How to grow a healthy church (Acts 11b)

How to grow a healthy church

Acts 11:19-30
Key verse 11:2b,c

Today we will study the church of Antioch. She was the first church in a gentile area and one of the most exemplary churches in the early church history. The believers in Antioch were the ones who were called “Christians” for the first time. Antioch was the mother church of many other gentile churches. Paul made his missionaries journeys from Antioch. Today there are many churches named after Antioch. In Washington area, for example, there are Antioch Baptist Church, New Antioch Baptist Church, Antioch Apostolic Church, Greater Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Antioch Pentecostal Church, and so on. They want to be like the church of Antioch.

Today’s passage, we will study how the church of Antioch was established and what kind of the church she was. I pray that we may learn how God worked this out so that our ministry may also grow as the church of Antioch.

 “19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.”

When Stephen was killed, it triggered a persecution on other believers in Jerusalem (8:1). This forced believers to leave Jerusalem and some of them traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. Phoenicia was in a province of Syria, the area in Lebanon today. Cyprus was an island 100 miles off the coast of Israel. Antioch was the capital of Syria, located near the borderline between Turkey and Lebanon today. Antioch was the third biggest city after Rome and Alexandria in ancient times. There was a large population of Jewish people in the city. Some scattered believers went to these cities and preached there. Even though the believers fled from the persecutions, amazingly they still had an undying spirit to spread the gospel. The scattered believers preached the gospel wherever they traveled. The Jews in Jerusalem tried to destroy believers but it only helped the gospel to be preached further in other areas, including Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch.

As such, God often uses something that we think is unfortunate, to preach the gospel for the people we do not think of. He often works in a way we do not expect or plan at all. For example, during his second missionary journey, Paul wanted to preach in the province of Asia. But things did not work well. In fact, he was kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching in the province of Asia. (Acts 16:6-7) And then he ended up in Europe, which he did not plan at all. So, even if things do not go well, we should not give up preaching and rather we can try different people, different places in search of God’s will. Then, we may see the guidance of the Holy Spirit. So, Paul said in 2 Tom 4:2, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season.” God is pleased with such people who are eager to preach the good news of Jesus Christ in anywhere and at any time. He is also pleased when we preach the gospel on campus, our Bible study, and even our pep talk with our friends though we are limited in many ways.

“20 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. “21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

The scattered believers preached to the Jewish diaspora only, however. Later, some of them, who were from Cyprus and Cyrene, began to preach the gospel to Greek in Antioch. These Greek people were gentiles. For the first time, believers preached to gentiles. Since many gentiles lived there, the believers had opportunity to preach to people in street, in marketplace, or to their neighbors: “Hi, I have good news for you. Have you heard about Jesus? He is the Lord.” To their surprise, the gentiles responded positively. They wanted to hear more about Jesus Christ and joined the group. And God displayed his power among them. The gentiles were moved by the good news of Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit. It began with a few of people and then a great number of gentiles turned to the Lord. And the first church for gentile was built in Antioch. This way God began to work among gentiles as Jesus said to the disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  No doubt, the church of Antioch was built by God’s will and desire.

The birth of the Antioch church was a hallmark in the church history in that the gospel was no longer limited to Jews but shared with Gentiles for the first time. This was the beginning of God’s grand plan to join Gentiles and Jews together and bring them to unity under Christ. (Eph 2:14,16,21) Paul said about this in Eph 3:6, “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” As we can see later, the Antioch church became the mother church of many gentile churches.

“22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. “

Soon this news reached the church in Jerusalem. They were surprised by this. They wondered how such a thing could happen among the gentiles. They could have ignored the news since it was a distant gentile area. But they sent Barnabas to Antioch to investigate the new outreach. The Jerusalem church was responsive to the work of God even in a gentile city. Why?

In verse 19, the author Luke began a new story apart from what was happening in Jerusalem. This showed that the Antioch church was built almost at the same time when Peter visited Cornelius and the Jerusalem church acknowledged that Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit (11:18), which happened just after the persecution. God used the persecution to send the believers to gentiles while preparing the church of Jerusalem to accept the gentile ministry. It was not easy for the Jewish believers to preach to Gentiles because of their Judaism. But by giving the Holy Spirit to Cornelius, God broke their own idea and expand their heart to gentiles. And so the Jerusalem church was ready to respond to the work of God in Antioch by sending Barnabas.

“23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”

Barnabas appeared for the first time in Acts 4:36-37. He was a Jewish diaspora from Cyprus so he could speak Greek. And he was a man of encouragement. He encouraged the believers in Jerusalem by selling his field for them. When believers were still afraid of Saul even after his conversion, Barnabas befriended Saul and introduced him to the apostles. So he was fitting for this mission.

When Barnabas arrived, he saw the grace of God there. When the church in Jerusalem was formed, the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly and also shared their possessions. So Acts 4:33 says, “God’s grace was so powerfully at work among them all.” Probably, a similar thing happened in Antioch. A great number of people joined the church and shared fellowship in Christ, which was the grace of God. There was nothing Barnabas could disapprove. Rather, he saw undeniable evidence of God’s work among them. Barnabas was so happy to see all this.

The author Luke said that Barnabas was a good man. This was more explained in the following words – “full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” Barnabas was a good man in that he was full of the Holy Spirit and faith. He sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit and obeyed him. So he had a big heart embracing any kind of people, even gentiles. He was also a man of faith. So, he could help them stand on faith. As such, Barnabas was not limited by Judaism or his own ideas. He conformed to the will of the Holy Spirit. He was happy to build up people in Christ. He exhorted them to remain in the Lord firmly. As a result, a great number of people were added to the Lord.

“25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”

Barnabas, however, came to realize that the work of God there was getting bigger for him to bear by himself. Most of all, the gentile believers needed to be rooted in the truth of the gospel to grow further. He looked for someone who could help them in that respect. Then, he recalled Saul. Saul went to Tarsus, his hometown, after his conversion (9:30). So Barnabas went to Tarsus and brought him to Antioch. As a Diaspora Jew, Saul was suited particularly for the Gentile outreach. (Acts 9:15) He could speak Greek and had a deep knowledge of the scripture and of the gospel. For a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. Here we can learn two things.

First, the church ministry is the work of co-working. As we have learned through the book of Ephesians, we are the members of the body of Christ. We are all different. God gives each of us a different gift, a different character and a different role. One man cannot build and grow a church. All members must be involved and play their roles. So we can build one body. For that, it is important to recognize each one’s gift and the church leaders should have a broad mind and genuine concern for the people in the church so that they all can build the church together as one body. In that respect, Barnabas was a man of encouragement, filled with the Holy Spirit. He was concerned about how to grow the young church and knew what the Holy Spirit wanted. So Barnabas brought Saul and worked together with Saul to help the young church.

Secondly, it is also very important to teach believers continually. Many people are quickly moved when they come to know Jesus and then slowly lose their faith. It is mainly because they fail to take a root in Jesus through the word of God. The church without teaching never grows. Here “teaching” is different from preaching. Preaching is proclaiming the gospel that Jesus is the Lord whereas teaching is explaining the Scripture. The gentile believers needed to grow further in faith. For that it was necessary to know the Scripture. Barnabas was aware of this and that was why he invited Saul and they both taught the flock.

Through their teaching, many disciples were raised up in Antioch, and the church grew in number continually. As the number of the disciples grew, they became conspicuous in Antioch. It is Intriguing that the people in Antioch called the disciples Christians. Why?

The people in Antioch saw that the disciples were different from Judaism or any other religious groups. The disciples diligently got together and studied the Scripture. The disciples always talked about Jesus and lived according to Jesus’ teaching, loving and helping one another. The people saw Christ in the disciples. So they called the disciples Christians, meaning the followers of Christ. In this way, the people in Antioch coined a new word for the disciples – Christian. And this was accepted and used later in the church to identify believers. (26:28 and 1 Pet. 4:16) All this evinced how great the work of God was in Antioch and how different the disciples were from any other religious groups in terms of their belief and their life style.  

 “27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.”

During this time, Agabus, a prophet from Jerusalem to Antioch, predicted through the Spirit that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. Historians believe this famine took place around A.D. 45. Hearing this, the disciples decided to provide help for the believers living in Judea, as much as they could. They sent their gift by Barnabas and Saul. This was very significant in that the gentile believers considered the believers in Judea as their brothers and sisters in Christ. They felt that they owed them spiritually. In fact, the believers from Jerusalem preached to them first and then the Jerusalem church supported the Antioch church by sending Barnabas. In return, the Antioch church was willing to help the church of Jerusalem. Later, the Antioch church sent out Barnabas and Saul to other gentile areas. Through them, many churches were built and the gospel spread throughout the whole Roman Empire. The Antioch church was a giving and encouraging church. A health church always gives and encourages other churches. I pray that our ministry may grow to be a giving and encouraging church.

In this way, the two churches respected and helped each other. This was very important because the church in Antioch was not separated from their mother church in Jerusalem. As we can see later, they worked together to spread the gospel over the world and grew together as the foundation for the churches that would be built in other areas.

In today’s passage, we have learned how the church of Antioch was born. It was not built by human’s intention. A persecution broke out and the believers in Jerusalem were scattered. Some preached to the gentiles in Antioch and many of them turned to the Lord. The Jerusalem church sent Barnabas and he was instrumental in nourishing and strengthening the church. And then the Antioch church grew more through co-working between Barnabas and Saul. The church grew on the solid foundation of the Scripture. And the church gave offering to help the believers in Jerusalem. As such, the Antioch church grew to be a healthy church in faith, in truth, and in love.

However, God worked behind the scenes. He used the persecution due to Stephen’s martyrdom to scatter the believers in Jerusalem over gentile areas and also to prepare Saul. At the same time, he first opened Peter’s mind to accept Gentiles so that other Jewish believers in Jerusalem might know that God gave the Holy Spirit even to Gentiles and thus accept the Antioch church as the work of God. Our God is awesome. He wants to save all people. He is in control.

This God used unnamed believers who were scattered, Barnabas and Saul to build and grow the Antioch church. God uses our preaching, our Bible study, our service, our prayer for someone. God uses each of us here to grow this ministry. Personally I pray that God may raise a Barnabas and a Saul in our ministry who can encourage and teach others. These days there are many people who call themselves Christians. But we need Christians, who are different from the world and recognized as true disciples of Jesus even by the world. I pray that God may bless our ministry to raise “Christians” who are filled with the spirit of Christ and stand firm on the word of God. I pray that our ministry also can grow like the Antioch church so that we can be used to support other churches and missionaries overseas. Though we are small, God can do great things through us. I believe that God has called us and built this ministry for his good purposes and that he is working on it. May God use our ministry for his purposes for his glory.  By David Yun