Visible Grace

 “Behold How Good and How Pleasant It Is!”

(Acts 11:19-26, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 22, 2012)

[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.

We have a hard time seeing the goodness of suffering in the moment that we feel the pain. The church in Jerusalem went through some very difficult persecution. They were scattered right out of town. While that was bad, it was also something that God meant for good. With God at work in every detail of life, we should always keep an eye out for His hand of grace. Other people may mean something for evil, but Jesus is working hard toward the fulfillment of a very good eternal purpose.

When Stephen was killed, many people wept, as well they should have. But out of that death, and out of his prayer for forgiveness and the good purposes of Almighty God came the ministry of Paul the Apostle, and the immediate increase of the preaching of the word as far as Phoenicia in the north, the island of Cyprus, and further north to Antioch, which is just barely over the border from Syria in the very southern part of modern Turkey.

Today, the map of the extension of the gospel is truly extraordinary. If people are waiting for a victorious Jewish Messiah, they should wait no more. The Suffering Servant Messiah, Jesus, who died on a cross, has now had undeniable and astounding success everywhere. But this move from Jerusalem moving north through modern Lebanon, Syria, and into southern Turkey was quite the mission success in its day. Everywhere these church people went, they spoke the Word, but only to their kind, to Jews.

Since that time, other walls had begun to come down. Philip went to the Samaritans and he also baptized a court official from Ethiopia. Ananias, a Jesus-receiving Jew in Damascus, had heard a message about Saul of Tarsus, that Saul would be God's chosen instrument to carry the Name of Christ before the Gentiles. Peter had now preached Christ to Cornelius and his family, and a second Pentecost, a Gentile Pentecost this time, had come down from heaven.

[20] 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. [21] And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

These are the names that we know, and the places that we have heard about. Yet very quickly the progress of the exalted Christ and His Spirit working through people would expand so much that we could not possibly keep track of all that the Lord was doing. We have already mentioned the island of Cyprus, off the cost of Lebanon. Cyrene was a coastal town across the Mediterranean Sea from Greece in modern Libya! People from these places were traveling all over the region. There were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who came to Antioch near the border of Turkey and Syria north of Lebanon, and they did something very bold. Maybe without even knowing it, they started to talk to Hellenists, to non-Jews, preaching the Lord Jesus.

This is what a healthy church will do. It is not a strategy or a program. It is the life of the Holy Spirit taking the Word that is on fire in the renewed heart of people who cannot help but speak about the Messiah, eventually telling others that everyone else was ignoring. So while Peter has this amazing set of experiences that convinces him that he would be disobedient to God if he did not bring the gospel to Cornelius, the devout non-Jew centurion, unnamed Jews that came from places like the island of Cyprus and northern Libya are already talking to Gentiles in Antioch. There may have been those who would not have approved of such a missionary approach, but they did not get a say in this. The Lord approved. A great many non-Jews turned to the Lord in the city of Antioch, and they were worshiping God together through Jesus Christ in a vibrant community of faith, hope, and love in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

[22] The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. [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, [24] for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.

Now it is very hard to keep good news like that a secret. The church in Jerusalem heard, and they sent a representative, Barnabas, up to Antioch, to see what was taking place. When he came there, He saw the grace of God. What a statement! When you can see the grace of God, you can see something of heaven on earth. That is one way to think about the present heavens, and about what life will be like here when Christ returns, and what the church is right now when we are at our best. You actually see the grace of God.

When the grace of God comes, people love the Lord and they love one another. They listen to one another, and learn new truths from each other. When the grace of God comes to a church, they don't all line up to talk to just one man after church. That's great, but what is even better is when you can talk to the person next to you about how the Lord used the Word to help you that day, and when people expect to grow from each other.

What Barnabas saw in Antioch, Barnabas liked, not just for Antioch, but for the whole world. Jews and Gentiles were worshiping one God through Jesus Christ, and you could see the grace of God. He had the great privilege of bringing the Word to that assembly. His message was an exhortation, coming along side them as a brother, and calling them in the Name of Jesus to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. That is a message that we need to hear every day. This Barnabas was a prince, a good man, a man full of the Holy Spirit and faith. He was someone trusted by the church in Jerusalem and well able to evaluate the church that had come forward by the grace of God in Antioch. Instead of just going to Antioch and then leaving after looking over the church there, Barnabas became engaged in the ministry in that church, and a great many people were added to the Lord. Isn't that amazing? When they were added to the church, the were added to the One Lord of the church, Jesus, who died for us.

[25] So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, [26] and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.Barnabas not only made Antioch his new home base, he went and got Saul and brought Him there. They spent a whole year there together establishing the foundation of teaching for the church that had seen so much of the grace of God, and included both Jews and non-Jews.

These men taught a great many people there. It is worth noting that in connection with this establishment of a foundation of good teaching, the disciples there began to be called “Christians” for the first time in the history of the world. Christ is at the center of all true teaching of the faith of the Scriptures, and He is at the center of the life of that faith in the church. “Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.”

1. How did the Lord prepare the way for His mission to the Gentiles?

2. Who was Barnabas and why did the church in Jerusalem send him to Antioch?

3. What did Barnabas find there?

4. What did Saul and Barnabas do in Antioch? Why were the disciples there called Christians?

OT Passage: Psalm 133