In the above focus, we see in Antioch the beginning of an active ministry to the Gentile world. Jesus in his life primarily ministered to the Jews, healing and doing wonderful miracles. However, He did interact with the Gentiles at times. He told a Canaanite woman that his ministry was to the Jews, not to the Gentiles, those who are outside of God’s law and regulations. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” He did deliver the woman’s daughter from demon possession because of her statement to him that even the dogs eat the scraps from the table. Also we find Jesus healing a Centurion’s young servant who is paralyzed. Jesus healed this Gentile's servant because Jesus was amazed by the strength of the Centurion's faith. I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. (Matthew 8:10) Jesus then told his listeners that many Gentiles would be in the kingdom of God. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 8:11) In this morning’s focus we see Jesus’ words being fulfilled in Antioch. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. These Gentiles were no longer dogs, a derogatory description, but now people by the grace of God transformed into a new people, forever known as children of the living God. Jesus said you must be born again to be right with God. When right with God, Gentile and Jews will occupy the Kingdom of God, for all born-again people are God’s children. No longer are they separate, but in the house of the Lord, they are one people. After Stephen’s martyrdom, the Jewish Christians did not have this vision of the oneness of both Jews and Gentiles in Christ. The Jewish Christians were spreading the Good News of Jesus being the Messiah only to other Jews. For them the Good News had restrictions, for Jesus came to them, not to the Gentile world. He was their Savior, not the Savior of the outsiders. However, Peter in a trance received an expanded vision of God’s grace. Christ's death and resurrection was for all humankind. God told him in his trance not to call anything unclean if God has made it clean. The Gentiles were no longer to be considered unclean dogs, scavengers, but people who God desired as his own. When Cornelius’ household was baptized by the Holy Spirit, Peter had to accept the truth that the Good News was for the Gentiles too. But many Jewish Christians were reluctant to believe faith alone in Christ’ work on the cross would bring complete acceptance by God. For a while they held onto a belief that faith in Christ plus the law brings righteousness to people, but now we see in Antioch the uncircumcised coming to the Good News with glad hearts.
As with the introduction of the Good News to the Jewish people, healing and miracles accompanied the ministry. Paul’s ministry was so powerful that even aprons and handkerchieves that touched his body brought healing and deliverance to the Gentiles. This reminds us of Jesus’ ministry; people gathered around him, pushing and shoving to get close to him. The woman with the issue of blood for many years found healing by touching Jesus’ garment. Jesus radiated power from his being, so did the disciples. The Spirit of God was actively supporting the Good News with supernatural happenings. In Jesus’ life God was doing marvelous deeds, beyond what any man could do. By and through these works, God was validating Jesus as being the Messiah, sent from above to give life to anyone who believed In Jesus and his works. Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. (John 5:19-21) In Antioch and throughout the Gentile world, disciples of Jesus were ministering the Good News with power, the same power that Jesus manifested, given to him from his Father. The disciples were displaying the power Jesus had to a dark and dying world. To open the eyes of the blind, the world had to see miraculous deeds done in the name of Jesus. People had to know that God sent these disciples to them. They had to realize the voice of God was being heard from these followers of Jesus, that they spoke words empowered by the Spirit of God. Jesus had castigated the leaders of the Jewish society because they ignored the works of God manifested through him, choosing to have their fleshly ears stopped to the Good News of the Messiah in their midst. By not accepting Jesus as the Messiah, they were deaf to God’s voice and blind to his deeds. The Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. (John 5:37-38) In the above focus, we see the Gentiles' ears being opened. They are seeing the nature of God through the miraculous deeds performed in their midst. They see lives transformed from darkness to light; all of this accomplished by faith in Jesus Christ. The persecution of the church in Jerusalem spawned the ministry to the Gentile world. Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. At the end of Stephen’s life, we see Stephen asking the Lord to forgive those who killed him. Stephen’s request was probably honored, but the Lord had greater plans than just to forgive his killers; he would use this killing as an avenue to reach the Gentile world.
These new believers in Antioch, Jews and Greeks alike, would spread the Good News to the world. They would be imitators of God, displaying the nature of God to the whole world--a new people had been born. Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2) A new people had to be born, for the nature of men and women since the fall has not been pleasing to God. Before Noah’s time, the nature of people had become so much unlike God, that He repented of creating humans. The earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. (Genesis 6:11-12) Violence and corruption had permeated men and women completely. To the Christians in Ephesus, Paul tells them to discard their old nature. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. (Ephesians 4:21). Instead, clothe yourselves with the nature of God: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22) Jesus understood well the nature of flesh so He said, You must be born again. Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. (Ephesians 4:24) Of course the new nature comes only through the presence of the Holy Spirit in lives. Human's volition is never taken away, but faith in Christ’s work on the cross brings the Holy Spirit to us. With the Holy Spirit’s residence, we have the ability to be kind and gentle, even to our enemies. The Ephesian Greeks were learning to take on the likeness of God, jettisoning their old nature of darkness and death. All humans without God in their lives live in ignorance to God’s light and life. But even the light of the law did not deliver the Jews out of their fleshly darkness. They chose to reject the goodness of God, serving the wickedness of their neighbors' gods. In Zechariah 7:8-10 we hear the prophet revealing the evilness of the Jewish society. The Jews were violating the likeness of God by not administering true justice, by not showing mercy and compassion to one another, oppressing the widows and the orphans, the foreigners and the poor. All of these attitudes and actions God hates, so judgment rained down on them. They finally were dispersed to other lands, once again slaves to foreigners. But now in the above focus, we see Good News has come to all people, whosoever will is the call to all people. All who come to the Lord in faith will find the God of mercy: the God who transforms the very nature of human beings. These Antioch Christians discovered a new way to live: lives of blessing and love to all people, the poor, the orphans, the widows, the foreigners. No longer would despicable actions and attitudes of hate and anger fill their hearts, for the Holy Spirit has come to them to teach them of a new way to know God. However, even in Christians, volition is never taken from people, but Paul encourages all Christians to keep in step with the Holy Spirit. Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2). Let us be a sweet aroma to God, not a sour and distasteful smell to God and to the world. Each day provides a new opportunity to show forth the love of God and the fruit of the Spirit to a hurting world. Bless you today!
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