Division or Multiplication


Sermon by Wiley Lowry on February 18 Acts 11

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We’re back in the book of Acts tonight in Acts chapter 11. You can find that on page 919 in the pew Bibles. Have you ever heard the one about the man who was shipwrecked and stranded on a deserted island for many years and when rescuers showed up and they found him, they found that he had built three separate structures on the island. They were amazed at what he had done to survive while he was there. And they asked him what each of the structures were there for. And he said, “Well, this first one, that is where I live. That’s my home.” And then they said, “What about this one over here? The second structure?” “Well that’s my church. That’s where I go to church.” And they said, “What about the third structure? What’s that for?” “Well, that’s the church I used to go to!” Unfortunately, that’s a far too common experience for far too many Christians.

And in some ways, that’s the problem, the issue that we find facing the early church in Acts chapter 11. Will it divide or will it stay together and continue to multiply? And the events at the beginning of chapter 11 are obviously important. We know that they’re important because this is really the third time that we are going to hear about them tonight in Acts chapter 11. Back in seminary there was a teacher who gave somewhat of a simplistic method for how to preach a sermon. He said, “You do three things. One, you tell them what you are going to tell them. Number two, you tell them. And then number three, you tell them what you told them.” Well what we have here is something similar in Acts chapter 11 at the very beginning because – with Peter going to the Gentiles. Peter had gone to the Gentiles, gone to Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, he was told to go, he went, and now he is giving a report of what happened when he went. That repetition signifies how important this event was in the history of the church and the spread of the Gospel and in the book of Acts. And so that’s what we come to when we come to Acts chapter 11 – this report Peter gives in Jerusalem about what happened when he took the message of Jesus to the Gentiles.

Now the only problem was, not everybody thought that was a very good idea. But by the end of this chapter, what we find is that not only does the grace of God go out and unite people together, but the grace of God also goes out from believers to one another as they are united together. So that’s going to be something of our outline tonight. We’ll see first, Christian grace. And then secondly, Christian graces. So the grace that comes and makes people Christians but also we’ll see the grace that other Christians show to one another. We’ll see that hopefully in this passage. Before we look and read this passage, let’s pray together and ask God’s help.

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for what You have revealed to us. We thank You for the repetition of places like Acts 11 that we see the significance, the miracle, the wonder of how the Gospel begins in Jerusalem and goes to Judea and Samaria and even to the end of the earth, how it goes to the Gentiles, how it goes to people even like us. And so we pray that the Gospel would come to us again tonight, that we would hear about Your grace, that we would wonder and celebrate in it and that You would send us out from here to share that same grace and Gospel to others as well, to the glory of Jesus. And I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Acts chapter 11, beginning at verse 1:

“Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, ‘You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.’ But Peter began and explained it to them in order: ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?’ When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.’

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. 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. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 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, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

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 (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, every one 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.”

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever.

So what happened when Peter went to visit and to associate with Cornelius and the Gentiles in Caesarea? Verse 2 tells us that Peter returned to Jerusalem and the circumcision party criticized him. They said, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” That was the wrong thing to do. It was unlawful, we are told in chapter 10 verse 28. It was unlawful for Peter, a Jew, to associate with someone from another nation. And there were those in Jerusalem who were not going to let that go unnoticed. Now the same thing actually happened with Jesus as well. And do you remember what happened when Jesus received tax collectors and sinners to come near Him? We actually read about it in our morning worship service in Luke chapter 5; it will be in the reading this coming week I believe in the yearly reading plan. He was criticized. The Pharisees and the scribes, they grumbled against Jesus because He welcomed tax collectors and sinners. And they said, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” They were appalled; they were appalled that Jesus would be so careless and undiscerning. But in both of those cases, both with Peter with the uncircumcised Gentiles and with Jesus and the sinners and tax collectors, what they were missing was grace. They were missing grace.

And with the Pharisees and the scribes, we read of them grumbling against Jesus in Luke chapter 15. And what does Jesus do in response to that complaint? In response to that grumbling, Jesus told them a story. He told them a parable. It’s one that you know well. It was the story of the man who had two sons. And what did the younger son do? He took off with his father’s inheritance and he wasted it all. He indulged every appetite; he gave into every temptation. He never said, “No” until it was all gone. And all that he had left were rags and slop. All he could do was go home and beg. But what happened when he went home to beg? What happened when he went home was, when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and he felt compassion for him and he ran and embraced him and kissed him. In other words, his father welcomed him back in with open arms. He clothed him. He gave him gifts. He threw a party for him and said, “Let’s eat and celebrate for this my son was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!” That’s grace. That’s grace.

And that’s exactly what happened with Peter went to Cornelius and the Gentiles. Peter told them about the love of God. He told them about the forgiveness of sin. He told them about life in Jesus’ name and they believed. They believed in Jesus. They received the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. The same grace that is for tax collectors and sinners, the same grace that is for prodigal sons and daughters, is the same grace that is for uncircumcised Gentiles as well. And we read it last week in chapter 10 verse 45 where it says that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out “even on the Gentiles.” Here in chapter 11 verse 18, it says, “To the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance unto life.”

And that’s the point. It’s that it’s the same grace and it’s the same Gospel. There is not one way for the Jews and another way for the Gentiles. There’s not one way for the circumcised and another way for the uncircumcised. No, there is only one way and that is the way of faith in Jesus Christ. And what Peter says, he says in verse 17, “If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” You see, God’s way includes Jew and Gentile. We could say that even better – that God’s way includes Jew and Gentile together. Paul says it in Ephesians chapter 4. He says, “There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” There is one body, Jew and Gentile together in Christ Jesus, and the only way that that’s possible is by the grace of God. The only way that’s possible is through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I heard a story the other day about an unexpected encounter that took place in the Hurtgen Forest in Germany on Christmas Eve in 1944. It was during World War II. It was Christmas Eve and a German mother and her son were on their own in a small cabin in this forest during the winter when they heard a knock on the door. And they went to the door to see who it was and there were three American soldiers standing outside their door. And one of them was injured; they needed help, they needed care, they needed food and they needed shelter. And so this German woman told them to leave their weapons outside the door and to come in. And she welcomed them in to her cabin to care for them and to prepare a meal for them, to feed them and to shelter them. But then there was another knock on the door. And when she went to the door she found that this time there were not more American soldiers but there were four German soldiers. And they also had gotten separated from their unit; they needed shelter, they needed food in the winter storm. And just like the American troops, she told them to leave their weapons in the door and to come in. And she prepared a meal for them and they sat down and ate this meal together – these soldiers, German and American, who had moments before been at war, fighting against one another, and now enjoying a moment of peace around the table together. Now this woman’s act of kindness, we could say this woman’s act of grace, it had disarmed enemies and brought them together for this brief moment in time.

That’s a picture of what grace does. That’s a glimpse of how God’s grace does not show partiality but it brings together those who are divided by seemingly impossible barriers. It brings together people who are divided by race, culture, politics, education, finances, religious background. Whatever it is, God’s grace overcomes all of those things so that what we find in this chapter are not Jewish believers and Gentile believers. They’re not circumcised disciples and uncircumcised disciples. What we find in this chapter are Christians. And you see that in verse 26. “And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians.” Now I’m jumping ahead a little bit in the story, but that’s the point of this passage. It’s that the grace of God transcends culture.

And the message about Jesus, it isn’t confined to one people group or to one language. It’s not a white, middle class religion or it’s not just an ancient, Middle Eastern religion. No, the way of Jesus enfolds people from all different backgrounds and it does so by the gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit unites us as one in Christ. And I think it is true what has been said about the church and about the Spirit – that the church is never conceived of in the New Testament as an institution, but as a fellowship. It’s a common life based on fellowship with Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And you may remember back this summer when we did a study on the Fruit of the Spirit. And one of the things that we said throughout that study was that the Fruit of the Spirit are not merely personal virtues intended to improve ourselves. But no, the Fruit of the Spirit are given for the church, and love is for one another. Joy comes together. Peace happens in community. And so on.

Or you could say it another way. Jeff Thomas, in his book on the Holy Spirit, he writes about the difference between the Fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. And what he says is that the Fruit of the Spirit are to make us the same, while the gifts of the Spirit are to make us different. The Fruit of the Spirit are there to make us, our character, the same as the character of Jesus Christ – love, joy, peace, patience and so on. But the gifts of the Spirit, those are given to make us like different parts of the body working together for the good of the whole. But, both are oriented toward others. Both the gifts of the Spirit and the Fruit of the Spirit are oriented towards others to promote, to cultivate, to protect the unity of God’s people.

And that’s the significance of what we find happening in Antioch in Acts chapter 11. Did you notice what you see, what we found in Antioch in these verses? In verse 19, we’re told that there were Jews there. In verse 20, we’re told that there were men of Cyprus and men of Cyrene and there were Hellenists. And verse 21 says, “And a great number believed.” A great number turned to the Lord. And here it is, this significant city in the Roman Empire – this was considered the third city of the Roman Empire. After Rome itself and Alexandria, here is Antioch. Is is there east meets west and this is going to be the launching point for the mission of the Gospel, the mission of the church to the Gentiles, to the end of the earth. And what do we find Barnabas seeing when he gets there? What does Barnabas find? It says, verse 23, “He came and saw the grace of God and he was glad.” It was the grace of God that did those things. It was the grace of God that unites people in Jesus. Jesus gives this grace to sinners and tax collectors and prodigals and Gentiles. Jesus gives grace abundantly and Jesus gives the Holy Spirit that unites those believers together as one in Him.

And so we have to ask, “What are the tangible expressions of that?” If God’s grace comes to all these different types of people and brings unity in Him, unity in the Spirit, what are the tangible expressions of that? We could say it another way, “How can we tell that these believers got grace? How can we tell that they got what grace is all about?” Well, it was through the active participation in Christian graces, in extending grace to one another. And that’s what we see here. What we find in this passage is basically the shape of the rest of the New Testament to come. There are features we see emerging in this chapter that you are going to see over and over and over again in all the letters of the New Testament. There is the issue of circumcision. There is the need for perseverance. And there is the taking up of a collection. And we see these things showing up again and again throughout the letters of the New Testament. Paul writes multiple times that it’s neither circumcision nor uncircumcision that account for anything, but it is faith working through love that counts. And he talks in almost every New Testament letter, there is this emphasis on standing firm, pressing on, bearing burdens, being steadfast in affliction. The need to persevere. We know that need, don’t we?

And then one of the things that Paul is concerned with frequently is taking up a collection to help with the needs of the saints that were back in Jerusalem. Now here’s why that’s important. It’s important because when the Gospel, when the grace of God breaks down those barriers that separate people, between Jew and Gentile or whatever, what we see in this passage, when it breaks down the barrier between circumcised and uncircumcised, two things happen. And here are the two things that happen in the second half of Acts 11. Number one, the believers in Judea sent Barnabas to Antioch to encourage and to strengthen the church there. And then secondly, what we find are that the believers in Antioch sent relief to the church in Judea to help them during a time of famine. Do you see those two things happening? Jerusalem sends a teacher to Antioch and Antioch sends relief to Jerusalem.

Now with Barnabas, we’re told that when the church in Jerusalem heard the report of people turning to the Lord, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. Now who was Barnabas? You remember Barnabas was the son of encouragement. Barnabas was the one who was there who commended Saul to the apostles in Jerusalem. He was, verse 24 tells us, he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And he goes to Antioch to exhort them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. Now the word there is “parakaleo.” It means “to encourage, to persuade.” It means to come alongside someone and call them to a particular purpose. It’s the word that’s translated in these verses, in verse 23 as “exhort.” It’s from the same word Jesus uses to talk about the Holy Spirit in the gospel of John, the “Paraklete.” That word that is translated as “the helper, the comforter, the advocate, the counselor.”

And those are some of the things that Barnabas comes to do for the believers in Antioch. Barnabas comes to preach to the people. He comes to bring them a word of exhortation, a word of encouragement. Verse 25 says that after he first went there he then went to Tarsus, he found Saul, and when he brought Saul to Antioch, that for a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many of the people. Now do you see what’s going on? The believers in Jerusalem were ministering to the believers in Antioch through the preaching and the teaching of Barnabas and Saul. And so there’s this sharing of the ministry of the Word that was an expression of and a cultivation of their unity in the Lord. So that’s the first thing.

Notice what else happens. Notice what happens with the believers in Antioch toward the believers in Jerusalem. It says in verse 27 that prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, one of them named Agabus. He said that there was going to be a famine. And so how did the disciples in Antioch respond to that message? It says, verse 29 and 30, “They determined, every one 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.” Now there’s another familiar Greek word there in those verses and it’s “diakonia.” It’s translated as “relief.” It’s the word from which we get “deacon.” It’s a word of service. You remember back in Acts chapter 6 there were the needs of the Hellenist widows in Jerusalem. And what was extended to them to care for their needs? It was “diakonia.” It’s taking care of tangible, practical needs. And here it is in these verses. It’s the sending of funds or resources to help the brothers. Notice that word, verse 29, “brothers.” Not just Jewish brothers, but Jewish and Gentile brothers. They are a family of Christ together and they are taking care of one another when hardships come. How did the brothers and sisters in Antioch express their appreciation for, their solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem? What did they do to live out their spiritual unity with one another? They gave generously. They gave generously. You see, this is what the grace of God does.

And I hope I’m not distracted by the flags around the sanctuary or reading too much of the mission conference into this passage, but isn’t this what we do at a mission conference? And we have brothers and sisters from different places around the world come here to us to exhort us and to encourage us to remain steadfast in the Lord. Isn’t that what happens? I remember several years ago some of this “parakaleo” ministry happening with a brother who came from Pakistan. And he had been in the same town at the same time when the raid on Osama bin Laden happened. And of course we all wanted him to tell the story of Seal Team 6 and Zero Dark 30 and all of the things that happened that night, but in addition to that – and we also felt sorry for the campus minister who had to follow his story about the raid on bin Laden – but in addition to that, he told us about living in a country or being from a country where even a few months ago there were twenty-six churches that were burned and Christians were forced to flee from their homes. And he told us about how he was basically a wanted man and that his life was at risk, really at risk any time he opened his mouth and expressed his faith in Christ.

Is that not an encouragement, a parakaleo, to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose for us? For us who are living in Jackson, Mississippi when perhaps being a Christian may be unpopular, it may call us to go against the flow of our peers in some way, or even when we’re just going through trials and suffering, isn’t it an encouragement to hear brothers and sisters who are going through hard trials and standing firm, remaining steadfast in their own trials in various places, to be exhorted and encouraged in that? We’ll hear it next week. Aaron Halbert will be here from Honduras and he’ll tell us about the grace of God at work in —————–. It’s the same grace that’s at work in Jackson, Mississippi and we need to be reminded of that, encouraged of that, to remain steadfast in the Lord. That’s parakaleo.

But that’s not it. One other thing, because we’ll also be called in a mission conference to commit ourselves, to commit ourselves and our time and our resources to the church in other places. I got to see that first hand in Peru this past summer. I got to see doctors and nurses and dentists and dental hygienists and even attorneys helping people. And that’s not a lawyer joke. That’s Jack Crawford actually pulling teeth in the dental clinic! And it’s such an encouragement to see men and women, brothers and sisters from right here going to different places, giving up time, giving up resources to go and to help the brothers and sisters in need in places like Peru. That’s diakonia.

Or we could also talk about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been given from this congregation in supplies that have been sent to Ukraine over the past year and a half or so. Those are practical supplies to the citizens who are in a country at war. No doubt that is an expression of support and relief to a church that is under stress. That’s diakonia. And so we see those two things, and as we come to this passage about the unity of the church, and as we come to the mission conference next week, there is a challenge for us to come ready to be encouraged, to come ready to be exhorted. But there’s also a good challenge for us to come ready to give of ourselves, to give of our time, to give of our resources for the work of ministry.

And if I could just add another word of challenge along those lines. As we think about the grace of God, as we think about the gift of the Holy Spirit, it’s this – let’s not find ourselves in the way of our culture and be too quick to divide. And we could all fall into a posture of such theological precision or tradition that it makes it nearly impossible to fellowship with brothers and sisters from a different culture and from a different background from us. I think it is true that what has been said, what unites all true Christians, is always more than what divides us. But sometimes we can be too sensitive to somebody saying something wrong or doing something to disrupt our established patterns. We have to work hard against that. We have to work against a natural tendency to divide and to intentionally pursue the supernatural blessings of unity and peace and grace towards one another. And on the flip side, let’s not be only focused on Word ministry that we neglect the ministry of caring for the tangible needs of other people. You know, Barnabas and Saul, they didn’t open up a 501C3 corporation in order to take the funds back to the believers in Jerusalem. No, they went as a part of the church. And of course we can’t respond to every need, but what an encouragement it would be, what an encouragement it is, what an expression of solidarity with partner churches to give to practical needs when they arise. Our policies have to allow for that sort of giving and we need to be encouraged to give and to share with those in practical needs around us and around the world. And that’s the last thing I’ll say.

All of this goes to our brothers and sisters right here in Jackson, Mississippi as well, and not just to those in foreign countries. And sometimes it can be easier to show charity and grace to people at a distance than it is for those who are right around us all the time. And if there is a call for us, I think, in this passage, to be exhorted from brothers and sisters in different cultures, different backgrounds, and to go and to give when we see the needs arise in our communities around us.

And so here we have these two options in this passage. There’s division or there’s multiplication. And the threat at the beginning of chapter 11 is to divide into a Jewish church and a Gentile church. But what we find at the end of this chapter is a unity, a unity of mutual encouragement and generosity. And so what happens next? Not division, but the church is ready to multiply. It’s ready to multiply to Galatia, to Ephesus, to Philippi, to Thessalonica, to Corinth, all the way to Rome. And eventually to a place like Jackson, Mississippi. May God allow us to participate in that same mission of the same Gospel to the glory of the same Lord. Let’s pray.

Father, we give You thanks and we praise You for the example of the early church and of Your grace at work in that community and in their lives. And we ask that You would continue to work Your same grace in our own lives as well, that we would stand strong, that we would be steadfast in the Lord, that we would stand against the pressures of the culture and of peers around us, and that we would glorify You with how we live our lives and how we gather for worship and how we minister the Word in difficult places. We pray that You would give us hearts of generosity, that we would remember the one who demonstrated grace and that He was rich beyond all measure, yet for our sake became poor so that out of His poverty we might become rich. Help us then to give generously where You call us to give. Help us to do all of this not to pat ourselves on the back, not to toot our own horn, but to bring glory to Your name. And I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

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