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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim
Heavenly Father, we do thank you for gathering us together today to rejoice in your truth, to encourage each other concerning the gospel of your son Jesus, and we pray that you would greatly bless and provide for our brothers and sisters who can't be here today, and I pray that you would give us every blessing that we need in Christ by your spirit to gather together for your glory, which we know is our good.
Give us an understanding of your word, we pray. Help us to see Christ clearly. We ask that by your spirit there would be an amen in our hearts, in our lives, as you have your way among us. We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts, the book of Acts chapter 11. We'll be reading beginning in verse 19. Acts chapter 11, beginning in verse 19. We have been surveying throughout this book written by Luke, the acts of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, the things that he did in the early days of the church, how he proved himself to be a good shepherd indeed, even though he had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father, though he was not directly, personally, bodily present with his sheep, yet he was still very much spiritually, vibrantly, personally present through his Holy Spirit.
He said, I will not leave you orphans, and he meant it. I will send you another comforter, the Holy Spirit. And so we have seen the power and the vibrancy and the life of the Holy Spirit in the early church, and every expression of that we understand to be the work of Christ for his people.
And we come to this passage here in Acts 11, and we are told that it was for the very first time in history that the people of Christ were called Christians in this church in Antioch. And we've been looking at what does that mean?
What does that name mean? Who are Christians? What do they look like? What do Christians value? What are we all about? So I invite you to stand with me as we read Acts 11, beginning in verse 19. This is the word of the 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. The 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 came and had 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.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Questions about identity, one's own identity, are as old as Genesis chapter 3. Solomon said, there's nothing new under the sun. And with so much focus on supposed rights of people to choose for themselves whatever identity they want, we may feel that we have entered into territory never seen before.
But in fact, when we go back to Genesis chapter 3 and consider the temptation of Eve, what was the offing? What was the temptation? What was the attraction that Satan put before Eve? That she should be autonomous, the word autonomous, auto meaning self, namas meaning law, a law unto herself.
The offer was to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so that she would be like God. Well, she had already been made in the image of God. In what way was she unlike God if she was made in the image of God?
In that she would write for her own self a book of the knowledge of good and evil. She would determine for herself what good and evil were depending on what was pleasing to her eyes, what was desirable to her heart, and so forth.
And in this determining her own right and wrong, determining therefore her own identity, I will be like God. I will be a God unto myself, writing my own script, writing my own story, living how I desire, being true to myself.
You see, someone may ask, why are identity issues and concerns so prevalent in the rising paganism? But to ask the question is to answer it. Identity, divorced from the Creator, devolves into the idolatry of the creation.
Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the Creator for the images made in the likeness of creation. What a wonderful thing it is to open God's Word and to read and to be told who we are.
We don't have to write our own script in the dark with a pen that we don't know if it has ink in it or not, on a medium that we don't know will retain what we write. Such is the plight of the pagan. We are given God's holy Word.
We are given a word from our Creator and from our Savior, and He tells us who we are. We are made in God's image, and redeemed in Christ, we are His people, and we are called Christians. The image of God, recreated, resurrected, renewed in Christ, who is the last Adam, the image of the invisible God, this is salvation.
To call ourselves Christians is just another way to call ourselves truly human, for all that was lost in the fall, ruined and broken in the image of God because of sin, is recreated, resurrected, and renewed in Christ, who is the last Adam, the firstborn of the resurrection from the dead.
You can't get any more human than Jesus Christ. The sum of our identity is found in the author and the finisher of our faith, who is Christ. And as we look at this profile of Christians here in Acts 11, we see that, first of all, Christians go even when they were persecuted.
They went on, they go on proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ with power, and not only do we see that Christians go, we also see that they gather, and we've been seeing that in verses 22 through 26.
Christians gather. And we asked the question many different ways last week, why gather? I mean, why gather when we live in the age of the Internet, let alone the age of books? We live in a digital age.
We live in an age where there are scary things out and about, scary things around the world, scary things on the street corners, scary things floating through the air. And we say there's a lion in the streets, and we don't gather.
Many do not gather. I found it amusing the options for gathering, especially during the state mandated emergency that still continues in some places in our world. I found it amusing when the governor of Kentucky told Christians that you should observe communion spiritually in your heart and then sent his state troopers to give tickets to Christians who gathered in their cars with spaces between them for a church service.
It's sad and it's absurd. So the laughter is tinged with regret that such things happen. It's the same with the digital age. People are being encouraged to go to church online, but that's not going. That's not gathering.
You're given little avatars that you get to walk and sit into digital pews and you get to take digital communion and get digitally baptized. You think I'm kidding? Why gather? Gathering is more accessible for us than it has ever been, and it seems quaint or bothersome.
It's like manna. More manna, more gathering. How difficult is it, do you think, for some of our brothers and sisters in the world today to gather? And yet how precious is it to them? How precious it is to them?
And to consider the history of the church, what would the cloud of witnesses say about our gathering habits, attitudes, and hindrances? I think they would say, He is worthy. He is worthy. Well, we see in our passage that the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to go up to Antioch to gather with the saints there.
And the first reason to gather, we're given in the text, is to establish the work of the Lord, to go see for ourselves the fact that Jesus saves, to go see for ourselves the fruit of the Spirit, to go see for ourselves and to be encouraged with one another that Christ indeed has risen from the grave and is at the right hand and is a good shepherd who nourishes and leads His sheep.
The second reason given in the text to gather is to encourage the work of the Lord, not only to see what is there and to be glad because of it, to give an amen to what already has occurred, but also to encourage the work of the Lord, to see not only what is there, but to see it continue, to see it improve.
In verse 23, we read that when Barnabas came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, he rejoices, he gives praise to God, and then what does he do? And encouraged them all. He 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.
Barnabas sees the grace of God at work in the lives of these new believers up there in Antioch, and he rejoices in what he sees. There are those who have been recently displaced from Jerusalem, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who are preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.
So here are these displaced Jews because of persecution from jealous Jerusalem, and here are the new converts to Christ who are Hellenists, Greek speakers, Gentiles, and he looks at them all, he rejoices in the Lord for them all, and then he encouraged them all.
Christ has gathered up this odd assortment. He has gathered up these far-flung arrows into one quiver, and Barnabas places them upon the string and then gives them aim. How does he do it? Through encouragement.
Encouragement. What is encouragement? This encouragement is not some kind of affirming listening. Yes, indeed, the counselors' never-ending litany of grunts, encouraging you to say more. It is not a continual compliment.
It is not a round of applause. Not that kind of encouragement. Barnabas is not here taking up the role of a cheerleader, but that of a coach. That kind of encouragement. It's a solid first half. Now the team must be called toward a successful finish, not abandoning what has been successful thus far, but needing to finish well.
The term for encouragement means exhortation. It means to come alongside and to call forward. It's the idea of kneeling down next to your child and showing them how to tie their shoe. The trainer, the physical therapist, the counselor, the coach, all of these exhort those who are in their care.
And if they're any good, they don't say, you're amazing. You do you. I can't bear the thought of messing with your perfection. Too often folks settle for sycophants when they need true friends, and Christians are more than friends.
We are brothers and sisters in Christ. And if we want to do good to one another in our exhortations, in our encouragements, what shall we say? What does Barnabas say? What is the encouragement that he gives?
Notice in verse 23, he encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord. With purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord. All of that comprises one picture.
Barnabas comes alongside of them, calls them forward into something. He gives them an encouraging shove in the right direction. And what is that direction? That they should, notice, continue with the Lord.
They ought to set their course according to Christ. The bright and morning star should be their navigation. They must align their hearts with Christ and from their affections for Christ and from their beliefs in Christ, they ought to proceed.
And the goal is not merely to aim at Christ or somehow ensure that he has some kind of continued influence among them. Let's not forget to include Christ in some of our decisions. The term for continue means to cleave, to grab hold of so tightly that you can't let go.
That kind of continuing. Barnabas, therefore, is encouraging. He's exhorting the church in Antioch to set themselves a course that never leaves the harbor of Christ. Why? Why is that the encouragement?
Why is that the exhortation that they should remain with Christ, adhere to Christ, persevere in Christ and abide with Christ? Because he says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me, you can do nothing.
Bold, underline, nothing. What else is there to say? What else is there to say when Barnabas comes upon this joyous scene of new Christians being converted out of a variety of different idolatries and different expressions of paganism.
And here are these Jews who have been lately displaced by persecution, who come from disparate places like Cyprus and Cyrene and have this Jewish background, but are preaching Greek to these new believers.
What is Barnabas to say? Cleave to what? Continue in what? Barnabas has been sent up by the church in Jerusalem. He could have stood before them and say, this is all well and good and we're glad you're excited, but you need to continue with Jerusalem.
He could have said Jerusalem is everything and most important, cleave to Jerusalem. Does he say that? He could have said, continue with Israel. Cleave to Israel, never depart Israel. Is that what he said?
He might have said, continue with all these advantages that have been accorded to you being born in the Roman Empire. Uphold the empire and the blessings of living in the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome.
Is that what he says? He says, continue with the Lord. Continue in Christ. Cleave to Christ. There's nothing else that they should be cleaving to other than him. Well, that's kind of hard to grab hold of when he's so far away.
I can't see the Lord. I can't cling to him. Like the woman did in the garden. And the disciple did when he was in the upper room. I can't lay hold of him. I can't grab his robe. I can't put my fingers into the nail prints of his hand.
I can't put my hand into his side. How do I cleave to him? How do I lay hold of him? How do I remain with him? But Jesus says, I will not leave you orphans. We'll send to you another comforter. Indeed, his spirit, the Holy Spirit, it is the spirit who gives life.
The flesh profits nothing. Jesus says, the words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. Paul says to the Galatians in Galatians chapter three, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth.
Listen to how he describes these Christians. Be for whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. The gospel was declared to you. The death of Jesus Christ upon the cross for your sins.
God's lamb slain for you. That was clearly portrayed before you. You saw the gospel clearly. Why have you not cleaved to Christ? Why have you not continued in the gospel that was preached to you? He says, verse two of Galatians three, this only I want to learn from you.
Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? They heard the gospel. They responded in faith because the spirit was at work in their lives. The spirit is indwelling them.
And he says to receive the spirit. Did you begin in the spirit by works of the law, by cleaving to traditions, by abiding in the old covenant shadows? Is that how that worked or by the hearing of faith?
Verse three, are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Many things that the church in Antioch could have boasted in many things that they could have clung to.
But Barnabas. The son of encouragement. Says cleave to Christ. Absolutely essential for our life. And how is it that Christ has arranged for his life to be worked out in our midst for our good? Ephesians chapter four, verses 11 through 16 looks into how good our good shepherd is, how he provides everything we need and in what form.
He himself, Jesus Christ himself, gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for what? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
What's the aim of all this equipping and edifying? Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God to a perfect man, to a complete man, to the measure, listen, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Christ is our shepherd. Christ is our king. He is our Lord. He is our head. He's in charge of the church and he is provided to the church servants who are filled with his spirit, who minister in his word so that we begin to be shaped into Christ himself, that we begin to look like Christ in the fullness of his image.
Verse 14, here's what we're saved from, that we should no longer be children and we're being delivered from that, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the news cycle, I'm sorry, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.
We are not to be tossed to and fro, back and forth by this fear or that fear. But speaking the truth in love. May grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ. We're growing up into him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies.
According to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. So Jesus, I'm the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit from without me.
You can do nothing. But when we abide in him, the fruit we produce because of his life blesses the other members of the body of Christ so that we all grow together into maturity into Christ. So who offers the encouragement?
We know what the encouragement is. What is the encouragement to continue on with Christ? Well, who offers the encouragement on the text? Barnabas does. Right. But the kind of encouragement the risen Christ arranges through the gathering of Christians.
Is such that he equips us and empowers us by his spirit to encourage one another. For the maturity of the body. Notice that Luke explains the approach of Barnabas, the actions of Barnabas toward the church in Antioch by pointing to Barnabas's character.
Notice what he says. The end of verse 23, we read that Barnabas encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord. Explanation. Why does Barnabas do this? Verse 24. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and a faith.
You see. Luke explains why. Why was he encouraging them to abide in Christ, remain with Christ? Because of look, he was a good man. Why was he a good man? Because he was full of the Holy Spirit and a faith.
He was a good man. That's not a refutation of our sinful depravity, but rather an affirmation of Christ's transforming grace. The reality of the new birth. The truth of the first resurrection. Barnabas is an upright, serving, joyful man.
Now that's the fruit of the Holy Spirit who fills Barnabas. So spirit-filled. What does that look like? It looks like Christ, and it sounds like Christ, and it magnifies Christ. That's how you know if somebody's spirit-filled.
Not if they're falling out in the aisle, not if they're predicting the end of the world, but if they're looking like Christ and sounding like Christ and magnifying Christ. Barnabas is full of faith. He is full of faith in his Lord.
He's offering encouragement to the saints there in Antioch. He's offering the encouragement because he's filled with the Spirit. He's offering encouragement because he believes in Jesus Christ. So who offers the encouragement?
You offer encouragement. You offer encouragement. When it's described, we see that in Ephesians 4, every joint is involved. Every part does its share for the growth of the body. It is true that Christ supplies teachers and preachers for the church.
The elders and I and the Sunday school teachers and those who do discipleship, they're not the only ones who are to be offering encouragement. Who offers encouragement? You offer encouragement. What encouragement is that?
That we would continue with the Lord. That we would cleave to Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 through 25, which is usually the passage that we turn to when we think about the importance of gathering as the saints, we first hear in Hebrews 10 about our position in Christ, and then we hear about our practice as Christians.
First, we must understand who we are in Christ as Christians before we understand, therefore, what does it look like, how we live, what we do. In Hebrews chapter 10, in verse 19, it says, therefore, brethren, which means all y 'all, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
So the brethren, the saints, Christians, we may have boldness to go into the true holy of holies. And we enter in not because of a lineage of Levi, but we enter by the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh.
So we enter in by the way that he made even his own flesh being torn. Verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, not a speck of us on the outside or the inside can keep us from abiding with God.
That is the cleansing, righteous power of Jesus Christ. Not a speck is going to keep us out. High priests of the old covenant. Had to make sure there wasn't a speck on him or in him, lest he die. Which was why they put the rope around his ankle and the bells on the hem of his garment, because if the bells stopped ringing, they had to start pulling.
But we have such a high priest that he himself has entered into the holy of holies by the merits of his own righteousness, by the merits of his own blood, and because we are in him by faith, by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, we come in and there's not a speck that keeps us on the outside because of Christ.
That kind of confidence, that kind of assurance. Therefore, because of all of that, because of our position in Christ as Christians, verse 23, therefore let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.
Why? Because he who promises faithful. Isn't God faithful? Verse 24, and let us consider one another. The idea there is that we pay attention to one another in such a way that we have the ability to thoughtfully, carefully, strategically be for one another.
There's not a standard fill-in-the-blank type of approach, but that we consider one another in particular ways in order to do what? In order to stir up love and good works. Now, you can't do that unless you gather, unless I get to know you, unless we spend time together.
I'm not going to know how to stir you up to love and to good works. I don't know how exactly best to encourage you to continue with Christ. So, verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some.
That's just not going to work. But exhorting one another, there's the word. Why do we gather? So that we can exhort one another, encourage one another, come alongside one another, and call one another on to something better.
And so much the more as you see the day approaching. So we know what the encouragement is that we continue on with Christ. We know why this encouragement is so vital, because apart from Christ, we can do nothing.
We know who should be offering this kind of encouragement. You and I, each one of us in the church should be doing that. And we know where that encouragement is given is when we gather. And we know how we ought to go about it in a loving, personal, direct way.
So we know what the encouragement is, why it is so vital, who ought to give the encouragement, where the encouragement is offered, and how to go about it. So the only question that we have left is will.
Will we gather and exhort one another to continue in the Lord, to cleave to Christ? Will we gather so as to establish the work of the Lord, and even gather to expand the work of the Lord? Which, Lord willing, we'll look at in a couple of weeks.
Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Father, I thank you so much for the time that you've given us in your word. I thank you, Lord, that you sent Barnabas to Antioch to encourage the saints there.
And Lord, we need encouragement as well. We need reminders of the goodness of Christ, the authority of Christ, the blessings of Christ, that we would continue with Christ. Lord, we are so forgetful, and we need this encouragement.
So often we may be burdened down, burdened down with the prospect of continuing on on our own, of continuing on in our own strength, of continuing on in our own wisdom. But Lord, this is not what you have offered to us.
We thank you for your promise, O Lord Jesus, that you are with us even to the end of the age. And it is with this confidence that you will never leave us or forsake us, that we may encourage one another to continue with you.
We pray these things in your name.