20240204 Acts 11:19-30, Witness in Antioch
According to Google, the “most Christian cities” are the Vatican, Jerusalem, Ephesus, Bethlehem, Lourdes, and Rome. If you would have googled that in the first century, from Acts 12 onward, Antioch would have made the top 2. Antioch was huge, influential, and central to Paul’s missionary work. When we learn this, we wonder how we missed this! My theory is that Antioch was so central, and Paul spent so much time there that it did not need its NT letter because it had Paul!
Acts 11:19-30 has all the main themes of Acts with a great development. The Holy Spirit is working through Christian witness to reach a new region with the gospel. Until Acts 11, Christianity was a Jewish movement. Acts 10-11 introduces Gentile conversions with Cornelius. Now, in Acts 11:19-30, Gentile conversions are the foundation for the church in Antioch.
This shift is relevant today with the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first-century church was so Jewish that it asked, “Does God accept Gentiles?” Today the church is so gentile that we ask, “Does God still have a plan for the Jews or Israel?” The book of Acts shows that God has the same plan for all people. The plan is Jesus. The church is a Jewish movement that includes Gentiles. God has one people, the body of Christ, made up of all languages and cultures. Still today, faith in the Jewish messiah is God's plan for the Jewish people.
Acts 11:19-30 highlights the activities of the church in Antioch. A commentator summarizes Acts 11:19-30 this way, “The missionary proclamation of the church is empowered by God, driven by outreach across cultural boundaries, consolidated by competent preachers, supported by teamwork, and assisted by the solidarity of believers and churches.”[i] Acts 11:19-30 focuses on Christian ministry. I want to cover three of these ministries, (1) the beginning of Ministry in Antioch, (2) the Ministry of Barnabas, and (3) the Ministry between churches.
Our text presents the first time Christians go to a city and share the gospel with Gentiles. In Acts 11:20, Christians spoke to Hellenists who were Greek-speaking gentiles. Acts 11:21 reports that "a great number who believed turned to the Lord." Cornelius' conversion taught that Gentiles could also be saved (Acts 11:18). This leads to a new kind of witnessing. This is so different than teaching Jews that Jesus was their awaited Messiah. Gentiles in Antioch had no biblical context for the gospel. Acts 13 and 17 offer more detail on the difference in preaching to Gentiles as opposed to Jews. Sharing the gospel in Antioch would be much like sharing the gospel in Brussels today. People are not familiar with the Jewish context of Christianity. There is less emphasize on the fulfillment of Scripture, but still a call to repent from sin and trusting the offer of the forgiveness of sins in Christ, because he died and rose again.
According to Acts 11:26, the Christian movement in Antioch became so successful that it needed a name. It was common for religions to be tied to a people group like the God of Israel, the Roman religion. Because followers of Jesus were so diverse their name could not be connected to a nation. They started to be called Christians! What they had in common was that they followed Christ!
Another aspect of the growth of the church is highlighted by the verb “to send.” In Acts 19:22 the Jerusalem church heard of what was happening in Antioch. The church was growing so they sent Barnabas to them. Then, because of their rapid growth, the church in Antioch was able to give back. When they heard about the famine in Judea, they sent relief their way. So Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch and Antioch sent money to Jerusalem (c.f. Acts 12:25). This is the beginning from a shift of influence away from the church in Jerusalem to the church in Antioch.[iv]
Applications
First, expect diversity in the church. In Acts, the church is becoming more diverse. Today, the Christianity is the most diverse religion. The numbers are from 2010. 36% of Christians were in the Americas, 26% in Europe, 24% in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 13% in Asia-Pacific. No other religion comes close to the diversity Christianity enjoys!
The Christian church is the largest religion. It is the largest multiracial, multinational, multicultural community that exists. Margaret Mead, a well-known American anthropologist, saw in Vancouver in 1983 the thousands of Christians from all over the world who had gathered for the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, she exclaimed, ‘You are a sociological impossibility!’
Through Jesus, God has broken down the barriers which divided us, and by reconciling us to himself, has reconciled us to one another.[v] Jesus is so glorious that when we look to him, our different political opinions, our love of country, favorite sports team, become insignificant. This is a sign of a healthy church. Jesus becomes our all in all, we can become close to people who are different than us because Jesus has become our life and their life!
A second application is Expect God to move in a city like Brussels. Our bent is probably to consider that because of secularism, that people would not come to faith in Brussels. The same could have been said in Antioch. It was diverse in the same ways that we are today and yet Christianity grew. When you think of witnessing in Brussels, remember Antioch!
In Acts 11:23 he “exhorts.” The verb to exhort is the same root in Greek as the word “encouragement” to describe Barnabas as a “son of encouragement.” It is the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit as the comforter or Jesus as our advocate. This word is hard to translate. It has a wide range of meanings. It has some force to it. Whether you exhort, encourage, comfort, advocate, you use words for an impact. There is also an aspect that the subject of the verb always has the object’s best interest at heart. Whether it refers to tough love, speaking in someone’s defense, just offering kind, soft uplifting words, it is this behind Barnabas’ name and what he was doing. Barnabas is “Barnabassing.”
We could see his work as the perfect combination of truth and love. The right combination of truth and love is so difficult and so needed. If all we do is affirm people, that is cowardly. If we give advice too quickly, we are impatient and unloving. If all we do is affirm, people will love what we are saying. If we offer truth without love, people will dismiss us.
We need gentle exhorters! Often our biggest sin habits have been so ingrained in us that we are blind to them and need someone to love us and challenge us. The text says Barnabas “exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,” for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.”
In the following verse, Acts 11:24, people were added to the Lord. Barnabas did not go to preach the gospel to unbelievers. It is as if indirectly, a community of encouragement, and truth and love is one in which transformation happens and people come to the LORD.
The next thing we read about Barnabas is the following the growth, he gets Saul. Paul was the right person for the job because the Lord told him he would be God’s instrument to carry God’s name before the Gentiles. According to Acts 11:26 Barnabas and Saul remained in Antioch for a whole year to teach the church and many people. To be effective in ministry we do not have to do it all ourselves, but humility leads us to recognize other people’s strengths to entrust them with service and see God work in amazing ways through them.
Application
Barnabas is a prominent character through Acts 15. The last we hear of him, Paul and Barnabas part ways. While Paul refused to take Mark who deserted them in the past, Barnabas wants to give him a second chance. We learn that Barnabas is generous with his money. He is one who encourages. He gives people the benefit of the doubt and second chances. He is full of the Holy Spirit and urges people to remain faithful in their walk with Christ. Barnabas is the kind of person that we want around us and the kind of people that we want to be for each other. Life gets hard, we need those kinds of friends. The key is not to try harder to be more like Barnabas. The text says, Barnabas was full of the Holy Spirit almost to say, don’t look to Barnabas to be like Barnabas but look to the Holy Spirit. Barnabas was able to encourage because he was full of the Holy Spirit, the real encourager.
How can we be full of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit fills all believers. When the Bible speaks of believers being full of the Holy Spirit they are not indicating that more Holy Spirit was given to them but rather that the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit was evident in their lives. For us to be full of the Holy Spirit, in this sense, we need to make ourselves available to God’s work. We put ourselves in situations where he promises to work in us. What it means to be full in the Holy Spirit is to follow Acts 2:41-47. We need meals together, study scripture together, to pray together, to take communion together, worship, get to know, care, and bless one another. The Spirit works in us and through us as we commit to practicing the church activities God gives the church. Like Barnabas, our ministry to one another becomes gentle, kind, firm, and winsome, and full of the Holy Spirit!
[i] Schnabel on Acts 11:19-30. .
[ii] Acts 11:19 refers to the content of Acts 8:4. Following Stephen’s murder and the persecution of the church, the Christians in Jerusalem scatter and spread to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Phoenicia is particularly important. It was part of the land promised to Abraham in Gen 15 and land that the people of Israel never possessed in the OT. Perhaps the inclusion of Phoenicia here is to show that the land promise has now been completely fulfilled! God’s people are in the whole promised Land. .
[iii] More information on Antioch - After Alexander the Great’s death, his kingdom was split in two. The Ptolemies made Alexandria their capital in Egypt and the Seleucids made Antioch their capital in Syria. When the Romans conquered the Greek empire, Antioch became the capital of the Roman province of Syria. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-church-in-antioch
[iv] In Acts 13 to 21, Paul goes on three missionary journeys, Antioch is the city he begins in and ends before finishing in Jerusalem after the third journey. .
[v] John Stott, Christian Basics, Ch 9. .
[vi] I so want to touch on the topic of mercy ministries. It is a hot topic in some churches. This is where we all agree. The church must care for its own members and churches must care for Christians and churches outside of its walls. The second point that all agree on is that all Christians must be salt and light in the world, doing good, being generous however they see fit so that unbelievers would see and give glory to God. The debate is often the role of the church in charity works that do not have a gospel component. In the debate, some distinguish what the church the institution is to be doing vs what individual Christians are called to do. In accord with our study in the book of Acts, we want to prioritize Acts 2:41-47. We want to teach the bible, pray, worship, have meals in each other’s homes, care for one another sacrificially. Second we want to care for other churches. Third, we want to send everyone to be salt and light. Fourthly, In Matt 25, Jesus makes it clear that we will be judged based on whether we fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited those who were in prison. It is the church’s responsibility to equip Christians to do those things. Therefore, we can partner with organization and send people to be salt and light there. Even when the ministry is not explicitly Christian, loving people freely, is an outworking of the love of Christ and can lead to gospel conversations!
Acts 11:19-30 has all the main themes of Acts with a great development. The Holy Spirit is working through Christian witness to reach a new region with the gospel. Until Acts 11, Christianity was a Jewish movement. Acts 10-11 introduces Gentile conversions with Cornelius. Now, in Acts 11:19-30, Gentile conversions are the foundation for the church in Antioch.
This shift is relevant today with the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first-century church was so Jewish that it asked, “Does God accept Gentiles?” Today the church is so gentile that we ask, “Does God still have a plan for the Jews or Israel?” The book of Acts shows that God has the same plan for all people. The plan is Jesus. The church is a Jewish movement that includes Gentiles. God has one people, the body of Christ, made up of all languages and cultures. Still today, faith in the Jewish messiah is God's plan for the Jewish people.
Acts 11:19-30 highlights the activities of the church in Antioch. A commentator summarizes Acts 11:19-30 this way, “The missionary proclamation of the church is empowered by God, driven by outreach across cultural boundaries, consolidated by competent preachers, supported by teamwork, and assisted by the solidarity of believers and churches.”[i] Acts 11:19-30 focuses on Christian ministry. I want to cover three of these ministries, (1) the beginning of Ministry in Antioch, (2) the Ministry of Barnabas, and (3) the Ministry between churches.
First, we look at the beginning of the Ministry in Antioch in Acts 11:19-21, 26
Acts 11:19-21 describes the conversions of people in Antioch[ii] This is some information about Antioch.[iii] Antioch had half a million people. It was the third-largest city in that day. It was diverse in religion, worldviews, and social classes. It was a Greek city, ruled by Romans. 5% of the population was Jewish. There were trade routes from China to Antioch. You would have also seen people from Asia in Antioch. Walking in Antioch in some ways could feel like walking in Brussels today! It was where money and opportunities were found!Our text presents the first time Christians go to a city and share the gospel with Gentiles. In Acts 11:20, Christians spoke to Hellenists who were Greek-speaking gentiles. Acts 11:21 reports that "a great number who believed turned to the Lord." Cornelius' conversion taught that Gentiles could also be saved (Acts 11:18). This leads to a new kind of witnessing. This is so different than teaching Jews that Jesus was their awaited Messiah. Gentiles in Antioch had no biblical context for the gospel. Acts 13 and 17 offer more detail on the difference in preaching to Gentiles as opposed to Jews. Sharing the gospel in Antioch would be much like sharing the gospel in Brussels today. People are not familiar with the Jewish context of Christianity. There is less emphasize on the fulfillment of Scripture, but still a call to repent from sin and trusting the offer of the forgiveness of sins in Christ, because he died and rose again.
According to Acts 11:26, the Christian movement in Antioch became so successful that it needed a name. It was common for religions to be tied to a people group like the God of Israel, the Roman religion. Because followers of Jesus were so diverse their name could not be connected to a nation. They started to be called Christians! What they had in common was that they followed Christ!
Another aspect of the growth of the church is highlighted by the verb “to send.” In Acts 19:22 the Jerusalem church heard of what was happening in Antioch. The church was growing so they sent Barnabas to them. Then, because of their rapid growth, the church in Antioch was able to give back. When they heard about the famine in Judea, they sent relief their way. So Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch and Antioch sent money to Jerusalem (c.f. Acts 12:25). This is the beginning from a shift of influence away from the church in Jerusalem to the church in Antioch.[iv]
Applications
First, expect diversity in the church. In Acts, the church is becoming more diverse. Today, the Christianity is the most diverse religion. The numbers are from 2010. 36% of Christians were in the Americas, 26% in Europe, 24% in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 13% in Asia-Pacific. No other religion comes close to the diversity Christianity enjoys!
The Christian church is the largest religion. It is the largest multiracial, multinational, multicultural community that exists. Margaret Mead, a well-known American anthropologist, saw in Vancouver in 1983 the thousands of Christians from all over the world who had gathered for the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, she exclaimed, ‘You are a sociological impossibility!’
Through Jesus, God has broken down the barriers which divided us, and by reconciling us to himself, has reconciled us to one another.[v] Jesus is so glorious that when we look to him, our different political opinions, our love of country, favorite sports team, become insignificant. This is a sign of a healthy church. Jesus becomes our all in all, we can become close to people who are different than us because Jesus has become our life and their life!
A second application is Expect God to move in a city like Brussels. Our bent is probably to consider that because of secularism, that people would not come to faith in Brussels. The same could have been said in Antioch. It was diverse in the same ways that we are today and yet Christianity grew. When you think of witnessing in Brussels, remember Antioch!
Second, we look at the Ministry of Barnabas in Acts 11:22-26
The church in Antioch had grown so significantly that the Jerusalem church decided to send Barnabas. In Acts 4:36 we learn that Barnabas means “son of encouragement” (παρακλησεως) and that he sold a field and gave money to the church. In Acts 9:27 when people were suspicious of Paul, the persecutor turned Christian, Barnabas defended Paul. Barnabas was wealthy, generous, gracious, and courageous.In Acts 11:23 he “exhorts.” The verb to exhort is the same root in Greek as the word “encouragement” to describe Barnabas as a “son of encouragement.” It is the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit as the comforter or Jesus as our advocate. This word is hard to translate. It has a wide range of meanings. It has some force to it. Whether you exhort, encourage, comfort, advocate, you use words for an impact. There is also an aspect that the subject of the verb always has the object’s best interest at heart. Whether it refers to tough love, speaking in someone’s defense, just offering kind, soft uplifting words, it is this behind Barnabas’ name and what he was doing. Barnabas is “Barnabassing.”
We could see his work as the perfect combination of truth and love. The right combination of truth and love is so difficult and so needed. If all we do is affirm people, that is cowardly. If we give advice too quickly, we are impatient and unloving. If all we do is affirm, people will love what we are saying. If we offer truth without love, people will dismiss us.
We need gentle exhorters! Often our biggest sin habits have been so ingrained in us that we are blind to them and need someone to love us and challenge us. The text says Barnabas “exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,” for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.”
In the following verse, Acts 11:24, people were added to the Lord. Barnabas did not go to preach the gospel to unbelievers. It is as if indirectly, a community of encouragement, and truth and love is one in which transformation happens and people come to the LORD.
The next thing we read about Barnabas is the following the growth, he gets Saul. Paul was the right person for the job because the Lord told him he would be God’s instrument to carry God’s name before the Gentiles. According to Acts 11:26 Barnabas and Saul remained in Antioch for a whole year to teach the church and many people. To be effective in ministry we do not have to do it all ourselves, but humility leads us to recognize other people’s strengths to entrust them with service and see God work in amazing ways through them.
Application
Barnabas is a prominent character through Acts 15. The last we hear of him, Paul and Barnabas part ways. While Paul refused to take Mark who deserted them in the past, Barnabas wants to give him a second chance. We learn that Barnabas is generous with his money. He is one who encourages. He gives people the benefit of the doubt and second chances. He is full of the Holy Spirit and urges people to remain faithful in their walk with Christ. Barnabas is the kind of person that we want around us and the kind of people that we want to be for each other. Life gets hard, we need those kinds of friends. The key is not to try harder to be more like Barnabas. The text says, Barnabas was full of the Holy Spirit almost to say, don’t look to Barnabas to be like Barnabas but look to the Holy Spirit. Barnabas was able to encourage because he was full of the Holy Spirit, the real encourager.
How can we be full of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit fills all believers. When the Bible speaks of believers being full of the Holy Spirit they are not indicating that more Holy Spirit was given to them but rather that the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit was evident in their lives. For us to be full of the Holy Spirit, in this sense, we need to make ourselves available to God’s work. We put ourselves in situations where he promises to work in us. What it means to be full in the Holy Spirit is to follow Acts 2:41-47. We need meals together, study scripture together, to pray together, to take communion together, worship, get to know, care, and bless one another. The Spirit works in us and through us as we commit to practicing the church activities God gives the church. Like Barnabas, our ministry to one another becomes gentle, kind, firm, and winsome, and full of the Holy Spirit!
Third, we see Ministry Between Churches in Acts 11:27-30
While Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch, prophets predicted a famine in the Jerusalem region (Acts 11:27-28). The church in Antioch sent relief to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas (11:29-30). We have already seen care within the community. Acts 2:41-47 teaches about people giving for the needs from within the church community. Now, this is something new. We see Christians from one region also giving to help out Christians in a different region.Application
There are many local churches, but Christ only has one church. For God’s kingdom to grow we want to be healthy and we want other churches to be healthy, and we want more churches to start and we want those churches to be healthy! We work together! A healthy church has healthy relationships with other churches. It is also eager to give resources away for the sake of the gospel. What Jesus did on the cross, bearing our sin, paying for our punishment was so generous that Christians are moved by Christ become more generous. The gospel also has a unifying effect. The gospel is by far the greatest news. All those who are captivated by it are united by it. The gospel becomes our common framework for life. Its beauty compels us to give sacrificially to gospel causes elsewhere.
I want to share about how we have benefitted in our church from this. Hope is connected in different ways to many churches. First locally, before Hope, the Brinks were part of a church in Brussels. From the beginning they let that church know that they were here to start another church. Their church was very supportive and even encouraged some of their people to come start Hope!
Now a bit more broadly in Europe, we are part of a denomination called the International Presbyterian Church it is a network of church that exists to care for one another and offer support and accountability. The Bacons and Brinks are part of a Missions Organization called Mission to the World which serves as a missions organization for close to 2000 churches in the US. Many of those churches give resources and money to help fund workers who can go throughout the world to start new churches. Because of where we are in this journey, we are like Antioch in Acts 11:22 where they receive Barnabas. But while we are more on the receiving end than the giving end we would like to start giving from the beginning. We will keep you posted! Our desire is to give 10% of the church's budget away.[vi]
There are many local churches, but Christ only has one church. For God’s kingdom to grow we want to be healthy and we want other churches to be healthy, and we want more churches to start and we want those churches to be healthy! We work together! A healthy church has healthy relationships with other churches. It is also eager to give resources away for the sake of the gospel. What Jesus did on the cross, bearing our sin, paying for our punishment was so generous that Christians are moved by Christ become more generous. The gospel also has a unifying effect. The gospel is by far the greatest news. All those who are captivated by it are united by it. The gospel becomes our common framework for life. Its beauty compels us to give sacrificially to gospel causes elsewhere.
I want to share about how we have benefitted in our church from this. Hope is connected in different ways to many churches. First locally, before Hope, the Brinks were part of a church in Brussels. From the beginning they let that church know that they were here to start another church. Their church was very supportive and even encouraged some of their people to come start Hope!
Now a bit more broadly in Europe, we are part of a denomination called the International Presbyterian Church it is a network of church that exists to care for one another and offer support and accountability. The Bacons and Brinks are part of a Missions Organization called Mission to the World which serves as a missions organization for close to 2000 churches in the US. Many of those churches give resources and money to help fund workers who can go throughout the world to start new churches. Because of where we are in this journey, we are like Antioch in Acts 11:22 where they receive Barnabas. But while we are more on the receiving end than the giving end we would like to start giving from the beginning. We will keep you posted! Our desire is to give 10% of the church's budget away.[vi]
Conclusion
In Acts 11:19-30, we learn about the birth of a very influential church in the first century, the church in Antioch. This church marks a shift in Acts. It is the first majority gentile church. For the first time, the Jerusalem church is not just sending, but now also receiving. We learn that the gospel is for all people even those with no context for the Christian message.We learn from Barnabas’s winsome ministry, some traits of ministry to one another. We need to be full of the Holy Spirit to be generous, and courageous, coming along side one another to urge each other to persevere in the faith.
Finally we see churches are connected. There is just one team. This is the unifying effect of the gospel. God’s church is unified in Christ and by sacrificial giving. If we can bless other churches we bless God’s church. In a way, in blessing others, we bless ourselves. That is how united we are. The Jerusalem church sent Barnabas. Barnabas strengthened the church in Antioch. The church in Antioch was in a place where they could bless the Jerusalem church. With this picture in mind, as people united to Christ and captivated by his generosity on the cross, we will see the elements of this text in our church.
[i] Schnabel on Acts 11:19-30. .
[ii] Acts 11:19 refers to the content of Acts 8:4. Following Stephen’s murder and the persecution of the church, the Christians in Jerusalem scatter and spread to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Phoenicia is particularly important. It was part of the land promised to Abraham in Gen 15 and land that the people of Israel never possessed in the OT. Perhaps the inclusion of Phoenicia here is to show that the land promise has now been completely fulfilled! God’s people are in the whole promised Land. .
[iii] More information on Antioch - After Alexander the Great’s death, his kingdom was split in two. The Ptolemies made Alexandria their capital in Egypt and the Seleucids made Antioch their capital in Syria. When the Romans conquered the Greek empire, Antioch became the capital of the Roman province of Syria. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-church-in-antioch
[iv] In Acts 13 to 21, Paul goes on three missionary journeys, Antioch is the city he begins in and ends before finishing in Jerusalem after the third journey. .
[v] John Stott, Christian Basics, Ch 9. .
[vi] I so want to touch on the topic of mercy ministries. It is a hot topic in some churches. This is where we all agree. The church must care for its own members and churches must care for Christians and churches outside of its walls. The second point that all agree on is that all Christians must be salt and light in the world, doing good, being generous however they see fit so that unbelievers would see and give glory to God. The debate is often the role of the church in charity works that do not have a gospel component. In the debate, some distinguish what the church the institution is to be doing vs what individual Christians are called to do. In accord with our study in the book of Acts, we want to prioritize Acts 2:41-47. We want to teach the bible, pray, worship, have meals in each other’s homes, care for one another sacrificially. Second we want to care for other churches. Third, we want to send everyone to be salt and light. Fourthly, In Matt 25, Jesus makes it clear that we will be judged based on whether we fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited those who were in prison. It is the church’s responsibility to equip Christians to do those things. Therefore, we can partner with organization and send people to be salt and light there. Even when the ministry is not explicitly Christian, loving people freely, is an outworking of the love of Christ and can lead to gospel conversations!
Comments
Post a Comment