Click here for the Acts 11:18-24 PODCAST
18 When the believers heard this, they stopped arguing. They praised God and said, “So God is allowing even other nations to turn to him and live.” 19 Many of the believers were scattered when they were persecuted after Stephen was killed. Some of them went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch telling the message to others, but only to Jews. 20 Some of these believers were people from Cyprus and Cyrene. When they came to Antioch, they spoke also to Greeks, telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord was helping the believers, and a large group of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22 The church in Jerusalem heard about all of this, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23-24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. When he reached Antioch and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad. He encouraged all the believers in Antioch always to obey the Lord with all their hearts, and many people became followers of the Lord. ~ Acts 11:18-24
Today, we return to our study of Acts 11 where the Gospel has been preached to the Gentiles and they have received it. One of the more important hermeneutical principles when studying the Bible is to keep in mind that the Church is not the same as Israel. Nor has it taken the place of Israel. The Church can only claim the promises given to it even though God has repeated to the Church a lot of the promises given to Israel. And, there are promises that the Lord gave only to Israel that the Church cannot claim. In fact, many of those promises have yet to come to fruition, but they will in time. All of this is to say that God is faithful and it is His faithfulness that created and sustains our faith in Him.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "When the believers heard this, they stopped arguing. They praised God and said, 'So God is allowing even other nations to turn to him and live.'"
In the previous verses we learned the Gentiles had been given the same gift of the Holy Spirit as the Jews had, simply by believing. In response the legalistic Jews in the Church at Jerusalem became silent and they ceased to argue with Peter about the matter. They had previously accused Peter of doing wrong when he ate a meal in a Gentile's house. After the Word of the Lord did its job in these tightly wound believers in the Lord Jesus, they join in on the joy that these who were destined for Hell were now in the family of God.
God had granted even the Gentiles the desire to turn to Him and to repent. The word "repent" does not mean "to stop sinning." It means "to change one's mind." These Gentiles changed their mind about God. They believed in the Lord Jesus as the only One who can usher us into God's presence. It was Thomas Merton who once said, "But the man who is not afraid to admit everything that he sees to be wrong with himself, and yet recognizes that he may be the object of God's love precisely because of his shortcomings, can begin to be sincere. His sincerity is based on confidence, not in his own illusions about himself, but in the endless, unfailing mercy of God."
In v.19-21 of today's passage we read, "19 Many of the believers were scattered when they were persecuted after Stephen was killed. Some of them went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch telling the message to others, but only to Jews. 20 Some of these believers were people from Cyprus and Cyrene. When they came to Antioch, they spoke also to Greeks, telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord was helping the believers, and a large group of people believed and turned to the Lord."
Now that the Lord reminded the believers that God had included the Gentiles in the family, the narrative takes on a new and significant direction. In fact, this impacts the direction and focus of Acts which will now turn toward the world beyond the borders of Israel. Going all the way back to the beginning of time God has always had a heart for all people groups. This is why the book of Acts is making this seemingly abrupt turn toward the Gospel being shared with the Gentiles. And, in order to help us process what God was doing, here God recounts what He had done in Acts 7-9.
Many of the believers had been persecuted so badly that they ran for their lives from Jerusalem. At that time the persecution was so intense, beginning with the death of Stephen back in Acts 7, the scattering took place. These Jewish Christians were not only scattered within the borders of Israel, they traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. These events of those days merely meant the spread of the Gospel. This great story of mankind’s redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ was too good to place a lid it. Persecution often forces us to rely on the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit rather than our natural resources. When stripped of institutional privilege or social acceptance, Christians are typically driven back to prayer, Scripture, and authentic community. With all of this said, it is always the Lord who builds His church and "no" I am not speaking of buildings.
In v.22-24 of today's passage we read, "22 The church in Jerusalem heard about all of this, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23-24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. When he reached Antioch and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad. He encouraged all the believers in Antioch always to obey the Lord with all their hearts, and many people became followers of the Lord."
We first were introduced to Barnabas in Acts 4 where we learned his given name was Joses but the disciples called him Barnabas which means "Son of Encouragement." Thus, he was well-suited for the task of encouraging the believers in Antioch. Barnabas was sent out to further instruct those who had accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior. His goal was to ensure they were learning sound and proper doctrine.
The gospel always places the grace of God in the spotlight. The grace of God is like a multi-faceted diamond, it goes forth expressing itself in a myriad of ways. God's grace shows up in our lives through the vein of forgiveness and acceptance. It also shows up by granting us God's very presence and His wisdom. And, His grace moves us forward in Christian maturity through the incredible freedom that the Lord Jesus purchased for us on the cross. In order to live the life the Lord Jesus died to give us we must have the grace of God operating full tilt. We can’t live without it, but we can’t purchase it and we surely can’t earn it. It only comes as a gift. If we are not good at receiving gifts we will struggle with grace.
Our problem is our pride. This is why Barnabas was sent to these brand new believers in Antioch. In a fallen world, populated by selfish, lost, fearful, and rebellious people, God's grace is the one thing that everyone needs. And we can only give His grace to others when we have first been given it ourselves. God imparts His grace to those emptied enough to receive it. Getting over the hump of thinking there can be too much grace taught is crucial. Nothing changes us like God's grace, so why would we limit it? We limit it because we have yet to see that it is truly free. When we truly see that it is truly free, it will be then that we have truly encountered it.
God’s grace is the most powerful force in this world. It reaches us where we are and it has the power to transform us at the very core of who we are: in our hearts. This explains why the Church of Antioch became what it became. This particular church at Antioch played one of the most crucial roles in the book of Acts. It was there at Antioch that believers were first called Christians or christ-like. And, as we will see in just a couple chapters later, the believers at Antioch were the first to send out missionaries in the New Testament. This is what grace does to us, it softens our hearts to the point of doing everything necessary to see that men, women, boys and girls are rescued from the fires of Hell. It also sees that each one is trained in the culture of God.
