Crazy generous and crazy love

 “Blessings from the Nations – The First Payment”

(Acts 11:27-30, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 29, 2012)

[27] Now in these days

The days referred to in the very beginning of this passage were exciting days indeed. God's plan for the salvation of the world was entering a great new phase that continues down to this present hour. No longer would the people of God consist only of Jews. Here in Antioch, through the ministry of unnamed heroes who brought the Word of God to Gentiles, a new and exciting spiritual gathering had come into the world. Jews and non-Jews were serving together as brothers and sisters in Christ in a local church.

These days were fruitful days for the church in Antioch because the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great many people were being taught from the Scriptures about the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ, and about His death and resurrection. Like most people even in our own area, they believed in a god or in a pantheon of gods. If they were non-Jewish “God-fearers” who attended synagogues, they believed in the real God. Like the Pharisees, they probably believed that there was more to life than the flesh, and they even believed in heaven.

Now they had come to see the truth about Jesus Christ, and their prior belief in God, the soul, and heaven started to yield much more fruit. They wanted to know all of what God had to say about this Jesus, and they wanted to know where this Jesus was leading them; not in order to complain about His leadership, but just for the joy of following Him.

prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

They learned about these important spiritual matters not only from Paul, Barnabas, and any other teachers who were part of the church in Antioch. Others came from Jerusalem who were recognized as prophets. Prophets were spokesmen, chosen by Him, to bring a Word from Him to His people.

[28] And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius).

Faithful prophets spoke what God gave them to say to the church. One of them revealed an opportunity that would soon be coming their way. The Spirit of the Lord allowed this prophet Agabus to tell the church about a future worldwide famine. By the time that Luke wrote Acts, this famine had already taken place in the days of Claudius. But when Agabus originally spoke about this coming famine, he was talking about something that had not yet happened. Would anyone believe him? Would they act on this word from the Spirit of God?

[29] So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. [30] And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.They did move forward in action. These Christian disciples, comprised of Jews and non-Jews worshiping together in the body of Christ, moved ahead in generosity for others, despite the fact that the famine would hit their land too. A radical move. Notice that the prophet did not tell them how to respond to the news. “The disciples determined” what to do. Notice also that the decision was not a law, but an opportunity, so that each Christian in the large city of Antioch could freely give what he believed was right.

The determination of the church was that everyone would give according to his ability. Some could give more and some could give less because some had more to give than others. What they determined to do was to put all this giving together as the church in Antioch, this unusual new church comprised of Jews and Gentiles. They determined that their gift would be given to bring relief to the Jewish brothers living in Judea. And this is what they did, sending it by the hands of two of their respected teachers, Barnabas and Saul.

I want you to consider how crazy this generosity was to the normal ways of even religious living. There were Gentiles in this church that were given their own money for Jews who believed in Jesus in another land, even after hearing that a famine was coming their way. They were responding to a Word that had come to them from a Jewish prophet. They sent it by the hands of two Jewish men who had both spent much time in Jerusalem and were known to the Jewish leaders and the Jewish churches there. They were demonstrating a whole new way of life. They were hearing the Word of God. They were loving the body of Christ. They were giving their money together for people they did not know.

How did all this happen? This was the first installment in a big gift that God had written about through the Old Testament prophets. The “wealth of the nations” would come streaming into the land of the Jews. God would cause Gentiles to be favorably disposed to Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ. Gentiles who had shared in the spiritual riches of Jews did not consider it a bridge too far to give back to Jews out of their own material riches.

How did this happen? One way to answer this question is to just marvel at the wisdom and power of God in bringing about His plan. That is not a bad place to start. But we should inquire further, since God was not forcing the Christians in Antioch to do anything. They wanted to do what they did. How did they want to hear the Word of God and to give out of their poverty?

It might have been normal to people believe in God, to believe in the immortality of the soul, and to believe in heaven. But those beliefs alone don't make a person suddenly want to hear the Word of a prophet, love a church in Judea, and give generously so that others will be held together through a time of trouble? That behavior is not normal. Just because you believe in God, you don't necessarily want hear the Word of a prophet from Judea and receive it as true. Just because you believe that you have an immortal soul, and that there is another realm out there where God is, and even that you will be with Him there after you die, does not mean that you want to give your money to others.

You need something else to happen before you have the kind of willing generosity that we see in the church in Antioch. You need to see Jesus Christ, the cross, and the resurrection for this change to take place. It is fine to believe that you are going to be with God in heaven, but how was a gift like that ever given to you? Christ, the Son of God, came. He lived. He died. He rose again. The cost of all that was tremendous. Not to you, but to God. Jesus was God's gift to you. He was a gift to the whole church. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”

You get crazy generous when you receive crazy love from God. Of course, it is not crazy at all. It is the wisdom of God. But Greeks giving out of their poverty to feed Jews that they don't know will definitely seem like foolishness to most Greeks unless they have come to understand that their blessed assurance of heavenly life was as a result of a Jewish gift to them. A Jewish Messiah saved them. They wanted to see His face. They wanted to know what He wanted them to do. They were eager to hear what He had to say. They determined to give, even if others thought they were crazy for doing so.

1. What was the message that came through Agabus? Where did the message come from?

2. Who received the message and how did they respond to it?

3. How did the follow-through on this plan work?

4. How does this entire episode display important truths about Christ and His church?

OT Passage: Isaiah 61:1-7