(Acts 11:25-29) Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. Acts 11:25-29 The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
In the above focus we see followers of Christ now being called Christians. This label refers to people who profess belief in the teachings of Jesus. For the world, they are followers of a man who was crucified by the Romans in Jerusalem. The world knows that their zeal for Jesus is so great that they have forsaken everything in this world: their heritage, reputations, relationships, fortunes and societal norms to follow the one they call the Messiah, Lord. Jesus had told them that if they want to be known as his followers, they must lose their old lives for him. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25) We see in today's focus that Barnabas who was actively ministering in Antioch called Saul to help him. Barnabas was the point man in Jerusalem to accept Saul’s conversion as valid. When Saul came to Jerusalem to introduce himself as a Christian to the elders of the church, the leaders of the church were afraid of him. They probably suspected his conversion as false, impossible for Saul one of their chief persecutors to change into a follower of Christ. But Barnabas understood Saul’s conversion was real. He knew that Saul had already risked his life by ministering the Good News to people in Damascus. There was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. (Acts 9:23-25) Saul barely escaped Damascus with his life. Because Saul’s presence in Jerusalem riled up the unbelieving Jews so much, the church sent Saul back to his home in Tarsus. Now we see Barnabas going to Tarsus, bringing Saul to Antioch, to help him minister the Good News to the Greeks in Antioch. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. Both of these men had surrendered their lives to Christ. These Jewish men were once faithful followers of Judaism, now they were sold out to Christ. As Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:20–21) Barnabas and Saul were brothers IN CHRIST, and they would face great persecution because of preaching the Good News. Often they were figuratively in the dens of fierce lions, preaching the Good News to those who wanted to tear them apart. However in all those dens there was always a third person who protected them from death. These two men as lights in a dark, heathen world carried the power of God to people, healing them, saving them, restoring them to eternal life. Now in Antioch before their missionary journeys, they were learning to work together as instruments of God, calling a dark world to the Heavenly Father.
Suffering would be an integral part of Saul and Barnabas’ lives. They forsook their former lives, putting aside their affections and possessions of their former lives. God was defining a new way of living for them. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:16-17) For Paul and Barnabas to face the daily threats on their lives, they needed a new focus in their lives and that was Jesus’ life. Jesus faced the constant danger of death as He ministered to the Jews. The elite of Israel hated him; He was threatening their place of deference with the people. Jesus was drawing huge crowds to himself. The people saw his miracles and heard his teachings that were powerful. He spoke as no other man had spoken to them. The people were so enamored with Jesus that they pushed and shoved to get near him. The elite, the priests, the teachers of the law saw this affection for Jesus; consequently, they harbored death for Jesus in their hearts. And eventually they convinced the Romans to crucify Jesus. Barnabas and Saul, later named Paul, knew Jesus lived with constant threats on his life, and they understood, the servant is not greater than his master, so they lived as Jesus, under the the daily threat of death by the hands of evil men and women. When Saul was called personally by Jesus, He made Saul cognizant that he would suffer much by following Jesus. This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16) Jesus told his disciples that things would get so bad for them that their persecutors will think that they are doing God’s work by killing them. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. (John 16:2) Of course, this prophetic word of Jesus happened to Paul. He was thrown out of synagogues, and he was chased from city to city by religious zealots who wanted to kill him for God’s sake. In Antioch among the Greeks and their Jewish enemies, they understood well the forces of evil against them, but they were children of the light. They were followers of Jesus Christ's mercy and grace by faith. This message of the Good News was uniting former enemies, the Jews and the Gentiles. The Good News they spoke of had the basic belief that God loved all the people in the world. The Antioch Christians, Gentiles and Jews, were being exposed to the light of God’s love, delivering them from their former thinking, embedded in darkness. God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7) To be God’s children, to be called Christians, they must walk in the light; they must express love towards all people, Gentile and Jew alike. They must be willing to fellowship with one another. If they harbor hate towards others, then the love of God is not in them.
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. (1 John 2:9-11) Hate and dislike of others will cause a person to stumble and walk in darkness, for God is love. In Antioch we have former enemies living together in God’s light. In an active church, there are many gifts, and one of them is the gift of prophesy. We see a prophet from Jerusalem coming to Antioch to give a word from the Lord. Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (Acts 11:28) His prophesy activated the believers in Antioch to help the Jerusalem church. They decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. (29) The Christian Jews in Jerusalem had lost everything; for the persecution against them was very great. For many of them, they lost their inheritance, their families, their jobs, their homes, their positions in Jerusalem. We know the majority of the church in Antioch were Gentiles. Before their conversions they would not have ever thought about taking care of Jewish people in times of draught, but now we see them send money with Barnabas and Saul to the church in Jerusalem. Their compassion and concern about the Jerusalem church reveals a wonderful transformation that has taken place in the hearts of the Gentile Christians in Antioch. They were not fixated on the division between the Jews and the Gentiles, but were focused on the unity of all people IN CHRIST. Nothing in the scriptures is not inspired by the Holy Spirit. In the above passage we see the Holy Spirit tell the church, all barriers should be broken down between Christians in the church of the living God. Brothers and sisters should not be associated with hurt and anger towards other Christians, but instead should be in unity with love and caring for others. How great it is to read about Gentiles considering the Jews before themselves. A draught would put pressure on their lives too, but instead of considering only themselves, they were looking after people who were once considered their enemies. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29) As we see in all of scripture, the same scripture Jesus uses in his ministry that we are to take care of those who are struggling in society: the needy, the poor, the widows, the orphans, the immigrants. In Antioch, the Christians’ hearts were open to the needs of the Jewish church in Jerusalem. They sent Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem to help the Christians there to survive the draught. We who are in the church of the living God now should stress unity in the church. As with the Gentile church in Antioch, we should be concerned about others, and we should express the love of God to all brothers and sisters who dwell IN CHRIST, the body of the living God. This is our privilege and our responsibility as members of the living church of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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