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Introduction
This is a place in the New Testament where we have a great picture of what a healthy local church should look like.
Here in this passage we have a picture of the church in Antioch and we see how the church in Antioch was a launching pad for worldwide missions.
This church became a base of operation for Paul’s missionary journey with Barnabas and later a base for his journey with Silas.
Antioch was the third largest city in the Greco-Roman world behind Rome and Alexandria.
Some 500,000 people
Nickname: the queen of the East
it was cosmopolitan, there was a Roman military base
Antioch was on the Orontes River in what is now southeast Turkey.
The city served as a crossroads, having major highways going to the north and south and the east
Greeks, Romans, Syrians, Phoenicians Jews Arabs, Egyptians, Africans, Indians, and Asians making it diverse
Religiously Antioch was full of idolatry and paganism, several Greek deities were worshipped there.
Within five miles of Antioch was Daphne which among other idols was known for its worship of Astarte which included cult prostitution.
All of this made Antioch a great place for a church
John Stott:
No more appropriate place could be imagined, either as the venue for the first international church, or as the springboard for the worldwide Christian mission.
This church in Antioch changed the world.
Another thing about the church in Antioch, notice v.26
In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
Christians, what does this word mean?
There have been thoughts that I have heard through the years, after doing some research on this word
This word occurs in the NT 3 times
here
But what does this word mean?
It simply means one who is a follower of Christ, some have suggested that the word carries the idea of belonging to the household of Christ.
Either way, it is clear that the word suggests an identity.
Why would, in this pagan, idolatrous city would they have referred to the disciples of Christ as Christians
It seems reasonable that it was clear to those around them that Christ was central for these people, that they were not living for themselves but they were living for Christ
were part of the household of Christ.
They were not living to build their own kingdom, but they were living to advance the Kingdom of Christ
These are the people that talk about Jesus Christ, they worship Jesus Christ, they share the good news of Jesus Christ with those around them
Let me ask you, what name do you think the world would give to the church today?
Is it clear to the world that we are living for Christ and for His Kingdom?
Does it look like so many other things are central for us other than Christ, the gospel, and the advancement of His kingdom
What are the some of the things that marked this church in Antioch that set them apart
What are the some of the things that marked this church in Antioch that marked them
What made this church so useable so that the Lord used this church for the advancement of the gospel into the gentile world?
I. Evangelism
Let’s first look at v.19-21
We see the church being scattered because of persecution, specifically the persecution over Stephen and they went as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except the Jews
But then notice v.20, there were men of Cyprus and Cyrene who also went to Antioch and they spoke to the Hellenists also preaching the Lord Jesus
These men begin preaching Jesus to the gentiles.
To be clear, Peter had preached to Cornelius, a Gentile, but no one as far as we can tell from the history Scripture records had acted strategically and intentionally to preach to the Gentiles up to this point
Who are the Hellenists in this passage?
They seem to be Greek speaking Gentiles
These men were willing to engage others from a different culture to share the gospel with them, the Bible says they were preaching the Lord Jesus to them.
Notice two things that make for effective evangelism in this text
They were preaching the Lord Jesus (expound)
The hand of the Lord was with them (expound upon the necessity for the Lord to be at work, our dependence upon the Lord’s power)
Notice something else about this text
We don’t know who these men were who went to Antioch preaching Jesus to the gentiles
We have the gospel explode in this city and the Lord does amazing things in this city and yet we do not know the names of those who the Lord uses for this work
Have you ever wandered if the Lord ever uses unknown people to do great things for the Kingdom, to make a difference.
Yes He does
There are more names of people that we don’t know who were used greatly of the Lord than names of people that we know through church history
We live in a day of Christian celebritism
People think you have to be well known or have a certain look or a certain platform or a certain testimony to be used greatly of the Lord, brothers and sisters that is not true.
We are called to be faithful
Brother, sister in Christ you be faithful to share Jesus and trust the Lord to do His work through you and your faithfulness to the Lord will have effects on peoples lives for all eternity.
Notice these men were faithful to share the gospel in Antioch and Antioch became home to a missionary church
Look
The picture we have here is that of a missionary spirit.
Men come into Antioch sharing the gospel indiscriminately and we have the gospel continuing to spread as the church in Antioch shares the gospel with those around them
Acts 11.
And then we find in chapter 13 that the disciples in Antioch are sending Barnabas and Saul to share the gospel in unreached areas.
What we see in a culture of outreach, a culture of evangelism.
A people who understood that being followers of Christ means sharing the good news of Christ with others and a group of people who were actively doing just that.
Brother and sisters, we have talked about this before, but healthy biblical churches have a culture of evangelism, of outreach.
This is not programs, you can’t program things like this, but evangelism, outreach, sharing the gospel was just part of their DNA
You look in the book of Acts and it was not just an elite group of Christians that were sharing the gospel, but we have unknown people, laymen and laywomen sharing the gospel.
A church will never be greatly used of the Lord if there is not desire for a culture of evangelism, if there is no desire for reaching out to those around them.
If there is no desire to be used by the Lord to see the good news of Jesus Christ spread.
May God make TBC an Antioch church, a church where evangelism and outreach is just part of the way we think, it is part of the air that we breath.
They were reaching people from different cultures.
Also they were sending missionaries.
They were continuing the ministry of Jesus Christ.
II.
Discipleship
But not only do we see evangelism happening, we also see discipleship.
Notice v.22-26
Specifically in this passage we see Barnabas and Saul pouring into others, we see the giving themselves for the spiritual good, for the spiritual growth of brothers and sisters in Christ.
Look at one of the verbs we have in this passage
exhorted them all to remain faithful
they were encouraged to remain faithful with steadfast purpose, that is they were to be devoted with all that they had
taught a great many people
This word exhorted can be translated encouraged
Let me ask you, when is the last time that you lived your live, that you spent your time in one way or another to encourage a brother or sister in Christ to remain faithful to the Lord?
Listen Christian, everyone of us are to be intentional about encouraging brothers and sisters in the Lord to remain faithful to the Lord.
Discipling others is simply being involved in one another’s life to encourage one another in faithfulness to the Lord.
May TBC, by the grace of God be a church where it is hard for a believer to be a member without being regularly encouraged in faithfulness to the Lord by others.
There is teaching
I find it interesting that right after we read this in v.23 and then we read about how they were meeting and being taught that we see that they were called Christians.
These brothers and sisters were prodding one another along to greater and greater faithfulness to the Lord, they were prodding one another a long to a whole hearted devotion to the Lord.
Brother and sister, do you not realize your need for that?
We all need others prodding us encouraging us as we make this journey together.
You need it
You need to find brothers and sisters that will encourage, exhort you and you need to be faithful to do the same.
May God give us grace to that end.
III.
Mercy
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