Acts 11:26
In this time of change and resistance to
change, we must—in the world and in the
church—revitalize our vision of the church by
reviewing what the Holy Spirit teaches us about
it. Lest the salt should lose its savor, we turn to
study the pattern given us in the New Testament.
In particular, let’s look at the New Testament portrait
of the church at Antioch, found in Acts 11.
I. AN EXAMPLARY CHURCH
The church at Antioch is the most complete
example in the New Testament of a Spirit-led
church. It was founded by the unpredictable
blowing of the wind of the Holy Spirit. It gave us
our name, Christian. It was the first church that
included Gentiles as members. It was the first
church with a worldview of its mission. It called
Saul out of obscurity and started him in the ministry.
In that city, the cutting edge of advancing
truth caused the most important confrontation in
the apostolic church, resulting in a new outlook
in the church and a new strength of organization.
Antioch was where the action was. If we will let
Him, the Holy Spirit will do as much—and perhaps
more—for our church today.
First, observe what the Holy Spirit had to work
with in establishing the church in Antioch. “Now
those who had been scattered by the persecution
in connection with Stephen traveled as far as
Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, telling the message
only to Jews. Some of them, however, men
from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch, and began
to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good
news about the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:19, 20).
Notice the kind of people they were. They
had lost their jobs, their homes, and their friends,
and they were refugees from religious persecution.
To them, Jesus was worth everything, and
God allowed them to pay that price. The Holy
Spirit cannot create a church with people whose
beliefs cost nothing. Real Christianity costs, but
it also pays. Jesus said, “In the same way, any
of you who does not give up everything he has
cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).
Notice the kind of leadership they had. The
Antioch church also had wise, spiritual leadership
in Barnabas. The record says that “they sent
Barnabas to Antioch. 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; for he was a good man, full of the
Holy Spirit and faith” (verses 22-24, RSV).
Barnabas was a man who could rejoice
in the success of others without feeling envious.
He could enthusiastically endorse plans
and methods that he himself had not initiated.
When he saw God’s work succeeding among
the people, “he was glad.” We learn here that
God’s appointed leaders are not to function
as funnels or valves through which everything
must pass as if they were in control. They are
to be watchmen with discernment to encourage
and exhort, allowing room for God to control, by
direct contact with His people through the Holy
Spirit, and to share leadership with people who
strive for position and authority, who feel threatened
when the Lord’s work goes beyond their
own capacity to plan and devise. Barnabas was
not that kind of man.
This man Barnabas had started Paul in the
ministry in Antioch. Years later, when Paul (Luke
15:36-39) refused to work with the more passive
and timid John Mark, Barnabas took the young
man with him and saved him for the Lord’s work.
Now I ask you, what redemptive work do you
think the Holy Spirit could accomplish in our city
if not only were the members as committed as
they but also if our officers and leaders in every
capacity were as spiritual, imaginative, tolerant,
and self-effacing as Barnabas?
II. PORTRAIT OF THE CHURCH
Notice the kind of results the Antioch church
experienced while being led by the Holy Spirit.
Several prominent features stand out in the portrait
of this church.
A. Victorious over rational prejudice. The
most prominent of these was victory over racial
and national prejudice. The Jewish refugees
from Jerusalem did not anticipate joining in fellowship
with Grecians. This was contrary to their
lifelong religious and cultural background. But
two disciples, one from Cyprus and one from
Cyrene, shared their message with some of the
non-Jewish people, and no one could control the
result. They believed! The Holy Spirit of God accepted
them!
The Holy Spirit chose a cosmopolitan group
as “prophets and teachers.” In Acts 13:1, we
read, “Now in the church at Antioch there were
prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called
Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been
brought up with Herod the Tetrarch) and Saul.”
Simeon had a Jewish name, but he was also
called Niger, which in Greek means “black.” He
was evidently a black man, perhaps from northern
Africa.
Lucius is a Latin name, leading us to conclude
that he was of Roman background.
Manaen is a Greek name, and he is identified
as having grown up with Herod. He was
probably not predominantly Jewish. These men
led the church in a unity that was miraculous and
that set the pattern for the church for all time to
come. People whose backgrounds were markedly
different were subject one to another. Why?
Because all were subject first and foremost to
the Holy Spirit! What an earthshaking organization
a Christian church can be!
In this city with its great church (yes, a
model church), God did not allow the spirit of parochialism
to develop. After only a year of exciting
growth, God asked the leaders of the church
to give up their two pastor-evangelists, Saul and
Barnabas, for foreign missions. “So after they
had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands
on them and sent them off. The two of them, sent
on their way by the Holy Spirit, went . . .” (verses
3, 4). There is no mention of the church’s grief in
losing such great leaders or of their fear for the
future of the church at home. When God calls, it
is always safe to respond. With their willing spirit
of sacrifice, the evangelization of the world for
Christ began. With the same spirit, it will climax
and close.
B. A generous church. Another aspect of
the Antioch church is revealed when the prophet
Agabus told of a coming famine in Judea. The
generosity of the church was spontaneous and
thorough. “The disciples, as each one was able,
decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters
living in Judea. This they did, sending their
gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul” (Acts
11:29, 30). There was no pocketbook protection
in that church! No one asked to be excused. Every
man “decided” to do what he could. No one
proposed that every member give a dollar. Their
response came from the heart. And so they gave
according to their ability. That is the way people
give when the Holy Spirit leads them.
C. A warm and friendly family. In connection
with this act of generosity, notice how they referred
to other Christians in Judea: “the brothers
and sisters” (verse 29). What a warm, beautiful
term! Paul and Barnabas knew what that meant
when they returned from their foreign-mission
tour: “On arriving there, they gathered the church
together and reported all that God had done
through them. . . . And they stayed there a long
time with the disciples” (Acts 14:27, 28). The
men in Antioch understood the support and
strength of the Christian brotherhood. It was a
warm and friendly family, a comforting group to
which to return, to which any person would be
happy to belong. Where people follow the Holy
Spirit, there is more than servile fellowship; there
is heavenly fellowship. People need to belong,
to feel at home, to be welcome. The greatest
sickness in the world today is loneliness. People
need the fellowship of a Spirit-led church.
D. Positive in conflict resolution. At this
point, you may be thinking of the Antioch church
as a sweet, placid group with no problems. You
might even be discouraged as you think of your
own church. But wait—I have news for you, encouraging
news! Antioch was a church where
differences came out into the open and could
be discussed frankly and openly. When people
from Judea urged circumcision (Acts 15:1, 2),
the Jews and Gentiles were separated—they
had a “sharp dispute and debate.” Paul tells
more about it in Galatians 2, where he says he
withstood Peter “to the face, because he was to
be blamed” (Gal. 2:11). Although it was an inflammable
moment, it was not a hopeless situation.
This is always true when people are honest,
sincere, and willing to be taught of God. The integrity
of their search for truth was more important
than the status of either Peter or Paul. Paul
did not sacrifice honesty for strategy. A spiritual
crisis, an important and unavoidable issue, may
be the Holy Spirit’s way of guiding the church
through study.
E. Led by the Holy Spirit. You might think
that such serious disagreements would surely
result in the forming of splinter groups in the
church. Not so in Antioch. Not where the Holy
Spirit is allowed to lead. The people themselves
decided to submit the problem to the apostles
and elders at Jerusalem. The unity of the church
had to be preserved. God leads many minds,
“where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the
multitude of counselors, there is safety” (Prov.
11:14 KJV).
Notice what happened in Jerusalem. Peter,
who had been publicly rebuked in Antioch for his
evasive opportunism, and who could, humanly
speaking, be expected to harbor resentment, revealed
his greatness and submission to the Holy Spirit. In Acts 15, Peter recounts the evidences
of the Spirit’s leading of God in the controversy
and new concepts in Antioch. For him as a great
leader, it was an act of humble submission.
Nor did the discussion occur privately in
a cloistered, elite group. We read, “The whole
assembly became silent” (Acts 15:12). Many
disciples must have been present in that open
meeting. When the decision was reached, a letter
was prepared which said in part, “then pleased it
the apostles and elders, with the whole church”
(verse 22, KJV).
The brethren in Jerusalem were even critical
of themselves. They wrote, “We have heard that
some went out from us without our authorization
and disturbed you” (verse 24). The church felt
free and secure under the leadership of the Spirit.
The local church submitted to the judgment of
the apostles and elders, and the apostles and elders
submitted to the evidence of divine leading
in the local church. And when the apostles’ letter
came to Antioch, “the people read it and were
glad for its encouraging message” (verse 31).
What confidence is evoked when leaders are led
by the Holy Spirit!
F. “The Lord’s hand was with them.” The secret
of the Antioch church is found in Acts 11:21:
“The Lord’s hand was with them.” His hand is in
our church, too, though not as unrestrained as in
Antioch. He is willing, if you and I are, to make
ours such a church. To make room for Him to
lead, we must look to Him for ourselves. I must
be the kind of Christian that God can guide by the
Holy Spirit. You must be, too.
CONCLUSION
What kind of Christian is that? Antioch
provides the answer. Here were the people who
saw Jesus suffer and die on the cross; here they
were who went forth with a broken heart to tell
the world about Him. They were people overwhelmed
and transformed by their awareness
of the love of Jesus. They were so affected by
Him, talked so much about Him, acted so much
like Him, that the Gentiles in Antioch called them
“Christians.”
Has anyone called you Christian lately? Is
that how our church is known in this community?
Are you a Christian? Ask God to make you
sure of that, and then we can be sure He will do
great wonders for His church today.
QUOTES FROM ELLEN G. WHITE
“God has made His church on the earth a
channel of light, and through it He communicates
His purposes and His will. He does not give to
one of His servants an experience independent
of and contrary to the experience of the church
itself. Neither does He give one man a knowledge of His will for the entire church while the
church—Christ’s body—is left in darkness. In
His providence, He places His servants in close
connection with His church in order that they may
have less confidence in themselves and greater
confidence in others whom He is leading out to
advance His work” (Acts of the Apostles, 163).
“It was in Antioch that the disciples were
first called Christians. The name was given them
because Christ was the main theme of their
preaching, their teaching, and their conversation.
Continually they were recounting the incidents
that had occurred during the days of His earthly
ministry, when His disciples were blessed with
His personal presence. Untiringly they dwelt
upon His teachings and His miracles of healing.
With quivering lips and tearful eyes they spoke
of His agony in the garden, His betrayal, trial,
and execution, the forbearance and humility with
which He had endured the contumely and torture
imposed upon Him by His enemies, and the Godlike
pity with which He had prayed for those who
persecuted Him. His resurrection and ascension,
and His work in heaven as the Mediator for
fallen man, were topics on which they rejoiced
to dwell. Well might the heathen call them Christians,
since they preached Christ and addressed
their prayers to God through Him” (Acts of the
Apostles, 157).
“I testify to my brethren and sisters that the
church of Christ, enfeebled and defective as it
may be, is the only object on earth on which He
bestows His supreme regard. While He extends
to all the world His invitation to come to Him and
be saved, He commissions His angels to render
divine help to every soul that cometh to Him in
repentance and contrition, and He comes personally
by His Holy Spirit into the midst of His
church” (Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel
Workers, 15).
This sermon by Francis F. Bush is excerpted from
the book If I Had One Sermon to Preach, edited
by Herbert E. Douglass. Used with permission.
