2016 7-17 “Call Us Christians” Acts 11:19-30

“CALL US CHRISTIANS”
ACTS 11:19-30

I. Introduction
Many of you are here at Lighthouse because of someone who told you that LBC was a good church. If you’ve been here for any length of time it probably means that you agree with that assessment. “LBC is a good church!” We certainly like to think so. But what does that actually mean? What one person thinks is good may not be at all what someone else thinks is good. That’s because different people have different biases, different priorities, and dif-ferent expectations about what makes a church “good.”

Therefore, you might find that asking a number of different people to name and define a good church for you would only serve to confuse the issue and raise more questions than answers. So what is a person to do? Just what is a good church? How can we define it?

I want to begin this morning by briefly pointing out three essential biblical characteristics that are at the heart of any church that claims to be Christian as defined by the Scriptures.

1. “What is being preached and taught?” The Bible makes it clear that we should only be following those who preach the true gospel.
*Galatians 1:6-9 (Paul speaking)
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. (accursed is anathĕma; anathĕma is given to destruction; given to destruction is to perish; to perish is to spend eternity in hell)

If you know and understand the true gospel you will never believe a false gospel. Neither will you be taken in by a false teacher. You will not only know the truth, you will believe and embrace it. You will repent, you will receive Christ, and you will never perish.
John 1:12a
12a But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God…

But what about the rest of the Bible? Are the preachers and teachers you listen to honoring all of Scripture as God’s absolute eternal truth? Or do they ignore some of it ignore as unin-teresting or irrelevant? Worse than that, is some of it treated as unimportant or untrue?
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, (and) for training in righteousness.

2. “Is the church filled with true believers living in true Christian fellowship?” How can you tell? Are they doing the things that were done in the early church?
Acts 2:38, 42
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”
42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

3. “Is the church actively engaged in reaching out to the world beyond its own doors?” In other words, do they take the Lord’s Great Commission seriously?
Matthew 28:19-20 (Jesus speaking)
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.”

Good churches do other things as well, but if those three things – being immersed in the Scriptures, fellowship, and outreach to a lost and dying world – are not front and center, it is not a “good” church as the Bible defines it. Those three things are all essential to a good church. That kind of church is full of people who can rightfully say, “Call us Christians!” Is such a church perfect? Of course not! There is no perfect church this side of heaven. But a church that is immersed in Scripture, fellowship, and outreach is on the right track. Such a church should be growing, but church growth means so more than growing in numbers. It also means growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Make no mistake – LBC would love to see numerical growth, but our numerical growth is not our first priority. Spiritual growth is our first priority. Let me be clear. We do not dis-dain numerical growth, but what good is filling a church with people who need spiritual food if they continually go away unchallenged, untaught, unfed, and spiritually hungry?

So we’ve looked at three core characteristics that God expects in a good church. Today, in our text in Acts 11, we’ll see how a such church can expect to be blessed by God.
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II. Review
In Acts 10 the Apostle Peter took the gospel to Caesarea and into the home of Cornelius, a Gentile Roman Centurion. Cornelius’ (and his entire household) was the first Gentile to believe the gospel and receive Christ. It was a pivotal moment in the history of the church.
Peter and the Jewish believers who were with him came to the realization that the gospel was not only for Jews but for the Gentiles as well.
*Acts 10:34-35
34 And opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,
35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him.

Witnessing the Gentile’s faith and seeing them receive the gift of the Spirit left no doubt in Peter’s mind that Cornelius’ and the other Gentile’s salvation was genuine. He said…
*Acts 10:47-48a
47 “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”
48a And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

But the joy Peter must have felt that day was short-lived. Acts 11 tells us that upon his return to Jerusalem he was immediately accused of breaking the Mosaic Law.
*Acts 11:1-3
1 Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the Word of God.
2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him,
3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

From Acts 11:4-16 Peter told his accusers – his Jewish brothers in Christ – how God had arranged his visit to Caesarea, how Cornelius had been prepared to hear and receive the truth, and how the Holy Spirit had come upon all those who heard the truth and believed it.
He told them…
*Acts 11:17-18
17 “If God therefore gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
18 And when they heard this, they quieted down, and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
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III. Text
And that brings us to this morning’s text. But it is at this point in the chronology of Acts – the first Gentile Christians coming into the church – that Luke pauses in the narrative and takes his readers back to Stephen’s martyrdom in Jerusalem. This “flashback” reminds us of what happened there and helps set the stage for where today’s text is going.

Stephen was died in last verse of Acts 7.
*Acts 7:59-8:1, 3-4
59 And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.
8:1 And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and drag-ging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the Word.

Where did they go besides Judea and Samaria? They went to Caesarea (8:40), Damascus (9:10), Lydda, Joppa, Sharon (9:35-36).
*Acts 11:19-30 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
19 So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose 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 Anti-och 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 And the news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.
23 Then when he had come 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 consider-
able numbers were brought to the Lord.
25 And he (Barnabas) left for Tarsus to look for Saul;
26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that 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 And 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 proportions 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.

What do we know about the people in the church in Antioch?
In vv. 19-20 we see that they had been among the very first of the Jewish Christians in Jeru-salem. We also know that they had not left the gospel behind. On the contrary, they had taken it with them and had proven to be zealous about preaching it to Jews wherever they found them. Some of the Hellenistic Jews (Jews of Greek heritage) began preaching to the Gentiles. It’s interesting to note that they would not have known about Cornelius and the other Gentiles who had been saved in Caesarea because that had not happened until long after these Christians had fled Jerusalem and been scattered.
*Acts 11:21
21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

What does Luke mean when he says “the hand of the Lord” was with them? It’s a common OT term that speaks of God’s power. It is used two very different and distinct ways. As is so often the case in Scripture the context in which a word or phrase is found determines its meaning. For example, “The hand of the Lord” speaks of God’s judgment in Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. But the very same words are used in Ezra and Nehemiah to speak of God’s blessing. In Acts 11:21 it is clear that Luke is speaking of God’s blessing. So the church at Antioch was being blessed! Why? This morning’s passage gives us at least six reasons why it was being blessed.

The first mark of a good church that God blesses is seen in vv.19-20. The believers in Anti-och were telling people about Jesus. The immediate result was that people were not only believing in the Lord Jesus intellectually, they were repenting. They were changing their minds about Jesus. But that was just the beginning. As a direct result of changing their minds about Jesus they were turning around and beginning to lead changed lives. That is the unmistakable proof of genuine salvation in Christ!

For us here at Lighthouse it should be noted that the Antioch church was not started by any of the twelve apostles. It was not started by ordained pastors, or church elders, or trained missionaries. It was started by a group of unknown and unnamed believers. It should also be noted that they didn’t use any of the latest church growth principles or strategies. Yet they grew in numbers.

But let me go back to something I said earlier. Church growth is more than increasing the number of bodies in the building. God does not always grant great numerical growth. If He did we would be forced to assume that all large churches are good and successful, and that He is blessing them, while all small churches are something less than good and successful, and He is not blessing them. That is, at least to some degree, the way the world looks at things. But the Church of Jesus Christ is not of this world, is it?

Our success as a church is not based on how much we grow it numerically because church growth isn’t our job. It is God’s job.
It is good for us to remember that Jesus said, “I will build My church… (Matthew 16:18).”
He did not use the pronoun “You” or even “We.” He said “I will build it.” Listen, Jesus does not need our help with anything. How arrogant of us to think that He does. Our task is not to “help” Him at all. Our task is to follow Him, to submit ourselves to Him, and to obey Him. We are called to tell others about Him, to preach His gospel, and to teach His word. If we focus our efforts on those things, we will be successful and we will be blessed. And the church will grow spiritually. Will it grow numerically? I hope so, but that is up to Him!

So as we’ve seen in Acts 11:19-20 the first mark of a good church that God blesses is one where every member is involved in telling others about Jesus.

The second mark of a good church that God blesses is that there is a clear understanding of what the gospel is. This is what Paul was battling in Galatia. It is amazing to me how the simple truth of the gospel is so often distorted by so much of the modern church. It has forgotten words like “sin, repentance, and obedience.” Telling people they’re sinners offends them. So the word is used less and less. But Paul said, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23),” and, “…the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).”

Much like the subject of sin, repentance and obedience are two other subjects that are often lacking in today’s gospel presentations. Yet repentance and obedience are inseparable from saving faith. You can say you believe in Jesus, but you cannot have genuine saving faith without a changed life – without repentance. I know that because Jesus said, “…unless you repent, you will all likewise perish (Luke 13:3).” You can say you believe in Jesus, but you cannot have genuine saving faith without obedience to God and His Word. I know that because John the Baptist said, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:35).”

The bottom line is this – a gospel message without the recognition of sin, and the call to repentance and obedience may be popular in the church today, but it is not the gospel that is found in the NT. A good church that is blessed by God gets the gospel right.
*Acts 11:22-23
22 And the news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.
23 Then when he had come and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord;

The third mark of a good church that God blesses is one that extends grace to everyone, everyone. That is seen here in vv. 22-23. When word reached the “Mother Church” in Jeru-salem that a group of uneducated laymen had started a church in Antioch, they questioned its legitimacy. After all, Antioch one of the more depraved cities in the Roman Empire.

So Barnabas was sent to Antioch to “scope out” the situation and report back to Jerusalem with news of just how bad this church actually was. But it didn’t work out that way.
It was a good thing that Jerusalem didn’t send one of their rigid legalists. Had they done so the report would likely have been dramatically different. A legalist would have been scan-dalized by Jews and Gentiles spending time in each other’s homes and eating together. And a legalist would have been horrified by their failure to keep the old ceremonial laws.

But Barnabas knew the grace of God when he saw it. In v. 23 we’re told he rejoiced in it and encouraged them. By the way, we first met Barnabas back in Acts 4:36 where Luke told us that his name means “Son of Encouragement.” Oh, how the church needs more people like Barnabas!

At this point you may want to ask yourself, “What do I see when I see a new believer who is all rough around the edges?” Are you suspicious because you see someone who has a long way to go before they’ll be like you? Or are you joyful because you see someone that the grace of God will begin to make like Jesus?
*Romans 15:5-7
5 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus;
6 that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

How are you doing with that? How am I and our elders doing with that? One of the marks of a good church that God blesses will be that we reflect God’s grace to those both in the church and out there in the world.

The fourth mark of a good church that God blesses is that it is led by godly men – pastors, elders, and deacons – who set the example for the flock. May it always be so here. Barna-bas was a godly man of character and an example for all of us who lead the church.
*Acts 11:24
24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And consider-
able numbers were brought to the Lord.

Notice that it doesn’t say that considerable numbers came to the church. It says “consider-able numbers were brought to the Lord.” That is no minor distinction. A church can grow numerically even with a pastor who is living less than a holy life. So I say again that large churches may well be good churches that are being blessed by God, but their size is no proof of that blessing. So I speak for Bob and Ken when I ask you to pray for us. We need that!

The fifth mark of a good church that God blesses is that it is devoted – first and foremost – to teaching the Word of God.
*Acts 11:25-26
25 And he (Barnabas) left for Tarsus to look for Saul;
26 and when he had found him, he brought him (back) to Antioch.
And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Do you remember where we left Saul? We last heard from him in Acts 9:30, when, as a zea-lous young convert, he went back to his ancestral home in Tarsus to spend time growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Barnabas leaves Antioch to find Saul a number of years have passed. The man Barnabas eventually finds is not the same man the church had sent away years earlier. Saul is ready for ministry.

Can you imagine sitting under the instruction of these two men? For them to dedicate a full year to teaching gives us insight into how important they knew it was for Christians to know and understand the Word of God. Listen, the Church of Jesus Christ was never called to be all things to all people. When modern ministries are pouring precious time, effort, and lim-ited resources into providing fluff like ballet classes, clinics for home gardeners, financial strategies, and things like “Christian yoga,” the church has lost its focus.

Teaching the Scriptures should be at the very center of a church’s ministry. That’s what Saul and Barnabas were doing in Antioch. What was the result? Antioch became the “home port” for the missionary journeys that would be the catalyst for establishing the Gentile church throughout the world. It didn’t happen in Jerusalem; it happened in Antioch. But before Antioch became the first century anchor of the Gentile church, it spent time learning the Word of God. Do you think there’s an application for us in that?

Now look at the last few words of Acts 11:26 – “…and the disciples were first called Chris-tians in Antioch.” You may be surprised to know that “Christian” was not a term of endear-ment. Rather, it was a term of scorn and derision bestowed upon believers by the pagans. It literally means “of the party of Christ,” or “the Christ-men.” So I ask you, “Is it any differ-ent today? Isn’t the name ‘Christian’ still a term of scorn and derision all over the world?”

But the early “Christ-men” were neither ashamed of the term nor tried to rid themselves of it. On the contrary, they embraced it, and wore it as a badge of honor. Listen to Peter.
*1 Peter 4:14-16
14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
15 By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;
16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God.

Saul and Barnabas had taught the “Christ-men” at Antioch the Word of God. It had sunk deeply into their collective being. It changed the way they thought and the way they acted. In short, it changed their lives. That’s true repentance!
*Acts 11:27-30
27 Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28 And 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. (A.D. 41-54 – famine in 45-46)
29 And in the proportions 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.

We’ve seen five of the six marks. In v. 29 we see the sixth mark of a good church that God blesses. It is both generous and spontaneous in its giving. I know that’s true of Lighthouse because for the last twelve years we have never been in financial need. And both our mis-sionaries and our special guests have been blessed by your generosity.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.
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IV. Conclusion
The church at Antioch is our example of a good and God-blessed church.
• They told people about their Lord and Savior.
• They understood what the gospel is. (It isn’t happy talk, unicorns, and rainbows.)
• They extended grace to all people everywhere.
• They were led by the example of godly pastors and elders.
• They dedicated themselves to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word.
• They gave from their hearts trusting God to meet their own needs.

And Acts 11:21 says that “…the hand of the Lord was with them.” And they were starting to say, “Call us Christians!” Jesus’ command to take the gospel “…even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8)” was coming to fruition. What began in Antioch around the year 44 is continuing today in the year 2016. People like David and Carol, Zhenya, Rebecca, Chuck, and you and me are involved in taking the gospel to the remotest part of the earth.

Let me close with this. In the year 177 A.D. Sanctus, a deacon in the church, was martyred by being burned to death with red hot brass. When his murderers demanded he recant his faith in Christ, he simple cried out, “I am a Christian.” Today believers all over the world are being threatened, tortured, and murdered for their faith. They are saying the same thing. “I am a Christian.” We do not know the future, but we do know the hand of the Lord will be with us. It’s my fervent prayer whatever may befall us we can say, “We’re Christians. Just call us Christians!” ~ Pray ~