Christians
The setting:
• When the Jewish religious leadership in Jerusalem began persecuting the Jews who believed that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and that He was the promised Messiah Who was sent into the world to save men from their sins, they began to persecute these Believers.
• Things got so bad that a young charismatic, spirit-filled Believer named Stephen, who was a deacon in the Church at Jerusalem, was stoned to death by a group of radical religious Jews.
• Stephen’s death emboldened the aggressors and sent fear into the hearts of some of the Jews who had become Believers in Jesus.
• Many Believers were scattered abroad for fear of their lives and they took Jesus with them wherever they went.
• Some of these Jewish Believers went as far north as Antioch … the capital city and commercial center of Syria.
• These Believers preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to other Jews who lived in Antioch.
• Many believed and were born-again, and a new Church was birthed in the city of Antioch.
Antioch was built along the Orontes River, only 16 miles from the Mediterranean Sea, by one of the generals of Alexander the Great about 300BC. In the days of early Church, Antioch was a hub of activity from trade to travel.
If a person wished to travel from Jerusalem to Antioch, they could walk the 300 miles north or they could make a day’s journey to either Joppa or Caesarea and take one of the many ships heading north along the Mediterranean coastline and disembark at Seleucia and make the short half day walk on into the city of Antioch.
Today the modern-day city of Antakya, along with the ancient ruins of Biblical Antioch, is located only 12 miles northwest of the Syrian border in the country of Turkey.
By the time we get to our text in Acts 11, verse 19:
• The Apostle Peter was in Jerusalem informing the other Apostles that God had saved Gentiles in Caesarea, filled them with the Holy Spirit, and that he had baptized them in the Name of Jesus.
o This was both shocking and wonderful news to the Church leadership.
o Evidently both Jews and Greeks, who were also referred to as Hellenists, could be born-again, water baptized and spirit-filled.
• The Church in Antioch was young, strong and growing, but they were preaching the Gospel onlyto Jews.
o Things were about to change …
• The year is late AD42 to early AD43 – about 1976 years ago …
Acts 11 NKJV
19 ¶ Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.
20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.
21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
22 Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.
23 When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.
24 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.
26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
The Church at Antioch became one of the most powerful and most productive Churches in history. The Church at Antioch was the first Church to fully accept and embrace the converted Saul of Tarsus. The leadership and the congregation were the first to reap the bountiful benefits of this learned Jewish scholar turned preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The elders of the Church at Antioch had the privilege of first recognizing and ordaining the Saul of Tarsus turned the Apostle Paul as a missionary/Apostle of Christ. The Church at Antioch as much or more responsible for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world as any other Church in history.
Today, I have but two questions to present:
1. We know the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch … but why?
a. We might imagine it was a complimentary term, but we don’t actually know. Scholars have held much debate about this.
b. We don’t know if this term was given them by their enemies, as it happened with the Puritans; the Quakers; the Methodists and many others …
c. Or perhaps the Disciples of Christ began calling themselves Christians …
d. Maybe it was simply a way for the citizens of Antioch to distinguish this group from other groups in the city.
e. There is a lot to being called something or being labeled by some term. One person in your group may accept a term you do not want to be identified with …
i. What do you imagine when someone says –
1. Pentecostal
2. Charismatic
3. Messianic
ii. Christianity has not always had a positive connotation.
f. Most likely, the name Christian was given to the group by Paul who to take away any distinction or appearance of division between Jewish converts to Jesus the Christ and Gentile converts to Jesus the Christ.
g. So, why were they called Christians?
i. One reason alone …
ii. To identify them with Jesus the Christ.
• That’s never a bad thing …
• We should never shrink back from being called a Christian.
• We just need to make sure we areshowing people the real Jesus … and not just following the crowd.
Are you a real Christian?
Our second question for today is:
2. What does it mean to be a Christian?
a. We know both Paul and Peter accepted and embraced this term even though there were many false teachers in their day.
i. Acts 26:28 (King Agrippa said, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”)
ii. 1 Peter 4:16 (Peter said that if any man suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but glorify God!)
b. The Greek word translated to the English word Christian in this verse is Christianos = Followers of Christ.
i. The very term Christian, used to identify followers of Jesus, qualifies Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah.
ii. This is why I believe it was given to the group of Believers by Paul as a term of identification instead of being given by an enemy or community as a negative label.
iii. They began being referred to as Believers in and Followers of the One True Messiah, the Son of Almighty God.
c. The English word “Followers” is found 8 times in the KJV of the New Testament. 7 of those times it is translated from the Greek word “mimetes”, from which we get the word imitate. To follow Christ is to imitate Him.
d. We understand the term Christianity means to follow Christ. What does it take to be a realfollower Christ?
Three things are essential for us to be like Jesus …
1. Love
John 13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
• Love is Action
1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
• If we are to be like Jesus we must love, pray for, and help our friends and our enemies.
Luke 6:27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”
2. Forgive
Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.
Matthew 6
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
3. Give
Galatians 1:4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the lifewhich I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
1 Timothy 2:6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
God wants us to be a reflection of Jesus Christ in this lost and hurting world.
1. Love others
2. Forgive them of the offenses they have caused you
3. Give of yourself unselfishly and without prejudice … give your time, your talent and your treasury to help hurting people.
