Are You A Christian...Really? (part 2)

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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September 13, 2015

00:00: I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts.
00:10: Make your way to chapter 11, hold your place at verse 19.
00:26: Last week I began the message by asking a simple question, what is a Christian? And it just so happened to be in the providence of God that I found in my email box the next morning a video which was put out by a online group, a secular online group, and it was entitled I'm Christian but I'm not dot dot dot.
01:04: And so I couldn't help myself but to click on the video, and in the video a series of twenty-somethings got a chance to say that they were Christians but they weren't something.
01:23: And here's just a few of the things that they said.
01:26: One said I'm a Christian but I'm not homophobic.
01:30: Another said I'm a Christian but I'm not closed-minded.
01:36: Another said I'm a Christian but I'm not unaccepting.
01:40: Another said I'm a Christian but I'm not uneducated.
01:45: I'm a Christian but I'm not judgmental.
01:48: I'm a Christian but I'm not conservative.
01:52: I'm a Christian but I'm not ignorant.
01:55: One of the people admitted, she says, I am a gay Christian.
02:04: All of them were claiming a title.
02:08: They were claiming a title for themselves, a superficial allegiance to something.
02:17: And this is what I was actually getting to last week when I said in my message that the word Christian has become somewhat ambiguous.
02:30: People can believe just about anything they want, they can behave in any way they want, they can live in any way they want, but who are you to question or who is anyone to question that these people identify themselves with Jesus of Nazareth? The problem, not only in the video, while it had its own share of problems, indeed, but with the world's attitude in general is that we have come to the place where we get to define what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
03:08: And I have news for the world and maybe news for you.
03:12: That ain't your right.
03:14: You do not get to define what it means to be a Christian.
03:19: Jesus has already defined that for us.
03:22: In fact, I know this isn't our text for the morning, but in Luke chapter 14, verses 26 and 27, Jesus said this, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be My disciple.
03:42: And whoever does not carry their cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
03:48: Jesus defines what it means to be a Christian in just those two verses.
03:52: He says anyone who is not willing to give up any and everything, anyone who is not willing to forsake this world, forsake pleasure, forsake flesh, forsake self, and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
04:06: Didn't say might not, didn't say may not, said cannot be My disciple.
04:11: The definition of Christian from Jesus is very simple.
04:16: It is one who forsakes the world and follows Him.
04:22: So you can call yourself whatever you want all day long.
04:27: Call yourself a 57 Chevrolet, it don't matter, you ain't one.
04:32: And these attempts of the world to redefine what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ are foolish.
04:46: If we want to see what real Christians looked like, it's a good idea to go to the people who were first called Christians, and ask ourselves, what defined them? What was it about them that made people step back and say those people are Christians? Because what I'm going to share with you today is very interesting.
05:09: They didn't call themselves that.
05:11: Other people called them that.
05:13: The reason why was because their life was so unique, it was so different that people had to give them a name.
05:21: They had to call them something.
05:22: They're not like everyone else.
05:24: They are Christians.
05:30: Last week we learned that Christians are missions minded.
05:35: We talked a lot about the fact that what made the Christians notable was that they were going about preaching Jesus Christ.
05:44: Jesus Christ was on their lips, and everywhere they went, they were bringing the message of Jesus Christ where they went.
05:50: So people titled them by their message.
05:54: They were missions minded.
05:55: Well, this week we're going to see if we get time to get all the way through, and we'll see if we do.
05:59: I'm not going to rush, but we'll see if we get through the rest of the chapter.
06:02: We're going to see two things.
06:03: One, they were also discipleship driven.
06:06: They were concerned about being like their Savior.
06:09: And they were also church conscious.
06:11: They were concerned with their brothers and sisters in Christ.
06:16: These are the good examples to us as believers today when we want to know what a Christian should look like.
06:22: So let's stand and we'll read the Word together.
06:24: We're going to read starting at verse 19.
06:26: We're going to read to the end of the chapter and see how far we make it today in our exposition.
06:39: Verse 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.
06:53: 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.
07:02: And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
07:09: The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
07:14: 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.
07:22: For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord.
07:29: So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.
07:35: For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.
07:38: And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians.
07:45: Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up, and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world.
07:55: And this took place in the days of Claudius.
07:58: So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
08:10: Father in heaven, I thank you for your word.
08:13: I thank you for the truth.
08:15: I pray that you would, Father, in your mercy, keep me from error as I seek to preach the truth.
08:25: I pray that you would open the hearts of your people to understand it and apply it.
08:30: And Lord, those among us who have not yet bowed the knee to Jesus Christ, I pray that you would open their hearts today, convert their soul, and use this as a day of awakening for their spirit.
08:43: Father, we thank you for the opportunity to again hear your word.
08:47: In the name of Jesus Christ we pray.
08:50: Amen.
09:04: If you look in the notes of your worship folder, you'll notice that I've outlined the chapter for you.
09:11: And you'll notice also that a portion of the outline is in italics.
09:16: And the reason for that is that's what we did last week.
09:19: We're looking at the entire chapter to see what is happening.
09:23: The first 17 verses is the reiteration of the situation between Peter and Cornelius.
09:29: The Gospel goes to the Gentiles, and Peter comes back to Jerusalem to testify that the Gospel has gone out to the Gentiles.
09:35: The Gentiles did not have to first become Jews to become Christians.
09:39: They could come straight to Christ without any other religious ceremony.
09:46: And then we see in verse 18 that the Jews recognize this.
09:50: They praise the Lord because God had granted to the Gentiles repentance.
09:54: We talked about last week how repentance is a gift from God.
09:59: It is something that we should pray whenever we're evangelizing.
10:02: We should pray that God would open someone's heart to repent.
10:05: For it is God who does that work.
10:09: Then in verse 19 we see that some of them spoke only to the Jews because they were being dispersed after the situation with Stephen.
10:18: You remember Stephen was killed, he was murdered, and he became the first Christian martyr there.
10:24: And so as a result of that, the church was pushed out of Jerusalem and pushed out into the surrounding areas.
10:30: And many people went north, and as they went north they went to Phoenicia, they went to Cyprus, and they went to Antioch.
10:37: These are all north of Israel.
10:40: And as they were going along, some of them would preach only to the Jews.
10:44: They would go only to the synagogues.
10:46: But there were precious few, in verse 20 it says, there were precious few who would actually preach to the Greeks, would preach to the non-Jews.
10:55: They were willing to take the Gospel beyond their cultural and traditional borders.
11:02: And that's where we ended last week.
11:05: And so today I want to begin in verse 21 with the response to the Gospel.
11:11: We see in verse 21, it says, And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
11:21: Now, this is an interesting text, because what it tells us, it reminds us again of what verse 18 has taught us.
11:30: Verse 18 taught us that it is God who grants repentance.
11:33: It says God granted repentance.
11:35: Well if you notice here in verse 21, it says, And the hand of the Lord was with them, and as a result a great number believed.
11:46: We as a church, especially the church in America, have become so convinced that what we need to do is to create marketing campaigns, to create some type of show that will bring people to Jesus.
12:05: We need to make some type of an event, maybe a party or some other thing.
12:11: We have created all these things because we believe that's what brings people to Christ.
12:16: What we have missed and what we have forgotten and what we see in this text, is that nothing is going to happen unless the Lord's hand is upon us, and apart from that we will see no true regeneration.
12:29: And with that, we don't need all the rest.
12:35: I become so discouraged as I see the depths at which churches have gone to try to placate the lost in their lostness, so as to increase numbers but decrease conversions.
12:53: As one commentator said, we have become a mile wide but only an inch deep.
13:00: Certainly churches are filled to the brim this morning with people who have not been converted.
13:06: They've never even experienced any idea of what it means to repent, neither have they heard the preaching of repentance.
13:13: Often times I will talk to ministers and I will say, how do you share the gospel? And they'll go through all kinds of rigmarole about how they share the gospel with people, and by the end I never hear the word repent.
13:26: And I say, don't you call men and women to repentance? Oh well, maybe, oh sometimes, oh yeah, I forgot.
13:35: How do you forget that? How do we forget the calling that we've been given to go about and call men to repentance? And what's interesting about this text, verse 21, it doesn't say the word repent.
13:45: And the Greek word for repent is not there, I want to be clear.
13:48: Metanoia is not in this particular text.
13:51: But what it does say is this, it says a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
13:55: And that word turn there is euphemistic, because what it means is they were going in the direction which was opposed to the Lord, they believed and turned to Him.
14:04: And that's what repentance is.
14:07: And you see, we have become convinced in the American church that you can have your cake and eat it too.
14:12: You can have your Jesus but no repentance.
14:15: You can have Christ and still live like the devil.
14:21: This is not scriptural.
14:23: This is not biblical.
14:24: But it's very American.
14:26: Because we like it.
14:28: We like to have our cake and eat it too.
14:33: And so the apostle Luke, who is writing here, tells us very simply, the hand of the Lord was with him.
14:38: That's what gave them the conversions.
14:41: A great number were converted.
14:43: They believed and they turned.
14:49: And thus this report we see in verse 22 is given to the church in Jerusalem.
14:55: Remember, these are Gentiles who were being converted.
14:57: This is something that's out of the norm.
15:00: Up until this time in the history of the church, the church is made up of mostly Jews.
15:05: In fact, it was considered to be a Jewish sect.
15:09: It wasn't even considered its own religion.
15:11: We'll talk more about that when we get to when they were called Christians.
15:14: That was part of what was happening.
15:16: They were demarked out from the Jews as their own group.
15:19: But at this point, they're a sect of Judaism, sort of like an offshoot of Judaism.
15:24: Not even really understood as their own religion, their own group, their own people.
15:29: And so we see here this report that this is happening, that this is going out into the world.
15:38: And so in verse 22 it says, the report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
15:46: Now, if you remember back in chapter 8, and those of you who haven't been with us, we've been going through the book of Acts.
15:51: Back in chapter 8, when Philip went to Samaria and he preached the gospel and all those people were getting saved, what did the church in Jerusalem do? They sent the apostles.
16:02: Why did they send the apostles? Go and give confirmation to what's happening here.
16:07: Go and bear witness to the gift of the Holy Spirit which is falling on the Samaritans.
16:11: Remember, Jews didn't like Samaritans either.
16:14: Go and see this miracle of God so as to come back to us and bear witness to what is going on.
16:21: I believe something similar is happening here with Barnabas.
16:24: Barnabas is not an apostle in the same way that the apostle Paul and the rest are called apostles in Scripture.
16:30: But he is identified as an apostle in the sense that he is a messenger of God and he is one that is trusted by the apostles to go and to give confirmation to what is happening.
16:45: Go and give confirmation to this truth.
16:48: So, Barnabas goes in and we see his responsibility here beginning at the end of verse 22, they sent Barnabas to Antioch, and then verse 23 it says, when he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad.
17:04: Now here's the interesting thing I've thought about this as I've been just reading and kind of ingesting this and kind of considering what all I wanted to bring out.
17:13: One of the things we know about Barnabas all the way back to Acts chapter 4 is that Barnabas is known among the brothers as an encouraging person.
17:23: In fact, that's what Barnabas means.
17:25: His name isn't even Barnabas.
17:27: His name is Joseph.
17:29: His nickname is Barnabas and what it means is son of encouragement.
17:36: That was his nickname among the brethren.
17:38: He was an encouraging person.
17:40: This was actually a very good move on behalf of the Jerusalem church.
17:46: They sent an encouraging person out to recognize what God is doing.
17:50: What do you think would have happened if they would have sent one of the Judaizers to Antioch? Remember who the Judaizers were? They were the guys who actually believed that you couldn't be a Christian unless you first were a Jew.
18:03: What do you think would have happened if one of them would have went? They would have went in and seen all these crazy Gentiles and been like, whoa, slow down.
18:10: You can't do this.
18:11: We've got to back the canoe up and we've got to start again.
18:16: So now we see in the providence of God and in the wisdom of the Jerusalem church, they send this very encouraging man.
18:23: And I like what the text says because it's very clear.
18:26: It says, when he saw the grace of God, he was glad.
18:31: Have you ever seen somebody who sees the grace of God and they aren't glad? You say, what do you mean? I see people get saved sometimes.
18:37: It seems like people are disappointed.
18:39: What do you mean that guy? He's a terrible person.
18:45: What if a terrorist got saved? Would you praise the Lord or would you be upset? Oh, well, he doesn't deserve that.
18:52: Well, neither do you.
18:54: But that's what I mean.
18:55: I think about Jonah.
18:57: Jonah saw the grace of God and was not glad.
19:01: He saw the grace of God poured out on his enemies and he was mad.
19:06: He was upset.
19:08: He prayed that God would just judge him anyway.
19:13: I understand, God, that they've repented, but you promised.
19:17: Get them.
19:19: And that's what I like when I read this text.
19:22: It says, when Barnabas sees what's happening, he is glad about this.
19:27: Are we glad when we see a sinner come to repentance? And the greater the sinner, as if there is greater sinners in the sense of someone, there ain't no greater sinner than me.
19:40: In my heart, I know my heart.
19:42: But when we see somebody who is what the world would say is a great sinner, do we look at that person and say they don't deserve that? Or do we say, praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
19:53: He just converted someone who, like me, didn't deserve it.
20:01: So Barnabas sees this and it says he was glad and he exhorted them.
20:06: He encouraged them.
20:07: That's what he does.
20:09: Barnabas is an encourager.
20:11: And he encouraged them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.
20:16: Now that, you could easily just run right past that and not notice what that's saying.
20:21: Here's the important part of that text.
20:25: Anytime there is a group of people who are entrenched in a false religious system, you have to think that's what all these the Antiochians, the people that live there, they're already entrenched in their pagan philosophies and their pagan religions.
20:42: When the Gospel is brought to them, they believe it quickly.
20:45: But what can easily happen? You can easily go back to the paganism.
20:51: In fact, Paul Washer makes this point very well.
20:54: He says what happens in a lot of times when the Gospel goes out to different lands is the Gospel will go to one place and a bunch of people will believe and then somebody else will bring another message and they'll believe that and then somebody else will bring another message and they'll believe that.
21:07: Why? He said whoever has the most rice gets the most believers.
21:12: Whoever brings the most rice gets the most believers.
21:17: And the Christians come in, they bring rice, everybody believes.
21:19: Next person comes in, they're teaching something else, they got the most rice, they believe.
21:24: So what is Barnabas saying in this? He's commending them, he's encouraging them to remain faithful.
21:33: He's calling them to true and living faith.
21:37: You remember the parable Jesus taught about the seed which is sown? And he said some was sown along the pathway and the birds come and they eat it up, doesn't even have time to sink into the ground.
21:51: And he said and then further along the path some seed was sown among the weeds and it grew up and it choked them and then some was sown in shallow ground and it sprung up for a little time but very quickly withered away.
22:07: And then he said but some of the seed was sown in good soil and it bore fruit, it grew 30, 50 and 100 fold fruit.
22:17: I've always loved to hear my Baptist friends talk about how those people who, the other three are all saved.
22:26: Because if you believe in eternal security which we believe in perseverance of the saints and if you need a definitional difference at the end of the service, I'll be happy to tell you.
22:33: There is a difference between the perseverance of the saints and the eternal security.
22:36: Both of them do essentially teach that once a person is genuinely converted they will never be unconverted, that's true.
22:42: But the understanding of the two is different.
22:45: Eternal security among most Baptists is this, as long as you pray this prayer, as long as you get your ticket punched, it doesn't matter how you live from then on, you are in the club and you're done.
22:56: That's not what the Bible teaches.
22:57: The Bible teaches that the God who saves us will convert us and the God who converts us will change us and we will be changed.
23:06: And if there's no change, there's no conversion.
23:13: So looking at that parable again, going back to this situation here, Barnabas is saying look, if this is genuine, you need to remain faithful.
23:21: Don't go back to your paganism.
23:23: Don't be tempted to go back to your false religious system.
23:28: But stay firm in Christ.
23:29: It's going to be difficult.
23:31: It's going to be hard.
23:32: You're going to be removed from a lot of your social relationships.
23:36: You may even be removed from your family.
23:38: You may even lose your job.
23:39: You may even end up in jail.
23:41: But Christ is worth it.
23:44: Now again, I'm not reading this from the page, but I'm imagining what Barnabas would have said to these people because this is the situation they were facing.
23:54: Conversion in America doesn't cost a lot for many people.
24:00: In fact, people put pictures on Facebook.
24:03: I got baptized.
24:03: Everybody praised.
24:04: Yeah, good deal.
24:07: Imagine if you were going to be hunted for your baptism.
24:13: Imagine if you were going to be tracked down and punished for taking the Lord's Supper.
24:20: Would you do it? This is the situation they're in.
24:26: This is what Barnabas is encouraging them through.
24:33: And it says, he was glad and he exhorted them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.
24:40: And then verse 24 says this, for he was a good man.
24:46: Now, I know that gets the Calvinist cackles up a little bit because we have a little issue with calling anyone good.
24:52: Because total depravity, which is the first of the five points of what we would call the doctrines of grace, some people call it Calvinism, whatever, is total depravity.
25:03: What is the basis of total depravity? There is none good, no not one.
25:10: Right? And we know that is true.
25:13: And yet, throughout Scripture, there are men who the Bible identifies as good.
25:19: The Bible calls Noah a man who was good among his generation.
25:24: The Bible calls Abraham a good man.
25:26: The Bible calls Job a man who was good.
25:32: So how do we rectify this? How do we understand that the Bible says that no one is good, no not one, and yet the Bible does identify Barnabas and Job and a few others as good men.
25:45: What we must understand here is that any goodness that we possess is a result of the grace of God.
25:56: No goodness that we possess comes from within.
26:01: It comes from above.
26:03: And the goodness that was within Barnabas, it tells us right here exactly where it came from.
26:09: Read the text, verse 24.
26:10: He was a good man full of what? His own goodness.
26:15: No.
26:17: He was a good man full of the Holy Spirit.
26:22: When a man is converted to Christ, when the gift of faith is given to that man and he exercises that faith among the body of Christ, and he exercises the goodness that has been given to him by God, then the Scripture has no problem identifying that man as a good man.
26:44: Understanding that the goodness has not come from within, but it has come from above.
26:50: Do we understand? We understand that he wasn't perfect? The Scripture is not identifying him as perfect? Neither I know in the Old King James it says that Noah was perfect and that Job was perfect, but identifying them as being righteous among their generation, among the people in their time, they were the men who stood out as faithful men.
27:12: The just, or righteous, says Habakkuk what? The just shall live by faith.
27:20: What is a just man in Scripture? A faithful man.
27:23: What is a good man in Scripture? A faithful man.
27:27: I always love it when people tell me, oh, I know a man who's not a believer, but he's a good man.
27:30: No, he's not.
27:32: I don't mean to offend you, but the Scripture says apart from faith, everything we do is sin.
27:38: Don't tell me that somebody's an unbeliever, but he's a good man.
27:40: No, I know what you mean socially he's a good man.
27:42: I know what you mean.
27:43: I know what you're trying to say.
27:45: But this is what you've confused the world with.
27:47: You go around telling people that God sends good people to hell.
27:50: That ain't true.
27:52: God sends sinners to hell, and the person who does not come to Christ is not a good man, and that's why he goes to hell.
27:58: You have confused the world if you're telling them God sends good people to hell because that makes God unjust.
28:06: We've got to be able to define particularly what we mean when we say good.
28:13: And I think the Scripture is clear here.
28:15: He is good because he is filled with the Holy Spirit.
28:17: He is good because God has made him good.
28:21: Not because he was good from birth.
28:23: Not because he was good on his own.
28:24: But he is good because God has converted him and made him good.
28:30: Do we understand? Can we move on? Okay, I'll just make sure.
28:34: And it goes on to give another testimony to the evangelism that's happening.
28:38: And a great many people were added to the Lord.
28:41: I love to hear that.
28:42: A great many people.
28:43: It doesn't give us an exact number, but we know that in other places like Jerusalem, this was in the thousands, people are being added to the Lord daily because of the evangelism of the early church.
28:54: And Barnabas at this point in verse 25, it seems as if Barnabas feels like he needs help in the ministry to this church.
29:04: So Barnabas goes a little north to Tarsus and he gets the apostle Paul, at this time still called Saul.
29:15: And he goes up to the north and he gets Saul, and it says in verse 25, so Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.
29:22: And when he had found him, he brought him back to Antioch.
29:25: And for a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.
29:30: They became the pastors, if you will, of the church at Antioch.
29:34: And for an entire year, they're the disciples of the church.
29:39: They're teaching the church.
29:40: They're the elders, if you will, of this church.
29:43: They're ministering to the body as the leaders, the spiritual leaders of the church there at the church at Antioch.
29:50: And could you imagine a better pair of elders than the son of encouragement, the one whose gift is exhortation, and the one who understood God's Word like the apostle Paul? You have the scholar and the encourager together preaching.
30:13: What an amazing thing.
30:17: And we see the revival there in verse 24.
30:19: We see what's happening there.
30:21: We see Saul being incorporated into the ministry.
30:24: They're pastoring together for a year.
30:26: And then we see the reaction of the people of Antioch there in verse 26.
30:31: It says, for a year they met with the church and taught a great many people.
30:35: And in Antioch, right there where that church was, the disciples were first called Christians.
30:47: Now, Christian was not what they called themselves.
30:54: If you look through the earlier part of Acts and in some of the epistles, you'll notice they call themselves brothers.
30:59: They call themselves disciples.
31:01: They call themselves in Acts 9, followers of the way.
31:06: Identified, if you think about Jesus, what did He call Himself? I am the way, the truth, and the life.
31:11: They would identify themselves as followers of the way, identifying themselves, of course, as followers of Christ.
31:16: And I don't believe that this title, I can't prove this, but I'll give you my opinion based upon simple deductive reasoning.
31:24: I don't believe that the Jews called them Christians.
31:28: And here's my reasoning.
31:29: Christ is a messianic title, a title that the Jews did not give to Jesus, would not have accepted for Jesus, and they rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
31:39: The only thing they would have called Him would be a false Christ.
31:42: So to call these people Christians would not have been normal for a Jewish person, because they would be identifying then Jesus as Christ.
31:50: However, it is very likely that the pagan world is who identified them as Christianus.
31:59: Christianus is a Latinized version of the Greek word Christ, Christ being the Greek version of the word Messiah, which is the word for Messiah in Hebrew.
32:11: So it's got Hebrew roots, it's got a Greek foundation, and it's got a Latin ending.
32:16: So it sort of kind of pulls everything together there.
32:18: Christianus.
32:20: And the term is simply a follower of Jesus Christ, or a member of the Christ party.
32:29: Think about the Herodians.
32:32: The Herodians were the members of Herod's party.
32:35: They were almost like the Republicans.
32:37: I mean, we'll say the Democrats, whoever.
32:39: They were part of the Christ party.
32:43: I'm sorry, part of the Herod's party.
32:45: The Caesareans, that's odd to say, but the Caesareans were the ones who were part of Caesar's party, or the ones who were devoted to Caesar.
32:54: So here come these people who are preaching Christ, and what are they called? Christianus.
33:00: Those who are dedicated, devoted to this person that they call Christ.
33:07: It can also mean little Christs, and in that sense it could be used as a term of derision, a negative term.
33:15: Oh, you guys act like little Christs? Could be a negative statement there.
33:20: But ultimately what we should notice is this really isn't a term of affection.
33:24: It's a term of demarcation.
33:27: It's not saying, look at all those Christians, thumbs up.
33:30: No, it's look at those Christians, and it separates them, it creates a line between the world and the church, and that line is marked by the title Christian.
33:42: And you might think that that word is used all through the Bible.
33:44: It's not.
33:46: The title Christian, how many of you remember from last week? How many times? Only three times.
33:53: And it's always spoken of, at least in the sense of something coming from the outside.
33:58: In this tense, we know that they're called Christians by the outsiders, most likely the pagans.
34:02: In Acts 26-28, Agrippa is speaking to Paul, and he said, in a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian? You think you're going to talk me into being a Christian? To mark myself out? And then of course, in 1 Peter 4-16, the Apostle Peter says, if any one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him glorify God in that name.
34:33: Meaning this, if someone comes to you identifying you as a Christian, and they punish you as a result of that, then praise God.
34:41: Glorify God that you have taken the title of Christian, and you have been able, through the grace of God, to suffer for that name.
34:50: So we see this title is not one...
34:52: In fact, it wasn't until the late 2nd century that the church adopted this title and began to use it more within itself.
35:05: Now again, the question comes, well, why was this title given? I think that this title was given to the group because they were doing something and having an impact on the world around them.
35:21: And anytime there's a group that has an impact, that group begins to make inroads into other groups, begins to make impact in the world, people start to call them something.
35:34: Had they quietly huddled in their small groups and remained content to stay to themselves, they never would have been on anyone's radar and they wouldn't have been called anything.
35:44: But they didn't.
35:45: They were making disciples daily, and as a result, the world took notice of what they were doing, and they were called Christians because that's what they were.
35:57: It kind of makes me ask this question, and I really want you to be honest with yourself.
36:00: Has anybody ever called you a Christian? Now what I mean by that, has anyone ever just known because you were so proclaiming Christ that they just knew, they called you that, whether it was derisive or just identification, do people know that's who you are? Or do you have to convince them? That's kind of an interesting question, isn't it? Do we have to convince people that we're Christians because our life doesn't testify to who we are? Our words don't testify to who we are? Our testimony doesn't testify to who we are? And then somebody starts talking about religion.
36:40: Oh, well, I'm a Christian.
36:41: I would have never known that.
36:43: Not by the way you live.
36:45: And not by the way you talk.
36:46: And why have you never told me? Why have you never shared anything with me about your faith? I thought Christians were supposed to tell people about Jesus.
36:54: You've never told me about Jesus.
37:00: Being a Christian is kind of like being a lady, or being important, or being famous.
37:08: If you have to convince someone you are, you're not.
37:13: If you have to convince someone you're a lady, you're probably not acting like one.
37:16: If you have to convince someone you're important, you're probably not.
37:19: And if you have to convince someone you're famous, well, yank.
37:25: Does the world see in you something that would identify you as a Christian and make them say, yes, that's what he is, or that's what she is? Real Christians stick out.
37:41: Do you stick out? Finally, the reality of being a Christian is displayed in verses 27-30.
38:01: We see in verse 27 it says, Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
38:09: And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine all over the world.
38:15: This took place in the days of Claudius.
38:18: So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
38:23: And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
38:27: One of the marks of genuine faith, and I would say that's one of the marks of a genuine church, is that it has concern for the believers in that church and other believers in the world.
38:45: Jesus told us that we will be known by one thing.
38:48: What was that? Our commitment to social issues.
38:51: Our agreement with the Republican Party.
38:54: Our agreement with, what did Jesus say? We would be known by living in the South.
39:01: Jesus said, They will know you are my believers if you what? If you have love for who? One another.
39:12: The fruit of the Spirit is love, which shows itself in a desire to help others.
39:18: James tells us that if we don't have that desire, we do not have the very faith that we proclaim.
39:24: One of the things that seems to be lacking in the church today is a genuine care and concern for one another.
39:31: People tend to talk about one another instead of to one another.
39:34: People cut each other with their words and their actions and then they don't seek repentance or concern or anything.
39:40: They just continue to move on with life.
39:42: And they hold back service from one another.
39:44: And they tend to justify it by saying, Well, if he just worked a little harder, I wouldn't have to help him.
39:53: Or if he would just do a little more.
39:54: Or he doesn't handle his money right, so the church shouldn't help him.
39:59: I mean, these are the attitudes that we have.
40:04: We call ourselves Christians and yet the title has lost its power and it's become more political than it has spiritual.
40:17: What did this church do when they saw that another church was going to have, and by the way, this is well before the time of denominational division.
40:27: The church was the church, right? The church in Jerusalem and the church at Antioch were unified.
40:33: The only thing that separated them was distance.
40:37: But they were unified in Christ.
40:40: I think about Walter Heaton.
40:43: Walter Heaton has a church in Croatia that I will probably never visit.
40:48: Croatia is a long way away and I don't fly well.
40:51: Maybe.
40:52: God may be willing to send me there one day.
40:54: I don't know.
40:55: But his church is unified with our church.
40:59: His ministry is unified with our ministry.
41:03: Do we sacrifice in our love for what He's doing? Do we get down on our knees and pray for what He's doing? Do we concern ourselves for the ministry of the Gospel that's going to a people that the vast majority of them are lost? Do we care? As I said from this chapter, I see three things.
41:34: And this is the application and you can write in your notes if you'd like.
41:37: The Christian is missions-minded.
41:40: He cares about the lost.
41:41: We see that in the beginning of the chapter because they go to Cyprus, they go to Phoenicia, they go to Antioch.
41:48: For what? To build giant buildings? No.
41:53: To see souls saved.
41:54: That's why they go.
41:56: They go to see souls saved.
41:57: They're missions-minded.
41:58: They care about the lost.
42:00: When was the last time we shared Christ? When was the last time you shared Christ with someone? Do you care about the lost? That's the first thing.
42:07: The second thing, they were discipleship-driven.
42:10: They cared about learning about their Savior and being like their Savior.
42:14: They had Barnabas and Saul as a pastor for a whole year, as co-pastors for a whole year.
42:20: Why? Because they wanted to learn what it meant to be a Christian.
42:25: I heard some guy the other day, some pastor, he said when you come here and get saved, this church is no longer for you.
42:34: He said all we're about is seeing people get saved.
42:37: And once you get saved, you better go out and bring more people in.
42:40: We're not for you anymore once you're saved.
42:42: How idiotic! The man is a heretic.
42:47: The church, the assembly of God, this place is an institution of higher learning.
42:54: This is the place where you come to be discipled and where you learn to disciple others.
43:01: How ignorant to say that once you're saved, you don't have anything else to learn.
43:06: That's foolish nonsense.
43:13: I think I made my point.
43:15: And then thirdly, a Christian is not only missions minded, discipleship driven, they want to learn to be like Christ.
43:22: Third thing, they're church conscious.
43:25: They care about their brothers and sisters in Christ.
43:28: This church in Antioch heard that there was going to be this problem.
43:31: They are rich.
43:32: By the way, Antioch, big metropolitan place, 500,000 people in Antioch.
43:37: I looked on Wikipedia just because I didn't know.
43:39: 800,000 in Jacksonville.
43:41: That's approximate.
43:42: So you figure this city is huge.
43:47: It's a metropolitan area.
43:51: What do they say? Jerusalem is hurting and we are going to send them what they need.
43:57: They care about their brothers and sisters in Christ.
44:00: Do you care about the person sitting next to you? And if it's your wife, it doesn't count.
44:03: I mean, it does.
44:04: But do you care about your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you care that somebody down the road from you might not have all that they need and you have more? Do you care about the church? And the church is not this building.
44:23: And we should take care of this building because God has given it to us.
44:25: But this is not the church.
44:27: You are the church.
44:28: Each of us is the church.
44:30: And are we conscious about the needs of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? So the question is simply this, and I'll end with this.
44:42: Are you a Christian? Really? Would you be marked out as a follower of Christ in this world? Would people know you follow Christ both by your life and by your words, your witness? Would other believers say of you, there is a man, there is a woman who has a desire to please their master? Let's pray.
45:14: Father, we all should ask ourselves the question, am I a Christian? Am I a follower of Jesus Christ? Have I forsaken the world to trust in Him alone? Or am I still trusting in something else? Maybe my own righteousness, maybe my allegiance to religious tradition, maybe even my own vain good works.
45:45: Father, I pray that we would repent of that, that we would trust in Christ alone for salvation, knowing that He is not only necessary, but He is sufficient.
46:01: And Father, I do pray that the fruit of the Spirit would be among us, that that love which you say is the fruit of the Spirit would go out among us, and that the fruit of the Spirit would help us to be more missions-minded, would help us to be more discipleship-driven, and would help us to be more church-conscious.
46:21: As the example is given to us by these disciples in Antioch.
46:27: Father, thank You for Christ.
46:29: Thank You for the atonement.
46:31: Thank You for the salvation which comes in knowing Him alone.
46:34: And it's in His name we pray.
46:37: Amen.
46:39: Beloved, let's stand together and sing, and if you have a need for prayer, we encourage you to come.