The Spirit of Solidarity (2)

Introduction

Acts 11:19–30 ESV

19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. 27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

The Holy Spirit gives God’s people a new identity and creates a solidarity within the church that calls us to sacrificially enter into one another’s sufferings.

Eleven years ago a somewhat historic conference took place in Jackson, MS at Mt. Helm Baptist Church. Mt. Helm is the oldest black church in that city. It began in 1835 with several enslaved blacks worshipping in the basement of First Baptist Church of Jackson. This conference was a conversation on race and the church in the 21st Century. I didn’t attend in person, but viewed the sessions online.

Hard truths were discussed on how the church in United States, particularly the white church failed by putting ethnicity over unity. We talk in this country about the separation of church and state, but in the matter of race and color, there’s a history of great agreement between church and state. I was born in 1968. A year before that more than 16 states still prohibited and punished interracial marriage. There certainly was no outcry from the majority white church on this matter. Indeed, in 1959 a Virginia trial judge stated in a case his legal rationale justifying the constitutionality of the prohibition against interracial marriage. He said,

“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay, and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”

Hearing things like this from a generation ago turns our stomach, and really isn’t surprising news. But I lead into the message with it because there is a sort of “going in” that needs to take place. The terrible history of race and the church in the U.S. is real, but I want to invite us to go into this text. Here’s what I mean. The church was never problem free, but what we have in these verses is like a treasured picture in your family album. It is a snapshot of real Christian history that points the way forward for the church. I want to invite us to "go in" and take ownership of this heritage of God's people, as what we ourselves are determined to pursue.

God transforms his church and gives it a new identity. And then we see God creating a need for these two Christian communities—the predominantly Jewish church of Jerusalem and Judea, and the predominantly Gentile church of Antioch—to recognize their need for one another, and to exhibit a Holy Spirit generated solidarity in Jesus Christ.

I have four points under this topic The Spirit of Solidarity, A New People, A New Joy, and A New Name and A New Solidarity.

A New People

Luke has started to focus on the way Jesus is working out his plan for his church by breaking it out of its Jewish only cultural identity. Shock and drama takes place in chs 10-11 when Peter went to Caesarea to the Roman centurion Cornelius’s house. And his family and friends were converted and became disciples of Jesus. Peter, when he returned to Jerusalem, was criticized for having fellowship and eating with Gentiles. God is starting to add some new people, some different people, to the church. People who were so different that it disturbed the believers who were in Jerusalem.

Now, in v. 19, Luke takes us all the way back to the beginning of ch. 8 when the persecution started in Jerusalem. He’s not following a strict chronological order here, he’s following a theme order about how Jesus added these new people to the church. He says in Acts 11.19-20

Acts 11:19–20 ESV

19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.

After Stephen was stoned to death, and Saul started raging against the church, trying to destroy it, primarily the Greek speaking Jewish Christians left Jerusalem. They were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Luke told us back then that those who were scattered went about preaching the good news, preaching the word. He picks back up on this and tells us that they didn’t just stop in Judea or Samaria, but there were some who continued up and northward along the coastline to Phoenicia, and the island of Cyprus, and even as far north as Antioch… They went about telling people about Jesus, but the problem was they were only sharing this good news with Jewish people. They were stuck in their understanding of what kind of people they ought to talk to about Jesus. But, there were some of them, Luke says, who got it. There were some men who were natives of Cyprus and Cyrene, who decided to break out of their cultural container and tell the good news about the Lord Jesus to non-Jews. God is bringing some new people, some unexpected people into the church.

V. 21 makes a powerful statement. Luke says that the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. In Caesarea we were only dealing with one Gentile, Cornelius, and the amount of people who could fit inside of his house. Now we’re talking numbers of converts like what happened in Jerusalem after Pentecost. Luke says a great number turned to the Lord. The powerful statement in this verse isn’t the great number who turned to the Lord. It’s the fact that the hand of the Lord was with them. The hand of the Lord, the presence, the authority, and the power of the Lord was with these men from Cyprus and Cyrene who took Jesus to the Gentiles.

The hand of the Lord is always with those who reach beyond their place of comfort into the thorny places for his purposes. Particularly understanding his desire to transform many with his good news, and to use them to do it. This doesn’t mean that we won’t be pricked by the thorns or that there won’t be any bleeding. It just means that we won’t be alone. Which means that we go in the full power, authority, and presence of the Spirit of Christ.

Let me point two things out. First, these are ordinary, everyday people. These aren’t the apostles Luke is talking about. And they didn’t need a personal visit from the Lord, like what happened to Peter, to tell them to go to the Gentiles. We’re here to install Pastor Josh. But this isn’t a description of what the pastors do. This is describing the actions of people who simply had an understanding of the gospel. They knew the good news and had been transformed themselves. They understood that this transformation wasn’t just for them and their fellow Jews. They wanted to see as many as possible receive this new identity, become new people.

Secondly, we see these large numbers of people become believers in Acts, and we can think that there are all of these mass conversions taking place. But this isn’t a mass conversion. He simply says that a great number believed. The scattering that Luke talks about in v. 19 is at least 10 years prior to Barnabas getting to Antioch and then going to get Saul in vv. 22 and 25. Towards the end of ch. 9, when Saul is sent to Caesarea and off to Tarsus, he’s there about 10 years before Barnabas goes looking for him to bring him to Antioch. Here’s my point. What we have described here isn’t easy evangelism. Say something about Jesus once and everybody believes. What we have here is the long process of people being in a place, getting to know the place, getting to know the people, getting uncomfortable, sharing Jesus along the way, and watching him work to bring people to himself. There was a time when Grace Dover wasn’t a diverse church. When Pastor Seda began to move this congregation towards a more faithful expression of beautiful community, how long did it take for there to be change? How many years of preaching, teaching, fellowship and love? The Spirit regularly works over the course of years.

A New Joy

As new people are added we see the Lord bring a new joy. In v. 22 Luke says the report of these new people being added and turning to the Lord came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem. They sent Barnabas, the son of encouragement. And what a perfect choice they made. Barnabas was a Greek speaking Jewish Christian from Cyprus. So, he might have been a natural choice, but the better reason to choose him is described in v. 24. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. That’s demonstrated in his response to seeing all of these new believers. Barnabas has a new joy. He’s glad because he recognizes the grace of God.

When he got to Antioch and saw what was going on, what he saw, v. 23 tells us, was grace of God. Barnabas sees these new believers from the unclean Gentiles, this new international community, and he doesn’t need any convincing. It brings him joy and gladness because he recognizes the grace of God when he sees it.

So, he jumps in fully with both feet and begins exhorting them in the faith. He exhorts them to purpose in their hearts to be devoted to the Lord. His urging to these new believers is to cling to Jesus with determination and purpose.

What is God doing? He’s giving the church precisely what it needs. Barnabas is a bridge builder. He’s someone who doesn’t recoil at the thought of what the church is going to be or look like when you have all of these people who are so different from one another coming together. He doesn’t recoil at having to have his own biases challenged because of this cultural diversity. He could recognize the grace of God when he saw it. He was sent there probably out of concern for all of these Gentiles being added to the church, but Barnabas wasn’t going to turn concern into control that hindered the grace of God.

It’s easy to be a complainer, but it’s much harder to be an encourager. What’s going on with us? Do we let the complaint and disappointment that comes when things are not the way we want them to be to push us to the sidelines, or even out of the door? Or is God disciplining our hearts, and giving us new joy when we see his grace exhibited, even though it’s not what we expected or desired?

The work is getting to be a bit much for him. So he decides, it’s time to re-engage brother Saul. He goes to Tarsus, which isn’t that far away from Antioch, to look for Saul. When he finds him he lets him know, “we’ve got to go back to Antioch. God is putting his grace on display in that place, and there’s work for us to do.”

A New Name

Barnabas and Saul return to Antioch. I can imagine that Saul was sharing in Barnabas’ joy. For a whole year the two of them met with the church and they taught a lot of people. This is the picture of them regularly gathering the church together to teach them what it means to follow Jesus. These new believers wouldn’t have been familiar with all that the OT had said about God’s promises to send a Savior. In fact, notice here that the primary reference to Jesus in this text is, “Lord,” not, “Christ,” or “Messiah.” What Gentiles in Rome would’ve been familiar is the title, “Lord,” or “Kurios.” You start off talking Messiah, and they would’ve looked at you funny. So they met them with language and a description of Jesus that the people could grasp. “Jesus is Lord. I know what that means.” And for a whole year Barnabas and Saul taught them the significance of what it meant to know and believe that Jesus is Lord.

This beautiful painting of international evangelism and discipleship leads to the new people receiving a new name. In Antioch, Luke says, the disciples were first called Christians. A new identity for these new people. It’s no accident that we don’t find the word, “Christian,” ascribed to the followers of Jesus until after the church has this massive influx of Gentiles and becomes a mixed group. Jesus has brought and is creating something new. So it was not sufficient for this group to just be considered an offshoot or sect of Judaism. What Jesus did and continued to do had implication for the whole world and all peoples.

Notice that they didn’t give themselves this new name. They were first “called” Christians in Antioch. They didn’t call themselves Christians. It was the people of Antioch. This fourth largest city in Rome, with a population of about 500,000 people. The people of Antioch were famous for their wit and nicknaming skill, and the believers stood out as a group. They’re obviously not Jews. If they were Jews, you wouldn’t have this large intermingling of Jews and Gentiles together. So, they decided, let’s call them Christians. Their identity was now as people who follow this guy, Jesus Christ. So, when the Gentiles began to turn to the Lord, not only did they receive a new identity, but the Church received a new identity.

Jesus chose Jerusalem to be the birthplace, the launchpad for Christianity. But he chose Antioch to be the nurturing place where the gospel begins to go deep down into the impenetrable places. The church we model isn’t Jerusalem. The church we model is Antioch. It’s where we begin to see that day Isaiah spoke about in Scripture reading begin to come to pass, when Isaiah said,

Isaiah 19:24–25 ESV

24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

When Antioch is established and God’s people given a new name, we see the beginning of that day when the whole world will worship the one true God. Do you understand what I’m saying Grace Dover? This is our story! This is a picture in our family album. We are a continuation of what the Spirit is determined to do over the whole world!

A New Solidarity

After this new name is given we see it put to the test immediately as the Holy Spirit demonstrates a new solidarity.

Luke says, Acts 11.27-28

Acts 11:27–28 ESV

27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius).

At some point in that year of Barnabas and Saul’s teaching and discipling, some prophets traveled the 310 miles from Jerusalem to Antioch with a message. “There is a great famine coming, and it’s going to be over the whole world.” Now, “all the world,” meant, “all the Roman world,” or, “over the whole Roman empire” is how we would say it. So, at a time of what we might call great spiritual prosperity in Antioch, Agabus proclaims a message about great physical scarcity and suffering. He says, this period of great scarcity and lack they predicted is the famine that took place during the reign of Claudius.

Claudius was the Roman emperor from a.d. 41-54. And his reign was marked by a long series of crop failures in various parts of the empire during his years. And the question is kind of hanging out there. In response to this prediction of disaster, what is the church of Antioch going to do? We know what they did, it’s right here in front of us, but the answer wasn’t obvious. Let me ask you a question. What happens around here when the local meteorologist predicts that a major snowstorm is coming in the next few days? One of those 18” plus deals? All of us run as fast as we can to the store and buy up all of the shovels, the ice melt, the bread, the milk, the batteries, and whatever else we think we need to ride out the storm. We pile it up in our homes because we want to make sure that we don’t suffer any lack of anything we think we need when the storm hits.

What makes us think that the prediction of impending famine wouldn’t have produced in them the same sort of “look out for yourself” basic instinct that the threat of suffering and loss produces in us? What makes us think that their first inclination wouldn’t have been to begin hoarding food and materials and resources for themselves to ride out the famine. But that’s not what they did. They responded to the prediction of great scarcity and lack with an expression of solidarity that only the Spirit of God could create.

So the disciples determined, each of them according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

What’s going to happen when the Gentiles in Antioch Church find out that the Jews in the Judean Church are in need? Will old divisions rear its head, or is this new identity for real? Will this new identity result in a new way of living and acting? Because they understood the gospel message that Barnabas and Saul were devoted to teaching them, the Antioch church’s response was an immediate expression of love and care through sacrificial giving. Each one of them determined, according to their ability to send relief. Whether they had much, or whether they had little, they wanted to participate in this ministerial relief. Who are they sending to? They are sending it to their brothers and sisters who live in Judea. Don’t miss that. They understand, we are now one people. There is a solidarity between us. We are no longer divided, but are united in Jesus Christ.

They understood that because they were bought with a price, the blood of Jesus, they now belonged to God. They were not their own. What that meant was that everything they had also belonged to God. Therefore, we must do what we do with what we have out of obedience to Jesus. These believers in Antioch gave from what each had out of obedience to Jesus. And it is not the picture of reluctant obedience. It’s the beautiful portrait of spontaneous love driven obedience.

Here’s the picture Luke has been painting of how the message of the gospel, the message of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ, creates in us a solidarity across dividing lines and a love driven obedience to Christ’s commands. We see it with Peter. We see it with the disciples who went to the Gentiles. We see it with Barnabas and Saul. We see it with the disciples in Antioch. Peter breaks tradition at the command of God and goes to fellowship with Gentiles in Caesarea. Then Luke tells us that when the persecution came after Stephen was martyred, the disciples were scattered. Some went as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch. But they shared the good news about Jesus only with the Jews. However, there were these men from Cyprus and Cyrene who decided to go to the Greeks. The brothers from Cyprus and Cyrene went to the Greeks out of obedience to Jesus. They understood that the gospel wasn’t only for them and their kind. Now, these disciples in Antioch, growing in the faith understand that there’s a new purpose even for their money. They were now connected to believers throughout the world across geographical and ethnic boundaries. So, their means, whether they had a lot or a little, were to be used to help their brothers and sisters.

Without Jesus, everything I do with everything I have is out of obedience to me. It’s Jesus who calls me to take every thought captive out of obedience to him. This includes sacrificially entering into the sufferings of others. It’s not enough to talk about how grateful we are for salvation in Jesus Christ. It’s not enough to talk about the love of God and get good Bible teaching. The church in Antioch couldn’t have had better teaching. They were hearing directly from Barnabas and Saul. There was going to come a point when they would have to put what they heard and said they believed into action. Grace Dover, you have had, and now will continue to have wonderful gospel teaching. But that’s not enough. God’s people will always have to put it that good teaching into action in a sacrificial and costly way. They couldn’t be content to use their resources only for their own efforts. Everyone who follows Jesus gets that privilege.

You have to love their expression of solidarity. The apostles in Jerusalem had sent Barnabas to Antioch to check out what was going on with all of these Gentiles turning to the Lord. Now, they send Barnabas, together with Saul, back to Judea carrying the funds they had collected. They weren’t hoarding their money. They weren’t even hoarding their teachers. We’re going to demonstrate our love and solidarity by sending you the best of what we have both financially and ministerially.

Imagine how humbled the churches in Judea were to receive much needed assistance from their Gentile brothers and sisters must’ve been. Humbled but grateful to receive assistance that they didn’t ask for, but that was freely and sacrificially given when the need was identified. Imagine how encouraged and empowered the Antioch church was to know that the Lord used them to further break down long standing hostilities. This is grace, and this is what grace does. It humbles people without degrading them and it exalts people without inflating them.

This history of grace and solidarity in Acts 11 belongs church’s family album just as much as much as the ugly stuff does. Let’s determine, by the grace of God, to go in on the side of sacrificial solidarity; taking every thought captive in loving obedience to Jesus Christ.