“Bible places: Antioch”
Acts 11:19-26
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Where do our best ideas come from? You’d be surprised! Quite often, they come from the strangest places.
Take a man named Archimedes, for example. As the story goes, King Hiero II once gave a lump of gold to a goldsmith to make a crown. But when he got the crown back, he was suspicious that the goldsmith had used silver instead, and kept some of the gold for himself. But short of melting it down, there was no possible way he could know for sure. So he asked his good friend Archimedes for help.
For weeks, the ancient scientist was stumped. Until one day, when he was at a public bath, he realized that when he sat down in the water, the water rose. And he wondered that, if the goldsmith had used silver instead of gold, he would have added extra silver to make up for the weight of the denser gold.
And sure enough, Eureka!, he was right! The goldsmith had used silver instead of gold. And as you can imagine, things didn’t end too well for the goldsmith!
Or think of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers. Back in 1972, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, both teenagers at the time, built a box, a “blue box” they called it, to tap into any phone system anywhere in the world. For $40 in parts, they could control 100’s of billions of dollars of telephone network.
But strangely enough, that blue box inspired them to create something even bigger--Apple computers! In the words of Steve Jobs: “If we hadn’t made blue boxes, there would be no Apple computer.”
Or think of J.K. Rowling. Do you know where she came up with one of her best ideas ever? On a train!
One day, as she was monotonously riding along for four hours with absolutely nothing to do, without even sheet of paper, a pen or a pencil, she suddenly had an idea that would soon become a book. She called it, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Who would have thought that such good ideas could come from such strange places?
So it was for a city called Antioch.
Please turn with me in your Bible to page 1170, as I read the words of our text. I’ll start where it says, “The Church in Antioch,” chapter 11, verse 19: “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. 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. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and 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 of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.”
Let’s stop there for just a moment.
So what’s going on? The church was brand new. Just as soon as the Spirit rushed through the streets of Jerusalem at Pentecost with the wind and the fire and the foreign tongues, thousands came to believe in Jesus. The Lord was with them, and the church began to grow! The book of Acts tells us that the number of the men grew to five thousand, not to mention the women and children!
But that’s when Jews suddenly rose up against them. The Bible says their leaders came together and beat the disciples, then charged them to never again speak in Jesus’ name.
Even worse, a man named Saul also rose up against the church. The book of Acts says he ravaged it, and broke into house after house, dragging men and women off to prison. He even helped to stone a man named Stephen.
So as it says in verse 19, in the face of stiff opposition and persecution, believers scattered, like seeds in the wind, “as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.”
Antioch, it said. So what do we know about Antioch? Actually, quite a lot!
It was a huge city, the third largest city in the Roman Empire, an intellectual, cultural, and commercial center of the ancient world, a melting pot of at least five cultures, some 600,000 strong. You’ve heard the phrase, “all roads lead to Rome”? Most of them went through Antioch first!
Even more, it was the capital city of the Province of Syria, making it a very important, and a very large and powerful city.
But that’s the good news. Now for the bad news!
Antioch had a reputation, but it wasn’t a good one. In fact, a Roman writer named Juvenal once said that just as the Euphrates River spilled its garbage into the Tiber, Antioch corrupted Rome.
And one of its most famous landmarks was a temple to Daphne, goddess of fortune telling, drunkenness, and pleasure. It was so bad, the phrase, “morals of Daphne,” became synonymous with immorality and depravity.
To put it another way, Antioch, with its temples and baths and brothels, was a non-stop festival of vice.
But somewhere in the middle of that corrupt and powerful city, there were some who believed. Look at verse 20: “But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also (Greeks! Gentiles!), preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”
Now before I say anything more, let me mention two things. The first is this--there in Antioch, who preached about the Lord Jesus? Not the apostles. Not Peter, Andrew, James, or John. As far as we know, they were still back in Jerusalem. Instead, the Bible says, “Some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene.”
What does that mean? It means not apostles, not pastors, not DCE’s or even teachers, but believers--plain, ordinary craftsmen, shop owners, shop workers, employers and employees were sharing the good news of Jesus.
Is there a lesson in there for us? Sure there is! Do you know to whom the Great Commission was given? Not just the apostles. Not just to Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Instead, the command, “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations,” was given to each of us, to you and me.
As one author put it: “Our effectiveness at making disciples will be directly related to the number of people in this church who are willing to be personally involved in this mission. If you rely on the pastor alone to make disciples, we’ll add some to our rolls here and there. But if all of you are obedient to Christ’s command, then we’ll transform our entire community!”
If only “some of us” might become “some of them.”
And what happened as “some of them...preached the Lord Jesus”? Look at verse 21: “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” Verse 24: “And a great many people were added to the Lord.” And verse 26: “For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.”
Day after day, and week after week, by the Spirit’s power and grace and blessing, the church began to grow. Thousands more believed and came to faith in Jesus Christ.
There was just one problem. Look at verse 22: “The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.”
In other words, word had gotten back to Jerusalem--”Have you heard what’s going on in Antioch? A bunch of laymen are sharing Christ with pagans, and they’re all meeting together, Jews and Gentiles, as one church!”
And just as soon as they heard that, as you can imagine, alarms went off, and red lights started flashing!
You see, it was one thing if an Ethiopian eunuch believed or if Cornelius, a Roman centurion, came to Christ. But it was quite another when raw pagans from a notoriously immoral place like Antioch started coming to church through the witness of a bunch of laymen!
So what to do? Send Barnabas, “son of comfort,” “son of consolation,” to get that Antioch situation under control!
And what did he see when he arrived? Verse 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.”
Then what happened? Apparently, it was even more than Barnabas could handle, so off he went to get some help. Verse 25: “So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.”
It’s all rather ironic, if you think about it! You see, who started the persecution? Saul did. It’s his fault the believers had scattered as far away as Antioch. And who does Barnabas seek out to help teach and train believers? None other than Saul or, as we know him, the apostle Paul!
And as it says in verse 26: “For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.”
And so with evangelism came careful, patient instruction. And the church began to grow.
Before we leave this text, there’s one more thing we dare not miss. Verse 26: “And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.”
What were they called up until then? At first, they were called “disciples,” students of their Master Jesus. Then they were called “saints,” a name Jesus gave them, “holy ones,” “ones who are set apart.” Then they were called “believers,” and “witnesses,” and even “followers of the Way.”
But it was in Antioch, the Bible says, that they were first called “Christians.”
Which begs the question--who called them “Christians”? Not the Jews. The name “Christ” means “Messiah,” so they never would have called them that. And neither would they have called themselves “Christian,” because they already had many other names.
So who called them Christians? Probably the people of Antioch. “They’re the Christ-ones,” they said. “They’re all trying to be like Jesus. They belong to Him.”
What does it mean to be Christian? You can celebrate Christmas and Easter every year without being a Christian. And you can have a cross on your wall or even wear one around your neck, and still not be a Christian.
Being a Christian means to deny yourself and to take up your cross every day. It means being willing to be persecuted without wavering in your faith, to live faithfully in the face of struggles and temptation, and to be committed to being a disciple who makes more disciples.
“Christian” isn’t just a name. It defines who you are and what you do.
As one author wrote: “When I say ‘I’m a Christian,’ I’m not shouting, ‘I’ve been saved!’ I’m whispering, ‘I get lost sometimes. That’s why I follow this way.’ When I say ‘I’m a Christian,’ I don’t speak with human pride. I’m confessing that I stumble and need God to be my guide. When I say ‘I’m a Christian,’ I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and pray for strength to carry on. And when I say ‘I’m a Christian,’ I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting that I failed, and can’t ever pay the debt.”
Help us, dear Father, to be Christians.
One more thing. His name was Sanctus. He lived under the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
It should have been a time of peace for Christianity. After all, Aurelius was a man who told his people to do everything with dignity, kindness, and justice. But this was the same man who decreed that all Christians should be persecuted, Christians like Sanctus.
At first, it started small. Christians were simply told to avoid public worship. But before long, they were arrested, tried, tortured, and put to death.
The unexpected persecution became too much for some to handle. Many gave up their faith.
But not Sanctus. When his persecutors demanded that he renounce his faith, his answer was always the same: “I am a Christian.” And the more they beat him, the more persistently he told them. And finally, as they burned him and killed him, those were the last words anyone heard from his lips. “I am a Christian.”
As Paul once wrote to the Corinthians: “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
We thank You, dear Father, for the church in Antioch, for those who preached Your name and for those who believed. Help us, in our time and place, to be the Christians You have called us to be, for Jesus’ sake. Amen