To Be Christian

Introduction

Every few years a poll comes out attempting to determine how many people identify themselves as Christians. The last poll I saw stated that 62% of people in the United States identify themselves as Christians.

But, is that correct? Are we really a 62% Christian country? I have my doubts.

However, admittedly, God did not put me on the earth to judge who is and isn’t Christian, we do have in the Bible many tests for ourselves to make sure that we are living an authentically Christian life. (This is a MUCH better approach than running around judging who is and isn’t Christian, by the way!)

So, continuing in our study of Acts, we are going to see the passage where believers are first called Christians, but also see some of the actions that we would expect to find in authentic Christians. Thus, they are actions that we should see in our lives if we claim to be Christ-following Christians.

Body: Acts 11:19-30

VV. 19-21

This passage reminds me of a story in which the author says, “Meanwhile...”

In a way, Luke is taking us back to Acts 8:1 & 8:4

Acts 8:1 “And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”

Acts 8:4 “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”

Essentially, Luke is saying, “While Philip is ministering to the coast, Saul was being converted, and Peter is being called to preach to Cornelius and start what would become the inclusion of the Gentiles, here’s what is happening in other areas with the believers.”

Luke is also introducing us to the church in Antioch, which will become one of the key hubs for the movement going forward.

Much of Acts is focused on the important Christian leaders and what they did.

But, as I mentioned at the beginning of this series, Acts is really the story of the moving of the Holy Spirit, not simply a handful of Christian leaders.

No where is that more evident than here.

The evangelization spoken of in these verses is evangelism done by nameless lay-people, doing what believers do: telling others about Jesus.

Because of the diaspora after Stephen’s murder, believers spread out, or are dispersed to various locations outside of Jerusalem and Judea. In this case, they head north and west (show on map: Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch).

Many still only preached to the Jewish people in those cities. However, some were willing to preach the Gentiles (i.e. Hellenists...a Greek-cultured non-Jew).

The key statement here is: “And the hand of the Lord was with them...”

Just like the Gentile Pentecost, we see God approving of the mission to the Gentiles by blessing their efforts.

VV. 22-24

Sixteen different cities were named Antioch in the ME, but Syrian Antioch was the largest and most prosperous.

Its population was over 500,000, including a Jewish colony somewhere in the range of 50,000, and a thriving economy because it was at a crossroads of major trade routes. (In fact, it was the third largest Roman city, behind Rome and Alexandria.)

It was religiously very diverse.

It would become a vital location for the church because of these trade routes and because of the religious diversity. The church gaining a foothold here would open the door to further evangelism to “the ends of the earth.”

If difficult to determine the exact timing of when this took place and when Peter reported back to the Jerusalem church, but it is likely that the church in Jerusalem had already had the testimony of what Peter had experienced with Cornelius at Caesarea.

Thus, they realized that God was, in fact, also going to save the Gentiles too.

So when they heard about Gentiles coming to the Lord in Antioch, they sent Barnabas to minister to them.

Barnabas was a native of Cyprus, so he was a good choice to go to them to deal with relations between the new Gentile believers and the Jewish believers, particularly because it was men from the islands of Cyprus and Cyrene who originally started preaching to the Gentiles in Antioch.

We were first introduced to Barnabas in chapter 4. He was the good example of giving, in that he sold a piece of land and gave all the proceeds to the apostles to be used for the ministry.

We also should remember him from 9:27 in that he took Saul to the apostles and testified on his behalf.

His name means “son of encouragement” and throughout Acts we see him as just that.

I believe Barnabas would have been a great pastor.

Other than the reasons I will soon list, one thing I notice about Barnabas is that he looks for the best in people...

And, never understate the importance of encouragement…

In this passage we see more about Barnabas’ character:

He had joy about what the Lord was doing in Antioch

Fun Greek Fact: grace & joy come from the same root word and the relationship is obvious: one who experiences grace is filled with joy!

He encouraged them to remain faithful to the Lord

With a steadfast purpose…

He was a good man

He was full of the Holy Spirit

He was full of faith

We also see that God blessed his ministry in Antioch, in that a great many people came to the Lord.

Thus, Antioch becomes a vital hub for the worldwide evangelization movement.

VV. 25-26

The passage doesn’t say why Barnabas went to get Saul, but he brought him back to Antioch to help in the ministry.

I believe it has something to do with what I said a few weeks back: that Barnabas was mentoring Saul, preparing him for his ministry. In helping in the ministry, Saul would also be trained for his mission also.

This is discipleship at its best. Help someone grow, then release them to do the ministry God has called them to!

Interesting note at the end of the passage: it was in Antioch that the term ‘Christian’ was used.

The name Christian only shows up 3 times in the NT (here, Acts 26:28 & 1 Peter 4:16)

It may have been used just in the church or it may have been a derogatory term meaning “little Christ.”

In fact, it wasn’t until 115AD that Ignatius wrote of the term with pride.

VV. 27-30

Here we see word of a famine coming, and the church at Antioch feels the need to send money to Judea to help the Jerusalem church because of their poverty and persecution.

In tough times the poor and persecuted often get forgotten because of the cares of the day. Here, they think outside themselves.

This “great famine” would be widespread, possibly even affecting them (most likely the entire Roman world). However, they didn’t think about their own needs, but the needs of others.

In fact, Luke adds a parenthetical note, stating that the famine did happen during the time of the Roman emperor Claudius, emperor from A.D. 41-54.

More history: The Judean famine took place during A.D. 44-48 and an Egyptian famine took place during A.D. 45-46 due to flooding. Those two famines combined would have put significant supply-and-demand pressures throughout large parts of the empire, creating higher prices and greater poverty for the poorer classes.

But, from it’s earliest days, the Christians show a concern for the needs of others. But, more than a stated concerns (“thoughts and prayers”) but it’s a active concern (“prayers and ministering to needs”).

That’s something that must never change within the church!

So What?

What does it mean to be Christian?

A Christian practices inclusive evangelism.

We need to remind ourselves that being a disciple-making church doesn’t mean we only look for those who are like us. In fact, there is great beauty in diversity within a church because:

Gives us a clearer picture of Heaven...

Because different people are gifted to reach and disciple different people...

As the early church went from a Jewish-only evangelism approach to a Jew and Gentile evangelism, so the Western church during the 19th century shifted focus away from just evangelizing Europeans, to bringing the Gospel to various parts of the world. Today, there are approximately 7,215 people groups who have little to no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is almost 42% of the people on planet earth! And of all the dollars given by believers to mission work worldwide, only 3% goes to reaching these people groups! (I believe we need to raise up a generation of missionaries!)

But today, as the church, we focus on three forms of mission work:

Praying...

Giving...

Going...

Most of us are open to praying about evangelizing; some are open to giving for others to evangelize; the challenge for us today is the going part...

Part of practicing inclusive evangelism is reaching out to our community.

Attractional...(Invite Your One: November 9th)

Engagement...(Festival of Lights: December 13th)

Infiltration...

Missions involvement...

A Christian is an active part of a local church.

Notice in verse 21 that Luke makes it very clear that it was the hand of the Lord that was with them.

People were saved because God made it happen. Yes, the believer’s had a role: to faithfully preach.

It’s no different with us. We must be faithful to do our part; but God will be faithful whether we are faithful or not!

However, we shouldn’t use this as an excuse for laziness. Obedience should always matter to us!

This is where being an active part of a local church comes in. The center for evangelism today isn’t Antioch. It’s not even a denomination or parachurch organization (as important as both are today).

The center for evangelism today is hundreds of thousands of local evangelical congregations, committed to bringing the Gospel to people.

You cannot be part of that movement unless you are part of a local church.

And I used the term “active” on purpose.

Inactive members is an oxymoron.

Think about it from a job example. If someone is an inactive employee what will they soon become? An unemployed person!

Being part of the local church depends on active participation; each part of the body of Christ doing what they were designed to do.

Pathway Class: Gifts, skills, passions, willingness...

A Christian is committed to discipleship.

I love the picture here of Barnabas discipling Saul. Saul, who will soon become the most important preacher and evangelist the church would even know, still needed someone to help him grow in his walk with Jesus.

There is a two part challenge for us:

Be discipled...

Be a disciple maker...

All of us need a Paul, Barnabas & Timothy in our lives...

Who are yours? What will it take to have those people in your lives?

A Christian practices sacrificial care for others.

Christian care is putting the needs of others on par or even above our own.

We see this in these new believers in Antioch.

Think about this: many of these people come from Hellenistic backgrounds where benevolence wasn’t a high priority. Now, they are confronted with the poverty of people in Jerusalem; people they did not know, would probably never know, and had no earthly reason to care about.

But, they have a heavenly reason to care about them! These people were not only their fellow believers, but the Jesus they now follow, gave them the example of compassion for others.

It’s very hard to say you follow Christ, and yet refuse to show compassion to others.

Jesus loved people because. We love because Jesus loved.

But caring for people is more than a feeling. It’s an action. It’s more often than not, a sacrificial action where we make the needs of others important to us.

Again, not simply with “thoughts and prayers” but with “prayers and ministry actions.”

So, the question is: who needs to experience some sacrificial care from me this week?