A Tale of Two Churches (Acts Review Part 4)

At this time, um any children who would like to be dismissed for our children's church can leave at this time.

Our teacher is waiting for you and uh go downstairs for a great Bible lesson.

Ah, the pitter patter of little feet.

Isn't that great?

Isn't that fantastic?

We are studying the book of Acts on Sunday mornings, and uh, if you didn't get an outline and would like one, our ushers have them right now.

Just indicate you'd like one and they'll help you.

This is uh number four, the last review of Acts before next week I launch into where we left off.

So we've had to cover some ground we've been through before, and this is just the last part of that review.

I'm looking forward to launching into the uh new material.

It's exciting stuff.

Acts is just amazing.

Watch the Holy Spirit, how he works in establishing the church in various places, and how believers come to faith in Jesus.

We'll continue to look at that.

But to start out today, I want to tell you a story about a sloth named Herman.

One day uh he was walking through the woods, and unfortunately, he met a gang of snails who bullied him, beat him up badly, just beat up the sloth, left him at the bottom of the tree with several cuts and bruises.

Several hours later, he gathers up enough strength to go to the local police station.

When Herman walked into the sergeant's office, the officer said, What on earth happened to you?

He said, Well, a gang of snails beat me up.

Can you describe what they look like?

Sloth shook his head and said, You know, I don't know.

It all happens so fast.

Thank you.

All right, why did I say that?

Well, you while time passes slowly for sloths and snails, when we look at the growth of the church in the first century, it's explosive.

It happened relatively quickly due to a number of factors, Luke explains to his friend Theophilus in the book of Acts, beginning with the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on believers in Jesus and gave birth to the church.

3,000 people heard the gospel and believed in Jesus.

The church continued to grow as believers began to fulfill Jesus' commission.

And many heard the gospel and were converted.

Jesus' commission, of course, right at the beginning, Acts chapter 1, verse 8, he said to his disciples, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

Acts 1:8

You shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, even to the remotest part of the earth.

And the gospel started to spread everywhere, but as we looked at last time, it didn't get much past Jerusalem.

Why would it?

People were growing, the apostles were excited, believers were enjoying their time and fellowship together in Christ.

But when Stephen was killed, the persecution began in Jerusalem, which led to the spread of believers north specifically, but started to flee the hard times ahead.

Now, the uh in Acts chapter 11, the uh here that we start here.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

Here's where they start, the believers in Jerusalem.

Uh persecution begins.

They go, they go north through Samaria, and we're gonna follow them all the way up to Syria and Antioch, right here.

And uh we'll see today.

Umievers fled to Antioch, but while they're there, they start sharing the gospel.

Uh, a new church is planted that included both Jewish and Gentile believers.

And Antioch, I made the case, serves as a model for churches to this day.

In Acts chapter 12 and 13, Luke goes on to alternate between the church in Jerusalem and the church in Antioch, not only to contrast the two, but also to demonstrate some significant lessons we learn about the church.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Uh, that's what we're going to talk about today, a tale of two churches, Jerusalem and Antioch, as they experience the best of times and the worst of times as churches of Jesus Christ.

We'll look at two things.

First, the contrast between the two churches, and then uh last, the lessons we can learn from those two churches.

Beginning with the church of Jerusalem, look at the contrast we're going to be seeing here in Acts chapter 8 and 12.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Luke tells us that the church in Jerusalem was hit hard when the persecution began.

Acts 8:1.

Acts 8:1

Remember, Saul, who became the apostle Paul ultimately, Saul was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen to death.

And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem.

And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

The apostles stayed put as they planted that church in Jerusalem.

Then we come jump up to Acts 12.1.

Uh it started.

The difficulty just increased.

About that time, Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.

They're trying to snuff out Christianity right at the start.

And not only did many mature Christians and families flee Jerusalem, they were also right in the middle of a severe famine, Luke tells us in Acts 11, 28-29.

One of them named Agabas stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world.

And this took place during the reign of Claudius.

The persecution of Christians in Jerusalem drove the church underground.

Believers endured pressure from Jewish and Roman authorities at the time in Jerusalem to try to stamp them out.

They tried to eliminate the leaders and vocal Christians, first of all, beginning with Stephen, who was put to death by the Jewish authorities in Acts 7.

Then the Apostle James was put to death by the Roman authorities in Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Herod Agrippa next targeted Peter, if you remember.

But Peter was rescued in jail by an angel in response to the church's prayers.

The result of all this is that the believers in the church in Jerusalem were afraid, they were in hiding, they were facing uncertainty, and they went hungry.

The pressure continued to mount.

However, Luke tells us, you know what, the church in Jerusalem survived and continued to grow in spite of all that.

And then we read in Acts 12 that Herod's untimely death put a temporary stop on the church's persecution for the time being and giving them some relief.

Now moving to the next part, in stark contrast, the church at Antioch was enjoying the Lord's blessing.

Acts 11.

Let me read it and then we'll talk about it.

Acts 11, 19 to 26.

So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.

But there were some of them, men of Cyrus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, the Gentiles, first time preaching the Lord Jesus.

And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

The news about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas.

Barnabas is still in Jerusalem.

They sent Barnabas off to Antioch.

Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.

And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul.

And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch for an entire year.

They met with the church and taught considerable numbers, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

The church in Antioch was flourishing, not only by the believers who fled there from Jerusalem, but they kept sharing the gospel and even broke through the barrier, the Gentile barrier, and some Gentiles started coming to faith in Jesus.

So much was happening there that when the church in Jerusalem heard about it, the apostles said, okay, uh, we we've got to we've got to send people, uh godly, mature believers, to help them understand the faith uh in Christ.

And so they they sent Barnabas.

When Barnabas got there, he was amazed at what God's doing.

And Barnabas realized, there's too much too much to do.

I got to go get Saul, Paul, who'd bring him to help me.

And they spent a year just meeting with, helping new Christians get established in their faith, grow in Christ, so the church is firmly on the right foundation.

Remarkably, as I said, pagan Gentiles also believed the gospel and were added to the church.

Um and the church in Antioch had important things in common uh with the church of Jerusalem as a church.

They believed and were devoted to the same things.

They also had a similar leadership structure, and both churches were accountable to the apostles in Jerusalem.

That's why when the apostles in Jerusalem heard about it, they sent people to help establish them in the faith.

Now, in contrast to the Church of Jerusalem, the Church in Antioch was the first church in history to be a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multinational, multi-class church.

If you read the uh people who are there, they're coming from all over, uh, from Africa and Greece and other places.

In addition, the church in Antioch had two key leaders, as I just mentioned, who discipled and taught them, helped the church grew.

There was Barnabas, remember him, uh, the paracole or encourager of the church.

What's that?

He's a person gifted to uh speak to people, teach them with gentleness and truth.

They go together.

Um then there is Paul, the theologian and preacher, who dramatically converted to Christ, turning from his rage against Christianity, become the leading apologist for Christianity and promoting it.

Paul, the theologian, former Pharisee, was trained by the fame uh Gamaliel, the Jewish rabbi teacher in Israel.

And Paul knew the Hebrew scriptures backward and forward as a Pharisee.

He knew how it all pointed to Jesus Christ.

Wouldn't you love him, have him in your Bible study?

Man, he's there establishing them in their faith.

Um and in Acts chapter 13, uh, Paul preaches his first sermon.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

We looked at on last Easter Sunday, and in his sermon, Paul repeatedly focuses on Jesus' resurrection, um, the foundational belief of Christianity.

If that isn't true, then Christianity is worthless, Paul will go on later to say.

In fact, Luke emphasizes the resurrection in the book of Acts.

He mentions the word resurrection more than any other book in the New Testament.

That brings us to the second point.

Well, what lessons can we learn from these two churches?

Jotted down a few things.

Uh, I think Luke would want us to pick up and his trying to explain the church to Theophilus.

How do you explain this?

It's just this interesting novel uh group of people.

And now we got some in Antioch, some in Jerusalem.

First, we learn uh thing very clearly, very emphatically, especially when we get to Antioch, there it no one ethnicity or culture owns Christianity or the Church of Jesus Christ.

Christianity began, if you remember, as a Jewish sect with a Jewish Messiah, with Jewish followers.

Now, for the first time in Antioch, we have a religion that's not based on race, culture, or country, but simply based on the faith in Jesus.

The gospel and Christianity don't belong to any culture.

It's not an American religion.

It's not a it's I would argue it's probably the only uh worldwide religion.

Most of the other religions have a have an or origin point, like Muslims, and everything is centered around that.

And you have Muslims all over, but the but the main you're identified with this founding place that it began.

Um it began to happen that other nations, cultures began to believe in Jesus and come to faith in Jesus, they had, as I read just a minute ago, they had a hard time figuring out what do we call these people?

Because they don't fit any category.

They're not really Jews anymore.

So far in Acts, believers in Jesus have been called several things.

They've been called believers, they've been called disciples, they've been called brothers, they've been called saints.

None of those terms, though, suggest that they were any different from the Jews.

So we learn in Antioch, Acts 11, 26, when the gospel had spread to other races and cultures, people started calling them Christians.

Christian means Christ's way, the way of Christ.

That's what they follow.

So the first thing is we learn from these churches is that no one church owns Christianity.

Um Jesus' uh gospel can be received by any anyone in the world.

Um, I mean, it is truly a remarkable thing that the Holy Spirit has done.

Second thing we learn from these two churches is how the church grows.

How it exploded.

The church in Antioch and Jerusalem grew the same way.

Uh when believers in Jesus started reaching out to people they met, friends and neighbors, with the message of the gospel.

That's how it's always been.

Let me say that again.

That's how it's always been.

Believers in Jesus reaching out to people with the gospel of Jesus.

The early church grew not by ad campaigns, marketing tools, church growth seminars.

God added to their number.

God added to their number those who are being saved when believers began sharing the truth of the gospel to others.

And also we'll see, they began also serving them that commanded a powerful, a powerful testimony where they began to listen to these believers who were giving themselves to these people.

The church grows when the gospel is preached, and believers share their faith, leading people to believe in Jesus.

So the church we learn the church is multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-class.

Anybody can believe in Jesus and become part of the church.

We learn that the church grows when individual believers share their faith, share the gospel with other believers.

The third thing we learn from these two churches is that the church of Jesus Christ is both local and universal.

In Acts, Luke shows us two local churches, one in Jerusalem, one in Antioch.

But as the Apostle Paul would explain later to the church in Ephesus, we may be gathered locally, but everyone who believes and receives Jesus as Savior are members of the same universal body of Christ.

Ephesians 4, Paul says it this way, Ephesians 4, 4 to 6, uh, to the local church in Ephesus.

He says, you know, there's one body, one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.

There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all in all.

Wherever we are as believers in Jesus, we share one hope in Jesus, one Holy Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.

It's an amazing thing God has done.

But we learn that the church uh Luke emphasized the church is not just local, it's universal.

And the fourth thing we learn from these two churches is that churches help other churches.

We're not competing.

I know we feel sometimes other churches are stealing our sheep.

Wow.

I know that's a problem with a lot of us pastors.

We wanna.

And it is true.

I mean, it's a temptation I think we're all vulnerable to is uh thinking as we're competing with other churches.

But Luke shows us two examples of how the church in Jerusalem and the church at Antioch worked together and helped each other.

First, the established church in Jerusalem, by the way, at a time where they were being persecuted, suffering, maybe going hungry because of the famine, the church in Jerusalem sent one of their most valuable members, leaders, to go help the newly planted church in Antioch by teaching and discipling new Christians, many of whom were coming from idol-worshipping pagan backgrounds, gave up one of the best of their own to help them, even though they're suffering and they're still trying to grow.

Second, the newly planted church in Antioch sent money and food to help the church in Jerusalem that was in the midst of a severe famine.

And they sent it by Paul and Barnabas.

Here you go.

We want to help you guys.

So far in the book of Acts, as we end our review up to this point, Luke has explained the origin, foundation, growth of Christianity.

Christianity, again, rests on the historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead bodily.

Um and after Jesus' resurrection in heaven, Luke explains Christianity's explosive growth began when the Holy Spirit descended on those who believed in Jesus and empowered them to be his witnesses in the world, sharing the good news of the gospel.

Luke has also explained how the opposition and persecution of Christians didn't stop them.

Just because it got hard.

You know, maybe in our church uh we're afraid of uh identifying with Christ as a Christian because of our reputation.

We want to make sure, you know, we don't look like an extremist or something.

You know what they were afraid of?

Death.

Jailing, beatings.

Luke just tells us even during the hardest times uh in Jerusalem, uh, it didn't deter them.

In fact, it emboldened them, it inflamed them to speak all the more about the gospel.

They kept witnessing, in other words, wherever, wherever they were.

And the persecution of the church, actually, uh under God's providential hand, continued to fulfill the mission, which I believe they may have been reluctant to push ahead into other cultures and countries.

You know, their saying went around that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans.

Well, that changed.

When God sovereignly, providentially used Stephen to launch the church throughout the world, literally brought good out of something evil.

Um, and and allowed the disciples to really begin to understand.

Oh, I guess Jesus meant it.

I guess, I guess he meant it when he said, uh, you're going to receive power, and you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of the world, which we see happening in the book of Acts.

A work of the Holy Spirit, God's sovereign plan to reach us here today, is a result of that happening in the early church.

Um, it's a mission that is given to everyone who believes the gospel and has received the Holy Spirit.

The gospel that announced Jesus died for our sins and rose again, so that all who believe in him will receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.

And if you've never personally believed and received Jesus Christ as your Savior, I urge you to do it.

This is why we're here.

Um, and if you'd like to learn more about that, uh I'm easy.

I like to talk, I like to preach.

Um I'm I might start preaching.

No, I'll uh I'd love to help you uh come to the place of understanding what we're talking about with the gospel and how to respond in faith to Jesus.

Please do that if it'll help you.

Uh the church was that was planted in Antioch, I'll say it again, it literally, uh one of the most important churches in Christendom, it became a model literally for all future churches of Jesus Christ.

Next time we're going to pick up the story when the church in Antioch sends out Paul and Barnabas to continue Christianity's expansion, planting churches in some regions throughout Europe, Asia, that God allows to absolutely multiply the gospel in many, many uh amazing ways.

So today let me close in prayer.

Father, thank you that we here at West Sub are part of your mission in the world that Jesus handed to all his disciples to bring people to faith in Jesus through the continuing work of your church in the world.

Thank you, Father, that you established this local church, West Suburban Community Church, to reach people with the gospel.

Just like all the other early churches, they kept growing, they kept spreading the gospel.

I pray, Father, that your spirit would empower us to be your witnesses in this community by our words, our works, to help people know of your love for them in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray in his name.

Amen.