This past week I watched a national TV interview with a famous mega-church pastor on Fox News being asked for his wisdom about how we are to get through this difficult time with the coronavirus. Let me repeat. He is a pastor being interviewed on a national news program being asked why we should not be afraid or live in fear because of the virus. What an incredible opportunity! Here is his chance to say the name of Jesus to millions of people. I mean, as a pastor, surely that is what he said, right?
“Take it one day at a time and choose to live in a place of peace, not fear.” And with his perfect smile, he went on to say that we should think happy thoughts, not depressing thoughts because what we think, so we become. And while none of that is inherently wrong, during the whole five-minute interview, not one time did he mention the name of Jesus. He said “God” a couple of times but that works no matter what god you serve. It works for Buddha or Allah or your higher power of choice.
I couldn’t help but think of how someone like Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, would have responded to those questions. I’ve heard him interviewed before and it doesn’t matter what question he is asked, Franklin Graham is going to bring up the name of Jesus. “Bro. Graham, how do you like today’s weather?” “Well, Bill, it’s a beautiful day and it makes me think of how beautiful it will be when Jesus takes us home to Heaven!” You know, he’s that kind of guy which may be the reason he doesn’t get interviewed as often as the other guy.
But there is power in the name of Jesus! There is something about that name. And if you have a hard time saying that name when somebody asks you for the hope that you have, then there is a good chance you don’t know Him and if you don’t know Him then you have no business being a Christian preacher.
The thing about the name of Jesus is there is power in that name and because there is power, when it is spoken, one of two things is going to happen. The person hearing it will either accept it or reject it. There is no third choice. Because of that, Jesus is controversial. He is controversial because those that accept it want other people to have what they have. The people that reject it, reject it because they don’t want to change their lives. They don’t want to give up the power that they think they have and so they think the people that accept it should be quiet and leave them alone.
In the seventh chapter of Acts, Stephen was falsely accused of blasphemy and taken to court where he was asked if it was true. He went into a long lesson on Israel’s history that ended with Stephen accusing them of murdering Jesus, the Messiah. If you are wondering, no, that didn’t go too well. They stoned him to death for it. They rejected Jesus by rejecting Stephen and, while the first church was just getting started, one of the church leaders was killed and a great crisis started for the church that would continue until…well, it probably continues even today in one form or another.
That crisis led to the first church being scattered to the four winds. People lost their homes and their jobs and their families all because they professed the powerful name of Jesus. That sounds horrible, doesn’t it. It was horrible. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. How could God have allowed all this to happen? Was He not aware or did He just not care?
Today, you may be thinking the same thing about your situation. Some of you have been hit harder than others but we are all suffering right now through no fault of our own. Many have lost jobs. Many are hurting financially. We are all suffering relationally and it’s just not right. It’s not fair. Why does God allow us to continue suffering like this? Are we being punished or does He just not care?
Those are important questions and they can be hard to answer satisfactorily but I believe some of the answers can be found a couple of chapters later in the book of Acts. We are continuing our study of the New Testament churches to find out what they did right and what they did wrong so we will know what Christ Fellowship ought to be doing or not doing. Last week we saw the birth of the church in Jerusalem in Acts chapter two but that infancy didn’t last long. They had to grow up quick.
This week, we are in Acts chapter 11 and we see that some of the members of the first church have fled the persecution in Israel and traveled all the way north to the Greek city of Antioch. Now, Antioch was no small village. It had hundreds of thousands of people and was a major seaport and crossroads. I read that the city actually had marble roads and sidewalks for miles and miles. It was very wealthy and very busy. Think of it as a mixture of New York City and Las Vegas. Imagine leaving Lake Bridgeport and moving to Vegas. Yea, it was like that.
So, let’s turn to Acts 11:19-30 and let’s see what happened to the people of the first church as they moved away. 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. 20 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. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 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. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. 27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 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.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
There is a quote attributed to Martin Luther that says, “Apart from the church, there is no salvation.” What do you think about that? Is that true? Is salvation provided by the church? Of course not. Salvation, the assurance of Heaven when we die, is not provided by the church but only found in the grace of God through His Son Jesus.
But what is the church? The church is just the saved ones, the called-out ones and who is going to tell the unsaved if not the saved? If somebody is lost on a trail in the wilderness, who can save them except someone who knows the way? That is the reason that the church is not just raptured up to Heaven already. We are left to tell others. It’s the one job Jesus gave us before He went back to Heaven. As He said in Matthew 28, “As you go, make disciples.”
That is exactly what the first church was doing all the way up in Antioch. I love that is says they were telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus in verse 20. Notice that it does not say they were inviting them to church. There is nothing wrong with inviting someone to church. In fact, that is often where the conversation should start. But that is definitely not where the conversation should end.
If there is any good with this virus, it has taught us that the church is not a building. It is not something that happens at 1301 N Main St. The church is a group of believers that have jobs, go to school, share joys and hardships together and every once in a while, we get to meet together as a group and make God look good in a corporate way. That’s the way it should be. That is what the first church did from the beginning and what they continued to do as they scattered during their crisis. As they went, they made disciples even in New York / Las Vegas / Antioch.
Now, notice what happens when they did what they were supposed to do even in the midst of their crisis. It says in verse 21, “The Lord’s hand was with them.” We see in the Old Testament that there are two ways that the Lord’s hand can be with you or on you. The Lord’s hand can be on you in judgment or in blessing.
There is a short passage of scripture in 1 Samuel 5 that talks about how the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant and took it to a city called Ashdod. Let’s just say that God was not pleased with that decision and it says in 1 Samuel 5:6, “The LORD's hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors.” If you don’t think God causes bad things to happen sometimes, ask the Ashdodians how they felt about God’s hand being on them. Oh, wait. You can’t. There are no more Ashdodians.
God’s hand can be on you in judgment or in blessing and for the church in Antioch, it provided blessing. And what kind of blessing? Surely it means they were healthy and wealthy, right? No. Not necessarily. But God blessed their efforts and it says that a great number of people had their lives changed because of it.
Let’s continue on looking at what that church did in verses 22-23. “News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them…” Stop right there. News got back to the first church there in Jerusalem and they told Barnabas, one of their main members, “Hey, go check out these stories of what our brothers and sisters are doing up there in Sin City.”
Barnabas was the right choice, too. His name actually means “Son of Encouragement.” It wasn’t his birthname. It was a nickname because that is exactly who he was and what he was. We have several Barnabas’s (Barnabi?) in our church and they play a vital role. I told Linda Pierot the other day that I remember the very first time I saw her because she walked into our church building one Sunday morning, late of course, but she walked in smiling and nodding and saying, “Amen” and she never stopped. She is a “Son of Encouragement.” That is a gift that a lot of people don’t have but everybody needs to be.
God-given gifts can be a tricky thing in the church sometimes. I believe God’s hand of blessing is on a person who admits that something is not their gift but they are willing to do it when they see a need. On the other hand, there are some people in some churches that think they have a gift and want to use it. That can be a problem. But whether or not you are actually gifted with encouragement or not, you need to be an encourager.
It has been really windy lately and the other day I was out on the back deck and I watched this buzzard trying to fly into the wind. He was making some progress but you could tell he was straining. He was basically standing still and working really hard. Finally, he had evidently had enough and he took off the other way like a jet. He had the wind behind him and he was moving fast. It might not have been the way he wanted to go but he was making good time.
Ministry is like that sometimes and we all have our ministries. What we need is somebody to be the encouraging wind beneath our wings so we can really do what we are supposed to do without a lot of resistance. So…now, I would like to sing a solo of “Wind Beneath My Wings” and dedicate it to all you encouragers out there. What do you think? No? No encouragement from anybody to do that? It’s not my gift, is it? That’s okay. I understand. Let’s move on then. 😊
We have seen that the church in Antioch, in the midst of their crisis, was continuing to make disciples and telling the Good News of Jesus and the Lord’s gracious hand was on them and blessing them. They had some natural encouragers in that church and were hitting on all cylinders in a land that was foreign to them and not where they really wanted to be but where God had called them to be for the good of the global church and for the glory of God’s name.
Now, if you go back down to verses 27-29 of our passage, you will see something that corresponds to encouragement. It says, “During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 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.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.”
We’re not going to get bogged down with a lot of details or a history lesson or a debate on theology here but there is one main take-away I want to look at here. John MacArthur says succinctly about this when he says, “Like the apostles, the prophets were not a permanent order. Having fulfilled their foundational purpose, they gradually faded from the scene, to be replaced by the evangelists and the pastor-teachers.”
So, when it says that some prophets came to Antioch from Jerusalem and prophesied, it is like having a guest preacher and that preacher said there was about to be a great famine and so the gist of this passage is not that there was a great prophecy or there were prophets that we should emulate, but that in view of that famine, the members of the church in Antioch, knowing the poverty that the persecuted church in Jerusalem was undergoing, decided to send them some financial help.
“Oh, here he goes, Agnes, talking about money again! That’s all he ever talks about. Money, money, money.” Well, I hope you know that’s not true. I also want you to know that I don’t know who gives what. It’s not my business and I’m not the least bit worried about our finances here at Christ Fellowship. That’s not because we have a lot of money in the bank but because our God is loaded and He protects and provides for us beyond all we could ever imagine. I don’t bring up giving so that the church bank account will grow. I bring it up so that your treasures in Heaven will grow.
Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” You store up treasures in Heaven by giving here on earth. That’s what the Bible says, not what Todd says.
But Todd does say that if you are a member of this church, you ought to support this church financially and with your attendance, virtually or in person. But if you are watching this on Facebook and you are a member somewhere else, support that church, not this church. Yes, you heard me. Don’t send your money here if your membership is somewhere else. If you want to support this church AND your church then that is fine for your over and above gift to come here.
Most of you know that our church tithes ten percent of our income to support five other ministries. Those ministries, in turn, support ministries and missionaries all over the world. So, when you give a dollar to Christ Fellowship, a portion of that goes around the world to help further the Gospel, just like the church in Antioch did.
Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Now, the mega-church pastor I talked about at the beginning might tell you that means that if you give the church $50 then God will give you $500. But it doesn’t necessarily work that way. It might. God can do whatever He wants, but it probably won’t. How it usually works is that God honors your sincere gift in a way that He blesses you with His gracious hand in intangible ways – His protection and provision that we usually can’t see – but also in ways that we won’t ever see until we get to Heaven.
Now, would you rather have $500 in this life or God’s gifts that are beyond all we could ever ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20) in the next life for eternity? $500 would be nice. No doubt. But that is not what this verse is talking about. We give because we want to be obedient. We give because we love and want to support other ministries and we give because we will be rewarded for it in Heaven. That’s a pretty good deal.
This church in Antioch was in the middle of a huge crisis. The church in Jerusalem was in an even bigger crisis. The church today is in a crisis as well but I sincerely believe that this virus is not our biggest problem. The church has always been in crisis and it always will be because we represent the name of Jesus and some people are always going to reject Him through us.
In the midst of this crisis and any other crisis we have to continue telling other people the good news about Jesus and what He has done in our lives. We have to keep encouraging each other. Who else is going to? And we have to continue to support our church, for the sake of the church but also for the sake of the other ministries and for the blessings God wants us to have in Heaven. When we do those three things, we will see God’s hand of blessing on our church, virus or no virus.
Today, if you don’t know the good news about Jesus Christ, let me tell you. He has changed my life like He has changed the lives of so many people in our church and He can change yours. I don’t care how bad you are or how bad you have messed up. You would be hard pressed to top some of the horrible stuff some of us have done but God forgives when you repent and turn away from that lifestyle. All you have to do is believe and confess with your mouth that He is Lord of your life and He will come into your life and His mighty right hand will be on you with blessing instead of judgment.
He gives peace and joy in this life even in the difficulties and the crises of this world. Plus, you have all the assurance of Heaven when you die. What’s that worth? Trust me. It’s a pretty good deal. Do it right now wherever you are as the music plays.
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