Grace in Action in Antioch

We're going to think together about what we've already thought about over the last couple of weeks as we looked at the story of Peter and Cornelius, that the gospel transforms people.

The gospel crosses boundaries, crosses cultures, and brings change.

And here we're going to find Luke restating that reality in a different context.

First, we had a lecturer, I remember having a lecturer a number of years ago who loved to start each of his lectures by recapping and restating what had come the previous day or the previous week.

It really had a clear focus of what he wanted us to learn as we went through the course.

And in a sense, we can see Dr. Luke is doing the same thing for us here.

So he's just spent two chapters there or thereabouts in great detail telling us about how God in his providence brought this Roman soldier Cornelius and the apostle Peter together so that Cornelius' life could be changed as he heard the good news of Jesus.

And then he returns back in time a little bit to the story of what we have here of the church in Antioch.

So if you look at verse 19, you see that Luke is putting his history together in a particular way.

And it says there, now those who'd been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled, and so it goes.

Stephen's persecution we first learn of in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

And then the story moves away from that emphasis, but now it's coming back.

He's decided to go back in time to show another example of how when the gospel of grace comes to an individual or to a community, it brings change.

And he's in particular trying to make the point that the gospel of grace is for all.

That the good news of Jesus' Savior who came to rescue us by dying for us to forgive our sins and to give us eternal life isn't just for Jewish people.

It's just not for religious people.

It's for all.

And so Dr. Luke shows how the gospel now moves into new territory, to Antioch.

Now Antioch as a city was known in its day for being very cosmopolitan.

It was a center of trade, good access to the Mediterranean.

It had people from the east.

It had Greco-Roman influences.

It had a big Jewish population.

So it was known for its business and commerce.

But it was also known for its moral corruption.

It was a city of some 300,000 or so people.

So an influential, prosperous, corrupt city.

But grace comes.

Jesus comes and change comes as a result.

And so what I want us to do this evening, very briefly, is to show from Luke's account here how grace is in action in Antioch.

First of all, when we see how the message is shared and believed.

So verse 19, we discover that persecution in Jerusalem leads Christians to spread out.

So they travel as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews.

Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

So just as we begin, here is a reminder of the providence of God, that God works sometimes in surprising ways for his own glory.

The church in Jerusalem certainly wouldn't have chosen the path of persecution.

But nevertheless, God works through their suffering and the gospel spreads.

And that's a principle that we see throughout the Bible.

We see it back in Genesis, when Joseph says to his brothers, that you sold me as a slave.

You intended evil, but God intended it for good.

He ended up in Egypt so he could save many lives.

And we see it most particularly at the cross.

Where at one and the same time, we can see that wicked men wanted to get rid of Jesus.

So they nail him to the cross, but it was always God's foreordained plan that his death would be the means of salvation.

So God's providence can work through persecution and suffering.

But as they begin to spread, some of them stay in what we might call their comfort zone.

So the message of Jesus stays within the Jewish community.

But there's others who go to the Greeks.

So here's this cross-cultural mission beginning to happen.

And they bring the same gospel message that Peter shared with Cornelius.

Cornelius.

So last time we recognized that Peter brought to Cornelius the news of the perfect life of Jesus.

That he died on the cross under God's curse so that we might be set free from the curse of God.

To be accepted by God.

That he rose again.

And that now he's Lord and King and Judge and he's coming back.

And he invited Cornelius to faith and repentance.

And these men going to Antioch do the same thing.

And people are becoming Christians.

They're trusting.

They're turning from sin.

They're turning away from their old life.

They're turning to God.

Now it's interesting to ask the question, who is sharing their faith?

Who are the people who are bringing the gospel across cultures to Antioch?

And the answer is we don't know who they are.

We don't know their names.

These aren't the apostles.

These are what we might call regular Christians.

People like us who are sharing the gospel.

A number of years ago I read a really interesting book called Evangelism in the Early Church.

And it was making the point in lots of different ways that it was the regular Christians that were so influential in this spread of the gospel.

Within cities and towns and villages and across boundaries.

So the women would go to the river to wash their clothes.

And they'd be talking about Jesus while they were doing that.

Or they would be using their home and inviting extended family and friends to come for meals.

And they'd be talking about their new faith in the Lord Jesus.

And in those very natural ways the church was growing.

It's a great encouragement for us as those who don't have perhaps a huge amount of influence and standing that God chooses the weak.

And the ordinary for his own glory.

As his people live on purpose that the glory of Jesus might be known.

Here we see evidence that God doesn't require people who are specially called, specially trained.

It's just regular people speaking about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.

And it changes at least some people in this city.

So the messengers on the one hand, they're obviously gripped by this amazing story of the love of Jesus for them.

And they decide with great courage to move out with that message.

Facing persecution, then going to an unknown culture, to an unknown city, to share the gospel.

The people in Antioch believe and the church is born.

And this is God's grace in action.

As people become Christians, as people share the gospel, God is working.

We also see God's grace in action, in encouragement that is given and received.

So here we find ourselves.

So this morning we were thinking about the church in Jerusalem and Barnabas and Saul with the church.

And here we are back this evening with the church in Jerusalem and with Barnabas.

Now Barnabas wasn't this man's real name.

His real name was Joseph.

Barnabas was a nickname given to him by the Christians, which means son of encouragement.

It's a wonderful nickname to have.

And so what I want us to see is the reason why Barnabas has been sent and to think about Barnabas' example for us.

So in verse 21 it says,

The Lord's hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

And then verse 22,

News of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem.

And they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

So Mother Church Jerusalem hears about this thing happening over in Antioch.

And they want to send someone to find out more.

And who do they send is really significant because they send Barnabas.

So their idea isn't, let's shut this thing down, but let's encourage this new church to grow.

And so Barnabas, as we discover, he spends a year looking after this young church,

this church made up of people from different cultures,

and he spends that time encouraging them.

So I want us to spend a few minutes thinking about Barnabas' example

of what gospel encouragement might look like,

what it looked like for him, what it might look like for us,

that we might want to follow his example.

So a few things that we see about Barnabas, the son of encouragement.

First of all, we can say from his example that a gospel encourager

sees and celebrates what is good.

So the beginning of verse 23,

When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad.

Now let's bear in mind that this is a brand new church,

coming from a very cosmopolitan city,

people being saved out of all kinds of backgrounds.

So it's not going to be a perfect church.

It's not going to be a church without faults or weaknesses.

But what we see is that Barnabas overlooks those to focus on grace,

to focus on God's work in their lives.

It's the same thing that you see so often from Paul in his letters,

in his introductory thanksgiving for the churches.

Even to a church like Corinth, which, as you read the letter,

has a lot of problems.

He's still so thankful for the fact that they're trusting in the Lord Jesus.

They're not perfect, but God's grace is in evidence.

And Barnabas here celebrates that.

This is a heart attitude, isn't it?

It's not a heart that wants to grumble first,

to find fault in the first instance.

It's a heart that wants to say, well done.

It wants to encourage others towards Christ likeness.

So to be a gospel encourager means seeing and celebrating

and choosing to focus on what's good and what's positive.

Secondly, we can say that a gospel encourager

is glad wherever God is working.

And again, the beginning of verse 23,

it's when he arrives in Antioch

and he sees the evidence of the grace of God that he's glad.

Now, he could have said,

why is God working here and not back in Jerusalem?

Why am I needing to move from the mother church,

from the home church, all the way over here

to see God's powerful grace in action at this point in time?

But he doesn't.

He doesn't become jealous

because his concern is not for himself,

for his tribe, for building up his empire.

He cares for God's honor and God's glory,

not building up his own kingdom.

And so he is glad to see wherever God's at work.

And I think that's something that's maybe really important

for us in the West.

You know, we know that Christianity is

sort of static or even in decline

and lots of people are dismissive

and we don't hear stories of lots of people

coming to faith in Jesus.

And we can become despondent of something.

And that's why it's great to be connected to people

from other parts of the world

and to hear stories that God is still working

in dramatic ways.

He's still working in places like North Korea

and Syria and Iraq for his own glory.

And so as we hear the stories of the global church,

we can be reminded and be glad

that God's kingdom is growing.

Another thing that we notice

is that a gospel encourager directs others

to keep loving Jesus.

So end of verse 23,

when he's glad he encouraged them all

to remain true to the Lord with all their heart.

So he's spending time with them.

He's walking with them.

He's living life with them

and he's encouraging them to persevere in their faith.

He's urging them to stay devoted to the Lord Jesus.

At the moment, they're young and enthusiastic.

What will they do when trial and trouble comes?

He encourages them to stay devoted to the Lord Jesus.

We just, this week, been helping Sebastian,

our youngest, to learn how to ride a pedal bike.

And so small inclines are quite the challenge.

And there was a few times yesterday

where we took him out on a fairly lengthy trip.

And there was a couple of times

where you could see towards the top of the hill,

he was beginning to sort of lose heart

that he'd ever get there.

But it's amazing what the encouragement of,

come on, you can do it, does

for just keeping somebody going,

getting them over the line.

And you can see that Barnabas is doing that

with the church.

He's come alongside them to encourage them,

to keep pointing them to Jesus,

that they would keep following him.

And tied up with that,

a gospel encourager has a compelling quality

to their lives.

Verse 24 in the NIV begins,

he was a good man.

But in the Greek, it said,

it would say,

he was glad and encouraged them all

to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts,

for he was a good man,

or because he was a good man,

full of the Holy Spirit and faith.

And a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

So his lifestyle, his words,

his character, his manner,

are encouraging people to stick with Jesus,

or to begin thinking about who is Jesus,

or to come to faith in Jesus.

That he is a man with integrity

in his words and in his lifestyle,

that people obviously find attractive,

that they're looking at him thinking,

I want to be like him,

so I want to keep following Jesus,

or I want to know what makes this guy Barnabas so different.

So they're discovering Jesus for themselves.

Another thing that we see from the example of Barnabas

is that a gospel encourager gladly serves with others.

I love what happens in verse 25 and 26,

as many people are being brought to the Lord,

Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.

And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.

So for a whole year,

Barnabas and Saul met with the church

and taught great numbers of people.

So Barnabas clearly is not somebody who's competitive

or jealous for success.

He's not saying, this is my work,

these are my people,

but rather he happily calls Paul,

the missionary to the Gentiles,

to come and assist him to use his gifts

to serve this young church.

So taken together,

we see why from time to time Barnabas appears

and Luke sort of highlights

the character of Barnabas for us

because he's got a wonderful life.

He'd be a wonderful example to follow.

We would all love to have,

we all need to have a Barnabas in our lives

and to desire to be a Barnabas to others

and to have a church where these kind of values permeate,

where we're seeing the positives

and not simply the negatives

and learning to celebrate those things,

where we are building up,

not tearing down,

where we're celebrating what God does in others

here and in other places,

where we're encouraging one another

to keep going with faith,

to keep following Jesus,

where we're determining to have that lifestyle

with the help of the Holy Spirit,

where we might encourage others

to think about the Christian faith

because of the way we seek to live.

So where does encouragement begin?

Perhaps it's as simple as

thank you for your help today.

Thank you for serving the church today.

There's lots of people every Sunday

that are serving in lots of different ways

and sometimes we can forget

how important a thank you is.

Perhaps it might be

sending someone a quick note to say,

I'm praying for you in this situation

or sharing from God's word.

here's what I've been learning this week

about God and his character

or about what Jesus has done

and sharing that

so that someone else might be encouraged and helped.

Asking someone practically,

how can I help you in this situation

that you are in?

Maybe it's just by showing up

and getting involved.

Getting involved in choir

or a community discipleship group

or a women's Bible study.

It's an encouragement

to the other people in the group.

But what we understand from Barnabas

is that the gospel of grace

should make us graceful people

and graceful people tend to encourage others

by their lives.

So there's that nickname Barnabas,

but there's another nickname

that we find in this section,

this time given by the people of Antioch

to this young church.

End of verse 26.

The disciples were called Christians

first at Antioch.

So after a year of spending time

under the teaching of Barnabas and Saul,

people in the city

are now looking at this young church

and saying,

these are the Christ people

because they're talking about Jesus.

They're seeking to live in the ways of Jesus.

Their community,

their church is centered

on the personal work of Jesus.

I came across a story

of a Bible teacher

by the name of Harry Ironside

who went on a mission trip to China.

And he noticed as he went from place to place,

he was often introduced as

Yasu Yan.

And he couldn't figure out at first

what this meant.

And so he asked somebody

and he was told

that in Cantonese,

Yasu,

apologies for the bad pronunciation,

means Jesus

and Yan

means man.

So as he was traveling,

here was this man,

Harry Ironside,

being known as the Jesus man.

That's a great nickname to aspire to,

just as Barnabas

is a great nickname to aspire to.

So it is to be

a person,

one of the Christ

people.

So what we see about this church

in Antioch

that they talked

and lived

life centered on Jesus

so that the rest of the city

knew about it.

And here's testimony again

to grace in action.

That the love of Jesus

is flowing beyond

their community

into the rest of the city.

Now the last way

that we can see grace

in action

is in solidarity

and help given.

And again,

this connects us

with where we were

this morning

in Galatians chapter 2.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

So we read in verse 27

and 28

of this prophet

by the name of Agapus.

And Agapus,

led by the Spirit,

predicts a severe famine

and the disciples

decide to send

poor relief.

Notice

that they decide

to send poor relief

back to Christians

in Judea.

Which again

is a really lovely touch.

This multicultural church

up in Antioch

is going to provide relief

for the church

in Jerusalem

as it found itself

in difficulty.

So here is evidence

again for the success

of gospel mission

in Antioch.

Because here are

these young Christians

and they're putting

their faith

into practice.

Here is their faith

coming out

in love and service

and not just

among their own,

they're crossing

cultures

to do so.

Here is

practical expression

of this fact

that in Christ Jesus

we are all one.

The gospel

has made them

one.

And it finds

expression

in their giving.

I made mention

in my prayers

this morning

of Patrick Jock

who we had with us

a few months ago

from South Sudan.

He would often

talk about

the church

in South Sudan

feeling isolated

and alone

because politically

I guess that's

where they're at

and the church

is small

and young.

But then he said

of his trip

so he went

on a wee trip

around meeting

various free church

congregations

and ministers

he said

your fellowship

and your prayers

remind us

that we're not alone.

So in that really

simple way

of welcoming

and praying

there is that

solidarity

there's that sense

we're not alone

we're part of

a bigger kingdom.

We met a few years ago

when we were in the Philippines

a couple of missionaries

who were working

with a tribal group

on one of the small islands

in the Philippines

a tribe called

the Mungyum people

very poor

many of them

would come to the cities

and they were

sort of professional beggars

but these missionaries

were trying to get

schools on the go

and they were

Bible teaching.

But anyway

about three years ago

when the last big storm

hit that region

of the Philippines

this mountain tribe

heard about the plight

of another tribe

down the coast

that had been

really badly hit

and they sent

some of their

very scarce

rice supplies

down to this

coastal church

as a way to say

to their brothers

and sisters in Christ

we love you

and we want to help.

And so we can see

that the gospel

takes hold

in Antioch

as they want to have

that same kind of

practical love

and service.

just as Paul

reminded the church

in Corinth

when he wanted

to encourage

the church

in Corinth

to give generously

to aid

to bring relief

in 2 Corinthians 8

2 Corinthians 8:9

verse 9

he said

you know

the grace

of our Lord

Jesus Christ

that though

he was rich

yet for your sakes

he became poor

that you

through his poverty

might become rich.

so there's something

in the gospel

there's something

of that movement

of Jesus

from glory

to humiliation

and death

on the cross

that is intended

to spark in us

generosity

and help

when we can

give it

and we see that

in Antioch.

So that was grace

in Antioch.

I guess the challenge

for us is thinking

about what about grace

in our own lives

what about grace

in Edinburgh

or wherever we come from

because just like

those first

missionaries

who cross cultures

to go to Antioch

we too are called

to live lives

that allow the grace

of God

to be felt

and received

by our words

and our actions

and so we can support

and encourage

one another

to be doing that

and that we are placed

in community

to encourage

one another

to celebrate

and to seek

to see more

of God's grace

in the lives

of others

and we have

resources

and opportunities

to practically

help others

in Edinburgh

and around the world

so that grace

is felt

and so that God

is honoured.

Let's pray

together.

Amen.