Stay True to the Lord
(Based on a message preached at First Baptist Church, Glasgow, MO)
The background for today’s message comes from the Book of Acts, chapter 11, verses 19 through 26. Luke wrote these words under the Holy Spirit’s guidance about how things were beginning to change. Historically, these events happened sometime after Stephen’s martyrdom—we can read about this in Acts, chapter 9—and, perhaps, some of the believers mentioned in this part of the text had witnessed that very thing. Yet, even now as then, God was and is still in control and He is making something happen. Let’s read together:
Acts 11:19, “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. 20 But 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. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. 23 Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; 24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. 25 And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; 26 and when he had 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 (New American Standard Version).”
See how the Church was expanding, vv. 19-21
The believers in this passage were all relatively new in the faith. Remember that Jews had come from all over the known world on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) and many of them stayed on to learn more about the new faith in Messiah Jesus. Now, though, things had changed.
The biggest change was that now, believers were being persecuted as a group, it seems. True, we read of Peter and John who spent a night in jail for healing the lame man (Acts 3-4), and in Acts 5 we read of all the apostles being thrown into prison for the night, but never a systematic, deliberate attempt to rid Jerusalem of believers in Jesus—until Stephen was martyred for his faith and testimony.
Now, Stephen and six other men were the first deacons, even though they aren’t called “deacons” in Acts 6 or 7. They were men who were called to help with a problem based on cultural differences. Acts 6 gives the story how the deacons were selected and what they did to help the Church in those early days. Stephen wasn’t only a good helper or servant—surely we would have read about it if that wasn’t the case—but he knew the Scriptures and the history of Israel, too.
Briefly, Acts 7 records his review of Israel’s’ history and how the people were rejecting God’s latest message. The people hearing him were so enraged they stoned him to death.
And they didn’t stop there.
Acts 8:3 speaks of Saul who was the leader of the “hit squad” to throw these believers into prison. Man, woman, it made no difference to him; he did his job well. Because of this persecution, some believers fled to Judea (outside of Jerusalem, apparently) and Samaria; and later, they went on towards Antioch.
I’ve sometimes wondered, why Antioch? For one thing, Antioch was nearly 300 miles away from Jerusalem, so there’s a factor of difference. Another thing is that Antioch was in another political division of the Roman Empire so the authorities in Jerusalem or Damascus had no authority over anyone in Antioch.
So all in all, as the disciples fled Jerusalem, they preached as they went. Remember that the Church was 100 per cent Jewish, either by those who were born Jewish or those who had converted to Judaism (they’re called proselytes). Some preached the Gospel only to Jews but others, as we see in the text, preached to everyone—Jew or Gentile! The Church was now changing in terms of who made it up: not just Jews, but Gentiles, now had the chance to hear the Gospel, and believe it.
There are still a couple of things that make me pause, or marvel at the people God uses. Except for Barnabas himself, we don’t know the names of any of these believers from Cyprus; we don’t know the names of any believers from Cyrene, except Simon—and we have to wonder, did he stay in Jerusalem after he carried the cross for Jesus?—and we don’t know the names of any who came to believe in Jesus. When you think of it, all these preachers or missionaries—they were just ordinary people. They weren’t apostles, prophets, deacons, you name it—we don’t even know what they did, or used to do, for a living. But we do know that because they shared the message of Jesus, the Church expanded from Jerusalem all the way to Antioch!
See how these new believers were encouraged, vv. 22-24
Now we can see that there is a need for new believers. Those who came from Jerusalem to Antioch, preaching and winning people to Jesus as they went, knew that it wasn’t enough to give them the gospel alone, and leave them alone. They, too, had experienced this! None of them were living in Jerusalem when Pentecost happened, and they knew that the Apostles and others took time to help them understand their new faith.
How hard would it be for someone to really understand a brand-new faith? These folks had either been born-and-bred Jews, knowing the Old Testament (more or less); otherwise they would have been Gentiles, having little knowledge of anything Jewish except what they encountered where they live. Either way, these folks had hundreds, maybe thousands, of years’ worth of culture, religion, ways of making a living, family pressure—you name it, they faced it, and they who believed still chose Jesus!
I have read of some folks who have converted to other religions, one case in particular with Gracia Burnham. She and her family were kidnapped and taken hostage in the Philippines by Muslim captors. She related how that some of the native Filipina women, one by one, gave in and “converted” to Islam. The women were taught the ways of prayer and other things, and they were given a few verses from the Qur’an (Koran) to memorize. I don’t remember when, if, or how these native women were rescued but Gracia and her husband never gave in to the pressure.
In some parts of the world, especially where Bibles are in short supply, new believers are in danger of reverting to the faith they left. This is a serious problem where believers are a small, sometimes tiny minority. That was the case in Antioch, too. Even though the Church was safe from the Jewish persecutors (Saul and those who traveled with him), that was no guarantee that things were “rosy” for the new believers.
So what did the believers do? They kept on preaching, and they apparently kept on making disciples! Word eventually got back to Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. He saw what was happening, and he began to encourage the new believers, too! Think about it—not only was Barnabas one of only three men, besides Jesus Himself, to ever be called “good” in all the Bible, but he was known as an encourager. He stood by Saul, after Saul was genuinely converted to faith in Jesus, and nobody in Jerusalem believed it (!), he also encouraged others when he sold a piece of land and gave the proceeds to the church to help others. We could use a whole lot of Barnabas-type people, those who encourage others.
And those who encourage others need to be given a chance to do this. Perhaps you’ve heard of some denominations who have “exhorters”, who may or may not be ordained or licensed to the ministry, who may or may not be called to preach in a more or less professional aspect. I remember one such man, who was in the Church of the Nazarene where I visited once. He gave a word of exhortation and I’m telling you, that man could preach. He never served as a pastor, and it’s anybody’s guess how often he was able to speak, but I’ll tell you this, even though I don’t remember his text or much else after all those 30-plus years, I’ll never forget how his message went like a dart to my heart that evening. Thank you, brother, for blessing me.
Now you and I can do some encouraging, too. You ask how? Think of some ways where you may be doing this already:
First, don’t forget to pray for one another. This may sound simple, but how often do we need to be reminded?
When someone asks for prayer, they mean it, so remember that need.
Then, don’t forget to just say an encouraging word. It may make a real difference, not only in or for someone’s day, but also their very life.
Seek the Lord’s will for other ways. You may be or provide the only encouragement someone faces on a particular day.
See the effect after Saul came to Antioch, vv.25-26
Wasn’t this a good problem to have? Barnabas, the son of encouragement, stayed and helped disciple this first generation of believers from Antioch. But now, things were apparently mushrooming, numbers increasing to the point where Barnabas knew he needed assistance. Worthy is the man, or woman, who knows when and whom to ask for help. Barnabas had helped Saul when he was new in the faith, and now it was time for Saul to come to Antioch and exercise his spiritual gifts with the new believers.
Verse 25 tells how Barnabas left Antioch to look for Saul and verse 26 says that together, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and considerable numbers were added to the Lord. We can see that Barnabas and Saul didn’t leave these new believers alone, like sheep without a shepherd! Sadly, it happens: prayer after prayer after prayer is made for someone to be saved but—when that person actually receives Christ as salvation, the prayer generally stops. We forget, sometimes, the “growing pains” of living a new life, one that (we hope) honors Jesus in all that we do. And we sometimes think that because so-and-so is a success or has brains or is quick to understand something, he or she won’t have any trouble after becoming a Christian. That is so far from the truth, it isn’t funny.
I knew a couple who had a lot of difficulty in having a child. They wanted one, sincerely, and were grieved at the occasions (at least once, maybe twice) when the mother suffered a miscarriage. Finally, though, God answered prayer and she was able to bear the child. Now let me ask you, was that mama bear going to leave her cub alone, where she would trust someone else to take care of him? I don’t think so! No, she watched him, sincerely and lovingly, for the balance of time we were stationed together—I was reassigned to a different duty station and, sadly, we've lost track of each other over the years.
In the same way, we dare not leave a new believer to flounder on his own or her own. It was no doubt hard enough for him or her to trust Jesus for salvation, and I’ll guarantee you it will be even more so to try and live the Christian life without encouragement. Saul, Barnabas, and these believers in Antioch had all received plenty of encouragement in order to stay true to the Lord.
And there was one other effect that took place after Saul arrived. This was the first time, in human history, that a group of people were called “Christians”! Even Saul, who later used the name Paul, never called himself a Christian and there were others who never used the title.
But the people of Antioch did! One of the commentators stated that when the people of Antioch saw the change in the people, after they became Christians, would either mockingly or humorously or snidely say something like “look at those little Christs”. In other words, when they saw the believers, they saw Jesus! Oh, how I hope that’s true in my life as well.
Conclusion
Let’s try to wrap it up here. In verses 19-21, we saw how the Church was expanding, going beyond the purely Jewish elements to include Gentiles, as well. Geographically the Church was expanding, heading north and west, outside the borders of Judea and Samaria all the way to Antioch and other places. The church leaders in Jerusalem heard about this massive turning to Christ in Antioch, and then sent Barnabas. While he was there, he encouraged them to stay true to the Lord—what an encouragement for us all! Then when Barnabas found Saul and brought him to Antioch, considerable numbers came to the Lord! So many became believers that the pagans began to call the believers “Christians”, recognizing that when they looked at a believer, they saw Christ! Wouldn't that would be something for us all to strive for?
So, for one final question, why was it so important to encourage these new believers to stay true to the Lord, as Barnabas and others did? I can think of a few reasons:
1. They had little, if any, of God’s Word at the time. This was only a few years after Jesus Himself had died, rose from the dead, and ascended back to Heaven. Nobody had any of the New Testament and about the only place folks could read the Scriptures (the Old Testament) at that time was at the synagogue. Besides, with everything written or copied by hand—I tell you, can you imagine trying to copy the whole Book of Genesis—by hand? Or Exodus—by hand? Any or all of the Old Testament’s 39 books—by hand? They had no complete Bibles and certainly no “on-line” versions (which, by the way, is about the only way some folks can read God’s Word in some locations . . .) so they had to take advantage of as much Word as they could get.
2. The centuries-long background of Judaism or paganism couldn’t have been easy for these new believers to break away from. The pressures these first-generation believers must have faced had to be intense. The people they knew, sometimes, perhaps their own family, were surely trying to get these believers to revert back to their old ways. Sadly, this happens even today: sometimes Christians are forced to re-convert to a previous religion; other times, a change of political leadership means “convert, flee, or die”. Remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in other lands. Some of them have very few freedoms, indeed, and they need strength in order to stay true to the Lord.
3. You and I face challenges on a regular basis. No matter what, STAY TRUE to the Lord. Nothing else is as important as this. Please, stay true to the Lord.
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. http://www.lockman.org
