Acts 11 (Bible Study) (Barnabus)
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The Church in Antioch
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among 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 church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, 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, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
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It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.
Herod’s Death
Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20 He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.
21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.
Barnabas and Saul Sent Off
25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from[a] Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.
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Acts of Jesus through the Apostles
Introduction
Antioch, the capital of Syria, was the third largest city of the Roman Empire (after Rome & Alexandria).
“Barnabus” means “son of encouragement”. Encouragement is affirming, confirming, supporting, coaching, consoling, cheering. It is not up front like evangelism, but in the life of Barnabus we see its power.
Greek “para-kaleo” is “encouragement” meaning “to call alongside,” to identify closely, to motivate and build confidence and create endurance in another person. Encouragers are patient (1 Thess.5:4) gentle, affectionate (1 Thess.2:7-11), positive, not argumentative (2 Tim.2:24-26), effective (Rom.15:4; 2 Tim.4:1-4).
1.Acts 11:19-24. What distinctive feature of gospel communication was at Antioch? How would their preaching have been different from Peter’s preaching? What were the results of this ministry (v22)?
The earliest evangelists in Antioch gave the Christian message “only to Jews” (v.19). Some pioneers preached to Greeks “the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ” (v.20). This had never been done on any kind of scale before. Peter witnessed God convert a Gentile centurion Cornelius and his family. But no one had taken the gospel to the Gentiles. When Phillip preached to the Samaritans (8:4-6), that was a bold move. Samaritans, were close cousins of the Jews (despite the animosity). They were racially mixed — part-Jew. And shared a belief in the God of the Bible, and in a coming Messiah (see F.F.Bruce, The Book of the Acts, p.177). At Antioch, the gospel is taken to pagans, as a group, for the first time.
The new message would not have proclaimed Jesus as the Hope of Israel, as Peter had done. NB they called Jesus “Lord”, (Greek kurios) (v.20). Greeks and pagans were flocking to “mystery religions” which sought to connect devotees to a divine kurios offering immortality. Now Jesus was being proclaimed as that Lord (see Bruce, p.177).
The results of this ministry were swift and significant. Instead of an isolated Ethiopian or Roman centurion, the Gentiles were coming to faith on a large scale. “The Lord’s hand was with them” (v.22) — this means that there was a greater response to the gospel than was usual. God’s power was especially evident. “A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (v.22).
2. Acts 11:22-26. What were the reasons that Barnabus was sent? What were the elements of, and results of his ministry?
ENCOURAGEMENT - Acts 11:19ff shows the importance of the ministry of encouragement. v22-24 virtually glows as we read it. Barnabus’ ministry of encouragement was so powerful in the history of the church. His ministry is “sandwiched” between the ministry of evangelism and discipleship. But it is vital for new Christians, it is like “oil” in the church’s “engine”. Without it, we burn up and burn out.
There were probably two reasons that Barnabus was sent (v.22).
[1] v23a — to look for “evidence of the grace of God” - a quality control. Barnabus went to quell suspicions about this “innovation”.
[2] v23b to “encourage… them to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” Young Christians and churches need the encouragement and affirmation of wise and mature leaders.
In summary, the components of his ministry were a) evaluation and accreditation (v.23a), and b) joyous (“glad”) affirmation and encouragement teaching (v.23b).
The results of Barnabus’ visit were far-reaching. On the one hand, he knew this was a real work of God. (This “evidence” that he discovered would have included things like: changed character, genuine worship, and a grasp on the doctrines of grace.) The first effect of his ministry was on the whole church at large.
The second result of his visit was on the Antioch church itself. His joy was obvious, and he began a teaching ministry that was more than prophetic (challenging) it was priestly (encouraging, confirming). Since he called them to “remain” true to the Lord, that meant they were truly following Him. He gave them pointers on how to continue on in their path of discipleship. If we look at the sentence carefully, we see that his “encouragement” (Grk. parakaleo) produced “remaining true”. In other words, his encouragement produced endurance in them.
The result of this priestly ministry is very striking. v.24 says that “and a great number of people were brought to the Lord”. This is a new influx of new converts — not the same as the first wave of v.21 — which is the result of Barnabus’ ministry. Surprisingly, Barnabus did not do an evangelistic ministry — his work was directed at encouraging and stirring up the joy and love of the new believers. How could all the new converts be the result of his ministry? Answer is that his work of encouraging and supporting gave the new believers the stimulus to continue their friendship evangelism.
We’ve seen the in Barnabus’ ministry: accountability/evaluation and encouragement/motivation.
But in v25-26 Barnabus did a third thing — he built a ministry team and developed new leadership. It is a sign of his remarkable humility that Barnabus would want to share his ministry with Saul (St.Paul). Remember that Barnabus was the only mature leader in Antioch, surrounded by hordes of adoring new believers, and his ministry was bearing enormous fruit. Instead of consolidating his own pre-eminence, Barnabus seeks out Saul, a man he knows is multi-gifted and extremely talented — more talented (as history proved) than Barnabus himself. But Barnabus knows that the ministry will not multiply if he holds on to it and becomes a “bottleneck”, so he took the lowly place and brought in Saul who will outshine him.
Why did Barnabus seek out Saul? Surely he knew of his talent, and also of his cosmopolitan education and breadth of experience — he was a natural for a sophisticated, multi-ethnic city. But Barnabus may have known also of Paul’s original calling to go to the Gentiles (9:15,27). Barnabus is a great model to us of ministry. He humbly shares his ministry with potential leaders. He does not work alone but in a team. He does not hold on to ministry but raises up new leaders and gives his responsibilities away.
3. Acts 11:19-30. What were the stages of development of the young church in Antioch.
[1] there was the cross-cultural and courageous preaching of the gospel by the Cypriot and Cyrene missionaries (v.20). They sowed the “good news”.
[2] God responded and his hand (power) caused many to believe: “the Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number… believed and turned” (v.21).
[3] New converts are examined and encouraged/confirmed and affirmed by Barnabas (v22-24).
[4] the encouraged converts leads to a greater outreach, and more people come to faith (v.24).
[5] A team ministry of in-depth training and discipleship and leadership development is begun by Barnabus and Saul. (This was Saul’s personal advanced training.) This lasts one year (v.25-26).
[6] the young church begins to help its mother church serving and ministering in deed (v27-30) and later in word (sending out Saul and Barnabus to plant new churches (13:1ff.) Financial generosity was a sign of vitality (cf. Acts 4:31-37).
4. Followers/disciples of Jesus weren’t called “Christians” until Antioch (v.26). Discuss.
The Antioch church was the first truly new fellowship from many different nationalities. Before, then discipleship was mainly Jews. They were seen as a variation of Judaism. If only Greeks or Romans worshipping together, then it would have appeared to be some variety of Greek or Roman religion.
The secular world believes that religion is just a function of your culture, family, or class. At Antioch they saw something absolutely new, unique and different — people coming to faith across cultural and racial and class boundaries. Christianity’s “inclusiveness” was a powerful witness.
Historian K.S.Latourette explains why this made Christianity stand out from other religions of the time: “Another reason for Christianity’s success is to be found in its inclusiveness. More than any of its competitors it attracted all races and classes… Judaism never quite escaped from its racial bonds… Christianity however gloried in its appeal to Jew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian. The philosophies never really won the allegiance of the masses… they appealed primarily to the educated…Christianity, however… drew the lowly and unlettered … yet commanded the respect of many of the learned… Christianity, too, was for both sexes, whereas two of its main rivals were primarily for men. The Church welcomed both rich and poor. In contrast with it, the mystery cults were usually for people of means: initiation into them was expensive… No other [religion] took in so many groups and strata of society… The query must be raised of why this comprehensiveness came to be. It was not in Judaism. Why did it appear in Christianity?” – K.S.Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity vol.1 (Harper and Row, 1937).
This may be a reason why the Antioch church and the multi-cultural congregations of the Graeco-Roman cities grew even more rapidly than the Jewish churches. Barriers that separated people (normally) did not just come down as a result of the gospel preaching. In Antioch believers were called “Christians.” In Antioch, the world realised something remarkable was unleashed in the empire.
Conclusion
1. Encouragement is especially important for newer believers, which we see both here and in Acts 14:21-22 -there we see that encouragement is something done for young converts after they have heard the good news. Encouragement is also necessary for those going through difficult times (2 Cor.1:-9; Acts 14:22-23). Sometimes the disobedient respond better to encouragement (2 Thess.3:11-13; Heb.3:13) than to warning.
Responsibility
2. So often our problems ‘balloon’ if we do not have encouragers in our lives. Maybe we are too proud to seek encouragement t or let people know we need it. Other times we are afraid that if we share our weakness we will get warning instead of encouragement. We have to be willing, however, to meet and make ourselves vulnerable (James 5:16; Hebrews 10:24-25) to receive encouragement from God through others
We also must look around us and notice who needs encouragement. On the one hand, all Christians are to encourage each other (Heb.3:13; 10:24-25) and must be on the lookout. But some people have a gift of this — it is listed as a spiritual gift in Romans 12:8. One sign that you have this gift is that people to want to open up to you about issues. Consider ways you could make better use of this gift. The church needs more Barnabuses!
