke doesn't tell us. That Saul and Barnabas mandated a love offering to help the Judeans? No, he says in verse 29. “The disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.”
Now think about this, because in a world where everybody looks out for #1.
These Christians, compelled by the Spirit, generously gave their resources away on behalf of others. Why would they do that? Because it's exactly what
Christ has done for them. It's exactly if you are a Christian. What Christ has
done for you.
The Apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
Do you see what Paul's saying? He's saying Christ saw us that we were spiritually bankrupt in and of ourselves, and he divested himself of his glory and he entered into human history so that when we put our faith in him, we would become rich spiritually. We would gain everything through him. And one of the clearest evidences, one of the clearest evidences that the gospel has moved from mental assent to heart conviction, that it's filtered all
the way into your heart, is that when the Spirit. Promotes you to meet the needs of another. You'll generously do so to the best of your ability as
a response to what Christ has done for you. And we heard about that this morning when Christie gave the announcement that the mission trip was funded. Somebody heard there was a need. The Spirit prompted that person to meet the need, and the trip is now funded. That's a glorious thing.
That's the work of the Spirit in a person's life. And by the way, for this church in Antioch, this wasn't the only time they did this. In Acts 13: Antioch as they were praying. “The Spirit told them to release Barnabas and Saul.” Their top
2 leaders? This person says I want you to release your very best and your very brightest. To help spread the message of Christ into another region. And they freely let them go. You see, when you're living under the direction of the Holy Spirit, you're free to see your wealth. You're free to see your resources, your possessions, not as treasures to be held on too tightly, but as tools to be used in the expansion of the Kingdom. Now, I want you to look at these Christians in
Antioch. They were able to break through barriers. They were able to bring
the good news of Christ to lost people. Let me ask you. And you've got to
be honest with yourself. Don't you want to be a part of a community like that?
Don't you want to be part of a faith community that breaks down barriers and connects the gospel to people who are living far from Christ? Well, if so, what will it take? What will it take for Faith community Bible Church to reach people in the Treasure Valley who are far from Christ?
Well, at least three things. Here's the first one. It's going to, well, actually all of them. It's going to take all of us being continually captivated by the person of Christ. Continually captivated by the person of Christ who Jesus is. And what He's done has to continually fill the screen of your minds and has to continually
draw your heart affections towards him. So it's going to take every single one of us to be continually captivated by the person of Christ. Secondly, it's going to take all of us being enamored with the message of Christ.
Well, what's the message of Christ? What's the message of the Gospel?
That a person anybody can be forgiven of every single one of their sins and give a new life, eternal life in Christ Jesus by simple faith. That message. Nothing about that message. That's the best message the world has ever heard or will ever hear, and you haven't.
We haven't. And, I've been doing ministry for 23 years. A lot of times I feel Christians are ho hum about it frankly and it shocks me. Ho hum about the message of the gospel? Are you kidding me? Is that person all of their sins
can be forgiven through simple faith that they can receive new life in Christ.
That they can know that their destiny is secured forever by simple faith in Jesus Christ. That's amazing.
So it's going to take every single one of us being enamored with the message of Christ, and then it's going to take every single one of us to be transformed by the Spirit of Christ. Every single one of it, every single one of us being continually transformed by the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit's work in our life conforms our character to that of Christ's likeness so that those in the greater community would say those people, the faith community.
They're really Christ followers, they love Christ, they're committed to the Word of God, and the Spirit of God enables them to be generous and compassionate.
Now again, isn't that what you really want?
Well, if so, then I would encourage you. Not to settle for church as normal, not to settle for church as nice, not to settle for church as status quo, but for the glory of God and for the good of His people.
To be pursuing these characteristics in our own lives, which will enable us.
Individually and corporately to be more effective and more Christ-like and better be able to break down barriers and connect people with Jesus. Amen.
Once you stand, I'll pray and then we'll continue to worship the Lord.
Father, we thank you for Your Word, Your Word that continues to shape us, continues to mold us into the image of Christ. And Father, we would pray. I would pray for this community here at Faith that you would develop all of these characteristics in our lives individually and corporately as a church. So that those who are far from Jesus right now would come to know you through our lives individually and again corporately as a church. So that they would come and receive Christ as their Lord and as their King, their sins would be forgiven. A new life would be granted to him. We love you Lord, We thank you for this time in Jesus name, Amen.
What enabled the Christians in Antioch to break
through a significant barrier and reach people who
are far from Christ?
1) They were confident in the Gospel of God (v. 19-22)
2) They were changed by the Grace of God (v. 23a)
3) They were committed to the Son of God (v. 23b-24)
4) They continued in the Word of God (v. 25-26)
5) They were compelled by the Spirit of God (v. 27
What will it take for Faith Community Bible Church
to reach people in the Treasure Valley who are far
from Christ?
1) Being captivated with the Person of Christ
2) Being enamored with the Message of Christ
3) Being transformed by the Spirit of Christ