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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim
Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. O Heavenly Father, we thank You for gathering us here on this day to give praise to You, to give thanksgiving to You, to cry out to You for all that we need, humbling ourselves before all that You are.
You have not left us in darkness, but You have given us Your Son, Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world. In Your light we see light, and Your Son is the express image of Your glory, the image of the invisible God.
You have declared to Him fully and freely by Your Spirit, here in this Word, that is unfailing, without error, everlasting. What grace is You heap upon us, not because we have earned Your favor, caught Your eye, but because of Your grace, because of Your great love with which You have loved us.
We may gather here today in communion with You by Your Son, in fellowship together by Your Spirit, not only with one another, with all of our brothers and sisters, whether they feast at the table in Your very presence, or they are still here with us on earth.
We thank You for the gift of the church, the gift of Your Word, the blessings of the Spirit, and the power of the gospel. We give You the praise, for the praise belongs to You.
Amen.
I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 11. Book of Acts chapter 11. We will be reading verses 19 through 30 this morning. Acts chapter 11, verses 19 through 30. The title of the sermon is simply, As we are informed in this passage, for the very first time, the followers of Jesus Christ are called Christians in Antioch.
We know our brothers and sisters from long ago by many names as we've encountered them in the book of Acts. I hope that you're growing in love for our spiritual ancestors, our brothers and sisters who have gone on before and are in fellowship with our Lord, with whom we have a fellowship by Christ.
I hope that your love for them grows. I know that in my studies as of late, my love for my brothers and sisters long departed grows. They are called brethren, they are called saints, they are called followers of the way, they are called the church, and here in our passage, they are called Christians.
What a great name. What a great word to describe who we are. As the Lord pleases, we will think about that this week and next. Why is it a good thing to be called Christians? I invite you to stand with me as we read together Acts 11, beginning in verse 19.
Acts 11, verse 19. This is the word of our Lord. Now, those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only, but some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.
When he had came and seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord.
Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
And in those days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. It says, The word of the Lord, thanks be to God, you may be seated.
Notice how some names just stick. One of my favorite teachers in seminary was always telling us where we got a particular name, description, or saying. I just love that. Find out why keeping the nose to the grindstone, what that means.
Where did reigning cats and dogs come from? Where did this name come from, or that saying come from? It's always very interesting to me. Some names just stick. It's interesting in the New Testament we read that sometimes the saints were described by things that they did not keep hold of, names that didn't stick.
They were called the sect of the Nazarenes. That didn't stick around. They didn't call themselves by that. They didn't describe one another by that. But the name Christians, well, that stuck. Now, what I'm about to tell you will not mean very much to some of you, and for others you're going to get it immediately.
When I was first in college, I think probably the first week I was in college, I was always trying to answer every question the professor asked because I wanted to look impressive. And I always had my hand up, always sticking my hand up as far as I could to get recognition so I could answer the questions because I love Bible trivia, so let's go.
And he decided to take me down to Noctitu. He said, who are you, Horseshack? Welcome back, Cotter. See, some of you know what that is, and the rest of you are like, what? That was my name for the next five years.
Nobody knew my real name. They had no idea. The registrar knew, but nobody else knew. That was my name for all five years in college. Nobody knew I had a brother named Jonathan Durham at the same college because they didn't know what my name was.
Some names just stick because it was appropriate. Here am I going, ooh, ooh, I know. What's in a name? Well, a whole lot.
A whole lot.
Why is the name Christian good? We are in an era where the question about Christian, the name, whether or not it's ethically proper, whether it's effective, whether it should be used. Many people prefer other names than the word Christian.
But it's an appropriate name simply for one reason, that the sum of our identity is found in the author and finisher of our faith. Who are we except who we are in Christ? What about these Christians? They are first called Christians in Antioch, and what goes on in Antioch is very important for the story of the book of Acts and early Christianity.
But what about these Christians?
Who are they? What are they like?
What do they do? Well, they go.
They go.
We see that in verses 19 through 21. We also see that they gather. They also gather, and we also see that they are generous to each other.
They give.
These are descriptions of Christians, and we see this, that they go in verses 19 through 21. And very importantly, we see this, that they go on. They go on. They don't stop. They don't give up. They don't turn aside.
They go on, even when persecuted. Verse 19 says, Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. They just go on. What about that persecution that arose over Stephen?
We are reminded of Acts chapters 6 and 7, the violent persecution and Stephen's valiant defense of the faith in the grace of God. We recall the foaming pressures of the new covenant wine striking against the hardened sides of the old covenant wineskin, Jerusalem.
The conflict that went on there, that finally burst forth in Acts chapter 8, verses 1 through 4. It killed Stephen. Stephen perished with his mouth full of the gospel, his heart full of grace, and his eyes full of Christ.
And Saul was consenting to his death, Acts 8 .1. And at that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles.
Devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
Now, if you were to skip from Acts chapter 8, verse 4 and go straight to Acts 11, verse 19, it would read seamless. We're just filling in the details about those who were scattered and how they even moved beyond Judea and Samaria and made it as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch.
We would miss a whole lot, though. We'd miss Philip and Saul and Peter. We'd miss the adventurous and spirit-led evangelism of Philip. We'd miss the miraculous conversion and vigorous apologetic of Saul.
We'd miss Peter's visionary gospel preaching to the Gentiles, and we need to know those stories to make sense of what's about to happen in Antioch. If we were to soar over the well-known landscape of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and be given an available look at the time-lapse growth of the gospel, like green patches in a wilderness, we would see the paths of Philip and Saul and Peter, and they would all wind about from Jerusalem to Caesarea, all three of them.
But it doesn't stop there. Now we come back over and we add more. We have these three bold lines moving from Jerusalem to Caesarea, but now there are multiple lines. Thousands were saved at Pentecost.
Now thousands flee from Jerusalem, and the persecution that began there is an avalanche of more than three stones. Look at all of these living stones of the new covenant bounding forth from Jerusalem.
The strong man has indeed bound his enemy. He unleashes his servants like foxes aflame, in a good way. They begin to set on fire the Roman province of Syria from the Negev in the south to Antioch in the north.
These are Christians. A little bit later on, complaints will be filed against them that they have turned the world upside down, claiming there is another Lord other than Caesar. These are Christians. And they move up the coast of the Mediterranean.
They move to the northeast quarter of the Mediterranean coast. They move north past Caesarea, past Tyre and Sidon, and they travel the whole Phoenician coast, what we call Lebanon today. They make it out to Cyprus, the island just a boat ride away, there to their west, and a day's journey away from Phoenicia is Antioch in the north, the third largest city in the entire Roman Empire.
What are these Christians doing? They go on when they're persecuted. They don't go as refugees. They don't go say, we're refugees, even though they were. They don't say, we come as the oppressed and the persecuted, though they were.
What are they?
Well, they didn't have time to tarry. It wasn't yet four months. These harried and hounded laborers lifted up their eyes, and they saw the fields, and they were widened to harvest. They are Christians.
They go on when persecuted because of Christ. They're certainly not going as those who believe that Jesus of Nazareth was still dead. They didn't believe that His body had been stolen from the tomb. They didn't believe the official narrative, and they held to what was undoubtedly called a conspiracy theory because it didn't agree with the official state narrative.
They went out, going on when persecuted, considering it worth the abandonment of their homes, fleeing into these northern countries because Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, and that's what they go out saying.
They go on when persecuted, but they go out preaching. They don't go out silently. They go out preaching. Verse 19 says they went out preaching the Word, same as Acts 8 .4. What did they do as they went?
They preached the Word, which means that they talked very clearly about the person of Jesus Christ and the work of Jesus Christ. Who He is is fully God and fully man. Who He is in all of His merits and all of His glory to speak of Him as the One who had lived the perfect righteous life fulfilling all that God had promised about His Son, obeying the Father to the uttermost and dying upon the cross for our sins.
Raising from the dead the third day and ascended to the right hand of the Father where He reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus' Lord was their war cry.
Preaching the Word.
The word for preaching here, there's a lot of words for preaching in the New Testament. There's a word that casts the preacher in the role of a royal herald who goes out to give the official message of the King.
There's another word that talks about the joy with which the Word is declared, a kind of joy that when the person says it, they're full of joy and they want you to be full of joy as well. There's another word that describes the systematic teaching of all the important truths.
And this word is not those words. It's a word that captures all of those and more. Meaning that they went out speaking in every way of the one way. Each according to their ability. They preached of Christ.
They declared the shepherd for whom they wander. They preached the resurrection for which they die. These are Christians. These are Christians. We note that every time the enemy strikes, he does so as a defeated foe.
In Christ, our heels are often bruised. We often may be harried or hounded by serpent strikes, but our head is alive. He lives and our heads are kept in him for the preaching of the Word by which every slithering scheme is crushed.
Note, in the Scriptures and following throughout all of history, when you strike at Christians, the preaching of the Word accelerates. When you ignore Christians, the preaching of the Word marinates. In this world, we have tribulation.
But in Christ, we overcome the world. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Faith in the risen King and Savior. It doesn't make sense that this is what Christians do. It doesn't make political sense.
It doesn't make militaristic sense. It doesn't make economic sense. It does not make scientific sense. The Word of God, the wisdom of God, confounds the so-called wisdom of the world. Why had these Christians lost their homes?
Why were they on the run? Because they had been preaching the Word. And here they go, still preaching the Word. In what world does that make sense? In Christ's world, that makes sense. For all things have been given to Him.
All authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth. That makes sense. A tsunami began one Sunday morning. A tsunami of grace and glory. It began nigh 2 ,000 years ago, and continues, and continues, and continues until the knowledge of the glory of God will cover the earth as the water covers the sea.
This is His world, bought and paid for. They go out preaching. Notice that they go out preaching to their own nation. Verse 19 says that this avalanche of living stones flowing out of Jerusalem, heading as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the Word to no one but the Jews only.
Interesting. They went out preaching to their own nation. I think it's understandable that most of them took this approach. We'll read about the exceptions in a moment, but most of them took this approach.
And why did they? Several reasons might be posited, but I'll give you three. First, these Jewish Christians fleeing Jerusalem and Saul's murderous zeal, how would they make their way along the roads? Would they take the way of the king or the way of the sea?
Would they travel the spine up the middle? How would they make their way out of Jerusalem and head north to these locations? Well, they would have to go from town to town. They'd have to take a look at the sky and see how low the sun is, how much farther do we have to go before we have to stop for the night.
When you come to a town, what do you do? In the ancient Near East, what do you do? You go to the town square, you go to the city gates, and you ask for someone to put you up for the night. They don't have hotels and motels.
They have a cultural ethos of hospitality. That's what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 10. Go from city to city, and someone will take you in and put you up, and they'll sit you at their table and feed you food and give you a place to stay.
That was the custom. And these folks fleeing from Jerusalem, who's going to put them up for the night? Fellow Jews are. That's what's expected of them. When they don't do what's expected of them, things go really, really bad.
Stories about that in the Old Testament. So who's going to hear their witness of Christ as they sit down together for a kosher meal? With whom might they spend an entire Saturday, an entire Sabbath, and just rest with Him, having nothing to do but talk of the true rest?
Who's going to understand their cultural language and their religious vocabulary best? Fellow Jews are. Also, this is the second reason, God's providence was such that the advanced way from this conflict was not the enemy.
It wasn't that Saul and his fellow persecutors went out first. They went out second. The initial wave was, of course, the saints, the Christians, as they fled the persecution. And as they go, don't you know that they would desire to get the good news to these fellow Jews who would otherwise be led astray into bitter vengeance by a slanderer such as Saul?
Third, many of these fleeing from Jerusalem would be ill-equipped to communicate effectively the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies to idolatrous Gentile pagans. That's going to be a difficult conversation to set up and work through.
They wouldn't even know where to begin, let alone how to proceed. My question is, are they sinning by preaching the Word to no one but the Jews only? Are they doing the wrong thing? Is it an unchristlike, racist attitude we ought to impute to them as the reason why they don't have a broader evangelism?
Nothing of the kind. There is sin available in the situation. I mean, if they refuse the entry of Gentiles into the church, if they reject to have communion with former idolaters, if they demand the appropriation of old covenant shadows, well, then they'll be in the wrong.
If they don't want to grow in their communion with Gentiles, that would be a problem. But tell me, is there something sinful about a brother in Christ who emigrates up from Mexico and then preaches in Spanish the gospel of Jesus to his fellow Spanish speakers, but very much unable to relate to his Scots-Irish neighbor?
Is he in sin? No.
No.
He was given talents according to his ability, and according to his ability for his master, for his king, he will use that for Christ's fame. And this is not the end of the story. It's not the end of the story that Jews would preach the word to no one but the Jews only.
How could that be the end of the story when we're all here?
Right?
Why is it not the end of the story? Because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, and he sent forth his spirit, and he equips all manner of folks. Notice in verse 20 that some preached to other nations beyond their own nation.
To other nations, verse 20. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. Now, the term Hellenists depends on your context.
If you're in Jerusalem talking about a bunch of Jews, the Hellenists are the Greek-speaking Jews. But if you're in a Greek city, the Hellenists are the Greeks who speak Greek. Kind of like Titus, who was called the very same, he was a Gentile who spoke Greek.
That's how Paul described him in Galatians 3. And remember that Paul said he was not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, to the Jew first and also for the Greek, the one who spoke the Greek language, Romans 1 .16.
So what we read here is a kind of contrast between those who preached to the Jews only, which would be according to their ability, and some who preached to the Gentiles also. And notice where these men were from.
They were from Cyprus. That's about as Greek as you can get. And from Cyrene, which we call North Africa. It's interesting, the contrast we have here. Some were preaching to the Jews only, some were preaching to the Gentiles, and both were coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
The contrast that we read here, we've already seen explored earlier in Acts 10 and 11. The contrast we're going to see further in the book of Acts is a contrast that comes up in many of Paul's letters and John's letters.
And every time there was conflict between these groups. There are many ways to get it wrong, you know. The relationship between Gentiles and Jews in one church, many ways to get it wrong. Many ways to get it wrong when we have more than one nation in one church.
Many ways to get it wrong, but there is pride in all of those ways. Many ways to get it wrong, but pride is always there. I'm thankful for the communion table this morning because it quiets our boasting in self.
It quiets our boasting in self. It enlivens our boasting in Christ. We think about His accomplished work. We're not alone at this table today. We're unified with Christ, present with Him and all who are in Him.
I love how Paul talks about in Colossians chapter 2, to brothers and sisters that he has never met, that he is present with them in spirit. How can he say that? Because of our union in Christ. Who are these men from Cyprus and Cyrene?
Well, they're Christians. They're brothers in Christ. Barnabas was from Cyprus, we read. He had not yet come up to Antioch. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons he was sent there by the leadership of Jerusalem is that they heard that he had fellow brothers from Cyprus there.
What about these men from Cyrene? We are reminded that Simon, who carried our Lord's cross, and his sons Rufus and Alexander were from Cyrene. We know that Greek-speaking Jews from all over the Roman Empire were present at the day of Pentecost, and thousands were saved, and they are among these thousands who were scattered, witnesses of Christ from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth.
And I am encouraged to see these men, who are well-equipped for the moment, investing their talents in their Master's name, to see great gospel increase. How many of the thousands fleeing from Jerusalem, their primary language would be Aramaic and some Hebrew, and they struggled with their Greek and were unable to relate to the Gentiles who might have crossed their path.
But these men from Cyprus and Cyrene were well-accustomed to it and able to communicate on a level that the others could not, and they did what they could with the talents that their Master had given them.
What has the Master well-equipped you for? What has the Master well-equipped you for? Give thanks for it. Meditate on what God has entrusted to you. Give Him thanks for it. And as it's preeminent in your mind, as you give thanks to God for it, then make the most of it for His name.
Put it to use. We have men here listed from an island and a coastland, from Cyprus to Cyrene. Not exactly an expression, but it could be. They're not very close together. It could be a kind of a rounding expression, all from this place to that place.
Here are men from Cyprus and Cyrene, pitching the New Covenant tabernacle among the Gentiles, 300 miles north of Jerusalem. Antioch. Antioch, the gateway of the east, on the Orontes River, 15 miles from the sea, in the valley beneath Mount Sapphius.
A renowned sexually immoral pagan crossroads. The Gentiles in the city were at war with the Jewish community just outside of town. Violence had sprung up. Jews being slaughtered. This all about the same time that the Gospel arrives.
That Barnabas comes up to see what is going on. The high priest of Jerusalem, around this time, sends 30 ,000 Jewish troops to Antioch to begin to retaliate and slaughter Gentiles. Just a slight level above gang violence.
Gentiles and Jews murdering one another, but in the moment, what do we find? Christians. Christians wade in and start preaching the Gospel. Every reason in the world to not, except for the fact that Jesus is risen from the dead.
How encouraging it is to hear that men from an island and a coastland arrive in this far off northern city to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. That sinners may be saved. You know, if Isaiah were a hymn, if Isaiah were a hymn, though it has many verses, part of the chorus would always be this.
The gathering of God's people from the four corners of the earth up into the new covenant mountain, Mount Zion. Over and over again, that theme is touched upon. Mount Zion has just arrived in Antioch.
The islands and the coastlands. Isaiah 42 says, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth. And the coastlands shall wait for his law.
Thus says the Lord, the God, who created the heavens and stretched them out. Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it. Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it.
I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you. The Father says to the Son, says to the servant, to the Messiah, I will keep you and give you as a covenant.
To the people.
Which covenant is that? Jesus says, this is the new covenant in my blood. Shed for many for the remission of sins. A covenant to the people. A light to the Gentiles. To open blind eyes. To bring out prisoners from the prison.
Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
I am the Lord.
That is my name and my glory. I will not give to another nor my praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass and new things I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them.
Sing to the Lord a new song and his praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it. You coastlands and you inhabitants of them. Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice.
The villages that Kadar inhabits, the inhabitants of Selah sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise in the coastlands. The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man.
He shall stir up his zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud. He shall prevail against his enemies. And that brings us to the third point. They go with power. They go on when persecuted.
They go out preaching and they go on with power. Verse 21 says, the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great number believed and turned to the Lord. A great number believed and turned to the Lord. It used to be that many pulpits preached about revival and spiritual awakening.
Maybe it was ill-defined. Maybe it was overdone. But I wonder, do we have that dream still? Do we have that happy, joy-filled dream of countless sinners saved, lives transformed? Those whom we thought were beyond the pale of grace, yet now praising God and rejoicing in Christ.
Think of that joy. As parents and children and husband and wife, consider the bounty for the family and for the nations and for our country. What does it take for that dream to come to pass? Where do we look?
How should we pray? Look at the first half of that verse. The dreams in the second half.
What about the first half?
The hand of the Lord was with them. That's what it takes. And we would implore that the hand of our Master would be with us as we do His work. Why was the Gospel spreading and Antioch being transformed?
It doesn't take a man from Cyrene to save a pagan from Antioch. It doesn't take somebody with a certain level of personal experience to reach somebody else. No, it takes a man from Nazareth. It takes the Son of God, crucified, risen, and ascended, and a man like this to save.
The God-man to save a man from anywhere. It's not our hands. It's His hand upon us, with us, and for us. Isaiah 14 .27 says, What the Lord has purposed, who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
Isaiah 25 .9, it will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation, for on this mountain, Mount Zion, New Covenant, the hand of the Lord will rest.
The Lord is with us. Thus far, the Lord has helped us. We come to our family table as Christians. Christians, Christ's people, who have been shaped and set forth into service by His hands, whether in war, or in peace, or in abundance, or in poverty, or whether in strength, or in weakness.
We are His. We are His.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank You for the day You've given us in Your Word. Help us now as we sing Your praise. Partake of this supper together. Help us to know Your grace, and fill us with Your hope and confidence.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
