Acts 11:19–26 - More Than A Label

A 'Christian' is simply a loyal follower of Christ.

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SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... Both Apostle Peter and the centurion Cornelius had simultaneous visions from God calling them together. After word got out that the Jewish Peter had visited and stayed at a Gentile's home, it caused quite a stir, which was dampened when it became clear that God was at work expanding His Church.

Now Luke, our narrator, steps back in time a bit to catch us up with other things that had been happening.

Acts 11:19–30 (NASB95)

¹⁹ So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. ²⁰ But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

²² The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. ²³ 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; ²⁴ for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.

²⁵ And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 32

Q. But why are you called a Christian?

A. Because by faith I am a member of Christ

and so I share in his anointing.

I am anointed

to confess his name,

to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks,

to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil

in this life,

and afterward to reign with Christ

over all creation

for all eternity.

Summary

Persecution, for as often as we properly pray against it and hope it will never happen to us, ironically can be quite beneficial to the Church. Its testing strengthens and solidifies Christians as they cling more tightly to their Father and Savior in times of trouble, and, as Luke notes here, persecution forces the Church to scatter. As the early Christians were forced out of Jerusalem after Stephen's execution, they ended up moving north to cities like Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch.

These refugees eagerly told the good news to their new neighbors, but Luke makes a critical distinction: they spoke the word to no one except Jews alone. This wasn't really all that odd - refugees and immigrants always tend to stick to their own cultural communities, plus, Judaism had always been a very insular religion. So these fleeing Jews simply told other Jews about their Jewish Messiah. Makes sense.

But turns out the Greeks were pretty interested in this Christ as well (the word Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah), having had men who came to Antioch begin speaking to them too, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord!

News didn't travel quite as fast then as it does now, but it still moved pretty quickly and didn't take very long to reach the ears of the church at Jerusalem - the apostles, who had stayed put in the midst of the persecution. Not sure what to make of it, they sent Barnabas up to investigate.

Luke makes it clear what Barnabas found when he showed up: he witnessed the grace of God. He saw considerable numbers being brought to the Lord. Barnabas, another in a long line of men Luke describes as being full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, recognized that God was at work. But Barnabas was an encourager, not a preacher. So he left for Tarsus to look for a man who was: Saul.

  Dig Deeper  

What do people witness when they come to your church? Do they see the same grace of God that Barnabas witnessed in Antioch? Why or why not? What do you think the grace of God looks like? Certainly God's grace manifests itself in a myriad of different ways in different places, but there's also lots of counterfeits that seem like aspects of God's grace but aren't.

Luke includes a fascinating tidbit in today's episode that will help you answer those critically important questions in any setting and enable you to recognize true grace amongst the pretenders.

Luke tells us that those people up in Antioch coined one of history's most famous terms: the disciples were first called Christians there! But to those who first started calling them that, it probably didn't seem all that unique. After all, people who affiliated with a particular political leader were often called by his name, like the Herodians or the Caesarians.

That's what the name that you have hopefully attached to yourself means - a Christian is simply one who who follows and is loyal to Christ. And communities of loyal Christ followers - Christians - will quite naturally and genuinely demonstrate the grace of God that Barnabas saw in Antioch.

So if you want the grace of God to be evident in your own life and church, be sure to do what those early disciples did so long ago in Antioch: be a loyal follower of Jesus Christ in a way that's evident to all.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who controls and uses all things - even persecution - to grow Christ's Church;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'd be a strong Christian in the original sense of the word;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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