The Hand of Lord-Part III

As we have been digging through the book of Acts we have found that the gospel message has spread far and wide. The church has grown from a small group of 120 followers of Jesus Christ in Acts 2, and God has been adding numbers to them the entire time. Salvation has not only come to the Israelites but as we have found it has also gone to the Gentiles. The Hand of the Lord has been hard at work in Growing His Church with or without the apostles. What has grown His church to this point are people who have trusted in Christ and can't contain the truth of who Christ is and what He has done in their place. Now the city of Antioch, the third largest Gentile city in the Roman Empire has received the message of the gospel, they have heard the good news of Jesus Christ. Not only did they hear it but they also trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior. God's at work in building up His church and God will do this work. He requires faithful servants who will go out and spread His message, and He also requires servants who will encourage the people to stand firm in what they believe, but it doesn't end there. If all the church was about was just telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ and encouraging people to pray and to follow Him then do you know what we would have, shallow churches that only know the the gospel.

Matthew 28:18-20 says this,

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus tells the apostles to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Making disciples is two fold, evangelism, telling them the good news of Jesus Christ which brings about belief in Jesus Christ which causes them to become disciples of Jesus Christ. The expression or the outward sign of the inward change of become a disciple is through water baptism. Water baptism doesn't save but it does publicly demonstrate that you identify with Jesus Christ. Sadly this is were a lot of church stop. People are saved and then baptised but the third part of this is what really grows the church, God's church, "teaching them to observe all that I commanded you." With out the teaching portion how do people know who Jesus Christ is, how do they know what He has commanded or why He has commanded it? How do people know how to live a life dedicated to Christ? Notice also teaching is not about just telling people facts about what you know. Anyone can spue out facts, people need to know how do those facts relate to their lives. Here is the thing about discipleship, being a disciple means you are always learning, being a disciple means you are always pursuing Godliness, Holiness and as long as we walk this earth we will never be perfected but we strive to get there. This is the job of the church, salvation and sanctification. We can't be sanctified without the truth of God's word, John 17:17 , Sanctify them by your truth, Your Word is truth.

This morning we will continue to look at The Hand of the Lord in Growing His Church. We have focused on the gospel growing the church and encouragement growing the church and this morning we will focus on teaching growing the church.

The Hand of the Lord in Growing His Church

Let's go ahead and look at our text this morning, we will be focusing on Acts 11:25-26 but for context let's go ahead and read verse 19-30

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. 27 Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. 29 And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. 30 And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.

So we have seen how the news about the spread of the gospel in Antioch has reached the church in Jerusalem and the elders of the church sent Barnabas out to find out what was going on. When he arrived in Antioch the scene of the people being saved from damnation sparked a celebration for Barnabas and he encouraged the church to stay dedicated to the Lord. Barnabas was motivated to do such things because of the Holy Sprit that worked in him and the faith he had in God's grace and work. As Barnabas continued to encourage the believers God continued to add numbers to the church in Antioch. So as the church grew Barnabas noticed he needed help and these people needed more then the encouragement he could offer so we find in verse 25, "And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul."

Barnabas goes looking for Saul of Tarsus. Barnabas has met Saul years prior in Jerusalem after Saul had returned from Damascus were he had that life changing encounter with Jesus Himself. Barnabas had spent time with Saul while in Jerusalem so he knew Saul's temperament and gifts. Why does Barnabas go looking for Saul? Why doesn't he just continue to encourage people in Antioch, since considerable numbers are being brought to the Lord. Simple answer, because encouragement to stay the course involves training and education, and Saul was the right guy for the job. Barnabas knows were Saul is and so he heads out on a mission to find him and bring him to Antioch. This looking for Saul was not just be chance. God had His hand in this. As we continue we will see that The Hand of the Lord Calls the Teacher.

The Hand of Lord Calls the Teacher

Barnabas went all the way to Tarsus to look for Saul and it was not easy for him to find Saul.

In verse 26 we read, "and when he had found him," which paints the picture this was not an easy endeavor. There were no photos back then, there was no Facebook or twitter. There is also no guarantee you will find him through family because it is possible he had lost ties to his family for the sake of the gospel message. So Barnabas knows what city Saul is from, but he has no idea how to find him when he gets there and it takes him a while to locate him. This is God at work in bringing Saul to serve as the pastor teacher of the church in Antioch.

Why didn’t Barnabas go back to call Peter or John to come and teach? As we have looked in Acts we have seen the gospel message spread to Samarians and even to Cornelius the gentile and each time Peter went to investigate and stayed around to teach a little, so why not go back for Peter? It had a lot to do with who these people were. The Jews who were getting saved in this region were Hellenistic so they followed Greek culture and spoke and wrote primarily in Greek. Even their Bibles were in Greek. Peter would have been able to manage but it was not his culture and he was still trying to acclimate to the reality that Salvation was going out to the Greeks. Not to mention the church in Antioch was not just made up of Hellenistic Jews but also of pagan Greeks. Which means they were bringing their pagan culture and background into the church and it needed to be handled accordingly. This is a completely different culture all together with a completely different background. Peter understood the Hebrew Scripture and the Hebrew culture and he could have acclimated to the Hellenistic Jews but he knows nothing of how the gospel relates to these pagan Greeks or how to deal with their background in philosophy as well. Greeks chased after wisdom and this infiltrated the church. So Barnabas is not drawn to go back to Israel to find Peter or an apostle, no, on the other hand he is drawn to Tarsus to find a man who he is acquainted with and who he knows can help him as he continues to work with this ever growing gentile church.

Saul is the perfect choice for the teacher God needs to work with this church. Saul is very well qualified in Jewish teaching and in God's Word. Later in Acts 22 when Saul is arrested and accused of defiling the temple with Gentiles he says this;

Acts 22:2–4 NASB95

2 And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said, 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. 4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,

He speaks to them in their own dialect and he provides his pedigree, he is a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but he didn’t stay there. He was brought to Jerusalem for the purpose of being educated and he went to the school of Gamaliel. Verse 3 continues and we see what he has learned under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Saul learned the Scripture and he learned the traditions of the Hebrew life. They were typically in their early teens, somewhere around 13-15 when they began their synagogue training and it is believed that Saul was in his early to mid 20’s at conversion so Saul was well trained by Gamaliel.

Saul or as he becomes know later, Paul writes out his qualifications as he writes to the Philippians.

Philippians 3:4–6 NASB95

4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

See this he was "circumcised on the eighth day," this is according to the law and means he is a covenant member of Israel. He is an Israelite not a Greek and to stress that he is an Israelite he can even tell them which tribe he is from, "the tribe of Benjamin," which holds high esteem within Israel. He also considers himself a "Hebrew of Hebrews," meaning even though he is from Tarsus he was raised as a Hebrew, was able to read the Hebrew fully understood the Israelite culture, religion and Scripture. Paul makes it very clear when he is dealing with the proselytes, the Hellenists and the Judaizers what his pedigree is because he is showing Christianity is not about works but about faith. Having his rebuttal here gives us a good understanding of who Saul is and how important he thought he was. Still on the outside looking in he was well trained and he was the best man for teaching these people in Antioch and even though Paul says he counts all this as worthless, and he should, it is only worthless because of the "surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord"

Saul's training was important but look at what he says in the rest of this text to the Philippians.

Philippians 3:7–11 NASB95

7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

This is the purpose of the one who is called to teach, not to live for himself or to be puffed up or to puff up others or to have works under his or her belt but a person is called to teach by God for the purpose of "being found in Him," having a righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith" so that the person teaching, "may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;" with the final purpose to, "attain to the resurrection from the dead." Paul had already understood this by the time Barnabas went to look for him. Barnabas spent time with Paul in Jerusalem and got to know Paul. He knew Paul's pedigree but he also knew Paul's character and heart and he knew Paul was called for such a time as this, to go out and teach.

Education is important and I would argue strongly that for pastors a requirement. People should be called to be teachers because being a teacher holds a higher accountability.

James 3:1 NASB95

1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

This doesn't mean don't be a teacher it means your actions best match your teaching. Character is important.

Paul speaks a lot about character. He understands how important the character of a teacher is and the reason why is because the teacher is called to instruct believers not in moral behavior but in being Christlike. The teacher is not called because of his intellect, the teacher is not called because he is verbose the teacher is called because the teacher has been set apart to be a learner first, a true disciple of Christ. That was Paul and Barnabas knew this, Barnabas knew his own limitations and he knew Saul's giftedness and he knew Saul would be the one who was called for the task of teaching.

The Hand of the Lord is in the Calling of a Teacher, The hand of the Lord is also in Creating Christ Followers.

The Hand of the Lord in Creating Christ Followers

Once Barnabas finds Saul, "he brought him to Antioch." So Barnabas and Saul return together to Antioch to this thriving church that God is growing. They have been encouraged to stay the course, to run the race. This encouragement is a part of discipleship but there is still a portion of discipleship that is missing, that is the educational part of discipleship. Discipleship and teaching is more then just a Sunday morning Sermon. This text doesn't say they only met on Sunday mornings, it says that they met. They gathered together so they can be discipled through a learning process. This is not just a process of expounding knowledge but a process of instruction that points people to good discernment that is coupled with godly character. Teaching should always have the outcome of creating a Christ follower not puffing up the teacher or the learner.

Keep in mind these people Saul is spending a year teaching are a mixed crowd. There are Hellenistic Jews and Gentiles together in this city. Some know the Hebrew Scripture, some know nothing about it at all. Still he has to instruct them, some need to understand the fulfillments that have come in Christ, some need to understand how the Scripture points to Christ, but all need to know how does this work in my life. Salvation comes through faith in Christ but our Salvation needs to be worked out.

Paul tells the Philippian church;

Philippians 2:12–13 NASB95

12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

These verses are about sanctification, see our salvation in respect to being saved out of hell is a once for all event. It only takes trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior. The thing is once we have been saved we need to examine our salvation so to speak. We are not working toward being saved but we are plugging away or striving for holiness. It is done with fear and trembling because we serve a God who deserves reverence, and that reverence is expressed in the way we live. Our Character is shaped by what we think of God, about how we feel about God. If we see God as some cosmic pal, then we don't fear Him. If we see God as just some forgetful parent or a parent who will let us do whatever we want because they just want to be liked then we will never fear God. Now if we see God as the all Creator being who brought air into our very lungs and who keeps our heart beating. And if we see ourselves as worthless before Him because of our sin and if we see that His wrath is poured out on sin. If we see Jesus taking that wrath in our place and we don't deserve His substitution for us, then we see Him with a little more fear.

Remember Jesus said don't fear those who all they can do is kill the body but fear Him who can kill the body and place your soul in hell. This kind of thinking is what guides our thoughts and our hearts. This kind of thinking is what moves us toward holiness because we look at our salvation and say if not for the grace of God I would be going to hell. If not for the grace of God this lie I deliberately told would put me in hell, so now let me honor God by telling the truth no matter how much it hurts. Or if not for the selfless love of Jesus Christ, I would be in hell because of my own self-centered attitude and wanting everything my way. Like Salvation is a burger king order. No the fear of the Lord places our hearts on desiring the same selfless love Jesus demonstrated and we don't care about our comfort or our feelings, we care more about Christ being exalted. We also need to keep in mind if not for the grace of God I would be making up reason to worry, and anxiety would cripple me, but because of the grace of God and knowing He is holy, means I can be confident that He will hold me fast and the evil and stupidity of this world will not bring me down and my focus will be on His character and His good pleasure.

Sanctification is always focused on who God is and what God wants. What God wants is our undivided attention and love and care. Think about it, you self-centered lovers of self, don't you want this for yourselves. Seriously, who here hasn't thought to themselves, I deserve to be treated better then that. I can't believe they bought me this, its like they didn't even think of me. You don't even know me because if you did you wouldn't have said this or that or treated me this way. We are all like this. That is why when Jesus answer the lawyer who responded to Jesus' question of what is the greatest commandment. The lawyer said, you shall love your God with all your mind, strength and soul. Jesus said you are right and the second is likewise, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Listen the command is not to love your neighbor and yourself it is comparative. Jesus compares love for a neighbor with love for yourself. Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. We are so into ourselves and we are so about us that we think we deserve better treatment then we do but then we turn and do the same to God. The only One who deserves better treatment from anyone is God, we are so wrapped up in ourselves that we miss out on God's will and God's work in us for His good pleasure.

This is the outcome of teaching and teaching is more then just coming and sitting in service on Sunday morning. It is very important and I have said this so many times and I will repeat it today, Sunday morning is the culmination of our preparation all week long to come and worship God, in song, through His Word and in fellowship with one another. It is very important morning of teaching yes but it is not the only time teaching occurs. Teaching goes on all week long. Now I know we have taken a little break from our weekly studies but they are returning in September. This is actually the first year we have stopped everything. The only reason why we did is for the purpose tying everything together, to flesh it out so to speak. But in a few short weeks everything will kick back into high gear. We will have our midweek study, which is for the purpose of taking the Sunday morning sermon and applying to your own life. Its a recap but with the end goal of personal application. The kids will be meeting every other Thursday for a lesson and ministry related teaching. Singing and I pretty sure there is a YouTube channel that will be developed. Cooking, is there cooking. And the kids will also be discipled. Our Men's Breakfast will be moving to Saturdays and will be a time of food, fellowship and fundamentals of being a man of God. There is also our Scripture Reading which will kick off again on September 1st. The idea behind the Scripture reading is to instill a healthy habit of Scripture reading. This will be a little different then what we did in the passed because there will be more of a call to accountability to track who is reading and who is not. All of this is for the purpose of building the individual members of the church into the stones of the temple.

It is taking 1 Peter 2:4-8 and putting it into practice. It is about becoming doers of the Word and not merely hearers of the Word.

1 Peter 2:4–8 NASB95

4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,” 8 and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

This teaching doesn't always happen in a formal setting, there are times that teaching happens when we are just talking about things that are going on. It could be personal, it could be whats going on in the world, the point is teaching happens when you are learning how God's word works in your life and applying that to your life. This is important and there is so much to learn. We all need to be life long learners. As long as you are walking the earth, you have not arrived so you need to continue to strive for godliness, strive to be Christlike and allow God's hand to work in your life as He changes you and transforms you in to the Image of His Son.

This is the goal of teaching, it is not to expound a wealth of knowledge but to become like Christ. True and genuine transformation is seen by others and is recognized in those who are like Christ. The considerable numbers of people who were brought to the Lord the Lord brought to them a teacher, and trainer. One who teaches them the Word of God and he teaches with godly character. Saul was the right man for the job. And these people were being trained well and they were growing in godliness and holiness to the point that those who encountered them began to call them Christians, which simply means one who belongs to Christ. That is what was going on with these people in the church in Antioch. They were following so closely to Jesus and Paul's teaching was creating in them such a love for Christ and an understanding for who Christ is and how they belong to Him that it became evident to all those around them. Now I also want to point out that up to this point disciples of Jesus, or the church, the way, the designations that the Israelites had adopted for themselves were for themselves as they had believed this salvation came to the Israelites. Now in Antioch the church is comprised of Israelite and Gentile, Jew and Greek. This is no longer just a Jewish sect to their religious system it is something new. So as these Greeks and I would even say the non-believing Israelites would have started calling them Christians, those belonging to Christ. Now if it was both Israelites and Greeks that were calling them this it would have been both derogatory, a joke and serious. The Israelites would have meant it as a joke, they didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah which is the Hebrew for Christ, so they would have called them this as a joke if they did call them this. The Greeks on the other hand didn't see anything wrong with this and saw the title of Christ as a name and so they called them Christians. The point being they saw and heard a difference in this large number of people who are sitting under this teaching that is all about this Christ and they are following and adhering to the teaching. They are noticing difference in the way they live and the way they speak.

1 Corinthians 11:1 NASB95

1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:20–21 NASB95

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

These people in Antioch became imitators of Christ and it was evident to those on the outside looking in and not only that become imitators also means they became ambassadors, being an ambassador means you need to know the One you represent, that is the point of teaching, that is the point of discipleship is to create imitators and ambassadors. Are you taking full advantage of what the church has to offer for you to become imitators and ambassadors of Christ? When people talk about you do they say, oh you’re a Christian or do they say ooooh you’re a Christian?