Acts of the Apostles (11:19-30)

Acts of the Apostles  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction

Attention Getter:
Introduce Topic:
Polhill, “Chapter 11 as a whole is devoted to the foundational events in the Gentile mission of the church
Scripture:
Background: The Transition from Jew to Gentile is paralleled by a transition from the Church in Jerusalem to the church in Antioch.
Challenge Audience:
Polhill, “Two different churches play the primary roles. The Jerusalem church, led by the apostles and comprised mainly of Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians

God grows His Church through Nobodies. (19-21)

The Gospel spreads to the surrounding areas, but only to Jews.

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.

1. Phoenicia
Polhill, “Philip (8:4) witnessed to the Samaritans, an Ethiopian, and to the seacoast communities as far north as Caesarea (8:5–40).
Polhill, “Its principal cities were Tyre, Sidon, and Zarephath.
Marshall, “ - modern day Lebanon.
Polhill, “The Greek language would have been dominant. It was thus an appropriate area for witness by these Greek-speaking Christians.
2. Cyprus
Polhill, “Others began work on the island of Cyprus, the easternmost island of the Mediterranean.
Marshall, “Cyprus was the home of Barnabas (4:36) and had a Jewish element in its population at least since the second century bc (1 Macc. 15:23);
3. Antioch
Polhill, “Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, its population of some 500,000 to 800,000 only being exceeded by Rome and Alexandria.
Polhill, “Founded in 300 b.c. by the Greeks. It was a planned city, carefully laid out in a grid pattern with streets positioned to assure maximum exposure to the cool afternoon breezes and was noted for its beauty.
Polhill, “From 64 b.c., Antioch came under Roman jurisdiction and was granted the status of “free city,” which allowed it exemption from the provincial taxes. In 23 b.c. Antioch became the seat of the imperial legate (governor) over the province of Syria..
Polhill, “Religiously, Antioch was notorious throughout the Roman Empire for its immorality.
Polhill, “There was an extensive Jewish community in Antioch, its population in the first century a.d. being variously estimated from 25,000 to 50,000. The Jewish community seems to have been accorded a separate identity within the city with a major degree of self-government.
The Gospel spreads in Antioch from the Jews to the Gentiles.

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.

Polhill, “This step was taken by Christian Jews from Cyrene and Cyprus.
Marshall, “The likelihood of Gentiles being associated with the synagogues was far higher in areas outside of Jerusalem than in Judea itself.
Polhill, “The witness was naturally with Gentiles like Cornelius, who had already been attracted to the Jewish worship of God.
Polhill, “evangelization of the Gentiles should be especially felt by the Jewish Christians of the dispersion who had grown up in a Gentile environment and had a more worldwide perspective than the more provincial Palestinian Christians.
Application: God can and does use anybody for amazing things.
Barclay calls this “one of the greatest events in history”—the first general attempt at taking the gospel directly to Gentiles. We are only told where they hail from (v. 20), which suggests that no one emerged as prominent among them.

God Grows His Church Through Encouragers. (11:22-26)

22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

Barnabas rejoiced at the work of God. (22-23a)

23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad,

Polhill, “Jerusalem was the “mother church” for all Christians in those days. It was the church of the apostles, the link to Jesus. It was only natural for the Jerusalem church to show an interest in the total Christian witness wherever it was carried.
Polhill, “This concern had already expressed itself in their sending Peter and John to Philip’s mission in Samaria (8:14–17) and their inquiring of Peter about his witness to Cornelius (11:1–18).
Polhill, “Although this could certainly be seen as a sort of “supervision” by Jerusalem, in each instance the Christians of Jerusalem enthusiastically endorsed the new work and gave it their stamp of approval.
Polhill, “Barnabas had a natural relationship with the Hellenists. As a native of Cyprus, he most likely was fluent in Greek. On the other hand, he did not seem to have originally belonged to their group but rather to have had ties from the beginning with the non-Hellenist church in Jerusalem and particularly with the apostles.
Polhill, “He participated in exemplary fashion in the church’s practice of sharing (4:36f.). He introduced Paul into the circle of apostles (9:27). He was chosen as their delegate to Antioch. Barnabas was a “bridge-builder,” one who was able to see the positive aspects in both sides of an issue and to mediate between perspectives.
Encouragers are easily gladdened
Some people see a new work and immediately compare it with their own work. This makes them feel threatened about their status, so they look at the shortcomings in the new work—and there will always be shortcomings.
Focusing on those things, they end up criticizing the work. Such criticism may be valid, but it is ill-timed and done in the wrong spirit.
Encouragement is an active ministry, not just a passive acceptance of people.
Barnabas encouraged faithfulness. (23b)

23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad,

Polhill, “People like Barnabas are always needed by the church. They are the peacemakers, the go-betweens who seek no glory for themselves but only seek to bring out the best in others
Polhill, “But “would-be” Barnabases of today need to heed a further lesson from this outstanding biblical figure. Barnabases want everyone to be happy, but sometimes it simply is not possible to please everyone without serious compromise of one’s basic convictions. Barnabas found that out later at Antioch when, in order to placate the conservative Jewish Christians “from James” (Jerusalem), he withdrew from table fellowship with those very Gentile-Christian converts we see him here witnessing to so enthusiastically (Gal 2:11–13).
Encouragers urge perseverance
Young enthusiastic Christians can cool off in their enthusiasm and commitment once the initial thrill of the new life wears off and they face disappointments and discouragement. At such times mature leaders are needed
Because they have faith to handle crises, they can give stability to less experienced believers.
We often take people who are young, committed, and enthusiastic and send them out to minister in difficult areas. Sometimes these people come to disastrous ends. In a crisis or a time of discouragement, they are alone, make rash decisions, or commit huge mistakes.
His son was running a race, and the father was watching the race from near the final bend before the home stretch. When the son came to that spot, he was not in the lead. The father cried out as loud as he could, “Go!” The son recognized the father’s voice, and this cry created a new determination, which helped him to increase his speed and win the race. We can be a shot in the arm to the faith and life of many people.
Here is a new believer who had lost a battle against temptation and fallen into sin. She thought that there was little chance for her to succeed as a Christian.
the young preacher who comes to speak at a meeting. From his face we see something has gone wrong. We ask him about it, and he tells us about some big problems at his home so that he cannot prepare adequately for his talk.
a young evangelical with a passion for social justice and a sense of call to do something in this area. She is discouraged because she finds that few of her fellow evangelicals understood her passion.
Barnabas was a man of good character. (24)

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.

Polhill, “Luke emphasized these positive qualities in Barnabas. “He was a good man” (v. 24), a phrase Luke used elsewhere only of Joseph of Arimathea (Luke 23:50). He was “full of the Holy Spirit and faith,” just like Stephen (Acts 6:5).
Marshall, “Although he came of a Dispersion family, he was regarded with complete confidence in Jerusalem and acted as a pivot or link between the Hebrew and Hellenistic elements in the church. His character was well adapted for this function, for he was outstanding for the Christian quality of his life; no other man is described by Luke as good in Acts, and in his spiritual gifts he stood on a level with Stephen.
The character of an encourager
goodness. Good persons refuse to break any principles to achieve their desired goals. They do not have ulterior motives of achieving some hidden agenda as they serve in the church or the world. When they are put in leadership, we can expect them to make unselfish and principled decisions.
They do not use people and then drop them when they no longer serve their purposes. They take responsibility for mistakes.
Ours is a pragmatic generation, which seems to have a love affair with results. If a person produces results, we regard him or her as successful, and people without integrity can do well and succeed.
The seriousness of this problem surfaces in the growth of religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, which focus on self-effort. People of these religions object that Christianity, with its free offer of forgiveness for sins through grace, opens the door for irresponsible living. (This is one of the most common criticisms made against Christianity by Buddhists in Sri Lanka.
Barnabas sought help from more gifted people. (25-26)

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.

Polhill, “The text of Acts is compressed and selective, but the most likely reconstruction of Pauline chronology from Gal 1–2 would indicate that some ten years or so had elapsed from the time he first departed from Cilicia to when Barnabas set out to find him. The verb Luke employed (anazēteō) means to seek out and implies he had some difficulty in finding him. Quite likely Paul was off somewhere busily engaged in missionary activity.
Polhill, “Gentiles were dubbing their fellow Gentiles who became followers of Christ “Christians.” Second, it reflects that Christianity was beginning to have an identity of its own and no longer was viewed as a totally Jewish entity. Again, the success among Gentiles would have hastened this process in Antioch.
Marshall, “Barnabas recognized the rich potentialities of the situation for further advance, and saw the need of additional help in evangelism and teaching.
Marshall, “The work that Barnabas and Paul did in Antioch is described as teaching the church, but this could refer to evangelism as well as to the upbuilding of existing converts.
Marshall, “The ending of the word (Christianos) indicates that it is a Latin word, like ‘Herodian’, and that it refers to the followers of Christ.
Marshall, “The Christians preferred to use other names for themselves, such as ‘disciples’, ‘saints’ and ‘brothers’.
4) Barnabas took a trip of about a hundred miles to recruit Saul to help him in his work (vv. 25–26).
But Saul was probably more talented and educated than Barnabas. By getting Paul he was seriously jeopardizing his own position of leadership and prominence. But encouragers know that there are some things that others can do better than themselves, and they encourage such people to use their gifts within the context of the encouragers’ own ministries.

God Grows His Church Through Cooperation. (11:27-30)

The Coming Famine (27)

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).

Polhill, “Here we are first introduced to the prophet Agabus. He had the gift of foretelling,129 and the gift was again manifested in 21:10–11
Polhill, “The reign of Claudius was in fact marked by a long series of crop failures in various parts of the empire—in Judea, in Rome, in Egypt, and in Greece.
Polhill, “Egyptian documents reveal a major famine there in a.d. 45–46 due to flooding.
Polhill, “The most likely time for the Judean famine would thus seem to have been around a.d. 46.134
The Church of Antioch cared for the church of Jerusalem.

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.

Polhill, “In any event, the Antioch church decided to gather a collection to relieve their fellow Christians in Judea, each setting something aside according to his or her ability.135 Eventually, when the famine struck, the collection was delivered to the elders in Jerusalem by Paul and Barnabas.
Polhill, “Actually, v. 30 does not mention Jerusalem, but 12:25 does in speaking of Paul and Barnabas’s return from this visit.
Marshall, “To be sure, there was not one Empire-wide famine during the reign of Claudius (nor at any other time); there were, however, ‘frequent famines’, according to the historian Suetonius, and this is an adequate fulfilment of the prophecy.
Marshall, “Jeremias noted that the Jews followed the law of the seventh, fallow year during this period, and argued that if the dearth coincided with the effects of a fallow year, the famine would be all the greater; he therefore suggested that the famine should be associated with the sabbath year which was celebrated in ad 47–48.19 The prophecy could, of course, have been a few years earlier.
Marshall, “The prophecy encouraged the Christians in Antioch to send a collection of money to enable their brothers in Judea to buy up food against the coming crisis. This was an act of Christian fellowship, in which the members of the church took part voluntarily according to their means.
Marshall, “This is the first mention of elders in the church at Jerusalem, and it has caused surprise that they are mentioned, and not the apostles, who were in charge of the poor relief earlier.
Marshall, “We therefore regard it as most probable that the visit recorded here is the same as that in Galatians 2:1–10.22
Partnership in missions.
The Antioch church developed a missionary attitude, which resulted in a reversal of missionary roles (vv. 27–29).
The fact that non-prominent Christians did such significant work for Christ reminds us that the famous are not necessarily the most significant or most important people in the church.
Today we associate significance and greatness with newsworthiness. Much effort is made to make an event look newsworthy, and thus it has to be associated with names—such as the names of those who write best-selling books or head a big organization.
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