The First to be Called Christians

The Acts of the Apostles  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Introduction

Please open your Bibles to The Acts of the Apostles 11:22-36
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In the previous passage that we considered last week we saw that the gospel first spread into the darkest parts of the gentile world, not by apostles, like Peter or John, but by ordinary disciples of Jesus.
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Many are tempted to believe evangelism and revival are in the hands of their pastors and church leaders. But that is not what we have seen in Luke’s historical account of Early Church growth. Instead, we have seen that sinners are saved by the power and grace of God THROUGH His redeemed people. We have seen that revival happens in a community when God’s people step into their God ordained role to be His witnesses in whatever place they may live and work.
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Which is what happened in Antioch. As these disciples of Jesus traveled to Antioch, they “preached the Lord Jesus.” And through this amazing work of God to revive the spiritually dead to spiritual life, Antioch began to change, and the church in Antioch grew rapidly as the Gospel was proclaimed, just as it did in Jerusalem. A change that resulted in Jesus’ followers first being called Christian.
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Breakdown

Acts 11:22 says, “The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.”
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Upon hearing news out of Antioch about the mass repentance of the Greeks, and their turning to Jesus as Lord, the “church in Jerusalem” sent Barnabas to investigate. This is similar to their sending Peter and John to investigate the Samaritan revival back in Acts 8:14. Now, the church leadership already knew the gospel was for the gentiles, because they had heard Peter’s report about the salvation of the Roman Centurion, Cornelius and his household. And in Acts 11:18, we even see they “glorified God” at this news, and said, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
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So, why send someone to investigate if they already knew the Gospel was for Jews and Gentile alike?
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The sent Barnabas to be sure the report they heard was true. And if true, to be sure these new followers of Jesus were discipled correctly. Which makes sense, and we will see play out shortly. But WHY send Barnabas for this task instead of someone else, say, like Peter or John? To answer this, we need to remind ourselves of who this Barnabas was.
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We first encounter Him in Acts 4:36, where Luke tells us his name was “Joseph, [but he] was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus.” His being a native of Cyprus is an important detail, because it likely means he personally knew some of these evangelists in Antioch, as some of them, according to Acts 11:20 tells us, were “men of Cyprus” (R. Kent Hughs, Acts: Preaching the Word Series, Act 11:22-24). Barnabas and these other “men of Cyprus” had traveled to Jerusalem years prior for the Festival of Pentecost only to become part of God’s great spiritual harvest through the preaching of the Gospel. Then, when Saul began his great persecution of Jesus’ followers, some of these Cyrene’s fled from Jerusalem to Antioch, while Barnabas stayed behind. So, sending Barnabas to investigate the revival in Antioch would make sense, especially if he personally knew these men.
Furthermore, we see that Barnabas means “son of encouragement.” A name the Apostles gave him because of his sacrificial heart and care for his Church family. In Acts 4:37, we are told that he “sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” This money was added to the storehouse which was used to care for the church body, so that nobody’s needs ever went unmet. We next encounter Barnabas sometime after Saul’s conversation while he traveled the road to Damascus. After fleeing from Damascus under threat of death for preaching the Gospel of Jesus, Saul traveled to Jerusalem where he had hoped to be welcomed as a member of the Church. But, because they only knew him as their great persecutor, they were afraid of him, not believing he had truly been saved, but was a spy sent to trick and capture them. So the church shunned Saul out of fear. And Acts 9:27 says, “But Barnabas took [Saul] and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road [to Damascus Saul] had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.” Barnabas, found Saul, heard his story, and then went to bat for him, putting his own reputation on the line.
How the church would benefit to be filled with more like Barnabas! And who would be a better candidate to investigate this revival in Antioch than the “son of encouragement”? For encouragement is exactly what new converts need as they are trying to figure out what it means to follow the Lord Jesus.
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Look with me Acts 11:23-24 to see how this played out.
Acts 11:23–24 says, “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, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.”
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When I became a follower of Jesus, even though I was raised in the church, all I knew was that I was a sinner who was going to Hell unless I repented of my sin and surrendered myself to Jesus. I did not understand the doctrine of Justification by Faith. I did not yet understand that salvation was purely a work of God, and that my repentance and surrender was an act of His divine grace and not a work of my own. All I knew was that I needed His grace and love, for without Him I was doomed to an eternity in Hell. So I repented.
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The same should be said of these Greeks in Antioch. Remember that Antioch was a cesspool of sexual immorality and idol worship. Spiritually speaking, it was darker than the darkest night. These new followers of Jesus who had turned from their false gods at the preaching of “the Lord Jesus,” were babes in the faith. They did not know what was allowed and what was not. They did not know this Jesus was God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, Who eternally proceeds from the Father. They did not know that they were saved by grace through faith and that this was not at all a work of their own doing.
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What they knew was that they desperately NEEDED this Jesus to forgive and save them! They knew they were doomed without Him. So they turned from their sin and idol worship in surrender to “the Lord Jesus.” Which is exactly what Barnabas noticed when he arrived in Antioch and “saw the grace of God.” He saw the Fruit of the Spirit in their lives, which is the evidence of salvation. As Galatians 5:22 says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” This is the “grace of God” that Barnabas saw radiating from these new converts! And he “was glad!” He REJOICED, and instead of coming down on them for what they did not yet know. He “exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.” Simply put, instead of weighing these babes in Christ down with a list of do’s and do not’s, Barnabas encouraged them to meditate on the Lord Jesus with all their hearts, making Him everything (R. Kent Hughs, Acts: Preaching the Word Series, Acts 11:22-24). Although they did not know the Law of Moses, Barnabas encouraged them to obey its command by continuing to turn to “the Lord with all [their hearts] and with all [their souls] and with all [their] might” (2 Kings 23:25). Sage advice for all of Christ followers, whether we are in the beginnings of this journey, or well along the path already.
It is interesting, though, WHY Luke tells us that Barnabas encouraged them in this gentle and encouraging way, instead of focusing upon their flaws. Luke says it was BECAUSE Barnabas “was a good man.” Now, we may be wondering HOW he was a “good man” when Psalm 14:3 “…there is none who does good, not even one?” Barnabas was not good because of anything he had done, but instead, because he was “full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” Meaning, Barnabas encouraged these new converts to continue in their belief and submission to the Lord Jesus, instead of focuses upon their errors, BECAUSE he himself was saved by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, through faith. Such encouragement is a marker of genuine salvation, church! We are not to be marked by a condemning spirit, for Romans 8:1 says there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
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it is amazing what the Lord Jesus will do through an encouraging spirit! Luke tells us that as Barnabas joyfully encouraged faithfulness to the Lord Jesus, “a great many people were ADDED to the Lord!
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Barnabas was indeed the right man for the job! But not only because of the great results. He was the right man, because he did not think to highly of himself. Knowing his own limitations, Barnabas knew he could not continue teaching and encouraging the church to faithfulness on his own. So, in an example of wisdom to us, Barnabas sought out additional pastoral assistance.
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Look with me at the next part of our passage today, in Acts 11:25-26.
It says, “So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 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.”
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Why did Barnabas travel all the way to Tarsus to find Saul, when he could have chosen additional teachers from among the new converts in Antioch? Well, to be blunt, he did not choose any of them for the very reason that they were new converts and were simply not mature enough in the faith to be teachers. Saul, however, had been teaching in Tarsus for somewhere around ten years by the time Barnabas went looking for him. Now, why did Barnabas choose Saul instead of someone like Peter or John? Likely because Saul, being a Jew raised in a Greek culture, would know how to relay the truths of Scripture to a Greek audience. But ultimately, the reason Barnabas went and hunted Saul down for help in Antioch, was because the Holy Spirit prompted him to, as it would be these two who would form the first Missionary Journey into the depths of the Greek and Roman world, which we will consider in Acts chapter thirteen.
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But for now, we should consider that our passage tells us these two pastors of the church taught the believers in Antioch for “a whole year [when] they met with the church,” and that their number of students grew to “a great many” more BECAUSE of their teaching. Understand that a church will not grow spiritually unless its pastors TEACH them the word faithfully and correctly. In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul instructs Timothy to do his “best to present [himself] to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, [WHY? Because he] rightly [handled: He rightly studied and taught] the word of truth.” Can a church grow numerically without such faithful and correct teaching? Yes. We see this happen all the time. Churches, if we want to call them that, that have grown because they offer the best child care, or the most robust youth program, or have the best band playing on stage. Not that these things are bad to excel at, but the kind of churches I am referencing have made these things their DRAW, so that people will come to their church because of they offer them.
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But that is not how the church in Antioch grew. it grew because Barnabas and Saul arduously, and patiently, taught the church the Word of God. And what did they teach? The same thing Barnabas began with. They taught the church to continuing to turn to “the Lord with all [their hearts] and with all [their souls] and with all [their] might” (2 Kings 23:25), as they taught them the deeper truths of Scripture. For learning such truths means nothing if our eyes are fixated upon Jesus, Who, as Hebrews 12:2 says, is “the founder and perfecter of our faith.” We should be learning doctrine from the pulpit, but it must be taught in conjunction with our goal to become like Jesus in all of our ways! Which is exactly what happened in Antioch, for the more these Greek converts learned of Jesus, the more they became like him.
That “grace of God” Barnabas originally saw in them multiplied to the point that the pagans of Antioch recognized their great change and began calling them Christians. This title means something like follower of Christ. A more full understanding would be something like “pledging allegiance to Christ in the same way the Herodians were those who promoted the cause of Herod” (Mohler, Acts 1-12 for You, 160, Paraphrase). So these Christians, who had once practiced paganism with the rest of Antioch, had become known as those who promoted the Lord Jesus! They had given up on their former way of life, having found life in Christ alone, and were therefore, unashamed to be called Christian. They believed, as 1 Peter 4:16 says, that “if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”
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And glorify God they did, to the great example of all who would come after them!
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Concluding Thoughts

Now, one of the evidences that these in Antioch had remained faithful to the Lord, and were growing in their understanding of His ways, being worthy of the title Christians, was that they, by the power of the Holy Spirit, took on the same generous spirit of Barnabas and Saul. Which, Lord willing, I look forward to considering next week. For now, there are a few observations we should consider from our passage today.
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First: Christians should REJOICE at the sight of God’s grace.
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Barnabas’ response of JOY upon seeing the grace of God in the lives of these Greeks, is of utmost importance and example to us! There were so many things Barnabas could have griped about upon his arrival, but instead, he “was glad”! Notice in our passage that he did not scald them for their lack of understanding, or because they did not dress properly. He did not reprimand them for not acting like a JEWISH follower of Jesus would, or for not singing the right kinds of songs.
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Barnabas “was GLAD” because they had believed in Jesus for the salvation of their souls and that they had repented of ruling their own lives, allowing Jesus to now rule them. Barnabas responded just as the hosts of Heaven do when the lost are saved! In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, in Luke 15:7, Jesus says, that “there will be [great] joy in heaven over one sinner who repents!” As a sign of his own salvation, Barnabas joined with heaven, REJOICING that God had shown His grace to these Greeks in Antioch.
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Which takes us to our second observation.
Second: The church should be full of believers who encourage other believers to remain faithful to Jesus.
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Now, some may be wondering something like, “if all we do is encourage, won’t we just be allowing everyone to run amuck, doing whatever their flesh desires?”
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No.
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Barnabas encourages them to remain FAITHFUL to the Lord Jesus and HIS purposes. He encouraged them to NOT turn back to their FORMER ways of worship, but to stay with their NEW Ruler, Master, and Owner, while remaining patient with these babes in Christ concerning their learning curve. In time, if they remained faithful to the Lord Jesus, continuing to learn what it means to follow Him, they would change more and more into the New Creation they had been redeemed by God to be. This is sanctification, church. The process of becoming more like Jesus the longer we know Him and walk with Him.
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Church, there is no better remedy for sin in our lives than to remain faithful to Christ Jesus! In Matthew 14:22-32, it was when Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, focusing instead upon the chaos around him, that he began to sink below the waves. It is paramount for all of God’s redeemed children to KEEP THEIR EYES ON JESUS AT ALL TIMES! The Apostle Paul says it this way, in Philippians 3:13–15, “I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” Likewise, Barnabas knew that these babes in Christ would never mature, unless they kept their gaze fixed upon their new Ruler, Master, and Owner, the LORD Jesus. So he encouraged them to do so!
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But, it should also not be lost on us that such behavior from Barnabas was the result of his own salvation and trust in the Lord. In light of this, we should consider whether or not we are quick to encouraged others to remain faithful to the Lord, or if have we become so self-focused that we are unable to recognize the grace of God in the lives of those around us? (Mohler, Acts 1-12 for You, 158). It could be that if we find ourselves to not be such encouragers, who rejoice in the presence of God’s grace, that we may not trust in the Lord for our salvation of our own souls.
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Consider this today, and do as Paul instructs, in Philippians 2:12 saying, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” If you determine that you are lost, repent and believe today! Be saved through trust in the Lord Jesus, your Ruler, Master, and Owner! And if you are saved, but realize now that you are not marked by an encouragingly joyful spirit, repent of your sin in obedience to the Lord.
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Third: The Church should be discipled from the pulpit by their pastors.
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Bible studies, small group studies, Sunday School, and personal devotionals are good in the proper context, but to neglect the regular discipling of the church through the preaching of the Word from the pulpit is tantamount to spiritual death. In our passage, Barnabas and Saul “met with the church” to teach them. This does not mean that they met with this Bible study and then that small home group, but that they met with the WHOLE church to teach them. Brothers and sisters, it is important, as Psalm 1:2 instructs, that we meditate on the Word of God “day and night,” BUT the early church grew because they submitted themselves to the teaching of their pastors and implemented what they learned. Personal and group studies are good, but it is of the gathering of the whole church that Hebrews 10:25 instructs us in “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
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Notice also that this observation says, “PASTORS.” The Biblical model for church leadership is not one pastor, but multiple. In the case of our passage today, there were two, Barnabas and Saul. The Jerusalem church had a number of pastors. Not only did it begin with the Twelve Apostles, but later, one of her pastors was James, the brother of Jesus, who is listed in Galatians 2:9 as one of the pillars of the church along with Peter and John. There are different ways this model can be fulfilled, but it is something every local body of believers should consider when thinking through their leadership structure. Remember, as Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
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Such teaching and discipleship from multiple pastors should, by the grace of God, produce mature Christians who follow the Lord Jesus as He has directed.
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Which takes us to our fourth observation.
Fourth: The Church’s one identity is Christ Jesus.
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When a church grows in the grace of God through the teaching of their pastors, they should look more and more like the Jesus they claim to follow. For two thousand years, beginning with these Antiochene Christians, Jesus’ followers have gladly taken on His name as a title for who they are. What of us? Do we love the name, and gladly call ourselves by it? Or, do we claim the name, but reject its meaning by continuing to live in the sin of our old, spiritually dead, selves? Remember, Christian, the words of 1 John 2:6, which says, “whoever says he abides in [Christ] ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
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And do not be afraid of walking worthy of the name! Yes, we might suffer for doing so, but remember, as Romans 8:31 says, that if God is for us who is really able to hurt us? Furthermore, no local church should ever call, or listen to a pastor, who preaches otherwise, in any way, shape, or form.
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Church, the call for us today, and everyday hence forth, is to follow the example of these first who were called Christians, and would suffer for it, by doing as 1 Peter 4:16 says. Be encouraged by these words. “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” Brothers and sisters, the local church that is filled with such people, is the church that will see the grace of God and celebrate it, who will encourage each other to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus, and will call proper pastors who will patiently, but boldly, disciple them in the Word of God.
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This is the church that will magnify the Lord, beholding His glory, and will grow through the salvation of the lost!
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So, the question remains, “does our passage today describe First Baptist Church of Ironton?”
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I pray we each spend the time necessary to answer this question.
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