Call to Commitment

  

 

             Peter’s defense accepted in the Jerusalem church        

1.      Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 

2.      And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him,

3.      saying, "You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!" 

4.      But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying: 

5.        "I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. 

6.      When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 

7.      And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' 

8.      But I said, 'Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.' 

9.      But the voice answered me again from heaven, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.' 

10.  Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. 

11.  At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. 

12.  Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 

13.  And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, 'Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, 

14.  who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.' 

15.  And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. 

16.  Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, 'John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 

17.  If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?" 

18.  When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life."  

Peter was a member of the church of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. When he went back to Jerusalem, after the excellent time passed among the Gentiles in Caesaria, he returned to an unpleasant controversy. He had been rejoicing in the will of God and in the liberty of the Holy Spirit, but now he faced head-on religious zeal and fleshly opinions. In chapter 15, we will see the same spring up for the second time, because of the ministry of Paul and Barnabas.

 The book of Acts is a kind of genesis for the church and we learn of things, which keep repeating throughout its history. Peter, and later Paul and Barnabas, began to walk in a pure and fresh movement, opened to them by the Holy Spirit. There was a certain innocence about it, because it never entered their mind that fellow believers would take offense with what they were experiencing. They thought that all Christians would rejoice with them at the new ground that is gained for the cause of Christ. However, opposition formed in the church, which was not unlike the resistance by Pharisees and Sadducees in the time of Christ. 

 With some, not all, resistance was the case. I suppose, it should be surprising, that those with experience in the established church, would challenge principles, with which they were unfamiliar. However, this is actually what happened repeatedly throughout church history. Many books have been written about how the reformists, such as John Huss, Wycliffe, Tindale, Savonarola, and later, Luther, Calvin, and many others, were violently opposed by an unconverted clergy. Not a few suffered unto death at the hand of those, who did not want to see the status quo upset.

 When the reformists were established, they opposed the Anabaptists, who received additional light from the word of God. John Wesley, in the 18^th Century, under a fresh anointing of the Spirit, was not invited to speak in the church, in which his father had been pastor, and resorted to preaching from his father’s gravestone in the churchyard. He and George Whitefield were mightily opposed by the Church of England and took to preaching in the open air, to crowds of thousands of the common people.

 The established church sought to quench revival fires in the 19^th Century and on into the last Century. Personally, I have watched the phenomenon unfold before my eyes, beginning when I was an adolescent. My father was forced to resign, along with the dean of men and women, from a small native Bible school in Minnesota. I heard lies and exaggerations from the lips of Christians that I was taught to respect as a boy. I read lying reports about the reasons for my dad’s resignation, blaming it on my sister’s illness and financial duress, rather than the opposition that came from our denominational headquarters.

 I will skip over more minor incidents that have happened at different times and places, so as not to reopen wounds, some of which are healed or are beginning to heal. I will however, bring up a move among young people that I witnessed in the not-too-distant past. A fairly large group in their twenties and younger began to meet for prayer with a hunger for God. One would think that their evangelical church would be happy to see this kind of a move among their youth, especially when we see the large number, who are abandoning the church of their fathers these days. No, their elders opposed them, I suppose principally because they practiced some things differently, then that which took place in the churches of their childhood.

 Well, let us return to the history of the early church. The original church in Jerusalem heard of the adventures of Peter in Caesaria (v. 1). The power manifested through his ministry in Lydda and Joppa certainly would give the spiritual ears reason to understand, why the enemy was stirring up opposition to Peter’s ministry. However, the occasion in Caesaria gave cause to kindle the prejudices of the Jewish traditionalists, although they had obtained a certain faith in Christ (v. 2).

 You can be sure that they were conversing among themselves in Jerusalem and soon the accusation formed against Peter: “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them! (v. 3). Peter then gave the explanation of the vision through a trance, of which we have already learned (vs. 4-16). I can well imagine that the explanation did not satisfy the more principled traditionalists among them. Peter spoke of a trance and of all kind of unclean animals, birds, and reptiles in a sheet. Then he heard a voice instructing him to kill and eat, a total contradiction to what they, as Peter, had learned from their youth. That surely spoke to some of radicalism and extremism that surpassed their tolerance! They had learned that these unclean beings had moral, not symbolic, significance and, because of their misinterpretation, Peter’s clarification left them unconvinced of its validity.  

 These same people felt that Peter’s denial of eating such uncleanness was the correct response and that he should have held to his convictions, when the voice declared the cleansing of the unclean. The fact is that these creatures were never morally unclean. In the trance, God confirmed it three times, and the sheet returned to heaven, from where it came. Then Peter told of the Gentile men that stood at that moment before the door of his host. 

 The testimony of the Holy Spirit falling upon Gentiles, I presume, was partially received by all, because these ex-pharisees knew of proselyting non-Jews. However, they believed that these converts should have to comply with Jewish law, beginning with circumcision. That was the beginning of a heresy, which challenged Christianity in this second generation.

 Six Jewish brothers from Joppa accompanied Peter to Caesaria and witnessed the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Gentile believers, who received Peter’s message. They saw, and could report, a repeat of the Pentecostal baptism. That was the confirmation that God used to overcome any reasonable doubt. Peter’s rationale was correct in verse 17… how could he, a mere human being, withstand, what God Almighty had ordained. To do so was to challenge Divinity, similarly to what the people did in the desert, challenging Moses and Aaron, and thereby resisting the working and mercy of God in freeing them from slavery.

 In verse 16, we have a demonstration of the absolute authority of the New Testament word, spoken by John the Baptist. This was to be received with equal recognition as unerring truth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, as was true of the Old Testament Scriptures. It was ratified by Him actually descending upon the Gentiles… it was truth confirmed by experience (v. 15).

 This was followed by the acceptance of the Jerusalem congregation.  The acceptance was approved by silence, reminding me of Laban and Betuel’s response, concerning the future of Rebecca:  "The thing comes from the LORD; we cannot speak to you either bad or good” (Gen. 24:50). The point is that man’s opinion is not required, when God has spoken. Then, when Laban was about to overtake Jacob, who was fleeing from him, the very same reaction was required from Laban by God: “God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad’" (Gen. 31:24 and 29).

 When the listeners in the church spoke again, it was to glorify God for granting repentance to the entire Gentile world. What a mighty revelation it was that no one is exempted! The gospel could go out to the entire world and offer eternal life to every tribe, people, nation and tongue (v. 18). The ultimate goal of the gospel is that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10, 11).

 

The Church in Antioch

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. 

27.  And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. 

28.  Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. 

29.  Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. 

30.  This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. 

Ruins of Antioch on Orontes River

Luke returns for a moment to the time of the dispersion at the death of Stephen, when believers from Jerusalem reached out to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Phoenicia, is a country between Galilee and Syria, along the Mediterranean coast, and included Tyre and Sidon. Paul would later visit Christians in the city of Tyre, famous throughout history as a seaport (see Acts 21:3-7). Modern Tyre, with the same name, is in the country of Lebanon. Modern Cyprus is the island with the same name in the Mediterranean Sea. (My good friends, Paco and Olga, from RETO International, serve on the island.) Antioch lies in ruins under the modern city of Antakya in southeastern Turkey.  It will become very important in our study from this time forward. It was an important city, capital of Syria, and built by Antiochus Seleucus, one of the four Greek generals, who succeeded Alexander the Great and who founded the Seleucid Empire. 

 The evangelistic effort occurred before Peter’s visit to Caesaria, so these evangelists knew nothing of the open door to the Gentiles. Consequently, Luke notes, they only preached to Jews (v. 19). However, in verse 20, he mentions other evangelists, who must have come later, having heard of Peter’s encounter with Cornelius. Some of these were from Cyrene in Africa, where we read of people, who became Christians, even from the gospel period (Mk. 15:21): “Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.” Men from Cyrene are mentioned, along with those from Cyprus, though the island is distant from Cyrene. These came to Antioch also and preached to Gentile Greeks.

 God blessed their efforts, as He did Peter’s, and His involvement is essential in evangelization, and therefore people were saved (v. 21). The Jerusalem church, already informed by Peter that God had opened the door to the Gentiles, sent Barnabas to Antioch (v. 22). Now we see how Antioch began to become prominent in Luke’s account. Barnabas was a spiritually sensitive man and he could see the presence of the grace of God in Antioch. Grace is the word that indicates something beyond the efforts of men, but comes alive from heaven to people on earth.

  Barnabas was the ideal Christian to bring into this situation to encourage the new church. His name means son of encouragement and he lived his life in accordance with his name. He himself was from the isle of Cyprus (Ac. 4:36). Here was a man, who could work with Gentiles, without a trace of pharisaical tendencies. He immediately accepted them and moved among them without reservations, happy for the opportunity (v. 23).

 He believed in the mighty, transforming work of God in a human heart, therefore he was the one, who brought Saul of Tarsus into the fellowship of believers in Jerusalem (Ac. 9:27). He was worthy of the definition that he received from Luke: “A good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” Believers were edified under Barnabas’ anointed ministry, and with the Holy Spirit working through him, many people were added to the Lord. Luke already said, before he came, “a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” Great things were happening in Antioch and, up to this point, no Jewish apostle had visited this church (v. 24).

 Barnabas certainly knew of Saul’s special calling from the Lord and wanted to see him involved with the many Gentiles in the church in Antioch. He hurried off to Tarsus to look for Saul (v. 25). I want to share something that I know to be true in God’s work, which is that the guidance of the Spirit is very evident. While Barnabas looked for Saul, through the Spirit’s leading, he was sure to find him. Luke did not tell us how, but simply reports, “he had found him”.

 It was an adequate distance from Tarsus to Antioch, so it does not take much imagination to know the conversation that might have occurred between Barnabas and Saul, as they traveled together. I think you can hear, along with me, the son of encouragement’s glowing report of the church in Antioch. “And yes, Saul,” I imagine he told him, “There are many believers, who are totally Gentile, saved, baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit!” By the time they reached Antioch, Saul’s heart must be pounding with passion.

 Saul and Barnabas ministered together for an entire year, Saul teaching the believers the great doctrines
that he wrote to countless Gentiles in churches throughout the Middle East and into Europe. They are teachings that we have come to be familiar with – the wonderful doctrines of grace and faith, things that the Holy Spirit had taught him in the deserts of Syria.

 I have been calling the believers Christians from the time I began this study in Acts, but actually, the first time they were called Christians, was in Antioch. By Acts 26:28, this label was recognized by King Agrippa. He said to Paul: "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." Peter in his letter showed that it was an honorable title: “If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter” (1 Peter 4:16)

 Back in Israel, the Jews called them the sect of the Nazarenes or simply Galileans. They would not recognize their leader, Jesus of Nazareth, to be the Messiah. Therefore, they would never honor His followers by calling them Christians, because that would mean that they would be admitting that they were followers of the Messiah, the Anointed One. Christ, of course, is the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah (v. 26).

 I quote Matthew Henry: “They (the believers, Jew and Gentiles in Antioch) believed in him who is the anointed (Christ), but that through him they themselves had the anointing (Christians), thus they now owned their dependence upon Christ, and have received from him.” Mr. Henry, establishing that the name Christian, qualified the believers as anointed, he then points to 1 John 2:20: “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.”  And then 1 John 2:27: “The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” Finally, he points to 2 Corinthians 1:21 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God.” Paul wrote to those anointed ones, whom he affirmed through the anointing in 1 Corinthians 1:7, “You come short in no gift.”  

 These days, people get away with being called ‘Christians,’ because they are not Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus or atheists, because they adhere to some denomination and occasionally attend some Christian church. Yet they are far from being followers of Christ. Warren Wiersbe quotes a Dr. David Otis Fuller, who asked, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” I would add to that question, “Is the Christian anointing upon your life?” How can it be that leaders in the church deny a second experience in the Holy Spirit for anointing, and still claim to be “anointed ones”, or Christians?

 Prophets still served in the Christian church and one came to Antioch from Jerusalem. Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy of the last days, which is the Church Age, in Acts 2:17, “Your sons and your daughters shall prophecy,” and again in verse 18, “on my menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out my Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.” Paul spoke of Christian meetings in which “You can all prophecy one by one” (1 Co. 14:31). He taught the Ephesian church that Christ ascended far above all the heavens and “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11). They are part of the five-fold ministry in the church and in Acts 13:1, they served in the Antioch church.

 Agabus, a prophet, told of a coming famine, affecting the entire known world, and Luke affirmed that it came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar (v. 28). To say that there are no prophets in the church is to challenge unerring Scripture. This prophecy prepared believers for what was to take place in the near future. They made plans to send help to Judea, including to Jerusalem (v. 29) and, in fact, Barnabas and Saul are sent from Antioch to Jerusalem with an offering (v. 30). The church that “had all things in common”, now needed outside help, ironically, from the formerly despised Gentiles. This need continued in the Jerusalem church until, along with all the Jewish citizens, its members were driven by the Roman army out of their native land, and ceased to exist.