Jeremy Duncan: If the only people we are ever willing to follow are the people that the establishment tells us we should, I think at some point, we will find that our communities lack the diversity of perspective and history and calling and creativity that characterizes the kingdom of God and what the spirit seems to do despite us. Today, we are continuing our series in the book of Acts, but we're gonna shift our focus now to the back half of the book this week. So the first half of Acts is largely about the church in Jerusalem. That's really where we've been the last four weeks. The second half now mainly focuses on the church in Antioch and beyond, and that's where we're gonna put our energy now for this last stretch until we hit the summer.
Before all that though, let's take a look back at last week Because Scott took us through, I think, one of the most important pivotal moments in the Christian story, a moment that really transitions us now into the second half of the story. But also, let's be honest here, Really, that moment last week is what makes all of this possible for us today. Because Acts chapter 10 is where Peter finally realizes that the story of God is so much bigger than he expected it to be. So much bigger in fact than even his Jewish framework was really designed to hold. See Peter encounters this Roman centurion named Cornelius who has converted to the way of Jesus, but he also has this vision at the same time.
And in that vision, he sees this sort of like picnic blanket coming down from heaven, and it's loaded up with all kinds of these foods. He knows he's not supposed to eat, and yet he hears God say, go ahead. Tuck in. And so Peter argues with God for a little bit here, just like my kids do when I ask them to eat anything new. So I feel you, God.
But, of course, in the end, what's important is that Peter realizes this vision really isn't about lunch at all. It's about something much more important than that because in the words of Peter, God has now shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. In other words, lunch is just the metaphor here. The real issue is all the ways that we turn all of our preferences, and our rules, and our traditions, our expectations into excuses to separate ourselves from each other. That means that in some ways, that moment last week was where Peter finally realizes that the story of resurrection really has changed everything for everyone.
Now, that's kind of ironic since just a couple weeks ago, we took a deep dive into Peter's sermon in Acts chapter two where he argues quite convincingly, I might add, that resurrection has done exactly that. And yet, here he is eight chapters later in chapter 10, still working out the implications of his own sermon in real time. I kind of love this. In fact, think it was really the heart of Scott's message last week. No matter how far we've come, no matter how much we've grown, God is still always ahead of us slowly, steadily, gradually, consistently inviting us forward one more step at a time.
So the fact that you and I, we down to this day still struggle to hold in our minds all of the implications of what we really believe. I don't think that's a flaw in the system. I think for me, it's actually an indication of just how graciously God reinvents our world through Christ over time. Always more grace on the horizon. Today, we're gonna get to see the church now begin to grapple with that same expanse of grace that Peter encountered last week.
First though, let's pray. God of surprising grace, who is always larger than our expectations, always ahead of our assumptions, always inviting us beyond the boundaries that we have drawn for your love. Just as Peter discovered that your story was bigger than he imagined, Would you teach us to remain open to the ways that your spirit is still expanding our imaginations today? Where we cling to what's familiar. Would you give us courage?
And where we're tempted to protect what we've built, would you grant us more generosity? Where we struggle to see others as you see them, would you gift us new eyes shaped by resurrection? And so as we turn our attention in this story toward the future now, help us to recognize the beauty of your incredibly diverse kingdom, a community where unlikely people find unexpected leaders called to new possibilities from unlikely spaces. And might we then become the kind of people that listen well and trust deeply, also that we might follow you into what is next for us. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray.
Amen. Alright. Today, we are moving into the second half of the book of Acts. We're shifting our focus and our attention from the church in Jerusalem as they gather and form and begin to take shape as community, to now the church in Antioch where the believers were first called Christian. And to do that, we'll cover the backstory, and the roll call, and the way forward, and the commission.
But one of the things we're going to see right away in the second half of Acts is the emergence of this sort of ad hoc motley crew leadership that takes center stage in Antioch. Away from Jerusalem, away from the OG disciples, all on their own. And I was thinking about it this week because this kind of thing is such a familiar trope in our storytelling down to today. Right? Like movies like Ocean's 11 or The Avengers.
If you wanna reach back a little farther, The Magnificent Seven, which is based on an even older Japanese film, Seven Samurai. All of these stories are premised on the idea of a ragtag group of individuals coming together in surprising moments to alter the course of history. And Acts, in some ways, kind of gives us a template for those stories here in chapter 13. So let's jump in and we'll meet our heroes here. This is what we read.
Now in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manion, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And that is a pretty fascinating list of names to start a church with. So let's do a roll call here. We'll start off with Barnabas.
Now Barnabas, we know from earlier in Acts. He's actually introduced in chapter four, and his real name is Joseph or in some manuscripts, Joseph. But he's given the nickname Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. Because in his first appearance, he sells a plot of land that he owns, and he brings the proceeds to the church in Jerusalem to share with the poor. Now, what's interesting about Barnabas and relevant for our story today is that he is a Levite from Cyprus.
And that tells us a couple interesting things about him. First of all, he is thoroughly ethnically Jewish. In fact, he's a Levite. So he's from the tribe that cared for temple worship in Jerusalem within that Levitical system. But he is also part of the diaspora.
So he's not living in Jerusalem near the temple. He's from Cyprus, which is a little island off the coast of Syria just north of Palestine out in the Mediterranean Sea. And it's this story of Jesus that seems to draw him back to his faith. So, he sells his land and he makes his way back to Jerusalem and all of this to be part of this emerging Jesus movement that's happening. Okay.
Well, how does he end up up in Antioch then? Well, his background is probably a big clue to the story because the church in Antioch is a bit of an anomaly in itself. See at the end of Acts chapter seven, persecution of the church breaks out in Jerusalem, and at its climax one of the early leaders, a man named Stephen, is killed. He's actually martyred for his faith in Jesus. Now, who is there directing all of that violence?
Well, it's actually Saul, who we also know is Paul, who also finds himself on the list of leaders in the Antiochian church, by the way. We'll get to him in a moment. Because like any good Avengers film, there's a lot of interwoven threads going on right now. But initially, what happens is that because of this violence the church in Jerusalem kind of disperses. In fact, at the start of chapter eight we read that because of the violence all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
It's actually Stephen's death that inadvertently first spreads the good news beyond Jerusalem. But from there the story continues. So in chapter nine, Saul has an encounter on the Damascus Road, converts to the way of Jesus. In chapter 10, Peter has his encounter, his vision, meets Cornelius, realizes that the story of Jesus extends beyond his ethnic boundaries. And then in chapter 11, we read that those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed had traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch spreading the good word only among the Jews.
But then some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them about the good news of the Lord. And the Lord's hand was with them, and so a great number of people believed and turned to the way of Jesus. When news of this reached the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to see what was up. So all these stories are kind of happening at the same time right now. Right?
Like Saul, also known as Paul, is converting to the way of Jesus. Peter is converting to the idea that salvation has been extended to non Jewish people. These scattered believers, completely independent of the apostles, are coming to a similar realization, and they're just moving ahead telling people about Jesus, starting churches completely on their own without the oversight of the disciples. So the church in Jerusalem, who remember, it's full of all those OG apostles, they hear about this and they're like, well, we should probably see what's happening up there in Antioch. Let's send someone to go check up on things.
Who we got? Well, we got Barnabas here. We know he's a good guy. He's Jewish like us. Also though, he's already from Cyprus.
He knows that area. He knows those people. Let's send him north to do some reconnaissance. Now, whether this is because the church in Jerusalem is skeptical of what's happening or whether they just want to encourage them, that's up for speculation. Hard to know for sure.
But I do think history shows they choose the right person Because as soon as he gets there, this is what we read. Barnabas arrived and saw what the grace of God was doing. He was immediately glad and encouraged them. Which if you remember is exactly what the name Barnabas meant. In the first place, the dude just does what he does.
Okay. So what does all this mean? Well, it means the church in Antioch is a related strain of Christianity. These were believers who first encountered the story of Jesus in Jerusalem after all. But it's almost like Antioch is a parallel evolutionary path of the story of the church.
It develops not just in a different city or even just a different culture and language, but in a very different way from the church in Jerusalem. It's not founded by the disciples. It's not built on the apostles. This is a ground up grassroots, lay lead explosion of good news. Which is why then going back to chapter 13, we hear that the leaders of this new church include Barnabas, who we've just talked about, a displaced Jewish man drawn back to his faith by Jesus, Simeon called Niger, which is literally something like Simeon the black one, which to our ears probably sounds a little racially insensitive today, but actually is a very important point the writer is making here.
The church is not what Jerusalem expected it to be, and the church in Antioch is not even the complexion that Jerusalem expected to see. There's Lucius of Cyrene, a man we realistically don't really know anything about, but who brings with him like a very Roman name. Like, is not just a Gentile. This is someone that first century Jewish people would have almost instinctively heard as enemy because of that name. And then, Manion, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch.
That is a wild statement to read in the New Testament. Because that is a reference to Herod Antipas. And that is the same guy who ruled over Galilee for forty two years and murdered John the Baptist a little earlier in the story. Now the language here identifies Manion as a sutrophos of Herod. That could mean childhood friend, but realistically probably refers to what we might call a foster brother.
These were young boys that were brought into the royal court and raised alongside royal princes, essentially so that they would have peers as they grew up. And that meant Manning was not at all part of the royal family, but he was raised in the royal court alongside the man who murdered the forerunner of Christ. Talk about guilt by association. And yet here he is leading the church in Antioch alongside the final name on our list here, Saul, who today we primarily know by his Roman name, Paul. And we're used to hearing a lot about Paul, But you got to understand at this point in the story, Paul has been incommunicado for about a decade now.
He left Tarsus or went for Tarsus in Syria and Sicilia, and nobody has heard from him since. But in chapter 11, Barnabas goes to Tarsus to find him, brings him out of retirement to help found this church in Antioch. Like, this is a murderer's row of characters that's listed here in chapter chapter 13. If you're into Marvel movies, this is like more like the Thunderbolts than the Avengers to be honest. And so Peter thought his vision last week was a little destabilizing.
Just wait until Jerusalem gets a load of this. Barnabas, the expendable one. Simeon, the black one. Lucius, the Roman one. Manion, the one guilty by association.
And Saul, the one we never really trusted anyway, but thankfully we haven't heard from him in a decade either. That's who's leading a church that's popped up in Antioch. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for credentials. I have worked really hard on my degrees, for example.
I think if you want to lead, you should be willing to put in the work to learn first. But at some point, if the only people we are ever willing to follow are the people that the establishment tells us we should, I think at some point we will find that our communities lack the diversity of perspective and history and calling and creativity that characterizes the kingdom of God and what the spirit seems to do despite us. Couple weeks ago, we heard Peter in the very first sermon of the church era quote from the prophet Joel and talk about how God will pour out spirit on men and women on young and old. And at the time, I said that we are better when we listen to each other, that there is enough hierarchy in the world to last a lifetime, but it should not be that way in the community of Christ. Antioch is where the church antes up on that conviction.
And yet, that was the end of the story. If the story was just about a motley crew of ad hoc leadership that starts something cool until the apostles sweep in and clean up the show for them, I think one, story would be a lot less compelling. And maybe importantly, two, the story would be a lot less beautiful. Because this is what happens next. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them.
And so after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and they sent them off. Now in a vacuum, that kind of runs along with the story we expect. Right? It feels like what we know from the book of Acts, churches starting more churches. But because of Paul's writings, we generally know him as a church planter.
But the truth is, this right here is actually an incredibly important turning point in the story of the church. A moment I would argue is a continuation of the conviction that built such a surprising leadership in Antioch to begin with. Because up until this point in the book of Acts, we're seeing a lot of evolution in the thinking of the early church. Right? Like there's Peter reinterpreting the Hebrew scriptures in the surprising light of Christ's resurrection.
We saw that with his sermon in chapter two. And then we get to see him working out the implications of that sermon. He has this vision that reformats not just how he views the rules, but how he thinks about the people around him. Remember, a vision is ostensibly about food, but Peter comes out of it in Acts 10 saying, now God has shown me, I should not call anyone impure. Don't mistake it.
Peter gets it. This isn't about diet. It's about the extending story of God's grace in the world. And then we get to see him explain that to the other leaders, the disciples in Jerusalem. At first, they're a little apprehensive as well.
But when he walks them through it, tells them about a vision, about what's happening, we get to read their response in acts eleven eighteen. When they heard this, they praised God saying, so then even to the Gentiles, God has granted repentance that leads to life? It's almost like they can hardly believe this, but here right in front of them, there's no way to deny it. Resurrection has flung wide the doors of access to the divine. It's all changing.
And yet still, the imagination of Jerusalem seems to be a trajectory of centralization. At Pentecost, the nations are gathered here in Jerusalem. And when Saul finds Jesus, he's expected to come and learn in Jerusalem. When Barnabas sells his land and brings the proceeds, he lays it at the feet of the disciples in Jerusalem. And yes, the church in Jerusalem will send people out to see what's going on around them.
They send Barnabas to Antioch after all. But remember, he's kind of expendable. He's part of the diaspora from Cyprus. He's not really one of us. No.
The disciples, the apostles will stay put in Jerusalem and will wait for the world to come to us. Now credit to them. The apostles are the ones who are fearless to stay when others scatter. So they're not the villains of the story. That's not the point.
But their imagination still seems grounded in the idea that the spirit of God is at work from the center out. And chapter 13 seems to be the spirit saying to us, maybe we'll have to start from the margins and work our way back. So what does Antioch do? Well, they pull together this unconventional leadership, and they say not how do we consolidate? How do we centralize?
Instead, they say, how do we expand? How do we send? Where could this story be going next? In fact, it's almost like they say, look, things are going pretty well here. Maybe that means it's time to blow up the formula and try something new.
Think about it. Antioch is on a roll right now. This is the first Christian community that's really connecting outside the Jewish population. And because of that, they're the first community that the neighbors are noticing is actually different. Up until now, the church is known as the people of the way.
That's because they were seen as a sect of Judaism that followed the way of a particular rabbi named Jesus. But now we read that in Antioch, disciples were first called Christians. This group that follows the way is so surprisingly diverse and utterly unexpected. It's earned itself an entirely new reputation. It's actually their neighbors looking in that give them the title we claim for ourselves today.
Point being, like, this community is on fire. They're doing remarkable things. They're connecting across lines in unexpected ways. They are growing exponentially. And their first thought is not how do we protect what we've got, but instead, how do we keep pace with where God's grace is going to end up next?
So they pull together, they talk, and they pray, they fast, and ultimately what they decide is, look, Paul, Barnabas, you guys are up next. You're the best of what we've got, so it's time to let you go. And think about that. Barnabas, the only guy with connections back to Jerusalem and the apostles. Paul, the guy who is, let's be honest, probably the most influential teacher in history outside of Jesus.
And Antioch takes these two, their very best, and says, we'll take it from here. You take us where the spirit goes next. Imagine, you find yourself a new Christian. You're a non Jewish person. You're living in Antioch, and you stumble your way into the most incredible community you have ever found.
The story of Jesus is life changing. There's this guy there named Paul who explains that story with so much passion and precision. It's like your heart is on fire every time he gets up and speaks. All of this is just getting started. And one day you show up at church and someone gets up and says, guys, it's been a really fun ride, but Paul and Barnabas are leaving.
And we're gonna need you now to step up so we can keep all this going while at the same time they get that going because that's where we think the spirit is going. Not drawing everyone here to us, but maybe teaching us about how to go there to them. Like that is a fundamentally different approach to the story of church from what was happening in Jerusalem in the first half of the book of Acts. And I'm not saying that to pick on Jerusalem. They were doing what they thought was right.
In fact, they were fearless to do that, so good for them. What I'm saying is that sometimes to get to there from here takes more than one imagination for what can be possible. And I'll be honest, I think that's instructive for us in a lot more ways than just starting new churches. I think oftentimes there's a way that it's always been done, and it's been good, beautiful even. And because of that, we start to imagine that what was beautiful about it was the formula, like the secret sauce, the thing we got to protect and patent and make sure we never lose, the thing we gotta keep doing forever and ever.
Amen? Look, my kids are 12 and they're six right now. That means they like ketchup. Actually, means they love ketchup. That means they want ketchup on everything all the time.
And don't get me wrong. I'm fine with ketchup. It's just sometimes I want some mayonnaise. And what Antioch realized, Jerusalem was struggling to come to terms with was that the future of church was not going to look like ketchup on everything all the time. And if they were really going to become witnesses to the divine in Jerusalem, but also in Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth the way that Jesus said, well, it was gonna take more than just one flavor.
In fact, in the words of Saint Paul, who is one of the first that is sent out from Antioch, we can become all things to all people, but not by focusing on the lowest common denominator and protecting what we've got. Instead, by learning how to become something new and beautiful in the neighborhoods that we inhabit. It's actually one of my real pet peeves in the New Testament. We will quote this line from Paul. Shows up in first Corinthians nine twenty two, by the way.
Paul says, I've become all things to all people. Somehow, we walk away from that line with the assumption that church should be bland and uniform and mildly appealing to everyone. When the whole context of that quote is Paul saying, very clearly, look, when I'm in Jewish communities, I wanna start very Jewish feeling churches. And when I'm in a Roman community, I try to start a very Roman feeling church. Together, we can be all things to all people, but only because each of us becomes something to someone.
In other words, the story of Christianity is as fertile as the communities that inhabits. Because no matter what we do, somehow, eventually, the creativity of spirit will work its way through anyway. So why not have churches that embrace that from the beginning? And, yeah, I know you're putting all this together. Right?
The sermon is about us. Like, this message is about us trying something new across the river in Marta Loop. It's about us sending our best volunteers south. This message is about us losing Bobby and Rachel and Jared to see what might be next for us. This message is about the fact that Commons is not worth protecting if it means we stop trying new things.
Because the story of church has always been this bubbling cauldron of creativity. And one of the very first lessons that we had to learn in the church era was to stop trying to micromanage the spirit of God. To be willing to see what unexpected adventures might be next if we take our chances. And sometimes that's a lesson I think we're all still learning to live every single day of our lives, not just at church, but in all kinds of areas of our life. And so the church in Antioch gathered their best, and they fasted, they prayed, and they laid their hands on them.
And that's how you and I end up here in church today. But it's also how you and I get there tomorrow. Let's pray. God, we are so grateful for all the good things in our lives. At moments where your blessing has felt really real, and community has been powerful.
And we felt like being been invited into a new adventure that has changed us in remarkable ways. But God, we pray that those blessings would never turn into shackles that would keep us stuck where we are. Afraid of what could be next. Missing out on the adventure that's coming. Dulling our curiosity to see what could be.
And so God we pray that you would help us to be courageous in all kinds of parts of our life. To believe that good things are possible in new ways for all of us, and that there are new adventures, new experiences, new paths for us to walk that will lead us into new awareness of who you are and how you've created us to impact this world. Might we trust that the past is always behind us, but the future is always actually in front of us. And that's where you are, calling us forward one step at a time. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray.
Amen. Hey, Jeremy here, and thanks for listening to our podcast. If you're intrigued by the work that we're doing here at Commons, you can head to our website, commons.church, for more information. You can find us on all of the socials commonschurch. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel where we are posting content regularly for the community.
You can also join our Discord server. Head to commons.churchdiscord for the invite, and there you will find the community having all kinds of conversations about how we can encourage each other to follow the way of Jesus. We would love to hear from you. Anyway, thanks for tuning in. Have a great week.
We'll talk to you soon.