‘ON THE MOVE OUT INTO THE WORLD’
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 30, 2022 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: November 30, 2022 from Acts 11:19-30
Theme: There are certain things that characterize the church on the move out into the world.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
In John 12, we’re told about how the Lord Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem. He came to the city in what we call ‘the triumphant entry’. It was indeed ‘a triumph’. But it was a triumph that first required His sacrifice for us on the cross.
And as the Lord Jesus rode into the city, and the crowds celebrated, there was an event that occurred that was very significant. It may have seemed insignificant at the time; but it foretold what was going to happen because of the fact that the Lord Jesus laid down His life. In verses 20-22, we’re told;
Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus (John 12:20-22).
That’s all that we hear of this unusual event. Some Greeks—Gentiles—who were visiting the city of Jerusalem for the Passover Feast had heard about Jesus. They saw the commotion and the celebration. And even though they were outsiders to the covenant promises of Israel, they longed for Him. They asked His disciples if they may see Him. And as soon as Jesus heard about it, He declared,
“The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified” (v. 23).
He didn’t come to die for the people of Israel only. He came to die for all the people of the world. And this tiny picture of the Greeks seeking to speak to Him was a hint of what we now find happening in the 11th chapter of the Book of Acts. It’s there that we find the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ spreading and reaching the Greeks of the Gentile world.
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So far, in Acts 10-11, we’ve seen how it was God’s plan—all along—that the good news of Jesus spread to the Gentile world. He had changed the apostle Peter’s heart, opened him up to His love for the Gentiles, and sent him to proclaim the message to the household of the Roman centurion Cornelius. By the end of that story, in Acts 11:18, we find that the believers in Jerusalem had become convinced, and finally said, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”
The church was to move out and share the message of Jesus’ love with the world. And so, in the passage before us, we see a picture of the things that the church does while it’s on the move.
First, we see that, by nature, the church is missional; and that …
1. IT SPREADS THE GOSPEL TO THE UNREACHED (vv. 19-21).
The story picks up from what happened in Chapter 7. Stephen—the church’s first martyr—had been stoned to death; and a great persecution of the believers in Jerusalem occurred. Many had to flee. But this was in keeping with the promise of the Lord Jesus that His followers would be His witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). And so, we’re told in Acts 11:19;
“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” (v. 19).
The remote places that the Jewish followers of Jesus went were such places as Phonecia (which was north of Galilee), and Cyprus (which was the large island off the western coast of the Mediterranean Sea), and even up north to Antioch in Syria (which, at the time, was one of the largest cities in the ancient Roman empire; still existing today as the modern city of Atakya in Turkey). They didn’t preach the gospel to the Gentiles in those places at that time, however. They only spoke to the Jews. This would have been in keeping with what we’re told about the gospel in Romans 1:16—that it’s “for the Jew first”. (It was the pattern that we find in the ministry of Paul later on. Whenever he entered a new city, he always went to preach in the synagogues first; and then only to the Gentiles after the Jews had rejected the message.)
But then, certain of the Jewish believers who went to these different places did something bold. They took to heart the love for the Gentiles that God had already begun to reveal through the apostle Peter, and they preached the gospel directly to the Gentiles! Verse 20 tells us;
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 (v. 20).
These Jewish preachers were from diverse places themselves. Some were from the far northwest, from the island of Cyprus. But others were from Cyrene, on the northern tip of Libya in North Africa. They preached to the “Hellenists”—or “Grecians”, as they’re called in the King James Version. These were not merely Greek-speaking Jews (as we find in Acts 6:1), but were Gentiles as distinguished from Jews.
It was a daring move for the Jewish church to take. But it was clearly from God. Verse 21 tells us;
And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord (v. 21).
So; here’s one of the first things we see about the church on the move. It spreads. It takes the good news of the gospel to people who would not otherwise hear it. It ignores all borders and boundaries. The work of missions is in the very nature of the church; and when it is under God’s control, it cannot help but spread the gospel and expand to other regions.
But the church on the move doesn’t just spread and grow. As we read on, we see that …
2. IT ENCOURAGES THOSE WHO BELIEVE (vv. 22-24).
At this point in the church’s history, Jerusalem was still ‘home-base’. They greeted the news about the Hellenistic believers with enthusiasm; because they now knew that God’s plan was to spread the good news of Jesus to all the people of the world. So; verse 22 tells us;
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 (v. 23).
Barnabas is a man who has already been introduced to us. In Acts 5:36, we’re told that his real name was Joses; but he was nicknamed “Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement)”. He was a generous follower of Jesus who gave toward the support of his fellow believers in need. He was also the one who first put his arm around Saul of Tarsus (that is, Paul), and helped to welcome him into the church after he believed (Acts 9:27). He was the kind of man that the church in Jerusalem could trust to go out and investigate the news of what was happening in Antioch. Verses 23-24 tell us;
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. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith (vv. 23-24a).
He was able to serve as an encouragement to the new believers from the Greek world in Antioch; and was able to help establish them in the faith and to teach them the basics of what they needed to know to follow Jesus—forming them into a church body. And God’s hand was clearly upon his work; because verse 24 goes on to tell us;
And a great many people were added to the Lord (v. 24b).
This is just like what was happening in the early church in Jerusalem; where we’re told, “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). And so; here’s another thing that we discover about the church on the move. It not only spreads to unreached places in the form of missions; but it also establishes the believers into a local church body.
A third thing that we see that the church on the move does is that …
3. IT TEACHES AND INSTRUCTS (vv. 25-26).
Barnabas must have realized that the work was greater than he could do alone. He was a wise man who sought out an appropriate ministry partner. And he knew exactly who it was that should share the work with him. Verses 25-26 tell us;
Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch (vv. 25-26a).
Part of the reason for this might have been that Barnabas already knew that the Lord had called out Saul—from the very beginning—to minister to the Gentiles. But it also might have been because he knew Saul’s background and qualifications. This foundational new work in the spread of the gospel to the Gentile world couldn’t be shared with just anyone; and Saul was a remarkable man. Saul knew the Scriptures thoroughly. He had been trained in the finest school by the best of Jewish teachers. And he had also already proven himself to be a man of diligence (even though—at one time—that diligence had been misdirected toward persecuting the church that he now loved and served). It’s one of the greatest “redemption” stories in history; and it proved to be one of the greatest decisions in all the history of the spread of the gospel. Verse 26 goes on to tell us,
So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people (v. 26b).
This makes the team of Barnabas and Saul the first missionary team in church history. And the blessings of God upon their work of establishing and teaching the believers is testified to us in what we find at the end of verse 26;
And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (v. 26c).
It may have been that the name “Christian” was originally intended as an insult. King Agrippa once told Paul—in what seemed like a derisive tone—“You almost persuade me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28). Peter once wrote to his fellow believers who were suffering persecution that, if they suffer as “Christians”, they should not be ashamed (1 Peter 4:16). But however the name came to be, it was an honor to bear the name of Christ. And the believers first officially bore that name—not in Jerusalem as Jewish believers—but in Antioch as Greek believers!
And so; here we see a third thing that the church on the move does. It helps to teach those who believe—making them strong and faithful in the Lord.
And there’s one more thing we see about the church on the move out into the world; and that is that …
4. IT LOVES IN PRACTICAL WAYS (vv. 27-30).
That demonstration of love occurred because of what we read in verses 27-28;
And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. 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 (vv. 27-28).
This remarkable man named Agabus will show up again in the Book of Acts. In Acts 21, while Paul was in Caesarea on his way to Jerusalem, Agabus came up from Judea to him, took off Paul’s belt, bound Paul with it, and said “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles’” (Acts 21:11). This prophet Agabus was recognized in the early church as a man who spoke faithfully from God. And so; when the church heard the warning from him that there would be a famine coming, they took it seriously.
This great famine was going to come upon all the inhabited world (and we can assume this means the inhabited world of the Roman Empire). Luke tells us that this severe famine eventually occurred under the reign of Caesar Claudius (41-54 A.D.). And before it happened, the early church in Antioch took the warning as a cue to get into action. And look at what they did! We’re told in verses 29-30;
Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul (vv. 29-30).
Their attitude was very much like what the apostle Paul wrote about later in Romans 15:25-27;
But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things (Romans 15:25-27).
In doing this, the church in Antioch was behaving toward their Jewish brethren as their Jewish brethren themselves—at one time—had behaved toward one another (Acts 2:44-45 and 4:32-35). And as we’re told, the church in Antioch sent this gift by the trustworthy hands of Barnabas and Saul. In a sense, the church came around full circle—spreading out in love to the Gentile world, and the Gentile believers spreading out in love back to their Jewish brethren.
What a demonstration of love this must have been! Just think of how it must have encouraged the Jewish believers that these believing Greeks truly had become their brothers and sisters in Christ. And that’s what the church on the move does. It shows love to the brethren in practical ways.
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So then; when Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem long ago to die for us, some of the people of the Gentile world sought Him—even while many of His Jewish kinsmen were rejecting Him. It was in His plan all along to extend His love beyond Jerusalem and even to them. And His church must naturally have the same desire that He has.
There may be lots of ways that lots of people seek to define the deeds of the church. But here—in the early church of Antioch—we see four clear, definitive things that characterize the church on the move, in the call of God, out into the world: (1) it spreads out to reach unreached people, (2) it encourages those who believe and forms them together, (3) it teaches and establishes the community of believers to grow and to obey their Lord, and (4) it demonstrates practical love beyond its boundaries toward others who love Jesus.
May God help us to follow this model of the church on the move in the world!
AE
