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God’s People Given A New Name
By
Rev. Todd W. Allen
Preached
6/13/03
Acts
11: 19-
30
The
Spirit of God directs our attention to the
labors of other disciples of the Lord who
had been scattered out into the Roman
Empire upon the occasion of the severe
persecution that arose at the time of
Stephens’s martyrdom.
I.
BENEFITS OF THE PERSECUTION
A. My
favorite subject is history. I delight to
spend time reading the accurate accounts
of history. My problem is finding the time
to spend doing it. The Lord directs all
events in such a way as to execute His own
sovereign purposes. If we remember this we
will be better students of history.
History is not just a series of accidental
happenings connected helter skelter
although it might appear that way to us at
times. No. It is God's providence
unfolding before our eyes.
Reading history with the eyes of faith is
most rewarding. We see in history how God
has dealt with men and nations and we can
acquire wisdom thereby. We can also learn
how God will deal with men and nations
when they follow in the path of those men
and nations who have preceded us, how they
have been dealt with in the past, either
for good or ill. We thus can see how God
will deal with us and with our nation as
we study Providence Past.
One thing I would stress
strongly to you today is that God invokes
retributive justice. This justice is
indiscriminate. It follows the scripture
that says
7Do
not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, this he will also
reap.
(
Galatians 6:7 NASB)
Retribution is not instantaneous but it is
certain. I might cite a few instances. The
first one that comes to mind is Jacob in
the Bible who deceived his father by
pretending to be his brother Esau so that
he could get his blind father’s blessing
on the first-born son. You can read the
story in Genesis 27.
Then read in chapter 29 the account of how
his uncle Laban deceived him after he had
agreed to serve seven years to marry his
daughter Rachel. When seven years had
passed Laban prepared a big wedding feast
for Jacob and his daughter. After the
feast Laban slipped his daughter Leah in
the tent on their wedding night instead of
giving him Rachel. Jacob woke up the next
morning and discovered that he was married
to the wrong daughter. What just
retribution!
In Judges
1 we read about the tribe of Judah
defeating the Canaanites and a leader
named Adoni-bezek fled from them. They
pursued him and after they caught him they
cut off his thumbs and big toes. Listen to
this scripture Judges
1:7 Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with
their thumbs and their big toes cut off
used to gather up scraps under my table;
as I have done, so God has repaid me.” So
they brought him to Jerusalem and he died
there.
Nations of history that God
once used as a war machine to chasten his
own chosen people he later judged with a
great overthrow.
Assyria
and
Babylonia
are prime examples. Time will not permit
to read chapters 50 and 51 of the prophecy
of Jeremiah. But read those chapters and
see how God overthrew Babylon, the capital
city of the Babylonians that had conquered
the world under Nebuchadnezzar. Go visit
the ruins of
Babylon
and see the retributive judgment God sent
upon that royal city, once considered
impregnable and unconquerable.
I fear for our own nation when I see God
being eliminated from the public domain
and unbelief replacing our Christian
heritage.
Should
the day come that unbelieving men and
women take control of the reins of power
we will no longer have what the founding
fathers envisioned and sought to
establish, a free people under the guiding
and blessing hand of the God of the Bible.
In that case we may very well turn out to
be the beast that rises up out of the
earth spoken of in Revelation 13 with two
horns like a lamb but who speaks like a
dragon. Will
America become the nation that is the
final manifestation of the beast that
makes war on the saints and speaks
blasphemies? I pray not. But recent edicts
of the United States Supreme Court seems
to be rapidly taking us in that direction.
But the flip side of God’s retributive
justice is the blessing and benefit that
comes when we sow good words and loving
deeds. The same word about sowing and
reaping continues on to say,
For the
one who sows to his own flesh will from
the flesh reap corruption, but the one who
sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit
reap eternal life. 9Let us not
lose heart in doing good, for in due time
we will reap if we do not grow weary.
10So then, while we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people,
and especially to those who are of the
household of the faith.
Gal.
6:8-10 (NASB)
What a word of promise to those who say
kind and gracious words and who are always
looking for ways to do good to others.
Just as there is pay back for evil, there
is pay back for doing well. You have all
heard the saying, “What goes around comes
around.” That is a true statement. As a
man sows, so shall he also reap, both
negatively or positively.
But back to our passage in Acts, one of
the fruits of the persecution in the early
Church was the extension of the
Kingdom of God beyond Jerusalem and Judea.
There is no need to speculate as to
whether those believers at Jerusalem would
ever have gone out as they did without a
persecution. The fact is God used the
persecution to scatter the disciples and
spread the gospel.
The persecution served a dual purpose.
First, it spread the Gospel to those who
had not yet heard just as Christ had
commanded that it should be preached to
all nations. God’s commands are sure to be
obeyed even if it means persecution.
Secondly,
it tested their faith and made them
stronger in the Lord. This adversity is
bound to come in every Christian's life.
We do not remain at a standstill. We will
either move on or God may allow us to
yield to the discouragements that come. We
must fight the fight of faith against our
discouragements and the opposition that
comes and move onward for our Lord. The
disciples at
Jerusalem
did that.
B. I also
want you to note that the Word of God
advises us most explicitly that the
Christians that went out from Jerusalem
were faithful to preach the Word, but at
first they only preached the Word to Jews.
They carefully avoided preaching it to the
Gentiles. However, the believers from
Cypress and Cyrene gave out the Gospel to
both Jews and Greeks.
Apparently, even though God had taught
Peter that He is no respecter of persons,
when the Gospel was taught by Jewish
believers the Jewish mind-set at Jerusalem
was so rigid that Gentiles were ignored.
They were not sought out at all.
But the
Lord showed that his hand was with the
Christians of Cyrene and Cypress who
preached to the Greeks because a great
number of them believed and turned to the
Lord (vs.21)
C. The
Jerusalem Church heard o£ the rapid
progress of the church at Antioch and sent
Barnabus to make an on-the-spot
observation. The Word says in Acts 11:23 (NASB)
23Then 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; 24for he was a good man, and
full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And
considerable numbers were brought to the
Lord.
Barnabus
was a native of Cyprus
and thus more likely to approve of the
work begun by the men of Cyprus. He
rejoiced to see the work of grace, which
God had wrought in the heathen city and he
was glad to welcome the new converts as
brethren in Christ. His presence resulted
in strengthening the believers.
D.
Barnabus sought the expert leadership of
the apostle Paul. He detected that the
work needed the firm and decisive guidance
of this great apostle. He demonstrates his
own humility and unselfishness in this
action. He must have known that Paul would
outshine him in the work but his zeal was
for the Lord and the advancement of the
church and not his own glory. They labored
there together for a whole year.
II. THE
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF ANTIOCH
A. This
city was the third in the empire,
outranked only by Rome and Alexandria. It
contained a mixed population and was
connected with both the east and west by
great routes of commerce and trade. It lay
outside of Palestine so the church there
would be free from Jewish control and
prejudices. A better base for missionary
operations could not have been found.
Antioch was the natural door to the
Greco-Roman world and the establishment
there of a strong Gentile church was a
step of prime importance in the
preparations of Providence for carrying
the gospel unto the uttermost parts of the
earth.
B. The
term Christian was first used at Antioch
(vs. 26). It was from there that the
church truly became a mixture of both Jew
and Gentile. Antioch was outside the
bounds of Palestine, a mission point from
which the gospel was to go forth in a new
sense and with a new name. Before
Christians had been known as people of the
way, or the followers of the Nazarene, or
as a sect of the Jews. But now God’s
people have a new name, which simply means
Disciple of Christ or follower of Christ.
The Hebrew term Messiah is dropped for the
Grecian term Christ, thus making it more
of a Gentile movement than it had been
before This term could and should have
united both Jew and Gentile believers in
the Messiah of Israel. This is a
fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah --
Isaiah 62:1 -3 (NASB)
1
For
Zion’s
sake I will not keep silent, And for
Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,
Until her righteousness goes
forth like brightness,
And her salvation like a torch
that is burning.
2
The nations will see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory;
And you will be called by a new name
Which the mouth of the LORD will
designate.
3
You will also be a crown of beauty in the
hand of the LORD,
And a royal diadem in the hand of your
God.
Some
people have no right to the name Christian
because they have not committed themselves
to Christ in the way that is required..
Ask people what they think a Christian is
and you will be surprised at the answers
you get.
This
passage from Isaiah tells us a lot. The
salvation of God will be like a burning
torch. It illuminates the whole world. Men
will see the righteousness of Christ in
his people and will be drawn to Him,
unless they hate the light.
We are
salt and we are light. God calls the
Christian Church a crown of beauty, a
royal diadem in his hand. This tells us
that the Lord is pleased with his Church.
He loves his people. They are his special
crowns of beauty. Jesus Christ is our
Savior and our King. He sends blessings
upon the earth through his Church. The
church is God’s means of sending forth the
saving Word of the gospel. We are invited
to believe it and live it. A true faith
will follow the Lord and obey his Word.
Billy
Graham is quoted as saying, “The
world does need changing, society needs
changing, the nation needs changing, but
we never will change it until we ourselves
are changed.”
The
ship's place is in the sea, but God pity
the ship when the sea gets into it. The
Christian's place is in the world, but God
pity the Christian if the world gets the
best of him.
Let it
not be said to you or me the words which
Alexander said to a soldier of his own
name
that was
noted for being a coward aut nomen. aut
mores muta Either change thy
name or mend thy manners.
Are you a Christian? Do you consider
yourself a disciple, a learner, a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and do you
gladly own Him? I invite you to join the
army of the lord. Come to his light today.
Ask him to be your
Savior
and Lord. Begin today to rejoice in his
loving self-sacrifice of himself to make a
way to the Father for you.
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