Evidence of the Grace of God
Acts 11:19-26; 1 Peter 2:11-12
Jim Davis
How did first century Christianity have such an impact upon their pagan world? If we will truly contemplate this question to the point where we discover the answer, we will also discover the key elements to having the same impact upon our world.
Acts 11:19-26
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to 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 ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, 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, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. NIV
I think the Lord has revealed a key element to Christianity’s growth in the scriptures we have just read. These scriptures also give us the key to Christianity’s continued growth for every age.
Luke tells us that the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch. When Barnabas arrived, he saw the evidence of the presence of the grace of God. What was it that evidenced the presence of God’s grace? Discovering the answer to this question will reveal why Christianity had such an impact upon that pagan world.
First Century Was No Pristine Society
Christianity of the first century thrived despite the prevalence of deplorable immorality. The pagan world of Antioch witnessed the power of God’s grace first hand. Antioch was a city with half million citizens. It ranked as the third largest city in the Roman Empire. It was a magnificent city with beautiful ancient buildings. Main street was a lighted street about four miles long, paved with marble. Marble colonnades adorned main street.
Antioch was located on a seaport that attracted all kinds of people. The city enjoyed commercial and political power. It was a city of immorality. The ancients honored many deities in the Roman, Syrian and Greek world. There was a shrine to Daphne, whose worship included immoral practices. Amazingly, here in this pagan society where all the gods of antiquity were worship, Christ was exalted. When those first century Christians arrived in Antioch, they didn’t feel intimidated by the glamorous city or the pride of its citizens.
Initially, we might think Christianity thrived during the days of the apostles because of a favorable society, but nothing could be further from the truth. First century Christians faced the same obstacles we face today. Listen to scriptural references about the society in which Christianity thrived.
Romans 1:18-32
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. NIV
Christianity in the first century thrived despite the persecution of a divided religious world. Militant religious fanatics had stoned Stephen—Christians were scattered as they fled the persecution. However, Christianity spread more boldly into the regions to which Christians fled.
Acts 11:19-21
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to 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.
Christianity of the first century thrived as it met the dangerous challenges head on. God’s people have always thrived in the most unlikely circumstances. Moses lived among pagans as a boy in Egypt, but he chose rather to suffer with the people of god than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Hebrews 11:25).
Daniel was pressured to worship false gods as a captive in Babylon, but he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself (Daniel 1:8).
Jesus grew up as a tender plant in Nazareth, a place that had a reputation that prompted Nathaniel to ask, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Yet he remained sinless all of his life (Hebrews 4:15).
Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery when he was seventeen years old. He was taken to Egypt where he lived in a pagan society in the cruelest of circumstances. However, he chose to rely on God for his strength. He rose to a position of authority in the pharaoh’s palace. However, he was accused of trying to molest the pharaoh’s wife. He was thrown into prison, but he purposed to serve God in that prison. God blessed Joseph with ability to interpret dreams, eventually he was asked to interpret the pharaoh’s dream. Upon doing so, he was exalted as the second man in charge of all of Egypt.
Egypt was a pagan society. Egyptians considered Joseph considered an outcast. An Egyptian would not be caught eating at a table with a Hebrew. However, Joseph chose to serve God. At thirty years of age, God exalted Joseph to second man in charge of all of Egypt.
The word of God tells us that we can depend upon God in the worst of circumstances? God will not take you out of the world, or your circumstances. You can’t live isolated from the world, but you can live separated from the world.
1 Peter 2:11-12
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. NIV
They Evidenced the Grace of God
“When he [Barnabas] arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” What did Barnabas see when he saw the evidence of the grace of God? I think it was the same things the pharaoh saw in Joseph. It was what Moses demonstrated when he delivered the Hebrews from bondage. The Babylonians witnessed the same thing in the life of Daniel. It was what the first century world witnessed in Christ’s presence. Barnabas saw the grace of God saving the Gentiles—he saw the Gentiles turning from their pagan lives to embrace the grace of God.
First century Christianity challenged pagans to turn from the immorality of their pagan society. In doing so, their world saw evidence of the grace of God.
1 Thessalonians 1:4-10
4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. NIV
These people weren’t simply converted from one style of worship to another—from one church to another. The gospel challenged every facet of their lives. Their deep conviction led them to lives separated from worldly influences. This led others to imitate their lives as it allowed them to see Christ in how they lived. Those converted became a model to all the believers in Macedonia.
You have to understand they weren’t called Christians merely because of their conversion, but because of their belief, their conduct, and their life in Christ. They turned from their pagan lifestyles to embrace the life of Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. NIV
It is something that the 21st century world has a real need to witness. What that pagan world witnessed led them to call those first disciples “Christians.” The Latin suffix tan means "belonging to the party of" In derision, some of the pagan citizens of Antioch joined this Latin suffix to the Hebrew name "Christ" and came up with Christian. The name itself reveals the impact those first believers were having on their godless society. The name is found only three times in the entire New Testament: Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Dynamic, Acts, The Bible Exposition Commentary. Copyright (c) 1989 by SP Publications, Inc.)
Unfortunately, the word Christian has lost a great deal of significance over the centuries and no longer means "one who has turned from sin, trusted Jesus Christ, and received salvation by grace" (Acts 11:21-23). Many people who have never been born again consider themselves "Christians" simply because they say they are not "pagans." After all, they may belong to a church, attend services somewhat regularly, and even occasionally give to the work of the church! However, it takes more than that for a sinner to become a child of God. It takes repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins on the cross and rose again to give us eternal life. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Dynamic, Acts, The Bible Exposition Commentary. Copyright (c) 1989 by SP Publications, Inc.)
Statistics reveal the morality of Christians today is on the same level of the world. There is no appreciable difference. We have many people today calling themselves Christians, but their life is or has become suspect. Is it because they have a false definition of what it means to be a Christian?
Many believers in the early church suffered because they were Christians (1 Peter 4:16). Dr. David Otis Fuller has asked, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" A good question! And the answer is a matter of life or death! (Warren Wiersbe, Be Dynamic, Acts, The Bible Exposition Commentary. Copyright (c) 1989 by SP Publications, Inc.)
The Hand of God Was Upon Them
When Barnabas arrived in Antioch “he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose” (Acts 11:23 RSV). Luke tells us “the hand of God was upon them.” It wasn’t their praise services, or great preaching, it wasn’t their organization but it was the hand of the Lord that made the difference. The hand of the Lord was upon them because they had purposed in their hearts to follow the Lord.
There are principles for living out our faith visibly and deliberately. This should be done in the context of daily living. When you hear someone call himself or herself a Christian what comes to your mind? What beliefs, convictions, or lifestyles become visible across the screen of your thinking? How do you define what a Christian is? After the images and the defining, would you define yourself as a Christian and if so how does anyone know you are one?
Pagans became Christians because of the drawing power of those lives given to Christ.
Did you see, hear, and understand the marks that identified them as disciples? First, the Lord’s hand was with them and because of that, other people believed and turned to the Lord. How many people have turned to God because His hand is upon your life --- that’s discipleship?
You may think the circumstances you live in are not the best in which to serve God. Your school may be a bed of immorality. I heard a couple of weeks ago where the school board in New York city passed a rule that kids couldn’t have sex in the stairwells of the school.
You may have to go to church alone with no support from your family. You may have to depend on someone outside of the family for a ride to church. Alternatively, maybe your family suffers from religious division—your mom believes one thing and you father another.
You may attend a congregation that has a poor youth program or no program at all. Maybe the teens in you youth group only pretend to be Christian and are living sinful lives when they are away from parents and church members.
Does this mean that you should give up? Do you have to be a weak Christian because you do not have ideal circumstances? Does this mean you will never be able to be what God is calling you to be?
CONCLUSION:
News got all the way to back to the church in Jerusalem about the lives changed in Antioch among the non-Jews. Listen, Antioch was some 300 miles north of Jerusalem, yet the word was out.
No CNN, no Associated Press, no New York Times, no LA Times, just peoples lives changed so drastically that it spread by word of mouth. Who is talking about the changes in you? When you say that you are going to live more for God are people saying, “This won’t last long.”
Jerusalem sent an investigator to check it out. They sent a man by the name of Barnabas, the son of Encouragement. He came some 300 miles to inspect the fruit of their conversion. Somebody somewhere is on their way to check you out.
Listen to what the Spirit says, people are not interested in what you have to say about God if your life is not any different from theirs. If your life is not lived to a higher standard than what they are living then they won’t hear about God.
To become an ‘admirer of Jesus’ is much easier than to become a follower of Jesus.
Bible Study Questions
1. How did first century Christians have such an impact upon their pagan world?
2. In what kind of societies have God’s people thrived?
3. What was the religious and moral atmosphere of the first century?
4. What or who can we depend upon in the worst of circumstances?
5. Luke tells us that Barnabas arrived in Antioch and saw the evidence of the grace of God. What was the evidence he saw?
6. In what ways did first century Christianity challenge their pagan society? (1 Thessalonians 1:4-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.)
7. In what way was the hand of God upon those Christians in Antioch? Why was the hand of God upon them?
8. What was Peter’s challenge to those living in a pagan society (1 Peter 2:11-12)?