The testimony of these early Christians was one of being a Jew, keeping the law of Moses, offering sacrifices, honoring the Sabbath, keeping the required feasts and circumcision of the male babies and then recognizing Jesus as their Messiah and trusting Him. Jesus was a continuation, the rest of the story, so to speak, of that which was already at work in their life. Their assumption then was that all Christians would find Christ in the same manner. Some did; they were called proselytes.
Then, in chapter 10, a radical change took place. In chapter 10 we saw Peter preach the gospel to this gathering of gentiles. This was a first and the Holy Spirit came upon these gentiles who received the gospel. This became a confirmation that these gentiles were indeed saved by the God's grace through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Peter said, "In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality."
Gentiles were born again into Christ and received the Holy Spirit without coming through Judaism. The testimony of these gentile Christians could simply be one of repentance and trust. God used this Roman centurion to bring Peter to his home along with other Jewish believers. These Jewish Disciples of Christ became witnesses to this event. God had opened the door for the gentiles.
At the end of chapter 10 these new Christians were baptized after being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Jewish believers were astonished. This was outside the realm of possibility as far as they were concerned. It was difficult for them to accept.
Acts 11:1-3
This news likely traveled fast. This was big news; salvation had come to the gentiles and the Holy Spirit had fallen on them. It was a miraculous event, much like Pentecost. But now the headline news Luke reports is that the apostles and brethren in Judea took issue with Peter’s social activities. This was a dispute and they contended with Peter because he went into the house of uncircumcised gentiles and ate with them. A good Jew didn’t do these things.
Peter had to know this was coming. It was probably a long walk back to Jerusalem; all the while thinking, how am I going to explain this to the others. Peter was an apostle and a man of authority in the church so the Apostles and other believers would listen to him. The ones who gave him a problem were 'those of the circumcision'. We don't want to confuse these men with the Pharisees. These were Christian men, but they were Jewish men who were devout in their belief that one had to come to Christ through the law. In their eyes one couldn't be a Christian until he came under the Law of Moses and was circumcised. This was a group of men dedicated to protecting that idea. Paul would later write Romans 4 about this very thing.
This word 'contend' wasn't a gentile discussion, it was outright disagreement. They thought Peter had messed up, and bad! How could he do this; enter the home of a gentile and eat with him? They attacked him and scolded him. Sharing a meal was fellowship and Peter's action was a huge compromise as far as they were concerned.
Isn't it fascinating that they didn't argue if the gentiles could be saved but that if it was right that a Jew could sit with them and eat?
Acts 11:4-18
Peter calmly told them what happened. At first Peter saw this sheet as a sort of tablecloth where clean and unclean were together. He understood it as an end to dietary laws. But then he came to understand this sheet as the church in which both Jew and gentile would exist with no distinction. God's stamp of approval was the Holy Spirit as He came upon these gentiles.
As Peter was originally confused and thoughtful about this, he didn't attempt to convince them or sway their response. He felt no need to embellish the story. He told them what the Lord did. Peter just let the Holy Spirit bring the understanding. This was about Jesus and Peter understood it wasn't about him at all.
There were 3 pieces of evidence that Peter presented.
- Peter was given a vision, repeated 3 times to affirm the importance of it.
- Peter had the witness of the Spirit who said 3 men were coming. He was to go with them and doubt nothing.
- Peter also had the witness of the Word. Peter remembered the Word that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Matt 3:11, Mark 1:18; John 1:26). He reasoned, if they were baptized, this must be from Jesus.
Cornelius also had the testimony of an angel speaking to him as well as the timing of the message. Yet, the testimony of this centurion gentile didn't really carry much weight for these guys. Cornelius spoke with an angel and was given a mission. These men showed up at the perfect time to confirm what was happening, not by coincidence but God's perfect timing.
Peter is essentially telling these men that their problem wasn't so much with Him as it was with God. Silence was probably not something these guys were accustomed to. The hearts of these men were soft enough to be guided and corrected. They were able to see God's work in spite of prejudices and traditions. We could all learn from that. These men who were known as "those of the circumcision" are now "those of grace"! The contention turned into worship as they glorified God.
Acts 11:19-26
There seemed to be evidence in the early church of the same reluctance we have to going out and preaching the gospel. Luke makes the connection that by persecution the church was scattered. It is persecution that brought the church to Phoenicia, north of Caesarea; Cypress, the Mediterranean Island, home of Barnabas; Antioch in what we know as Turkey; in Cyrene of northern Africa. That is probably why God allowed this persecution. It drove the disciples out of Jerusalem and the word began to spread by persecution.
Cyrene is a city on the northern coast of Africa. We know that there was a man named Simon from Cyrene that was attending Passover in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. Mark 15:21 says that Simon was compelled to carry the cross of Christ by the Romans. Mark, who we will see goes to Cyrene will also write that Simon has 2 kids, Rufus and Alexander. When Paul writes his letter to the Romans, he greets a Rufus in the church there. Then 50 days later there were Cyrenians present at Pentecost and they were filled with the Holy Spirit before they went home.
These men of Cyrene and Cyprus went to Antioch and were preaching Jesus there. Antioch wasn't the kind of a place a Jewish man would feel comfortable in. Antioch was a Roman city about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. It was 20 miles inland from the Mediterranean. This place had a population of 500,000 people at the time. Rome was the greatest city of the Roman empire; Alexandria was the next greatest and then Antioch. It was a center for business, commerce and culture. This city was called “Antioch the Golden, Queen of the East.” Main street in Antioch was over four miles long and paved with marble. Both sides of the street were lined by marble colonnades. Antioch was also famous for its immorality. Some of this immorality was the direct result of religious beliefs. The cults that grew out of the myths of the Greek gods had a huge influence on this city. Ritual prostitution in these temples was normal among these cults.
When speaking of Rome's decadence, Roman senator Juvenal said that "The Orontes (river through Antioch) has flowed into the Tiber (river through Rome). He placed the decadence of Antioch second to none.
This city of Antioch sounds like a good place for a church. It was a good (and dark) place to go and preach the gospel. We can see that Peter’s testimony to the church of the Gospel going to the Gentiles was accepted. Now Christianity spreads to the ends of the earth as Christ commanded. These men did that very thing and the hand of the Lord was with them and many came to know Christ.
Barnabas (son of encouragement), from Cypress, went to Antioch. The church in Jerusalem still felt some responsibility for shepherding this flock scattered by persecution. They sent Barnabas up to Antioch to find out what was going on. We get a glimpse of what Luke thought of Barnabas. He considered him a special man of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, with the gift of encouragement. Barnabas went to Antioch and saw that the grace of God was there. He didn't just see this and leave. He saw God working and wanted to jump in. He offered his gift to the church by encouraging them. He did this with 'purpose of heart'. This is deep seeded determination to 'continue with the Lord'. This wasn't a pat on the back to 'grind out' a good life but encouragement to be determined to trust in the Lord, no matter what! (Lean not on your own understanding…)
It's as if Barnabas recognized something big, something significant was going on they needed help. Instead of sending word back to Jerusalem, Barnabas remembered his friend, Saul. If you remember back in chapter 9 after Saul's conversion, he came to Jerusalem to join the disciples. They didn't trust Saul but Barnabas took Saul to them and stood with him as he gave his testimony to them. Barnabas knew that Saul was called to preach to the gentiles. At this point, ten years had passed since Barnabas introduced Saul to the disciples.
Saul and Barnabas ministered together at Antioch for a year, teaching Christ and making disciples. It was around this time that disciples were first called Christians. Knowing what we do about Antioch, its not hard for us to believe that this term was originally a derogatory name. The 'ian' means 'party of' so the saying literally meant 'party of Christ'. We might say Jesus people or Jesusites. They said this to mock these folks. They may have also used a play on words by using a word much like Christ that meant 'good fellows'. We might understand it as the term 'good two-shoes'.
Acts 11:27-30
Luke shows us that prophets were present in the church and their prophecies were an everyday occurrence. Prophets speak of supernatural occurrence, of past, present and future. The word is used 149 times in the New Testament. Nearly all the occurrences speak of fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. Agabus, means locust or grasshopper, shows up by name in the New Testament here and 21:10.
How did Agabus, by the Spirit, show them a famine was coming? This is an interesting way of putting this. He gave some sign indicating a famine. This famine was recorded in secular history also; one of which was Josephus. Some believe this was a local famine, others see it worldwide since it references the Caesar. It is believed to have started as early as 40AD and lasted reached its worst around 44 to 46AD.
Apparently, this famine left the believers in Judea in need. These believers in Antioch did what Christians do, they took action. Each person determined to help out, each according to his ability. This is an interesting challenge for most of us. When to give, who to give to and how much. Is it the need of others that moves us? Each gave according to his ability. These folks were characterized by their giving, not their taking.
This collection was given to the elders (presberturous) of the church by Barnabas and Saul. The elders delivered it to the church. This is the first mention of elders in the bible.
©2008, 2014, 2021 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
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