It is Thursday as we continue our reading thru the New Testament in a Year. Today’s reading is Acts 11. Read it first and please come back so that we might walk through it together.
“Trouble, we got trouble...”. That might have been the initial conversation back in Jerusalem when word reaches the church there of what Peter did in going to Cornelius’ household. They didn’t know the details of what happened, but what they did know was that Peter broke the Jewish laws prohibiting Jews to go into Gentile homes. It’s interesting to note, there are no specific laws in the Old Testament prohibiting Jews from being involved with Gentiles. What had developed over centuries of time was tradition that became rules for Jewish behavior. Going into a Gentile household to break bread was prohibited by Jewish Rabbis.
While the early church knew that the Gospel was to be preached throughout the world, the prevailing opinion was that the Gentiles would come first to the Jews, go through the rites of circumcision, and adopt the Jewish faith as they became part of the Church. The idea that the Gentiles would bypass being a Jew was not the prevailing opinion. Yet this is what God had done in the salvation of Cornelius, his family, and friends. God had demonstrated to Peter and the six Jewish believers Peter had brought along with him that he intended on bringing Gentiles into the church the same way he had brought the Jewish people - by grace, through faith in Jesus.
Peter’s return to Jerusalem gave him the opportunity to share the details of what happened to the leaders of the church - the other Apostles. Luke rewrites the details of chapter 10, in a slightly abbreviated way, all over again through Peter’s retelling of what happened when he went to Cornelius. Without repeating the details we just read yesterday, Peter makes it clear that the initiative, plan, and actions were all of God. It was God who had spoken to Cornelius. It was God who gave Peter the roof-top vision. It was God who was preparing both ends of the purposed outcome - that the Holy Spirit would prove that the Gentiles were on equal ground with Peter and his group of believing Jews. Luke said it previously in the present tense, and now through Peter says it again in the past tense: “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” (Vs 17, NIV). That was the main point of Peter’s report. He didn’t initiate anything, it was God who showed that HIS WAY was to include the Gentiles even as he had first given the Gospel to the Jewish Apostles.
Again, the church up to this point in time had been 100% Jewish. There had developed in Jerusalem a desire among early church leaders to incorporate their faith in Jesus within Judaism - after all, Jesus was the Messiah! The Jerusalem church didn’t think the Gospel would change everything - including their Jewish background. The main point of the book of Acts is to describe how the Gospel was going to change the world - not just Israel. Indeed, Luke’s point throughout the Acts story seems to be “who are we to think we can stand in God’s way”? The Gospel is not a sectarian belief, nor an institutional one either. No one group of people commands the essence of what the Gospel is all about. We who are entrusted with the Gospel don’t have the prerogative to change the message, but we do have the need to constantly think about the method of its spread. The early church was discovering what churches today also have to discover.
The Jerusalem church - in the end - agreed that Peter had done the right thing. Now Luke quickly shifts the focus from Jerusalem to the far north city of Antioch. In vs 19, Luke recalls that the persecution (Acts8) that had previously scattered believers led some to three distinct places that were predominantly Gentile. Having recalled Peter’s work with the Gospel among the Gentiles, Luke is quick to point out that it didn’t stop in Caesarea. Phonecia is a narrow country immediately north of Israel’s northern borders. Cyprus was an island nation about 70 miles off the coast of Phonecia. Antioch was a major thoroughfare and culturally diverse city north on the Orontes River. It was the third-largest city in the Roman Empire. Estimates varied of how large it was but it may have been as large as 500,000 citizens.
We notice immediately that Luke does not share the names of those who were carrying the Gospel into these new lands. He makes it clear that the initiative came from those who had received the message in Cyprus. They were referred to as “men from Cyprus and Cyrene” - i.e., Gentiles converted by the Gospel in Cyprus. These newly formed Gentile converts soon picked up the mantle of missions and begin by going to Antioch in order to “tell them the good news (Gospel means good news) about the Lord Jesus Christ (vs 20). The effect of this was again to demonstrate that it was all a work of God - “The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” (Vs 21). When news of this evangelism explosion reached the Jerusalem church, they commission Barnabas to go find out what was happening. Barnabas was originally from Cyprus (4:36), and because of his background and gifts, he was the logical choice among the leadership to ascertain what was happening.
Barnabas’ arrival was summarized by Luke with the words: “When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he 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. And a great many people were added to the Lord.” (Vss 23,24). The interesting thing to ponder here is just what did Barnabas see that made it clear that the grace of God had come to this multi-ethnic diverse group of people in Antioch? Perhaps that is also the answer. God had begun to spread the Gospel message world-wide and Antioch was the perfect beginning point to do so. It was a city filled with diverse ethnic groups, and somehow they had managed to develop a city that worked well together. One thing seems clear - the church in Antioch grew quickly - “a great many people” describes the power of the Gospel to bring in many different people into this newly formed church.
Barnabas saw it all and knew immediately - we need help here! Tarsus was another city to the north of Antioch - about 100 miles north. Barnabas knew that Saul had returned home 10 years previously after plots to kill him in Jerusalem had been discovered. It was Barnabas who had taken Saul, after he had fled Damascus and journeyed back to Jerusalem, and introduced him to the Apostolic leadership. Saul had thought he could preach and teach in Jerusalem, but God had other plans - plans that would take ten years of time to develop. Saul (his Hebrew name) was soon to become Paul (Greek name) had been settled in Tarsus for about 10 years now. One cannot help but wonder if Saul thought he was put in Tarsus by God and would remain there forever. He had - by his own admission in Galatians - settled into his home area and was doing the work of ministry in that region. Thoughts? Set-aside? Put on the shelf? “I persecuted the church, killed, imprisoned other believers, this is what I deserve”...we don’t know what was going on in Saul’s mind during those years. What we do know is that he served in anonymity, without being noticed, or referred to by anyone in the church in Jerusalem - God was preparing this man for the years that would follow.
Barnabas journeyed 100 miles north to find Saul - and when he did he brought him back to Antioch where the two of them pastored and discipled this new church of newly converted Gentile and Jewish believers. Here, in Antioch, probably around 45 a.d., the followers of Jesus Christ came to be called “Christians” (from the Greek, ‘Christianos’). It may have developed in Antioch as a not so subtle derogatory word - “those who follow Christ”. Luke gives the name a word of honor. These Christians were brothers and sisters in Christ, disciples of Jesus, followers of Jesus’ way... no one referred to them as “members” of a church. The Church in Antioch serves as a learning ground for Saul’s future missionary ministry. He teaches, disciples, organizes, and develops a church that is an organism, not an organization. When a Prophetic word is spoken about a coming famine, (which would occur around this time, 46 a.d., when Claudius is emperor), the church in Antioch springs to action in order to help the believers in Jerusalem.
It is coming more and more into focus. God has a world-wide vision and he is preparing the man for the mission and preparing the church for the mission. This early church in Antioch has my deep, deep admiration for showing us how a church can be effective in being a force for the Gospel and for the city...they go hand in hand. Make no mistake, the church grows, not because they develop their vision for how to succeed in Antioch, but because they see “the hand of God” at work in, through, and among them. This is church!
Peace
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