Antioch

Introduction

You know it’s a great day today. And it’s because it’s the Lord’s Day. We have the opportunity to gather here to worship God and truth and in spirit, sing songs of praise to him, to go to him in prayer, and to remember his son dying on the cross on our behalf and the hope that we have through that death. Today is also a good day because a family that you know has moved here. Brother Sean Jeffries moved here. Him and his family arrived here yesterday, and Sean will be working with his congregation. Many of you know him because he held our spring gospel meeting here just a few months ago. But I want you to remember, even though this is a glad day and us gathering together, it wasn’t too many weeks ago that it was a sad day when Ken and Deedra announced that they are departing.

You know, Sean and Genesia experienced that just this last week. And so it’s it’s tough sometimes. But we want to welcome this family here in our midst and to make them feel at home. We are so glad that they are here. So Sean and Genesia, or GG, Sean Michael, their son, and Faith, their daughter, will be with us for the coming years, Lord willing. I want you to know that we as the elders, when we met with uh Sean to begin with, we gave him the challenge. Challenge is too solved. We gave him the command that you teach only God’s word, that only God’s word will be preached from this pulpit here. And he was readily, read it, readily. He was ready to comply. This is his goal, and so sometimes when God’s truths are mentioned, some things are not what some people want to hear.

But it’s the weight of heaven. It’s the way to heaven. As we uh studied in Romans chapter 8 this morning, that it’s not always convenient to hear God’s truths. Sometimes it’s it’s difficult. And we gave him that challenge that even in difficult times, you preach only the truths of God. And he’s readily willing to comply. So at this time, I would like to uh bring Sean up and he give us first lesson as our full-time gospel preacher. Thank you.

Please get your Bible out and make your way over into the book of Acts with me this morning. Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11. The vast majority of our study this morning will come from Acts the 11th chapter, so you may just want to park yourself right there. As you turn on your Bible and get ready to study, let me just say that I am just so we are just so very thankful. We are thankful. We are thankful to God that we are finally here. After over two months and driving 30 hours, literally 30 hours to get here through all kinds of weather, God has blessed us to be here. And we are thankful to Jesus, we’re thankful to the shepherds, the wonderful men who leave this church.

We’re so thankful for the invitation they’ve given us to come and work with this church, and we are thankful to the deacons and to this entire South Bumby congregation. Thank you so much. You’ve spoiled us already so far. Thank you for the food that we’ve received, all the gift cards. We were just blown away by those things and all the gifts and the prayers and the text messages we’ve been receiving over the last 60 days and cards and just all the encouragement. You just don’t know how much that meant to us. God bless you. Thank you so much. We’re so excited about today and beginning our work here at South Bumby. We want you to know that we love you and we care about you. And we are here to glorify God, to work under the leadership of the shepherds and to work alongside you and glorifying Jesus and helping each other go to heaven and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so if you need anything, you need prayers, you need someone to talk to, you need some encouragement, whatever you need us to do to help serve you. That’s what we’re here for. And we just want you to know that. But thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. We are so excited about what is to come here at South Bumbi. I know the Lord will bless us because we’re seeking to glorify him according to the Bible. This is a wonderful, wonderful church. But I do want to ask you this morning that if you had the opportunity to get into a time machine and visit the worship assembly of another church, which one would it be? Which one would you choose? Which one would you choose first?

Would it maybe be the very first church that we can read about in the Bible? The church in Jerusalem. I mean, would you love to visit Jerusalem? Would you love to see what a worship assembly in the Jerusalem church look like? Would you love to maybe assemble with 10,000 Christians on the Lord’s Day and sing with them and pray with them and give with them and observe the Lord’s Supper with them? If you had the opportunity, would you visit the church in Jerusalem? Or maybe you would visit the church in Corinth, or the church in Philippi, or the church in Thessalonica, or maybe one of those seven churches of Asia that we can read about in the book of Revelation. I believe it would be great to visit all of those churches, but what about this church right here?

What about the church at Antioch? What about this church that we read about right here in Acts chapter 11? I want you to think about that this morning, brothers and sisters. Because I firmly believe that out of all the churches we can read about in the Bible, this church right here may be the most overlooked. It may be the most neglected, it may be the least talked about church, and maybe that is because there’s no letter written to it in the Bible. I mean, search your New Testament from top to bottom. You’re not going to find a first or second Antiochans. You’re not going to find Paul or Peter or John writing to this church and telling us things about this church. This church right here is not one of the more popular churches, but it may be one of the most important churches.

It may be one of the most important churches in all the Bible and the history of the world. I mean, think about it. Think about it. The name we are called today, the name Christian. Where did that begin? Well, that began right here in Antioch. You see, before Antioch, we don’t read about disciples of Jesus Christ being called Christians. That started right here, and that fact alone makes this church worthy of study. That fact alone should compel us to get into a spiritual time machine this morning and just study what the Holy Spirit tells us about this church. And so will you do that with me this morning as we begin our work together in the cause of God, study with me what the Bible tells us about this church.

And let’s start with Acts the 11th chapter and in verse 19. In verse number 19, the scripture says this. Verse 19, so then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. For there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them.

The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem. And they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then, when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with a resolute heart to remain true to the Lord, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Now, as you allow these verses to soak in your heart for just a moment, I want you to notice a few important things that the scriptures tell us about this church.

First, notice how this church got started as a result of persecution. It actually got started as a result of that great persecution that we can read about in Acts chapter 8. Do you remember what we read from Acts chapter 8? Remember this morning in Acts chapter 8. We read about how the church in Jerusalem was persecuted by Saul of Tarsus. Remember, after the stoning of a Christian named Stephen, Saul of Tarsus began ravaging the church. He began trying to destroy the church.

He forced Christians out of Jerusalem. And the text says that some of them ended up in Phoenicia and some in Cyprus and some right here in Antioch.

They ended up in the Antioch that was north of Jerusalem in the region of Syria. And upon their arrival, these Christians began doing evangelism. They began preaching the gospel. They began telling people about Jesus Christ. They preached first to the Jews. And then when a couple of unnamed disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene showed up, well, they started preaching the gospel to the Greeks. They started preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. They said, We’re sick of this racist stuff. We’re going to take the gospel to people who are not Jews. And many of those people were converted. Many of those people believed and they turned to the Lord. And then when the news about those converts reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they decided to send Barnabas to Antioch to check it out.

The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to see what was going on there. And what he saw upon his arrival encouraged him.

What I want us to do is I want us to get into a spiritual time machine. And I want us to go back 2,000 years and visit Antioch. I want us to notice some things that Barnabas saw when he arrived in this place.

1. He Saw Church Growth, the Lord’s Way

He saw growth. He saw church growth, the Lord’s way. Don’t you see that in verse 21? Going back to Acts 11 and verse 21. Notice how according to that verse, this church in Antioch was a growing church. It was a thriving church. It was a church where a large number of people believed in Jesus and they turned to Jesus, even though this city right here, Antioch, was nothing like Jerusalem. I mean, do you remember what the Bible tells us about Jerusalem? Your good Bible students. Remember back in Acts chapter 2, we learned that Jerusalem was where the church first began. Jerusalem was where 3,000 Jews were baptized. And they were added to the church. Jerusalem was where the temple was. It was where many God-fearing Jews resided.

It was where God was worshiped and he was praised and he was celebrated as being holy and righteous and awesome. Jerusalem was a thriving, vibrant, religious city. But Antioch, this city of Antioch, it wasn’t like that at all. Antioch wasn’t anything like Jerusalem. You see, while Jerusalem was an important city to the Jewish people, Antioch was one of the most important cities in the evil, corrupt Roman Empire. Antioch was actually the third most populous city. In all the Roman Empire, there were more than 500,000 people that lived in the city of Antioch, and many of those people were Gentiles. They were not Jews like you find going on in Jerusalem. Instead, in Antioch, most of the people were either Greeks or Persians or Syrians or Romans.

Antioch was a melting pot. It was a melting pot of a city, and it was also a wealthy city. It was a thriving metropolis. It had palaces. It had an amphitheater. It had a hippodrome. It was beautiful and immaculate. There was a lot of prosperity in the city of Antioch. And it was also a city immersed in sin. It was a city immersed in all kinds of evil and wickedness. It had idolatry. It had brothels. It had gambling. It had pagan temples. It had a whole host of evil and corrupt activities. It was a big, sinful city that a lot of people in the ancient world flocked to. In fact, in many ways, the city of Antioch was just like our city. It was just like Orlando.

You see, like Antioch, what do we live in right now? Well, we live in a large city. We live in a big city. Now we’re not New York City or Washington DC or Los Angeles, but we are an important city in this country. We are currently part of a city that has part of it, a large metro area of over three million people. Orlando is a big growing city, and just like Antioch, Orlando’s a melting pot. It is a place that has all kinds of diversity. There are all kinds of nations and races of people that live in the city of Orlando. And just like Antioch, Orlando is prosperous. There’s a lot of money in the city of Orlando. I mean, here in Orlando, you got a lot of jobs.

And you got a lot of entertainment. There are a lot of things for people to do in this city. I mean, think about it. We got a professional basketball team. We got Mickey Mouse. We got Minnie Mouse. We got Goofy. We got the Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Universal. We got all kinds of things for people to do in this city. This is a city full of all kinds of activity and things for people to get involved in. And as a result, you know, you know what else we got in Orlando? We got a lot of sin. There’s a lot of sin in this city. Just like in all major cities in this country. Here in Orlando, we got gang activity. We got drugs. We got alcohol.

We got immorality, shootings, murder, kidnappings, rape, a whole host of evil things going on in this city. Orlando’s a city that is full of the devil’s work. And while all that can be discouraging to us this morning from this church in Antioch, you know what we learn? We learn that the gospel can still thrive in a city like this. We learn that the gospel can still take hold, take root in a city like this, beyond the small country towns that we find in place in this country where you already have a lot of churches and a lot of preachers here from Antioch, we learn that the gospel is powerful enough to convert souls in the big city. The gospel is powerful enough to convert souls in a city like this, even in a city like Orlando, a city where you have a lot of money and a lot of entertainment and a lot of wickedness.

Look back at verse 20, please. Acts chapter 11 and verse 20. Verse 20, it says this, but there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene who came to Antioch. They came to the big city. They’re not in the country, they’re in the big city. And they began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number, notice, a large number who believed turned to the Lord. I want you to notice how this church in Antioch grew. Do you see it? Notice how when it came to this church, this church in Antioch didn’t grow because the Christians who comprised it watered down the gospel.

It didn’t grow because of gimmicks or because the members were trying to attract the crowds with free food and fun and frolic and games and entertainment. No, this church in Antioch grew because of preaching. It grew because of evangelism. It grew because of disciples who comprised this church, were serious about teaching people about Jesus Christ and the salvation found in him.

2. He Saw Generosity and Benevolence Among the Brethren

That’s what he saw when he got to Antioch. When he got to Antioch, he saw an evangelistic church. A church that was growing the right way. He saw a church that was spreading the message of Jesus Christ in the big city, and we have to be like them in the city we’re living in right now. We have to be committed to growth, the Lord’s way. But not only, not only did Barnabas see church growth the Lord’s way in Antioch, a second thing he saw was this. He also saw a lot of generosity. He saw a lot of generosity and benevolence among the brethren. Go back to the text, please. Look at verse 27. Let’s just stay in the text. At Acts 11 and verse 27, the text goes on to say this.

Now, at this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them, Agabas, stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit there would certainly be a great famine over all the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders. So notice how in these verses we learn something else important about this church.

Notice how after learning, after learning from a prophet about a famine that would impact the entire world, this church in Antioch determined to send relief. They determined to send money, to send money to needy brethren in Jerusalem. They sent money to the church in Jerusalem. I submit to you that what they do there, that is shocking. That can’t be reading right in our Bibles. That is radical. That is staggering. That is stunning because this church in Antioch was comprised of mostly Gentiles while the church in Jerusalem was comprised of mostly Jews. And so you got Gentiles? Gentile Christians helping Jewish Christians? That is staggering to read that in our Bibles. According to the Bible, upon discovering that an entirely Jewish congregation was in need of help during a time of famine, a predominantly Gentile church, they don’t turn the other way.

They don’t say, well, that’s their problem.

They don’t say, well, they got to figure it out. They don’t say, well, you know what? We need to stockpile a bunch of money in our bank account because we want to make sure we have a lot of money just stacked up. They don’t do any of those things. Instead, the Bible says these Christians in Antioch, they helped them. They were generous. They were compassionate. They used their resource and their blessings to bless God’s people. That’s what was going on in Antioch. And from that, we learn something about money. We learn something about the church’s money. We learn that local church funds, the church’s money that is collected on the first day of the week, it can be used for the benevolent needs of God’s people.

We see that again. Acts 11, verse 29. Do you see verse 29? And in proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the who? The brethren. The brethren living in Judea. What you find there is parallel to what Paul said. Brother J.R. quoted from 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians 16, 1 and 2. Paul talked about the Corinthians taking up a collection for the needs of the saints. The saints that are also in Jerusalem. That’s what we find here in the Bible. You see, like the church in Corinth, this church in Antioch, they didn’t use the money they they collected on Sunday to feed the world. They didn’t use that money to open up a soup kitchen or to write a check to all the needy people in their community.

While there was nothing wrong with them helping people in the community as individuals as a church, though. They use the Lord’s money to relieve needy brethren. They use the Lord’s money to help God’s people and for all the young people in the room this morning, and for all the young Christians in the room this morning, I really want you to hear me on that. I really want you to notice that very carefully. I want you to understand that there is a reason why this church right here, the church at South Bumbi, there’s a reason why it uses this money for the purposes it uses it for. There’s a reason why it used it for evangelism and why use it to help Christians. There’s a reason why this church doesn’t have a soup kitchen, and why it’s not writing checks to homeless people in the community, and why it’s not paying the rent and the light bill and the water bill for everybody who just knocks on the door.

3. He Saw a Lot of Diversity

The reason why this church uses its funds solely to help needy Christians here and elsewhere is because this church is committed to following the Bible. It’s committed to following the New Testament pattern or the New Testament example. It is committed to following the example of the church and Antioch, and we are so thankful to be part of that now. We’re so thankful to God. They will went on in Antioch is also going on here. And Antioch, Barnabas, saw growth. And he saw a lot of generosity. But let me add to the list by saying this. You know what else he saw in Antioch? He also saw a lot of diversity. Oh, yes. He saw a lot of diversity. And we see this in a couple of different places.

So notice Acts 11, please. Acts 11, verse 19 again. Verse 19 says, so then those who were scattered because of the persecution, that’s that persecution back in Acts 8. Those who were scattered because of that, in connection with Stephen, made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except the Jews alone. Now, watch this. Because at this point, at the end of verse 19, the Christians are still struggling here. They’re struggling with accepting Gentiles. That God wants the gospel to go to people like us, people from the other nations. They just preach to the Jews. No, that’s not God’s will anymore. So they’re struggling. But these these two guys from Cyprus and Cyrene, they say we’re gonna stop that nonsense.

And so in verse 20 it says, But some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks, also preaching the Lord Jesus. And so these two disciples, these disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene, they say, Hey, we’re taking gospel, we’re taking the gospel to the Gentiles. We’re sick of this racism stuff. And that and that term Greeks there, that’s talking about people who are not Jewish. People like us. So the church now is becoming racially diverse in Antioch. But go to Acts 13 now, please. Because in Acts 13, we find some interesting verses.

Now there were at Antioch, this is the same church we’re talking about. Now there were at Antioch in the church that was there, prophets and teachers. Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene and Menae, who’ve been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. While they were ministering to the Lord in fasting, the Holy Spirit says, Set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So will you please notice verse 1 very carefully? Verse 1 should really stand out to us this morning. Do you see all those names that are mentioned in verse number one? I want to submit that that is a very interesting thing to read there because all those names tell us something.

All those names you see there tell us that these guys that are mentioned as being part of this church, they are nothing like each other. They are nothing like each other at all. For example, Barnabas. We’ve been talking about Barnabas, right? We know Barnabas, the son of encouragement. Well, he’s a Jew. In other places in the book of Acts, we learn he’s a Levite from Cyprus. But this other guy, Simeon, who’s also called Niger, he is likely a black man. He is likely someone who has skin darkening mind. In fact, the term Niger that’s mentioned there, that is a Latin term that means black. This is likely a black man. And then you got Lucius of Cyrene. Do you know where Cyrene is? Cyrene was in northern Africa.

And then you got this guy named Manan. And notice Manan was part of the Herod family. He seems to have been the foster brother of Herod Antipas. He comes from a family of royalty. And then we all know about Saul, don’t we? Saul of Tarsus, that’s the persecutor of the church. What in the world is going on in that verse? This is a very diverse group of guys. This is a group of guys that consist of Jews, black men, rich men, and a former persecutor of the church. Do you know what we see there? There we see that the gospel is so powerful, it is so dynamic, it is so convicting, it is so glorious that it can bring a group of guys like this together.

It could make these guys brothers in Christ. It could unite them in the work of God, even though they lived in a world where all kinds of racism was prevalent. That’s what was going on there. In Antioch. And you know, that’s also what’s going on here at Bumby. That’s going on right now. As I stand before you in this pulpit, even right now in this room, as I look around this room, you know what I see as I look around? I see a diverse group of people. A diverse group of people. I see all kinds of races in this room. I see all kinds of skin colors in this room. I see some people who who probably grew up in the church. You may be a second, third, fourth generation member of the church of Christ, and some people who are just starting this.

They’re first generation Christians. You got rich people in this room. You got middle class people in this room. You got poor people in this room. You got males, you got females, you got old, you got young, you got Republicans, Democrats, independents. This is just such a diverse group of people. And you know what that is? That is a testimony to the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is a testimony to the power of Jesus and the blood of Jesus Christ. Antioch. This church in Antioch is a critical church to study in the Bible because it is the very first, the very first diverse church that we can read about in the Bible. It is the very first racially diverse church that we can read about in the Bible.

It is the place where they were first called Christians. It is a church that shows us exactly what God wants for his people. It shows us that God doesn’t want racial segregation in the church. God doesn’t want racism in the church. God doesn’t want white folks to have their church and black folks to have their church and Hispanic folks have their church and Asians and Indian people that have their church. You know, God wants unity in the church. God wants love and peace for all of his people in the church. God wants the emphasis to be on souls, not on the color of skin. God wants us to understand that in heaven, when we get to heaven together, you’re not going to have a white section.

Not going to have a black section, not going to have Hispanic section, an Asian section, an Indian section, a pink section, a purple section, a blue section. No, in heaven, you know what you’re going to have? You’ll have souls. You’re going to have souls that are gathered around the throne of God. And we worship God and we love God and we love each other. And we’re praise the name of Jesus Christ forever and ever. That’s what heaven’s going to be about. And that’s what was going on in Antioch. That’s what Barnabas saw when he got to Antioch. When he got to Antioch, he saw diversity. He saw what we see here right now at South Bumbi. But not only did he see diversity, here’s the final thing he saw that I want to share with you.

4. Barnabas Also Saw Acceptance

Barnabas also saw acceptance.

God’s people were accepting folks, not their sins, but accepting them as brothers and sisters when they obeyed the gospel despite their past mistakes. And I want you to see that back in the text, please. Acts chapter 11. Look at verse 23, please. Going back to verse 23, it says this. Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God. This is a place where the grace of God was prevalent. He rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. And watch verse 25. He left for Tarsus to look for who? To look for Saul. Remember, a lot of these people are in Antioch in the first place because of this guy.

And Barnabas goes to look for him. And in verse 26, it says, When he found him, he brought him to Antioch. I wonder what that reunion must have been like. I had to leave my house because of this guy. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers. And the disciples were first called Christians and Antioch. So notice how after witnessing the progress of the gospel and all the racial diversity going on in Antioch, the text tells us that Barnabas goes to Tarsus to look for Saul. He goes to look for Saul, the same Saul, who before he became a Christian, he unleashed a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. The same Saul that was trying to destroy the church, the same Saul who was going into the homes of Christians and dragging them out of their homes and locking them up, putting them in jail.

The same Saul that’s responsible for many of these people being in Antioch in the first place. The same Saul who was initially, if you remember, rejected into the fellowship of the church in Jerusalem. And Barnabas had to stand up for him. And he had to defend him. And he had to persuade the Jewish brethren that he had changed. And he’s now a Christian. After witnessing the wonderful work of God in Antioch, Barnabas went to go find that guy. He went to go bring to Antioch Saul of Tarsus. And notice it seems that the brethren there in Antioch, they immediately accepted him. They didn’t do him like the brethren in Jerusalem. They didn’t, you know, investigate him and check him out thoroughly. They immediately accepted him, it seems.

They allowed him to serve there and grow spiritually there and develop into the great apostle Paul who would one day launch out from there on missionary journeys. That’s the kind of church the church in Antioch was.

Conclusion

And through love and kindness and patience, we need to send the message to every Christian that if you’re really trying to live for the Lord and do what’s right, you can grow here. You can get a fresh start here. You can be equipped to serve Jesus right here by accepting Saul, the church in Antioch demonstrated the hearts of true disciples. They demonstrated the hearts of true Christians. They demonstrated that they’re trying to be like Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And so, my dear friends, while we can’t get into a time machine and physically visit the church in Antioch, what we have been able to do is we’ve been able to visit them through the eyes of Barnabas. We’ve been able to visit them through the lens of Scripture through this brief, inspired information we have in the scriptures.

We have learned this morning together that the church in Antioch is a church that’s worthy of imitation. We’ve learned why they were first called Christians in Antioch by those in their community. We’ve learned why we have so much to be optimistic about as we do God’s work right here in Orlando, Florida. May God bless us and may God be glorified in our work together. It is a wonderful thing to be part of this church and to be Christians.

If you’re willing to confess faith in Jesus Christ because you believe He’s the Lord and the Son of God, if you’re willing to repent and turn away from your sins and be immersed in water for the forgiveness of your sins, the Lord will wash away your sins and add you to his body, his church. Or if there’s a Christian here who hasn’t been living as a faithful Christian should. If you need prayers, encouragement, whatever spiritual need you may have, we want to serve you at this time. Come to the front. Let’s stand. Let’s sing.