Farewell to Antioch

Sometimes you might wonder if I have my head on straight; what I read for a morning text doesn’t always match what I have Liz put in the bulletin or what’s on the slide

Two weeks ago, I listed two weeks’ worth of text; that was because I was only preaching part of a longer passage

Last week, we stretched the text a bit from when I said it would end, v. 35, into this week’s text, to v. 37; that was because vv 36-37 connected the previous portion of the narrative to this week’s component—the rest of the chapter

I could have preached the whole thing in one message—but nobody wants to sit for an hour and a quarter for the message without a break

This morning we hit the point at which the message Paul had been giving fully transitions from teaching to preaching--

He’s stated his case, linked the history of the Jewish People to the Christ they’d been awaiting

Now, he’s looking for a decision on their part: will they stay following the law or move into following the giver of life, Jesus

We’re going to look at Forgiveness of sins; freedom from the burdens of the Law, Paul’s followup to his message and his farewell to Antioch; but first we answer a ...

A Nagging Question

If salvation is by grace, through faith in Christ alone, how were people saved before Christ? Was it by works? By keeping the Law?

Were there no faithful, Godly people among the Jews? …or even outside the Jewish race/culture?

We find a lot of answers in the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11:1–2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.”

Following that:

By faith Abel…; …Enoch…; …Noah…; …Abraham…;

A statement about Enoch in Gen 5 22: he “walked with God” and Gen. 6 9 about Noah, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”

We also have Job, who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil”

Among Paul’s audience of that day were men and women who were getting it right, living by faith, and keeping the law…their faith was in the God of the Law, not in their ability to keep the Law

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

They were being diligent in their pursuit of God, and He rewarded them by sending this clear message by way of Paul

To these people the Gospel Paul brought that day was a welcome message—helping them make sense of those things they had; giving a more sure understanding of their faith

There was a better understanding of...

Forgiveness

This is the core of the Gospel—the good news that Jesus died for sins—a one-time and for all-time payment of the price

Many of us can recite some of the basics of the Gospel: here, for example is the Romans Road

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 10:10 ESV

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Freedom

…from the burdensome requirements of the law...

The underlying word is often translated justified or could be made right

The law prescribed a seemingly unending list of sacrifices and offerings to be made to be freed from the burden and guilt of sin—any sin

It required feasts, festivals and fasts;

It appears from history that many kept the Law on its surface…but had no true faith

Jesus came to fulfill the law; His sacrifice paid it all

We look again to the Romans Road and find that we’re

Free from condemnation

Romans 8:1 ESV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

…and the promise of His eternal love

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Even within this teaching, Paul warned about the scoffers among them, citing Habakkuk 1:5 ““Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.”

Followup

Some of the people wanted to hear more

This was a mix of the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles

They “begged” to hear more

The underlying word (parakaleo) is often translated appeal, urge, plead—it’s a strong word, expressing a real desire to have what is asked

Many followed Paul and Barnabas—actually following their teaching, that Jesus was the Savior

It would be fun to know just what followed during that next week—we can almost imagine the conversations

Hey, Paul, what about…? Barnabas, what do I do about…? How do I understand…?

What we do see is that they “urged them to continue in the grace of God; trusting it that—GRACE ALONE—for their salvation; not to fall into a works-based salvation

Farewell

Not a pleasant parting of the ways

After a week of being among the people of the city, the word had spread and the entire city came out to hear what Paul and Barnabas had to say…except some had other thoughts

The Jewish leadership was jealous—felt threatened in their secure positions—we can almost hear the conflict beginning among the crowds...

This was during what’s called the “Golden Age” of Antioch, population of around 100,000 people (for reference, Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, home of the Crimson Tide, holds 100,077)

They made it plain that they had done as instructed, preaching first to the Chosen Race of the Jews, but would no go to the Gentiles…citing Is. 49 6, and 45 22. also Luke 2:32, the statement of Simeon in the temple concerning the infant Jesus: “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

The Gentile population was thrilled that this message was now coming to them…and we get a very significant line given us in 13:48

...as many as were appointed to eternal life believed...

We are not, this morning, going to settle the matter of exactly how election works, except to say that Scripture is clear that God makes sovereign choices and man has individual responsibility; both can be proven by Scripture, we have a difficult time dealing with the apparent conflict between the two

However you choose to understand it we see here that God’s plan was fulfilled by the preaching of the Gospel by Paul and Barnabas at Antioch

In what was a culturally significant move and following the directive of Jesus from the Gospels (Mk 6.8), they shook the dust from their sandals, expressing a finality to their association with those who had rejected their message

WITFM?

Why do we care about this event more than 2000 years ago? It was a power play by the local politicians against those who dared stir up dissent

We care because it was the

Message of Forgiveness

Like it was for Paul, his to share, it is now ours to share

Romans 1:16 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Message of Freedom

We do not have to follow the Law of Moses

We have no more litany of duties and obligations

We do, however have the freedom to obey—not out of obligation, but out of relationship

If we are truly trusting Christ, obedience—and doing good works—should flow naturally from that relationship

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Should we live a set-apart (sanctified) life? Certainly…but it’s possible only because we’re freed from the power of sin; empowered by the Holy Spirit to live above the sin

Our Followup

We don’t have the apostles around to answer our questions, continue our teaching and training

We do have the Word—be in the Word—a systematic study of God’s Word…we can listen to it as we drive, work...

We have other believers—the church, multiple teaching opportunities, fellowship, discipleship, problem solving, support

We have technology that enables us to be taught by those who among the world’s best Bible teachers and preachers

WARNING: there are a lot of bad teachers out there as well, packaging their teaching in attractive forms…they’ll suck you into error fast!

When to Say Farewell

There are some people you should leave behind

When it comes to a point where they insist on dragging you down…it’s time to go

We should never cease to pray for them; but sometimes they will only cause us damage if we stick around

Not really within the text; but a related principle:

The same for some behaviors

There are behaviors, also habits and attitudes that are sinful or lead us toward sin

We need to leave them behind as well