Acts 11:19-30 - First Called Christians — Transcript

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1. 0:01[Music]
2. 0:06all right are you ready
3. 0:07to bring the bible
4. 0:09all right open it up now acts chapter
5. 0:1111. open it up turn it on whatever you
6. 0:13need to
7. 0:14do father in heaven thank you that we
8. 0:18can come together this morning and lord
9. 0:21i i just thank you for this global media
10. 0:23outreach and that it's a it's a way that
11. 0:26you're reaching people
12. 0:28literally in every country of the earth
13. 0:30how wonderful that is lord and so we
14. 0:32pray for your blessing on it
15. 0:34and i pray that you'd call many people
16. 0:36among our congregation to be online
17. 0:38missionaries lord
18. 0:40and lord i just thank you for the
19. 0:41opportunity we have right here right now
20. 0:43to get into your word
21. 0:44and to feed our soul
22. 0:47on jesus and on his truth for us so do
23. 0:50it lord we pray this in jesus name amen
24. 0:54in acts chapter 11 today we come to this
25. 0:57great great section
26. 0:59where
27. 1:00the gospel is going to establish a brand
28. 1:04new wonderful beachhead in a city that
29. 1:07we really haven't had occasion to
30. 1:08mention yet so far in the book of acts
31. 1:10we've talked about jerusalem a lot
32. 1:12we've talked a little bit about samaria
33. 1:15we've talked a little bit about judea
34. 1:16we've talked about some of the other
35. 1:18places but now we're going to come to
36. 1:19understand a new place in the geography
37. 1:22of the book of acts and it's an exciting
38. 1:25city called
39. 1:26antioch let me read our text for us this
40. 1:28morning starting acts chapter 11 verse
41. 1:3119 where we read
42. 1:32now those who were scattered after the
43. 1:35persecution that arose over stephen
44. 1:37traveled as far as phoenicia
45. 1:40cyprus and antioch preaching the word to
46. 1:44no one but the jews only
47. 1:46but some of them were men from cyprus
48. 1:49and cyrene
49. 1:51who when they had come to antioch spoke
50. 1:54to the hellenists
51. 1:56preaching the lord jesus
52. 1:58and the hand of the lord was with them
53. 2:01and a great number believed and turned
54. 2:05to the lord
55. 2:07now many chapters ago way back in acts
56. 2:10chapters six and seven we learned about
57. 2:12the persecution that came upon the
58. 2:14christians in jerusalem over the
59. 2:18persecution of stephen when stephen was
60. 2:20persecuted and became the first martyr
61. 2:22of the church it was as if the church
62. 2:24had to scatter because of the great wave
63. 2:27of violence that came upon christians in
64. 2:30the aftermath of that martyrdom and so
65. 2:33as all these christians are being
66. 2:34persecuted they scattered they went all
67. 2:36over the place and right here in chapter
68. 2:3911 verse 19 it's telling us some of the
69. 2:42places where they went so again get the
70. 2:44idea it's starting in jerusalem now as i
71. 2:47mentioned to you we're talking a little
72. 2:48bit about geography here and if this
73. 2:50little map will show you from time to
74. 2:52time through this morning's study but if
75. 2:54you think of the roman world as
76. 2:56basically being surrounding the
77. 2:58mediterranean sea is sort of a lake
78. 3:01right in the middle and all around the
79. 3:03mediterranean sea you have the roman
80. 3:06empire
81. 3:07off on this one corner of the empire is
82. 3:10jerusalem
83. 3:11and jerusalem takes up that space of
84. 3:14focusing in a little bit more it shows
85. 3:16that this place jerusalem
86. 3:19it was from the place where the
87. 3:20disciples were scattered
88. 3:23and then the text mentions three places
89. 3:26all of them northward of jerusalem where
90. 3:29they went they went to a place called
91. 3:31phoenicia
92. 3:32cyprus and antioch
93. 3:35now in those particular three places all
94. 3:38of them northward of jerusalem
95. 3:40that's where the gospel would spread
96. 3:42next as these accidental missionaries
97. 3:45these weren't people who purposed to be
98. 3:47missionaries these weren't people who
99. 3:49faced a great missionary call do you
100. 3:51know what their missionary call was
101. 3:53run for your life that was their
102. 3:54missionary call
103. 3:56but when they ran for their life and
104. 3:58they went to other places you know what
105. 3:59they took with them they took with them
106. 4:01the gospel of jesus christ and it
107. 4:02changed their life and they couldn't
108. 4:04help but talk to other people about it
109. 4:06so verse 19 tells us that when they
110. 4:08first went out they were preaching the
111. 4:11word to no one but the jews only
112. 4:14you see at first these christians who
113. 4:16were scattered all over the roman empire
114. 4:18they preached only to jews because it
115. 4:20was very much fixed in their minds that
116. 4:23the gospel was for the jewish people and
117. 4:26not for gentiles especially not for
118. 4:30pagans but eventually they began to
119. 4:32preach the gospel to gentiles also
120. 4:36that's what it tells us in verse 20.
121. 4:37look at it there it says some of them
122. 4:39were men from cyprus and cyrene they
123. 4:42spoke to the hellenists preaching the
124. 4:44lord jesus
125. 4:46now these unnamed disciples from cyprus
126. 4:49and cyrene are really genuine heroes
127. 4:51they were the first
128. 4:53deliberate mission to the gentiles and
129. 4:56there they're called hellenists in verse
130. 4:5820 that we ever saw on the face of the
131. 5:00earth now i need to make a little bit of
132. 5:02a distinction because you might be
133. 5:03thinking wait a minute david the last
134. 5:05three times in the book of acts we've
135. 5:07been studying all about this man
136. 5:08cornelius and how cornelius was a
137. 5:10gentile but he came to christ well
138. 5:12wasn't he the first well yes and no you
139. 5:15gotta understand the difference here
140. 5:17cornelius was definitely a gentile but
141. 5:19he was a special category of gentile
142. 5:22that is called in the bible and is known
143. 5:24in the culture as a god fearer
144. 5:27in other words he was a gentile man who
145. 5:29loved the god of israel he was a gentile
146. 5:32man who was serious about the god of
147. 5:34abraham isaac and jacob he was a gentile
148. 5:37man who
149. 5:38modeled his life after much of the
150. 5:41mosaic law but not all of it so although
151. 5:44he was not technically a jew in his
152. 5:47heart in his mind he was
153. 5:49this gentile outreach here it's going to
154. 5:52pagans
155. 5:54i mean people who aren't coming from i
156. 5:56honor the god of israel these are people
157. 5:58who had honored zeus or other weird gods
158. 6:01of the roman and pagan world
159. 6:04and this is the big difference as the
160. 6:06gospel goes out into these areas
161. 6:08you see in antioch we have the very
162. 6:11first example of christians deliberately
163. 6:15targeting gentiles for evangelism and
164. 6:18this effort had great results do you see
165. 6:20it in verse 21 it says a great number
166. 6:22believed and turned in the lord wasn't
167. 6:24that thrilling
168. 6:25i mean they they brought the gospel to
169. 6:27these people to these pagans and who
170. 6:29even knew if the gospel would work for
171. 6:30pagans who even knew they would come and
172. 6:32resonate with them who knew that they
173. 6:34would grab onto it but it did they
174. 6:36wanted the forgiveness of sins they
175. 6:38wanted the newness of life they wanted
176. 6:40to be cleansed in the atonement that
177. 6:42jesus offered
178. 6:44therefore in verse 20 when it says that
179. 6:46they came to antioch they came to a very
180. 6:49important place in the ancient world
181. 6:51antioch sort of an interesting city if i
182. 6:53could just sort of talk about its
183. 6:55history just for a moment antioch was
184. 6:57founded about 300 bc by a man named
185. 7:00seleucis the first
186. 7:03he was one of the inheritors of
187. 7:04alexander the great's empire now
188. 7:07seleucis had sort of a bad habit you
189. 7:09could say he may be a little compulsive
190. 7:11he loved to found cities in his dominion
191. 7:14and he loved to name those cities after
192. 7:17his father who was named antioch or
193. 7:20antiochus so he founded oh about a dozen
194. 7:24or more cities about 15 cities called
195. 7:26antioch great thank you very much
196. 7:30well this particular antioch that he
197. 7:32founded is more commonly known as syrian
198. 7:36antioch or sometimes antioch on the
199. 7:39orontes because that was the river that
200. 7:41it was upon now it was a prosperous
201. 7:44thriving city in that day today it
202. 7:46numbers just in the tens of thousands
203. 7:49but in the ancient world syrian antioch
204. 7:52or antioch on the orontes was a thriving
205. 7:55city of about half a million people and
206. 7:58by the way folks in the ancient world in
207. 8:00the roman world it was understood to be
208. 8:02the third greatest city of the roman
209. 8:06empire
210. 8:07now it was only about 300 miles north of
211. 8:10jerusalem and about 20 miles inland from
212. 8:14the coast of the mediterranean sea but
213. 8:16again many people considered syrian
214. 8:18antioch to be the third greatest city
215. 8:21the first greatest city in the roman
216. 8:22empire of course would be rome
217. 8:24the second greatest city in the roman
218. 8:26empire would be alexandria in egypt but
219. 8:29the third greatest city would be syrian
220. 8:31antioch it was known for its business
221. 8:34for its commerce for its sophistication
222. 8:37and culture but
223. 8:38especially
224. 8:40antioch was known for its immorality
225. 8:43it had a well established reputation for
226. 8:47moral laxity they had cults
227. 8:50religious cults in antioch that were
228. 8:54well established and very popular that
229. 8:57were just basically
230. 9:00well it was prostitution with a
231. 9:02religious veneer
232. 9:03you would go and worship the pagan gods
233. 9:06but you would worship the pagan gods by
234. 9:08consorting with prostitutes and there
235. 9:10was just a huge infrastructure centered
236. 9:13around this immorality it was an
237. 9:16unbelievably immoral place
238. 9:19according to one commentator that i read
239. 9:21there was an ancient roman senator named
240. 9:23juvenal and he wanted to describe the
241. 9:26decadence of rome and when he wanted to
242. 9:28describe the decadence of rome he said
243. 9:30basically this
244. 9:32the waters of the orontis that's the
245. 9:35river associated with antioch the waters
246. 9:37of the orontis have flowed into the
247. 9:40tiber the tiber is the uh river
248. 9:43associated with rome in other words
249. 9:45and we're becoming like antioch to
250. 9:47describe the decadence of rome it was a
251. 9:50proverbial place for being wicked and
252. 9:52licentious
253. 9:54you know i think about this
254. 9:55think about the different character of
255. 9:57the cities of the new testament world
256. 10:00you know if you want to say
257. 10:02jerusalem was all about religion
258. 10:05rome was all about power
259. 10:08alexandria was all about intellect
260. 10:10athens was all about philosophy
261. 10:14and if you wanted to add to that you
262. 10:15could say that antioch was all about
263. 10:17business it was a business center but it
264. 10:19was also all about immorality
265. 10:22those things really marked it
266. 10:24i got to say as howard's reading this i
267. 10:26was thinking
268. 10:28what's santa barbara all about
269. 10:31well i don't know i mean i have my
270. 10:32thoughts
271. 10:33but i wouldn't mind if you send me an
272. 10:35email or tell me what you think i'm kind
273. 10:37of interested to know what you people
274. 10:38think what's santa barbara all about
275. 10:41if jerusalem's about religion if rome's
276. 10:43about power if alexandra's about
277. 10:46intellect if antioch is about business
278. 10:48and and uh and immorality
279. 10:51i just want you to think about maybe get
280. 10:52back to me on that somehow send me an
281. 10:54email or just talk me tell me what you
282. 10:56think santa barbara is all about because
283. 10:58i think each individual place has its
284. 11:00own character its own challenges
285. 11:03but anyway when the gospel came to
286. 11:05cornelius and he became a follower of
287. 11:07jesus as i said before it came to a man
288. 11:10who was already a god-fearer he had a
289. 11:12respect for the god of israel and he
290. 11:14lived a moral life but when it came to
291. 11:17antioch it came to an utterly pagan city
292. 11:21but look at the great result verse 21 it
293. 11:23says that the hand of the lord was with
294. 11:26them and therefore a great number
295. 11:28believed and turned to the lord man i
296. 11:30love that
297. 11:31a ministry can never turn people to the
298. 11:34lord unless the hand of the lord is with
299. 11:36them
300. 11:37you know you can turn people to a
301. 11:39personality without the hand of the lord
302. 11:42you can turn people to a social club
303. 11:44without the hand of the lord
304. 11:46you can turn people to an institution
305. 11:49without the hand of the lord but you
306. 11:51can't people turn people to the lord
307. 11:53without the hand of the lord at work and
308. 11:56notice it also says right there in verse
309. 11:5821 that it says that they believed and
310. 12:01turned to the lord
311. 12:02i got to say i can't pass this by even
312. 12:05though i don't want to dwell here i'm
313. 12:06not going to camp out on this because we
314. 12:07talked a lot about it last week frankly
315. 12:09but don't you see believe and turn to
316. 12:12the lord is that not simply another way
317. 12:14of describing faith and repentance
318. 12:16believe that's faith right
319. 12:19turn to the lord that's repentance
320. 12:21that's turning away from your sin and
321. 12:23turning now unto the lord
322. 12:25faith and repentance faith and
323. 12:27repentance those two go together like
324. 12:30hand and glove their one part you could
325. 12:32say that faith and repentance are two
326. 12:34sides of the same coin same coin it's
327. 12:37what it means to come to god if you're
328. 12:39going to come to god you've got to have
329. 12:40faith and you've got to have repentance
330. 12:43two sides of the same coin
331. 12:46well as things were going so well in
332. 12:47antioch look at how it continues here
333. 12:49verse 22 it says then news of these
334. 12:52things came to the ears of the church in
335. 12:53jerusalem and they sent out barnabas to
336. 12:56go as far as antioch when he came and
337. 12:59had seen the grace of god he was glad
338. 13:02and encouraged them all that with
339. 13:04purpose of heart they should continue
340. 13:06with the lord for he was a good man full
341. 13:08of the holy spirit into faith and a
342. 13:10great many people were added to the lord
343. 13:13so verse 22 tells us that they sent out
344. 13:17barnabas although aren't you fascinated
345. 13:18by it in verse 22 how it says that news
346. 13:21of these things came to the ears of the
347. 13:23church in jerusalem
348. 13:25doesn't that
349. 13:27all right i just trust you're gonna
350. 13:29follow it sounds creepy to me doesn't it
351. 13:32it sounds a little bit like jerusalem is
352. 13:34like this headquarters and and
353. 13:37everybody's telling jerusalem what's
354. 13:38happening right
355. 13:39i like what james montgomery boys said
356. 13:41about this he said news was always
357. 13:44getting back to jerusalem and i suppose
358. 13:46it is always that way whenever anything
359. 13:48is done there is always somebody who
360. 13:50will run to those who are supposed to be
361. 13:52important and say do you know what's
362. 13:53going on and that's what was happening
363. 13:55in jerusalem right well god was doing a
364. 13:57great work in antioch so newsweek got
365. 13:59back to jerusalem and what did they do
366. 14:01verse 22 tells us that they sent out
367. 14:04barnabas they sent a very able man who
368. 14:06was well suited to take a look at what
369. 14:09god was doing in these different gentile
370. 14:10cities especially in antioch and look
371. 14:14what happened in verse 23 it's so
372. 14:15thrilling it says and when he came and
373. 14:17had seen the grace of god he was glad
374. 14:20at the church in antioch when barnabas
375. 14:23saw the grace of god he was glad
376. 14:27now i got a question for you
377. 14:29how do you see the grace of god
378. 14:32i don't know i mean is it like a color
379. 14:34on somebody's face
380. 14:36is it like a glow around them like a
381. 14:38little halo a little light shining in
382. 14:40there isn't that interesting because
383. 14:41when i say he saw the grace of god i
384. 14:44think pretty much all of you yeah i know
385. 14:46what he's talking about but when you
386. 14:47think about it there's no tangible way
387. 14:51that we commonly speak of that you see
388. 14:53the grace of god yet undeniably where
389. 14:56the grace of god is reigning where the
390. 14:58grace of god is at work you see it you
391. 15:00know it don't you
392. 15:02you just feel it it's an atmosphere god
393. 15:04is glorified jesus is exalted his love
394. 15:08his grace is just filling the atmosphere
395. 15:11of the place instead of a thing marked
396. 15:14by rules and legalism and disappointed
397. 15:17expectations and you're not measuring up
398. 15:20instead the love and the goodness of god
399. 15:22flows all over everything you know in
400. 15:26whatever gathering of christians we
401. 15:28associate ourselves with it's important
402. 15:31that other people be able to see the
403. 15:33grace of god among us there should not
404. 15:36be an emphasis upon self there should
405. 15:38not be an emphasis on man-made rules
406. 15:41there should not be an emphasis on human
407. 15:44performance on what you gotta do for god
408. 15:47although look that's a part of it but
409. 15:48that's not the emphasis
410. 15:50the emphasis is on what on what god has
411. 15:53done for us in jesus christ and how that
412. 15:56changes our life and on how that
413. 15:58transforms us on the glorious grace of
414. 16:01god and i love what it says in verse 23
415. 16:03when he saw the grace of god what he was
416. 16:06glad
417. 16:07it'll make you glad to
418. 16:10i don't know i want so much for our
419. 16:11church to continue to be and if i could
420. 16:14say it increasingly be i'll say what the
421. 16:16apostle paul said that he wanted it to
422. 16:18abound more and more i want our
423. 16:20congregation to be an atmosphere of
424. 16:22grace
425. 16:24and here's what it is
426. 16:25when you live in that atmosphere of
427. 16:27grace it's really easy to kind of take
428. 16:29it for granted it's like yeah that's
429. 16:31just kind of how it is
430. 16:33but let me tell you when you don't live
431. 16:35in that atmosphere of grace
432. 16:37you long for it
433. 16:39you fantasize about it and i mean that
434. 16:41literally you dream of it
435. 16:44one of the best illustrations ever heard
436. 16:45but i didn't make this illustration up
437. 16:47but i thought man this is a good one
438. 16:48when the best illustrations about this
439. 16:50is that grace is like good weather
440. 16:54you guys don't even know what i'm
441. 16:55talking about you live in santa barbara
442. 16:56for heaven's sakes
443. 16:57he's been one of the most beautiful
444. 16:59weather spots in the entire earth right
445. 17:01sunny nice breezy not humid i mean oh
446. 17:06when when it's cloudy in the morning we
447. 17:07whine and complain right oh dreadful or
448. 17:10it's a little bit overcast outside
449. 17:14now listen i never really got that until
450. 17:17i lived in germany for seven years and i
451. 17:20lived in a particularly wet part of
452. 17:21germany supposedly the second rainiest
453. 17:23part of germany
454. 17:25and let me tell you it stunk
455. 17:28the weather was bad
456. 17:29it was cold it was wet it was dreary and
457. 17:32you know what
458. 17:34people obsessed about the weather in
459. 17:36germany
460. 17:37here it's like yeah sunny day yeah who
461. 17:39cares whatever
462. 17:40when we lived in germany if you woke up
463. 17:42in the morning and the sun was shining
464. 17:43and the sky was blue you got excited it
465. 17:46was like oh man this is great
466. 17:48and if you had three or four sunny
467. 17:51beautiful blue sky days in a row it
468. 17:53would make the news at night no foolin
469. 17:56and
470. 17:58when you went on vacation
471. 18:00what you wanted was sun for sure right
472. 18:04you
473. 18:05fantasized about good weather now
474. 18:07friends that's what it's like for people
475. 18:09who don't live in a grace atmosphere
476. 18:11then when you live in the midst of it
477. 18:12you just sort of take it for granted
478. 18:14but when you don't have it you long for
479. 18:18it
480. 18:18listen i
481. 18:20not only do i want us to have a grace
482. 18:23atmosphere here
483. 18:24you might know people who really need
484. 18:26that grace atmosphere you might know
485. 18:29people who they're
486. 18:30they're fantasizing about what we have
487. 18:32here
488. 18:33and i want it to be that way more and
489. 18:35more for us
490. 18:36anyway it was so good what god was doing
491. 18:39among the christians there in antioch
492. 18:41that look at what barnabas did verse 23
493. 18:43says that he encouraged them that with
494. 18:45all purpose of heart they should
495. 18:46continue with the lord he said listen
496. 18:49i'm coming here and i'm going to correct
497. 18:50you guys i'm just going to encourage you
498. 18:52god's doing something good here let's
499. 18:54see it happen more and more and deeper
500. 18:56and deeper all for the result that verse
501. 18:5824 tells us that a great many people
502. 19:02were added to the lord that's a glorious
503. 19:04glorious thing the church was healthy
504. 19:06the church was vibrant the church had an
505. 19:09atmosphere of grace and let me tell you
506. 19:11an atmosphere of grace is magnetic
507. 19:14it draws people unto the lord that's
508. 19:17exactly what we want here now things
509. 19:19were going so well
510. 19:21that at least in my mind i'm going to
511. 19:22embellish just a little bit on the text
512. 19:24i don't think i'm going too far straight
513. 19:25but things were going so well
514. 19:27that barnabas was getting burnt out look
515. 19:29at it here verse 25.
516. 19:31then barnabas departed for tarsus to
517. 19:34seek saul and when he had found him he
518. 19:36brought him to antioch so it was that
519. 19:38for a whole year they assembled with the
520. 19:40church and taught a great many people
521. 19:43and the disciples were first called
522. 19:45christians in antioch
523. 19:48was that interesting
524. 19:50barnabas departed for tarsus to seek
525. 19:53saul things were going so great in
526. 19:55antioch that i can just imagine barnabas
527. 19:58barnum is saying
528. 19:59i got more work than i can do
529. 20:01there's so many people coming to the
530. 20:03lord there's so many people to instruct
531. 20:05i need help who's going to help me in
532. 20:08this work
533. 20:09now
534. 20:11man i hate to sound so negative about
535. 20:13the jerusalem church i really
536. 20:16somebody's going to punch me in the face
537. 20:17when i get to heaven for talking bad
538. 20:18about the jerusalem church
539. 20:20well i'm just going to say
540. 20:23don't you think it's interesting that we
541. 20:24don't read about barnabas sending back
542. 20:26to jerusalem for help
543. 20:30all right it's not my notes i'm just
544. 20:32going to speculate a little bit here
545. 20:34honestly usually i'll use this kind of
546. 20:35speculation for sunday nights there i
547. 20:37really ramble off on different things
548. 20:38but
549. 20:39don't you think that just maybe barnabas
550. 20:41is thinking
551. 20:43oh
552. 20:44i shouldn't even say this but i'm going
553. 20:45to say it if it's wrong just forgive me
554. 20:48don't you think barnabas is saying
555. 20:50this is going so good in antioch i can't
556. 20:53let the guys in jerusalem screw it up
557. 20:56right
558. 20:59you get headquarters involved and what
559. 21:01happens oh my gosh
560. 21:03so it's like okay we need help but not
561. 21:06from jerusalem
562. 21:07again lord if i'm unfair in that then
563. 21:09just let that wash from your minds but i
564. 21:12look it could be that right it could be
565. 21:14that because as far as we know he
566. 21:16doesn't go to jerusalem for help he says
567. 21:17man i need help and not that far away
568. 21:21just across now i'm not acting like this
569. 21:22was a short distance it was a long
570. 21:24distance but it was closer than the 300
571. 21:26miles south to jerusalem he says across
572. 21:29the water there is tarsus and i remember
573. 21:31there's a guy we left several years ago
574. 21:34a guy i encouraged in his early
575. 21:35christian life
576. 21:36saul of tarsus who had a remarkable
577. 21:39conversion and immediately started
578. 21:41preaching this man is usable this man is
579. 21:44an instrument in god's hand so what did
580. 21:46he do it says that he departed verse 25
581. 21:49for tarsus to seek saul
582. 21:51it's not difficult to think of barnabas
583. 21:53being exhausted and overwhelmed by all
584. 21:56the work all the opportunities there in
585. 21:59antioch and then remembering saul of
586. 22:01tarsus and so he goes there and he
587. 22:03sought them and from what i understand
588. 22:05in the original greek here it's very
589. 22:07intensive in other he hunted him up it
590. 22:09wasn't easy it wasn't just like he
591. 22:10looked in the phone book or something
592. 22:12like that he had to search high and low
593. 22:13but he found him he was dedicated fine
594. 22:15because he needed to get that man and
595. 22:18bring him into the work so verse 26 it
596. 22:21says so it was that for a whole year
597. 22:23they assembled with the church and
598. 22:25taught a great many people so together
599. 22:28barnabas and seoul taught a great many
600. 22:30people making the church in antioch
601. 22:31strong
602. 22:34if you had a time machine wouldn't you
603. 22:36love to go back there for that year
604. 22:38of saul and barnabas teaching the church
605. 22:40in antioch wouldn't that be great just
606. 22:43thrilling
607. 22:44a remarkable work of god happening among
608. 22:46a pagan people in such an unlikely place
609. 22:50you walk the streets of antioch and
610. 22:52you're shocked by the immorality all
611. 22:54around you by the degradation by the
612. 22:56bondage by the moral filthiness but
613. 22:59nevertheless in the midst of that
614. 23:00there's a shining light of god's grace
615. 23:02and transforming power happening right
616. 23:04there in antioch and there's barnabas
617. 23:07they're saul they're teaching the
618. 23:08christians there and it's making a
619. 23:10strong church and the work is going on
620. 23:12and on it's just wonderful
621. 23:15now saul had been in tarsus by some
622. 23:17accounts it's a little tough with the
623. 23:19technolo with the with the chronology
624. 23:21here but by some accounts saul had been
625. 23:24some 12 years in tarsus since we last
626. 23:28met him
627. 23:29those years weren't wasted those years
628. 23:30weren't lost he were preparing him for
629. 23:33quiet ministry in preparation for future
630. 23:35service
631. 23:36and he came to antioch and started a
632. 23:40public preaching ministry that started
633. 23:43to shake the world
634. 23:44you know in time that church in antioch
635. 23:46became a center for great preaching and
636. 23:49teaching antioch had some of the
637. 23:51greatest preachers ever to walk this
638. 23:52earth he had barnabas and paul and peter
639. 23:55and then in the second century he had
640. 23:57ignatius and theophilus and in the third
641. 24:00and fourth century he had lucian and
642. 24:01theodore and chrysostom and theodore
643. 24:04amazing preachers there in that city of
644. 24:07antioch but i want you to see something
645. 24:09you think of the great if i could say
646. 24:11the great pulpit ministry going on there
647. 24:13in antioch wouldn't that be great
648. 24:16there was also a marvelous ministry of
649. 24:19informal preaching going on
650. 24:21do you know that informal preaching is
651. 24:23often the best kind
652. 24:25if i could remind you just go back to
653. 24:28verse 20 of acts chapter 11. what does
654. 24:30it say there in verse 20 but some of
655. 24:32them who were men from cyprus and cyrene
656. 24:34when they had come to antioch they spoke
657. 24:36to the hellenists preaching the lord
658. 24:38jesus
659. 24:40that speaking and preaching the lord
660. 24:42jesus that informal preaching
661. 24:45listen that is some of the best
662. 24:46preaching that ever happens
663. 24:48listen i don't know that
664. 24:50i i'll just speak
665. 24:53i know some of you god has given you
666. 24:55preaching and teaching ministries and
667. 24:56god used but but i'll just speak to you
668. 24:58as if that wasn't the case and i'll just
669. 25:00say this if i have a ministry of more
670. 25:03formal teaching
671. 25:05you grab onto that ministry of informal
672. 25:07preaching
673. 25:08god will give you the opportunities you
674. 25:10don't have to be eloquent you have to
675. 25:12know everything
676. 25:13you just have to know who jesus is and
677. 25:15what he's done in your life the the
678. 25:17person and work of jesus and be able to
679. 25:19explain it but make no mistake about it
680. 25:21i think that a healthy strong vibrant
681. 25:23church is built on both of those pillars
682. 25:27formal preaching a good strong pulpit
683. 25:29ministry if i could say that but then
684. 25:31also dynamic informal preaching from
685. 25:34among the congregation and that's
686. 25:36exactly what was going on in antioch
687. 25:39so much so
688. 25:41and isn't this exciting look at it there
689. 25:42in verse 26 so much so
690. 25:45that the disciples were first called
691. 25:47christians in antioch
692. 25:50do you understand that before this
693. 25:52nobody called the followers of jesus
694. 25:54christians
695. 25:55there was a time there was a place where
696. 25:58that label got stuck to the followers of
697. 26:00jesus and it was right here in antioch
698. 26:02as we read it here in acts chapter 11.
699. 26:05it wasn't until these years among the
700. 26:08christians are among the
701. 26:10followers of jesus
702. 26:12in syrian antioch that the name
703. 26:14christian became associated with the
704. 26:16followers of jesus now before this they
705. 26:19had been called disciples they had been
706. 26:21called saints they had been called
707. 26:23believers they had been called brothers
708. 26:25they had been called witnesses they had
709. 26:27become they've been called followers of
710. 26:29the way later on in the book of acts
711. 26:31they will be called the sect of the
712. 26:34nazarenes but now in acts chapter 11
713. 26:37they're gonna start to be called
714. 26:39christians do you know where that name
715. 26:40even comes from
716. 26:42well it's a latin construction right
717. 26:46christ of course and then ian at the end
718. 26:49and in latin the ending ian
719. 26:52means of the party of or of the group of
720. 26:56so a christian
721. 26:59is of the party of jesus
722. 27:01you know what it's kind of like saying
723. 27:03it's like saying jesus sites
724. 27:05it's kind of like saying um jesus people
725. 27:08it's describing the people who are
726. 27:11associated with jesus christ
727. 27:14one commentator i read he thinks the
728. 27:16idea is something like this saying
729. 27:17christ ones right the christ ones
730. 27:21now i also find it interesting that in
731. 27:23the ancient roman world
732. 27:26soldiers under particular generals in
733. 27:28the roman empire uh identified
734. 27:31themselves by their general's name by
735. 27:34adding i-a-n to the end of it in other
736. 27:37words a soldier under caesar would call
737. 27:41himself a caesarean
738. 27:44he was identifying himself with his
739. 27:45general
740. 27:47soldiers under jesus christ are called
741. 27:50christians
742. 27:52and in antioch they first used that term
743. 27:54christian
744. 27:55probably to mock the followers of jesus
745. 27:57we know this from ancient writings that
746. 27:59for some reason the people of antioch
747. 28:01were well known for their wittiness in
748. 28:04coming up with nicknames and making fun
749. 28:06of people and putting you know funny
750. 28:08tags on and so it probably started as a
751. 28:10mockery
752. 28:11ha ha you little christians
753. 28:14no when the followers of jesus heard
754. 28:15that go really
755. 28:17you think i'm like jesus you'll call me
756. 28:19a jesus person a jesus people a christ
757. 28:21one hey i'll take that
758. 28:24and they liked it so much that the name
759. 28:26stuck
760. 28:27that's how it should be with us people
761. 28:29people should look at us and be able to
762. 28:31say well jesus person
763. 28:33follower of jesus
764. 28:35jesus man jesus woman
765. 28:37there's an old commentator like a man
766. 28:39named harry ironside and ironside tells
767. 28:42us great story about how when he was
768. 28:44traveling in china years ago this
769. 28:46probably would have been during the 20s
770. 28:48or 30s when he was traveling in china
771. 28:50years ago he was frequently introduced
772. 28:53with the title yasuyan now he didn't
773. 28:55know what that meant i mean he wasn't
774. 28:56chinese he couldn't speak the language
775. 28:58but he asked about it later and he
776. 29:00learned that yasu was the cantonese word
777. 29:04for jesus
778. 29:05and yan was the cantonese word for man
779. 29:09so when they called him yasuyan they
780. 29:11were calling him jesus man
781. 29:13here's jesus man
782. 29:15wouldn't that be great
783. 29:16have somebody call you jesus man jesus
784. 29:18woman well that's essentially what they
785. 29:20were doing in antioch and verse 26
786. 29:23reminds us that they were first called
787. 29:25christians in antioch by the way there's
788. 29:28another
789. 29:30flavor that we can understand from that
790. 29:32not only did they begin to be called
791. 29:35christians and antioch but how about
792. 29:36this they were first called christians
793. 29:39in antioch and what i mean by that what
794. 29:41i'm trying to emphasize that is that
795. 29:43they were called christians before they
796. 29:45were called anything else
797. 29:47well aren't you a citizen of antioch
798. 29:49first i'm a christian
799. 29:51well aren't you uh uh a person who grew
800. 29:55up in greek culture yeah but first i'm a
801. 29:57christian
802. 29:58don't you like to go to chariot races
803. 30:00yeah but first i'm a christian you get
804. 30:01the idea they were first called
805. 30:04christians in antioch
806. 30:06and friends today i think christians
807. 30:08need to be willing to take that title
808. 30:10above anything else
809. 30:12we're jesus people more than anything
810. 30:15and we want to be worthy of that name
811. 30:17well whatever other secondary title you
812. 30:19might say protestant roman catholic
813. 30:22charismatic whatever we should be first
814. 30:25called christians
815. 30:28i love a story from the early church
816. 30:30recorded to us by a man named eusebius
817. 30:32he was a famous early church historian
818. 30:34and he described a believer named
819. 30:37sanctus from lyon france and he was
820. 30:40tortured for jesus and as they tortured
821. 30:42this man named sanctus very cruelly they
822. 30:44hoped to get him saved something of evil
823. 30:47or blasphemous
824. 30:49and so they asked him his name what's
825. 30:51your name
826. 30:52you know what he answered
827. 30:54i am a christian
828. 30:55well they said well what nation do you
829. 30:57belong to you know the answer
830. 31:00i am a christian
831. 31:01well
832. 31:02uh what city do you live in i'm a
833. 31:05christian his
834. 31:07tormentors began to get very angry with
835. 31:09him they said are you a slave or a free
836. 31:11man i am a christian he's replied that
837. 31:13was his only reply no matter what
838. 31:15question they asked him that was the
839. 31:17only thing he would answer and that made
840. 31:19his torturers all the more determined to
841. 31:21break him but they couldn't and he died
842. 31:24with those words on his lips i am a
843. 31:27christian
844. 31:29my friends i think it should be so for
845. 31:30us
846. 31:31we're first called christians that
847. 31:33should be our first identity
848. 31:35all right now let's conclude the chapter
849. 31:37here verse 27 sort of an interesting
850. 31:39aside it says and in those days
851. 31:42prophets came from jerusalem to antioch
852. 31:45then one of them named agabus stood up
853. 31:48and showed by the spirit that there was
854. 31:50going to be a great famine throughout
855. 31:52all the world which also happened in the
856. 31:54days of claudius caesar then the
857. 31:56disciples each according to his ability
858. 31:58determined to send relief to the
859. 32:00brethren dwelling in judea
860. 32:02this they also did and sent it by the
861. 32:04elders by the hands of barnabas and saul
862. 32:07now this is very interesting
863. 32:10some prophets from jerusalem one of them
864. 32:12notably a man named anti agabus i should
865. 32:14say they came from jerusalem to antioch
866. 32:17and as they're there among the
867. 32:18christians they had a message announcing
868. 32:20that there would be a great famine
869. 32:22throughout the world that would happen
870. 32:23during the days of this particular roman
871. 32:25emperor we don't know exactly how this
872. 32:27man agabus showed by the spirit that the
873. 32:30family was on the way but the christians
874. 32:32took the word seriously and they
875. 32:35generously prepared to meet the coming
876. 32:38knee
877. 32:39and so what did it say verse 29 then the
878. 32:41disciples
879. 32:43it says that they gave each according to
880. 32:46their ability
881. 32:47friends this kind of blows my mind
882. 32:50here you have
883. 32:51christians
884. 32:53300 miles north of jerusalem
885. 32:57they hear about a need that's coming and
886. 33:00their immediate instinct is what can we
887. 33:03do to help our brethren in jerusalem
888. 33:05these were christians that came from a
889. 33:07totally pagan background you would think
890. 33:09that in some ways they did not have much
891. 33:11common they didn't have much language
892. 33:12common they had much culture common they
893. 33:14didn't have much religious background
894. 33:16common i'll tell you the only thing they
895. 33:18had in common was jesus christ himself
896. 33:20and that was greater than any of the
897. 33:22differences that they might possess and
898. 33:24when they came together with that common
899. 33:25ground they said we need to help our
900. 33:28brothers and sisters in judea and so
901. 33:30what did they do it says in verse 29
902. 33:32that they each gave according to their
903. 33:35ability
904. 33:36that's really great notice that phrase
905. 33:38again in verse 29 they gave according to
906. 33:40their ability they gave according to the
907. 33:43ability of their resources
908. 33:46if i could put it frankly those who had
909. 33:48more gave more
910. 33:50those who had less gave less
911. 33:53now it also means that they gave
912. 33:55according to the ability of their faith
913. 33:58trusting that god's work was a worthy
914. 34:01investment in his kingdom and not a loss
915. 34:05and so friends i'm blessed i'm blessed
916. 34:07by the generous hearts we have in our
917. 34:09congregation but i just want this to be
918. 34:11continually true of us
919. 34:13that people give according to their
920. 34:15ability not only their ability in a
921. 34:17proportional sense but also the ability
922. 34:20of their faith but you know what else i
923. 34:22like about this in verse 29 it says that
924. 34:25they determined to give
925. 34:28i think that's common isn't it
926. 34:30if you don't determine to give you
927. 34:32probably won't
928. 34:34if you leave it up to the casual moment
929. 34:36well will i or won't i i don't know i'll
930. 34:38make up my mind at the moment no it says
931. 34:40right there in verse 29 that they
932. 34:42determined to give and so verse 30 says
933. 34:45that they sent it to the elders by the
934. 34:47hands of barnabas and saul
935. 34:50the very high regard that barnabas and
936. 34:52saul had among all was evident by the
937. 34:54fact that they were trusted with this
938. 34:57relief fund and they were sent out
939. 34:59and friends i have to say this i can't
940. 35:02say it categorically because i i don't
941. 35:04know everything about ancient history
942. 35:06but based on some fairly reliable
943. 35:08sources that i've read
944. 35:10this is the first recorded act of
945. 35:14charitable assistance of this nature
946. 35:17ever
947. 35:18in ancient literature again i can't say
948. 35:20that categorically because i don't know
949. 35:22all ancient literature
950. 35:24but but from the surveys that i've read
951. 35:26you're not going to find other examples
952. 35:28of this where people from a different
953. 35:30country from a different culture oh
954. 35:32people have always helped their kin
955. 35:33right people always help people right
956. 35:35next to them or or people around them
957. 35:37but to say
958. 35:39300 miles away we're going to help
959. 35:42people that we don't even know we don't
960. 35:43even share the same race we don't even
961. 35:46share the same language we don't even
962. 35:47share the same customs but what we share
963. 35:50is jesus and that makes us want to help
964. 35:53them
965. 35:54no wonder they were called christians in
966. 35:58antioch
967. 35:59now friends what about us
968. 36:02some people wonder should we call
969. 36:04ourselves christians maybe it's better
970. 36:06in our common day to call ourselves
971. 36:09followers of jesus
972. 36:10maybe it's better to call ourselves
973. 36:12disciples or people of the way whatever
974. 36:14you would want to give it maybe i said
975. 36:16move away from that term christian well
976. 36:17first of all i got to say
977. 36:19i like that title christian
978. 36:21but what would be even more important to
979. 36:23me if you want to say well i don't want
980. 36:25to be called a christian i'd rather be
981. 36:26called a follower of jesus whatever it
982. 36:27would be
983. 36:28i just want you to be a christian
984. 36:31i want you to be
985. 36:33a little christ someone who's following
986. 36:35him say he is my allegiance and most of
987. 36:38all that you would
988. 36:39first be called a christian right first
989. 36:44i don't know whatever allegiances you
990. 36:45have
991. 36:46your political ideas your economic ideas
992. 36:51your your things you like to do for
993. 36:53hobbies or fun whatever business
994. 36:55associations you have so on and so on so
995. 36:57all those things can be great they can
996. 36:59be important in your life and that's
997. 37:00wonderful but first
998. 37:02but first
999. 37:03be called a christian
1000. 37:06a little jesus a follower of jesus
1001. 37:08christ
1002. 37:10that's what changed antioch this one
1003. 37:13city in this distant corner of the roman
1004. 37:16world friends that one city is gonna be
1005. 37:20a pump that sends out the gospel
1006. 37:23all
1007. 37:24over
1008. 37:26the shores of the mediterranean
1009. 37:28all over
1010. 37:30i have to say
1011. 37:31it didn't come from jerusalem
1012. 37:33it came from antioch and right now the
1013. 37:36scene is shifting in the book of acts
1014. 37:38from having a very
1015. 37:40jerusalem-centered focus to now having
1016. 37:42an
1017. 37:43antioch-centered focus
1018. 37:46we see the way that the work of god was
1019. 37:48happening right there we don't doubt why
1020. 37:51friend let's pray and ask that god would
1021. 37:53do just such a work among us
1022. 37:57father i think of
1023. 38:01that city
1024. 38:02antioch and how you did such a marvelous
1025. 38:06work among the followers of jesus there
1026. 38:10that your grace was so evident
1027. 38:14that the atmosphere of grace was so real
1028. 38:21that jesus
1029. 38:25that they were first called christians
1030. 38:27in that city
1031. 38:29lord i i wanted to be so among us
1032. 38:32i sense that that it is at least in part
1033. 38:35lord
1034. 38:36but we want it to abound more and more
1035. 38:40and so lord i pray that
1036. 38:42your grace
1037. 38:46your unmerited love and favor
1038. 38:51would pour out upon hearts
1039. 38:53that people would see it and receive it
1040. 38:55and be glad
1041. 38:59[Music]
1042. 39:03you