Mission: Unstoppable – “The Unstoppble Sovereign God” (Acts 12:1-24)

The Unstoppable Sovereign God

Acts 12:1-24

Introduction

Many people see the sovereignty of God as a problem – an abstract doctrine to debate and pit against the idea of humanity’s freedom.   But if we read the Bible closely we see that the sovereignty of God is never presented as anything other than a source of comfort and encouragement and a motivation to worship God.

Acts 12:1-24

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. [2] He killed James the brother of John with the sword, [3] and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. [4] And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. [5] So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

[6] Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. [7] And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. [8] And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” [9] And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. [10] When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. [11] When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

[12] When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. [13] And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. [14] Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. [15] They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” [16] But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. [17] But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

[18] Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. [19] And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

[20] Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. [21] On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. [22] And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” [23] Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

[24] But the word of God increased and multiplied.

From this passage, we can see three ways in which we should respond to this passage’s teaching on God’s sovereignty.

1. Trust

Luke begins this next chapter in the history of the early by telling us that “About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.”

There are three Herods mentioned in the Bible. First, there is Herod the Great. If you’ve ever read or heard the Christmas story, then you will recognize him as the ruler who was alive when Jesus was born. This is the Herod that hears from the wise men a king has been born and calls for all boys 2 and under to be killed in the region surrounding Bethlehem.

Then there’s Herod Antipas. He was one of Herod the Great’s sons. He is the Herod that Jesus calls “that fox.” The same one who is ultimately involved in Jesus’ trial.

Then there is the third Herod – the one is our passage this morning – Herod Agrippa, the nephew of Herod Antipas. He is the governor of Judea and had to balance keeping the Jews happy on the one hand to prevent rebellion and uprising, and to make sure on the other that Rome happy; that things went along the way the emperor wanted.

One of the ways Herod decides to keep the Jews happy is to begin persecuting this little cultic sect that the Jews keep complaining about for blaspheming their God. This sect – as the Jews and Romans viewed – was really God’s church.

And Luke tells us that “Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.”

And so this is where Luke sets us – right in the middle of a crisis for the church. Remember for a minute who James was. This was James the brother of John, the son of Alpheaus. He was not only one of Jesus’ apostles, but he was one of the inner three of Peter, James, and John. These were the three men that Jesus invested in the most. These were the men that Jesus took with him up on the mountain to behold his transfiguration – a glimpse of his true glory.

And he’s just been executed. More than that, the Jews were so happy about this that now he has Peter is about to do the same thing to him as all.

Now put yourself in Peter’s place for minute. One of his closest friends – James – has just been murdered by Herod. It pleased the Jews in Jerusalem so much that now Herod in on the warpath and Peter himself is in prison.

And it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out what he intends to do with him. In fact, Herod has actually planned Peter’s death to be a pretty big event. He’s waited so that it’s the time of the Passover and Jews from all over are in Jerusalem to watch Peter die.

Now, if you’re Peter, what do you do? I think at the very least, I’d be praying. I’d probably be scared, missing my wife, maybe even thinking of some way to escape. But is Peter doing?

Luke says, “Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.”

Peter is sleeping! How can he do that? He can do that because he trusts in the sovereignty of his God. Based on all that we from God’s word, we should have that same kind of trust – a trust that leads us to even be able to sleep in the face of death.

Nevertheless, we have to be cautious here. Too often in this passage we can focus on Peter and forget about James. One is rescued dramatically and other is martyred for Christ.

And let me suggest that Peter had no expectations for being rescued. That’s why he’s sleeping and not worrying. He figures that this was his time and he’s okay with that. Why? Because he’s tired of living? No, because he trusts in the good and sovereign purposes of God.

Even today, we might why some of us experience terrible pain and suffering and others have a reasonably easy life. But the truth is, that is something we will never know in this life. All that we can know for sure is that God is ultimately sovereign. And that he is using even the worst of circumstances to bring about good.

We hear it quoted often, but deserves to be quoted a lot because it’s such a powerful passage – “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). That means both Peter’s release and James’ death were used by God to bring about good for his people.

Do you remember when Lazarus died in John 11? Lazarus knew Jesus – he was friends with him and his sisters, Mary and Martha. And he when gets seriously ill, people travel to go get Jesus so that Lazarus can be healed.

But then John makes the most amazing statement – he says, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” (John 11:5-6). Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus so what did he do? He stayed two days longer where he was.

That’s sounds absolutely absurd to us! When Jesus finally arrives in Bethany, Lazarus has been dead and in the tomb for four days. His family and friends have grieved his loss and experienced the searing pain of the death and a relative. And only after all of that does Jesus call out to Lazarus and create life within him again, bringing him back from the dead.

Why did he do that? John says, it was because he loved them. How was that love? Jesus says it was loving because through Lazarus dying and being brought back to life again, Mary and Martha was able to see Jesus’ glory in a way that otherwise they never would have been able to see.

Sometimes what we think is good is not ultimate good. And God is concerned about ultimate good. He is more concerned about doing something in you than for you.

And so, like Peter, even when life turns up the heat. Even perhaps when evil intentions threaten to do us harm, we must learn to trust God. To trust that because of his sovereign goodness, he will keep his promise and never leave us or forsake us, that nothing has caught him off guard and that he is working all things together for his glory and our good.

2. Pray

Peter does not stay in prison, nor does he suffer the same fate as James at this point. Eventually, he will – suffering crucifixion like Jesus. But that’s later. Now, we get this fantastic escape story.

First all, you realize that usually only one guard is chained to a prisoner, if they are chained to a prisoner at all. And here they’ve got like five guards looking over Peter in various ways.

So, look what he’s done – Luke says, “Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison” (12:6). He’s not taking any chances is he? And I just love this, Luke says it’s the very night that Herod is planning to publicly execute Peter.

Then, Luke tells us that this was the time of the Passover, which means that Jews from everywhere would have been in Jerusalem. So, you can imagine, Herod has promoted the whole thing and is making a huge fuss. And he’s got this huge crowd of Jews all whipped up in anticipation of seeing Peter executed.

But God has other plans. Peter is sleeping when suddenly this bright, blinding light appears in the cell and an angel of the Lord appears next to him. And Peter is still sleeping. So the angel kicks him in the side and starts giving order – ‘C’mon, don’t you know a jail break when you see one?’ “Dress yourself and put on your sandals . . . . Wrap your cloak around you and follow me” (12:8).

And Peter does what he’s told, but is half asleep thinking the whole things is a vision or something. But he’s fallowing this angel past all these guards, down the halls and out into the yard towards the main gate. And when they get there, this locked gate is thrown open and Peter steps out into the road and then the angel is gone.

Peter suddenly wakes and realizes this isn’t a dream. And he takes off to what was probably one of the main gathering places for the church in Jerusalem.

Luke sets up Peter’s rescue in v. 5 – “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.” Luke wants us to see the connection between God’s rescue of Peter, and the fervent prayers of God’s people for Peter.

Now, these Christians often get a bum rap here. We laugh and say ‘Look, they’re praying for Peter to be saved, but then they don’t really believe it could have happened!’ Well, I think when we say that, we’ve misjudged them. Or maybe we should say, we really don’t understand how to pray.

You see, Luke tells that they were praying for Peter, but he doesn’t say what they were praying for. We assume they were praying for his release from prison, but that’s only because that’s the first thing we would have been praying for.

One of my professors in college was once in India helping local pastors polish their translations of the New Testament. You see, India has 30 languages with around 2000 different dialects. So many of these pastors who knew more than one language, would simply find a reliable translation of the Bible in a language they knew. Then move from that language to the one their people mainly spoke.

So, my professor was there to help them clean up their rough translations. And when he came to one passage in Ephesians about the mystery of Christ, he asked a few of the pastors if they understood what this mystery was. They all hung their heads in embarrassment and confessed they didn’t.

So, Dr. Elmore explained what it meant, then went and made several copies of his seminary notes to give them. These pastors were ecstatic. Dr. Elmore it was like he had given them gold. One pastor said, ‘we have to stop and thank for this.’

So he prayed and thanked God for these notes which would help him know God and his word better and be a better pastor. But then he ended his prayer like this, ‘God, don’t let us die as old men in our beds.’ In other words, let us die a good death, being martyred for the faith.

I think those Christians were praying that Peter would preserve to the end. That he would not lose faith and renounce Christ as death loomed close.

Regardless though, my point is this – when the crisis came, these Christians didn’t start a petition, or file a grievance, or try to bribe the guard; no, they prayed. And these are same Christians who early prayed and praised God for what he had done through the death of Jesus at the hands of Herod, Pontius Pilate, and Jews who, in their words, did “whatever his hand and his plan had predestined to take place’ (4:27).

These Christians believe firmly in the sovereignty in God but that doesn’t stop them from praying. So many times today Christians try to pit God’s complete and total sovereignty over all things against human freedom. And they have all these discussions and debates.

But the truth is simply this – God has ordained both the ends and the means. That is, he determines what will happen as well as how it will happen. We see all through the Bible.

How are people saved? The Scriptures say that clearly that from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, God has “chose [some] before the foundation of the world, that [they] should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined [his people] for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Eph 1:4-5).

And yet how are men saved? By hearing the gospel and trusting in Christ. We saw a few weeks ago in Cornelius that faith only comes by hearing the word of Christ. God ordains both the ends – that people will be saved – and the means – that people will be saved as they hear the gospel and believe.

The same is true with our prayers. They are the means by which God brings about his will for our lives. Therefore, we must pray! A strong belief in the biblical teaching of God’s sovereignty over al things is not a deterrent to prayer, but an encouragement.

For when we go to God in prayer we find Christ standing before the throne as our advocate and intercessor. Christ, who has been given authority over all things and so able to work for our good. This is why he can say to us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matt 7:7-8).

Therefore, let us go to the sovereign Lord asking, seeking, knocking.

3. Live

Not long after this, Luke says that Herod went down to Caesarea and spends some time there. And it doesn’t take long before people are mad at Herod. Specifically, it’s the people of Tyre and Sidon.

We don’t exactly what the problem is, but we do know that it had to do with food. Judea was the areas bread basket with grain being shipped fro all over to there. And for whatever Herod has been offended by the people of Tyre and Sidon and so he’s cut off their food supply.

But now, they get this man Blastus to go and intercede for them and make smooth things over. And there is this great ceremony where the people will come and here what Herod has decided. Luke tells us that “On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.”

From secular history books, we have a fully picture of what’s going on. Apparently, Herod had this massive cloak made of some kind of silvery material. And Josephus says that just after dawn, so the sun would be shining directly on Herod’s throne in Caesarea, he comes and begins making his great speech to the people.

And the people are so badly wanting food they are fawning over Herod, saying anything to get him to start sending food again so as Luke says, “the people were shouting, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a man!’ (12:22). And Herod just eats it up – this is what it is all about for him.

Unfortunately, that kind of praise is reserved for someone else. And we read, “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last” (12:23).

Again, the cause of Herod’s death is thought to be a form of peritonitis. This is an infection of ringworms that live in the intestine that can grow in number and in size – sometimes as long as sixteen inches – and obstruct the intestines. This causes severe stomach pain and can even cause a person to vomit up worms and die. Not a very pleasant death.

But more than that, not a merely natural death. Luke is clear that though the immediate cause of Herod’s death was worms, it was God who caused. It was a holy and sovereign God who stretched forth his hand in judgment and struck down one who not only persecuted his people but refused to acknowledge the glory of Lord.

Amazingly, the very next verse says that though Herod died, the word of God increased and multiplied (12:24).

John Stott says, “At the beginning of the chapter, Herod is on the rampage – arresting and persecuting church leaders; at the end he is himself struck down and dies. The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison and Herod triumphing; it closes with Herod dead, Peter free, and the word of God triumphing. Such is the power of God. . . .”

It is so easy for us to take our eyes off of God and begin to focus on the all the earthly obstacles that appear to stand in our way. If we were to pause and think about it, we could make a huge list of things that not only threaten our own personal growth and maturity, but the growth of God’s church herself.

And there is a discouragement that can set in, and a pessimism about the growth of the church and the progress of the gospel. We can get to where we think it’s enough to simply dig-in and hold the line for God.

But God wants us to see that nothing can stop his sovereign purposes. He has declared that his church will cross this entire globe and gather in people from all over. That because he has decreed it will happen, and because he is at work in the world for as long as it will be before Christ returns, the gospel will be proclaimed and people will believe.

The history of the world is filled with a long list of terrible tyrants. Not just bad rulers but people who specifically opposed the gospel of Jesus Christ. And there always will be.

In Revelation 13, John is given this vision of a great beast that rises out of the sea. Do you remember? That beast is supposed to represent political and civil power that opposes God and his people; a beast that continually lives and grows throughout all time.

And before that in 12 there is a great dragon. That serpent who began his scheming deceits in the garden of Eden in Genesis 3 and is now seen as great red dragon bent on the destruction of God’s people and the glory of Christ.

A sinful world of power and the devil himself opposed to God – and what becomes of them? They are wiped out of existence! There have always been tyrants. There always will be tyrants. And Luke pauses to dwell on the destruction of Herod Agrippa to remind us that graphic color such men are nothing compared to the all-powerful God of heaven.

Therefore, in light of God’s sovereignty, we must live – we must live the way he desires with confidence that nothing can stop his plan. We must be faithful to God’s calling on our lives and trust in his sovereign power to bless the gospel and put down treats to his church.

We must trust that promise of Christ that he would “build [his] church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18).

Conclusion

If God is sovereign over all things, then we can –

trust in his good will for our lives

we should pray for his purposes to come about in our lives

and we should live for his glory and be faithful for the sake of Christ and the good news that by his death and resurrections, sinners can be saved.

Mission: Unstoppable – The First “Christians” (Acts 11:19-28)

The First “Christians”

Acts 11:19-30

Introduction

Henry Ironside – a minister of another generation – tells the story of his traveling in China. He says that he was often introduced as “Yaso-yan.” He had no idea what that meant, but everyone else seemed to immediately know what it meant.

Eventually he asked what it meant and was told Yasu was Cantoneese for ‘Jesus’ and yan was the word for ‘man.’ In other words they were introducing him as the “Jesus man.”

And in our passage this morning we see something similar happening. Up to this point, those that trusted in Jesus and were a part of his church would have called themselves thing like the disciples, the brothers, or the followers of the Way.

But as the gospel went forward in Antioch, the unsaved people in the city looked to these people who worshipped Jesus and gave them a new name – Christian. It means ‘little Christ.’ the truth was these people spoke so much of Christ, lived so much like Christ, loved each other so much like Christ, those on the outside looking in said – ‘look at all those little Christs!’

This morning as we look to the circumstances that led to this happening, I want us to see in this of newly named Christians examples of what it really means to be a Christian. I want us to see what it really means to wear the name of Christ. What should our attitudes be? What should our life be like?

Acts 11:19-30

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. [20] But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. [21] And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. [22] The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. [23] When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, [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. [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.

[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). [29] So the disciples determined, everyone 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.

1. The Christian Life Involves Faithfulness to the Gospel (11:19-21)

Difficulty is the easiest escape we have in living the Christian life. More people have missed church, embraced sin, and shunned responsibility without guilt because of adversity or difficulty in life.

And often we let them get away with it. We hear the stories of their problems and make excuses for them, letting them off the hook of living the Christian life the way it is supposed to be lived. All because of a little difficulty in life.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am not trying to say that we don’t have problems. That life doesn’t bring real pain and suffering. I’ve had my fair share of unique difficulties and I’m sure most of you have as well. In fact, some of you have experienced more pain and difficulty than I might ever experience in this life. If you are here and feel like you’ve never had it bad, cheer up, yours is probably on its way!

So, I’m not saying we don’t have real problem. I am saying that most of the time, we don’t handle our difficulty well. We don’t deal with difficulty as Christians. But notice the believers in our passage this morning.

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. [20] But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. [21] And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

Remember back in Acts 7, Stephen preached a bold message about Christ to the Jewish religious leaders. The result was that he himself was stoned on the spot. The leaders who heard his message picked up rocks and threw them at Stephen until he was dead. But more than that we are told that “there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria” (8:1).

They just don’t get mad at Stephen, they get mad at all Christians and they start going after them. And the persecution is so intense, that people start leaving Jerusalem and moving out to other parts of the region.

Now, think about what they could have said – “We are being persecuted for our faith. We are being hunted down by religious leaders. We are being beat up and killed by the Romans. It’s crazy! Obviously, we can’t be expected to be involved in church right now. We need to lie low and take it easy, get caught on sleep, and spend time with our families and friends.”

But what do they do? They remain faithful to God’s calling on their lives in the midst of the difficulty. When life turns up the heat, they still think and live like Christians. In fact, they go out sharing the gospel!

These Christians were “preaching the Lord Jesus. [21] And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”

Some go to the Jews but others even take the gospel to the Gentiles. So they are not just sharing Christ, they are taking Christ where he has never been preached before. And these aren’t the apostles. These are the everyday, ‘Ben Believers’ and ‘Christy Christians’ who sit in the pews on Sundays.

This is an example that we often don’t see today. But is an example of true Christianity. Christians are to endure difficulty for the sake of the gospel. And they can do so because they understand who stands with them – giving them strength and hope.

The great prince of preachers Charles Spurgeon once said to his people in a sermon: “Courage, minister of God: you are nothing, but Almighty God is with you. When you lift your hand to build the house of the Lord, omnipotence works with you, and makes your labour a success…. The stars in their course fight for you. The stones of the field are in league with you. Eternal wisdom plans for you, infinite power works with you, boundless patience perseveres with you, and almighty love will conquer by you. ‘The hand of the Lord was with them.’ What more do we want? Sow, brother, for God has ploughed. Go up and build, for God has prepared the stones and made ready the foundation.”

Therefore, with eyes fixed on our Savior, let us with faith trust God in every adversity believing the word of God which promises “after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Pet 5:10).

2. The Christian Life Involves Godly Encouragement (11:22-24)

These scattered Christians are being faithful in their call by Christ – they are sharing the gospel, and God is saving people through their evangelism. Then we read, “The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch (11:22).”

Remember what we saw earlier – how the gospel going forward among the Gentiles from Jews was still a new thing. And so they send someone to Antioch to find out what is going on. They send Barnabas.

You’ve gotta love Barnabas. First of all, Barnabas is not the guy’s name. His name is Joseph. However, the man was such an encouragement to them and the other Christians in Jerusalem they gave him a nickname – Barnabas, which means ‘son of encouragement.’

And that’s why they sent Barnabas. He wasn’t an apostle. He wasn’t some great leader, but he was an encourager. That spirit of encouragement flowed out of his life being transformed by God’s presence.

Luke says, “When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he [encouraged] them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, [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.”

I cannot help but think Luke is making a pun here – “when the son of encouragement came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord.” My translation has exhorted them, but the word is the same word for encourage.

And this is what Barnabas does – he encourages these believers in Antioch. How does he do this?

2.1. He encouraged them by showing joy at the grace of God.

I don’t know how many time I have heard testimonies of men who got saved in the 70’s and 80’s and so many of them say right after they were saved, some well-meaning but way-off Christian told them they had to cut their long hair to be godly.

Here are all these new Christians. What do you usually have in new Christians? People that still are passionate about Christ, but have a lot of sin to work through. And instead of simply saying, okay, now we need to get your act together, he simply rejoices at seeing God’s grace in their lives.

2.2. He encouraged them by pointing them to Christ.

Luke says, “he encouraged them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.” I think Luke means that Barnabas purpose was steadfast. He never wavered in telling them, encouraging them to stay faithful to Jesus – the one who died for their sins and was raised to reign forever as Lord. You cannot pursue growth as a Christian if you’re constantly fixing your gaze on Christ himself.

2.3. He encouraged them by setting a godly example.

Can I tell you one of the things that discourages me most? Finding someone who is not as godly as they appear to be. What do I mean by that? I don’t mean someone who never sins – we all sin. No someone who act one way in public but another in private. Someone who speaks like a Christian, but then thinks potty humor and a bad attitude are cute or cool when only a few people are around.

That’s not encouraging to me. That discourages me on so many levels. But Barnabas wasn’t like that. Luke says, “for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.”

You have to understand Luke knows this all to well. Before he put to parchment, Luke had spent many years with Barnabas. He’d gone on mission trips with him. He’d been aboard ships with him traveling. He’d traversed parts of Eastern Europe with him. He’d probably slept in the same tent as him; eaten food alongside him. He knows Barnabas.

He knows him in his best of time and in his worst of times, and this is Luke’s estimation of Barnabas: that he was a man who was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And that’s encouraging.

To see someone who is clearly being transformed by the power of God is something that makes you want to keep going when you own life is not doing so well. There is simply no substitute for consistent, holy living to encourage other Christians to go on with God.

3. The Christian Life Involves Servant-minded Ministry (11:25-26)

So what did Barnabas do while he was in Antioch? He ministered to these new Christians with the attitude of a servant.

Luke says, “When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, [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. [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” (11:23-26).

Everything about this shows us that Barnabas doesn’t ever think of himself first. Instead, his ministry to these Christians is driven by his humble desire to serve others.

First, he was willing – probably on foot – to make the 325-350 miles journey from Jerusalem to Antioch. It would have been a demanding journey in those days. It wouldn’t have been like a nice little hike –a trip to get a little exercise and fresh air. You would have been dealing with difficult heat, wild animals, fatigue, and maybe even bandits. But Barnabas was willing to make this journey because he desires to serve these new Christians.

What’s more when he gets there, things continue to go well. Luke says, “a great many people were added to the Lord.” Barnabas sees the seed of the gospel popping. He sees God honoring his word and bringing about the harvest. And other men would have said, ‘Aren’t I important! Look at all that God entrusts to me!’

But Barnabas doesn’t do that. He doesn’t serve his own ego, he serves these brothers and sisters by going to find one whose gifts they needed. They needed someone who could teach them the Scriptures and grow their faith. So, Barnabas decides to go get Saul.

Remember Saul? He was once a great Pharisee – a persecutor the church. Then Christ himself appeared to him and called him to faith in him as the true Messiah – the risen Lord. Saul believed and began to preach. And then he went back to his hometown of Tarsus.

And now Barnabas makes another journey to go get Saul. And Luke says, it took him a while. He had to search for him. Why? Well, probably because he wouldn’t have been easy to find. After he embraced Christ as the Messiah, he would have lost this friends, his family.

Later Saul would say he suffered the loss of all things for the sake of Christ. You can imagine Barnabas asking around for Saul and people turning their backs to him. Perhaps some even got mad and spat him Barnabas on account of Saul. And again – Barnabas endured this in order to serve the Christians at Antioch.

More than that though, once Barnabas finds Saul, he agrees to leave and go back to Antioch. And again, just like Barnabas, Saul leaves his life and travels to this group of people he doesn’t know and he spends – what does Luke say? – “For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people” (Acts 11:26).

I believe that Barnabas is a shocking reminder to all of us of what it means to be part of the body of Christ. He did not know these people in Antioch. They were from two different worlds. Yet because they were part of the body of Christ, Barnabas saw it as his privilege to serve them.

Alexander the Great once learned that there was a solider in his army with his name – Alexander. However, this other Alexander was a notorious coward. One day, Alexander the Great – the man who conquered the world at 23 sent for the man to come before him. The young man cowered before the great warrior.

“Is your name Alexander and are you named for me?” He asked. “Yes, my lord,” the man said trembling. At that the great general stood up and approach the young man and said, “Then either be brave or change your name!”

Barnabas and Saul weren’t really doing anything all that special. It’s seems so special to us because it’s so rare. But in reality, they were simply living the Lord they worshipped. They were living like Christ.

But about us? Do we have this spirit of Christ that leads us to willingly and joyfully take on the role of a servant and minister to one another? If not, then we either need to pray for God to give us the heart of a servant, or we should change our name.

4. The Christian Life Involves Generous Giving (11:27-30)

In verses 27-30, Luke says, “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).

Remember that this is the foundational period of the establishing of the church, before the Scriptures were complete and the New Testament was written. Thus, alongside the apostles, God gave his church prophets to guide them and to bring direct revelation from himself to his people.

And as the church is now growing and expanding in Antioch, they have Paul teaching them the Scriptures. And Christians in Jerusalem want to help guide and teach these new Christians and so they also send prophets. Here, Luke tells us about one of those prophets, Agabus.

Agabus will show up again in Acts and will continue to be used by God to guide his people. However, there is some debate about what kind of prophecies Agabus speaks. I’m not going to take the time to go into the debate now – I’ll discuss it when we get to Acts 21 around November.

Here we simply want to look at what he says, and how these Christians respond. Agabus utters a prophecy of a world-wide famine and from history we know that is exactly what happened. This is taking place in the mid-40’s. And we know that there was a flooding of the Nile River in A.D. 45. As a result of that flood, the Egyptian harvest was destroyed and grain prices rocketed. This in turn produced a famine from 46-48 there was a famine in Judea.

Do some of you remember all of the craziness before the year 2000? Some people were afraid the Y2K meltdown that was supposed to come. Some believed all the computers would shut down and no one would have any money and security systems wouldn’t work.

And some Christians even got in on the bandwagon of hysteria and said this was all prophecy of the end-times. Worse than that though, when it got around that people wouldn’t be able to buy any food, some Christians went to the store and hoarded all they could.

Now look at our passage. The famine hasn’t even happened yet and how do these Christians respond to the news? “So the disciples determined, everyone 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.”

They don’t hoard what they’ve got. On the contrary, they start collecting funds to send to the other Christians in Judea. Derek Thomas points out that they were “asking and answering a very practical question: ‘As a result of what God has told us, what does God want us to do?’ And God had told them there was going to be a famine, and God didn’t tell them what to do. They just did it. They saw it as the only right thing to do, to give from the bounty of their own means to the needs of those in Judea.”

The result of the Gospel breaking into their lives and being encouraged and strengthened in the faith was a generosity that allowed these new Christians to give away what they had. This is the kind of generosity we’re called to in our city for our church.

Are we generous? Why not? Why are we selfish with what we have? If we’re selfish then it’s because haven’t fully grasped the selfless nature of our God who gave himself so that we could have everything we need. If we really understood this and believed it, then we’d be wouldn’t hesitate to be generous like these first Christians.

Conclusion

Often people look back to years past in our country’s history and think it was easier to be a Christian back then. And then they look at our society today and think about how difficult it is to be a Christian now.

But let’s not forget what kind of a world the first century was – it was a sea of paganism with practically thing deity known to mankind being worshipped. It was a fully pluralistic society where the only sin was saying your god alone was the real God. It was a society obsessed with sports and sexual immorality. It was a society of greed and war and violence. It was not all that different from our own.

And it ye it was in that culture – in Antioch, the third largest city in the Roman empire – that Luke tells us “the disciples were first called Christians.”

Never doubt that God is not at work. Never think the times are too evil for us to stand by faith in Christ and live contrary to the values of this world. If we claim the name of Christ, we are called to take our eyes off the values of this world and embrace the Christlike life God desires us to have – a life transformed by the truth of his word and the power of his Spirit.

Spiritual Warfare Class

Here are the lessons we have covered so far during our Sunday Morning Bible Study on the subject of spiritual warfare.

Lesson 1 – Introduction and Myth-Busting

Lesson 2 – Satan

Lesson 3 – Resist the Devil

Lesson 4 – Stand Against the Devil

Lesson 5 – Pray to Stand Firm

Lesson 6 – The World

Lesson 7 – Do Not Love the World

Lesson 8 – Indwelling Sin

Lesson 9 – Kill Sin

*lessons 8-9 drew heavily on materials from Desiring God ministries, Sovereign Grace Ministries, and Kris Lundgaard’s The Enemy Within.