Acts 11:19-30: The Start of a Thriving Church

Acts 11:19-30: The Start of a Thriving Church

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Acts, and today the passage we come to is Acts 11:19-30. It says, 19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 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 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. 27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

One of the most difficult things to see in our city is churches closing their doors for good. Some churches have been turned into restaurants, others into concert halls, and many of them into apartments. And it hasn’t just been Catholic churches, either, but churches of all different kinds. Every year, it seems, we hear about several churches in our area closing their doors. 

Yet, here in Acts 11, we read about a church that was thriving—the church of Antioch. In verse 21, it records how, as the gospel was first preached in Antioch, “a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” People turned to Jesus in great numbers. The same thing is then repeated in verse 24, where, speaking of Barnabas’s ministry in Antioch, it states, “And a great many people were added to the Lord.” Then, yet again, in verse 26, we find reference to the significant numbers of people being ministered to in Antioch. It says of both Barnabas and Saul that “For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.” So you can see that this is a theme that runs throughout the passage. Great numbers of people were turning to the Lord and being discipled. This is a picture of a thriving church. And that’s the main idea of the passage. God established a thriving church in Antioch. God established a thriving church in Antioch.

And keep in mind that Antioch was a thoroughly pagan city. You know, I mentioned a moment ago that many churches in Pittsburgh have closed their doors. And sometimes, you might hear someone say that the reason so many churches are closing down is because of society. American society is turning away from God, and that supposedly results in churches closing. But here in Acts 11, we see a thriving church being started right in the middle of a thoroughly pagan city. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire and, by all accounts, a very vile place. It was full of pagan worship and sexual immorality. And yet, in the middle of this vile city was a thriving church. You know what tells me? That tells me it doesn’t matter how godless society is. Regardless of how much society turns away from God, it’s still possible to have a thriving church—and that, therefore, most of the churches that close their doors do so because of internal dynamics rather than external circumstances. Not all, but most. 

So, then, how can we make sure that doesn’t happen to us? What’s the secret to having a thriving church? How can we have a thriving church like the church of Antioch even in an increasingly pagan city? Well, as we go through this passage, we’re going to see four essentials of a thriving church. And I’ll go ahead and tell you right now that it’s not what many people might assume—especially the so-called “church growth experts” these days. It’s not about being really clever or creative or innovative in our ministry. Instead, it’s about these four things. 

“Ordinary” Christians Being Faithful to Their Missionary Calling

First, so-called “ordinary” Christians being faithful to their missionary calling. That’s the first essential characteristic of a thriving church we see here. “Ordinary” Christians being faithful to their missionary calling. 

Verse 19 tells us that the church of Antioch was started as a result of “the persecution that arose over Stephen.” That’s a reference to Acts 7-8. Acts 7 records a well-known Christian named Stephen proclaiming the gospel in Jerusalem and being brutally murdered for it by an angry mob. We then read in Acts 8 how that event marked the beginning of a significant persecution against the church in Jerusalem. Acts 8:1 describes it like this: “…And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” We then read down in Acts 8:4, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” So the Christians who fled Jerusalem scattered all around the region and took the gospel with them wherever they went. And one of those places was Antioch. 

Returning to our main passage, we read in Acts 11:19-20, 19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. So even though some of the Christians who were scattered only shared the gospel with Jews, others, “men of Cyprus and Cyrene,” shared it also with non-Jews, called “Hellenists” in this passage and more commonly known as “Gentiles.” Now, these Christians probably didn’t know about what we saw a few weeks ago in Acts 10—how Peter shared the gospel with a Gentile named Cornelius and God made it clear to Peter and eventually to the rest of the Jerusalem church that the gospel is meant not just for Jews but for Gentiles as well. That was a big deal and was a radical shift in thinking for many of the Jewish Christians. But these Christians here in verse 19 apparently were thinking that way already. Since they had fled Jerusalem before the events of Acts 10 took place, they probably didn’t know about what had happened with Cornelius. Yet they still shared the gospel with Gentiles—likely because they themselves were from predominantly Gentile areas like Cyprus and Cyrene and therefore more open to ministering to Gentiles. And we see here in this passage that God blessed their efforts in an incredible way and used them to start a thriving church in Antioch. 

And again, the notable thing here is that these people who started the church in Antioch were what we might call “ordinary” Christians—meaning that they weren’t official leaders of the church but were simply church members who embraced the missionary calling Jesus has given to all of his people. 

You know, a lot of people have this idea that sharing the gospel is something that’s best left to the “professionals.” Kind of like when you see a car commercial with a fancy new car or truck doing all of these impressive maneuvers. What do they always put in fine print at the bottom? “Professional driver, do not attempt,” right? And that’s the way a lot of people view sharing the gospel as well—that it’s something best reserved for some elite group of Christians like pastors or other church leaders.

Yet we see the opposite taking place here in verse 19, don’t we? Acts 8 specifically told us that it wasn’t church leaders who were scattered but rather “ordinary” Christians. It stated that all of the Christians were scattered except the leaders. Yet, thankfully, they understood that Jesus calls every Christian to be a missionary wherever they happen to live. As a result, here in Acts 11, the church of Antioch is born. 

So let me encourage those of you who are Christians to embrace your missionary calling. Start by opening your eyes to what’s around you. God has you where you are for a reason. Notice that these Christians in Acts 11 didn’t go to Antioch specifically for the purpose of being missionaries. They were simply fleeing persecution. Yet, as the saying goes, they bloomed where they were planted. Similarly, open your eyes and take a look at where God has sovereignly planted you. There isn’t one person in your life who’s there by accident. Your family, your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors—God has sovereignly brought them to you and you to them for a purpose. He wants you to be a missionary and those people to be your mission field. 

One of the things our family is doing next Sunday evening in order to be faithful to our missionary calling is to host a Christmas party to which we’re being very deliberate to invite people who aren’t yet Christians. Last weekend, I went around to numerous families that we know on our street as well as a few families who are new to our street and handed out containers of Christmas cookies along with an invitation to our Christmas party. I also invited several other non-Christians we’ve built relationships with as well as a few Christians who we think would be good to have there. And our hope is that this Christmas party would help us connect with these people and build relationships with them that will hopefully lead to us sharing the gospel with them at some point in the future. We plan on inviting them to our Christmas Eve service and maybe even to an Evangelistic Bible Study or something like that later this winter. And here’s the thing: anyone can do that. Any Christian in this room can make deliberate efforts, such as a Christmas party or even just a simple dinner one evening, to build relationships with those who aren’t Christians yet with the hope that God will open doors for the gospel. And not only are you able to do that—you’re actually called to do that, as we’re reminded every single Sunday when we recite the Great Commission at the conclusion of our worship service. 

Ministry Efforts That Are Centered on the Gospel

Then, second, not only did the church of Antioch feature “ordinary” Christians being faithful to their missionary calling, it also featured ministry efforts that were centered on the gospel. That’s the second essential of a thriving church—ministry efforts that are centered on the gospel. Verse 20 summarizes the ministry activity of these Christians who found themselves in Antioch in a very concise yet informative way. It says that they came into town “preaching the Lord Jesus.” It’s as simple as that. They moved in and started “preaching the Lord Jesus.” The term “Lord” is more literally translated “Master”—as in someone who was a master over a slave. So to refer to Jesus as “Lord” is a statement that Jesus rules over this universe in an absolute sense. Colossians 1:16 states that “by him all things were created.” Hebrews 1:3 says that he “upholds the universe by the word of his power,” and John 5:22 states that “the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.” In every sense, Jesus is Lord of the universe. He’s Creator, Sustainer, and Judge. And that, of course, requires that he be divine. Although he’s a distinct Person, he’s nevertheless of the same essence as God the Father. 

And not only is he referred to as Lord here, he’s also referred to by his earthly name “Jesus.” This comes from the Hebrew name Yeshua and carries the meaning “he saves.” So the ministry of Jesus is literally spelled out in the name of Jesus. And the natural question, of course, is “What does he save us from?” And the resounding answer we find throughout both the Old and New Testaments is that he saves us from our sin. The Bible’s very clear that each one of us has sinned against God. We’ve done what he forbids and failed to do what he commands. And the problem goes right down to our hearts. It’s not just a surface-level behavior issue but deeper-level heart issue. Our hearts are set in a state of rebellion against God to such an absolute degree that there’s no way we can ever fix ourselves. We can’t change our sinful hearts. 

Yet that’s where Jesus comes in. As his name states, “he saves.” And the way he accomplished that was by coming to this earth as a human being, living a perfectly sinless life, and then dying on the cross as our substitute, bearing God the Father’s judgment so that we wouldn’t have to. That judgment, of course, would typically come down on us. But in an act of unfathomable love and grace, Jesus suffered it in our place. He then resurrected from the dead so that he now stands ready to save all who will come to him. So all of that is bound up in the phrase “the Lord Jesus.” He’s Master of this universe and also the one who saves those who turn to him. And that’s a message we call the gospel. It’s a message that centers around Jesus. And we as Christians are called to proclaim that message—just like these Christians were doing in Antioch. 

Now, unfortunately, today, there are a lot of counterfeits of this gospel message that I believe are important to identify. Let me very briefly mention four of them. First, the morality gospel teaches that we can live in close relationship with God simply by being moral people. It calls us to good moral behavior without mentioning anything substantive about Jesus or his death on the cross—thereby implying that simply improving our moral behavior is the key to being right with God. Second, the social action gospel calls people to take action in various ways for the good of society. This may have political overtones or may simply be a call to do what we can to help the people around us with their earthly needs. Yet, here again, the redeeming work of Jesus on the cross to save us from our sin isn’t the focal point. Instead, this social action gospel conveys the idea that earthly needs rather than spiritual or eternal needs are supremely important. Also, the focus is on our work for God rather than God’s work for us. 

Then, a third counterfeit of the gospel is commonly called the prosperity gospel, which teaches that God promises earthly health, wealth, and prosperity to all who will simply claim those things in faith. The focus isn’t on eternal salvation but on earthly prosperity. It’s also, by its very nature, idolatrous because it exalts the gifts above the Giver. God essentially becomes a cosmic vending machine—a means to an end rather than the end itself. And finally, a fourth counterfeit of the gospel is what I’ll call the self-help gospel. This one is similar to the prosperity gospel but focuses not as much on material blessings but rather on immaterial things such as an increase in self-esteem and an inward sense of peace and purpose and joy. And even though there are a lot of elements of truth woven into the self-help gospel, it’s still a counterfeit to the true gospel because it’s focused on the wrong things. It conveys the idea that Jesus came to rescue us primarily from our psychological struggles rather than from our sin. 

And as I think about these four counterfeits of the gospel, the idea that comes to my mind is that those who preach these things and those who embrace them must have never beheld the glory of Jesus. The true gospel is utterly unique in that it shines with the glory of Jesus—the glory of his righteousness, the glory his grace, the glory of his love, the glory of his sacrifice. His is a glory that outshines everything else. It’s like the sun compared to a light bulb. The glory of Jesus in the true gospel outshines every element of these counterfeit gospels just as the sun outshines a light bulb. And I’m convinced that anyone whose eyes have genuinely been opened to that all-surpassing glory won’t ever again settle for anything less. There’s no glory like that of the biblical Jesus and no joy like that of knowing the biblical Jesus. So, to summarize, the gospel is the sum and substance of Christianity, and Jesus is the sum and substance of the gospel. 

And any church that’s lost this gospel has lost its reason for existence. Thinking again of all the churches in Pittsburgh that have closed their doors in recent years, I suspect that the most common theme among those churches is that they lost their focus on the gospel. Romans 1:16 tells us that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation.” If you lose the gospel, you lose the power—and your days as a church are numbered. 

Godly Leadership

Then, moving forward, a third essential of a thriving church is godly leadership. Look at verses 23-26: 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 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 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. 

So notice especially in these verses how Barnabas is described. It says that “he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” And that’s a common theme we find throughout Acts and throughout the New Testament, for that matter. When it comes to church leaders, there’s always an extremely high level of importance placed on the person’s character. I don’t think it would even be an exaggeration to say that that’s the most important thing about a leader. And, unfortunately, that’s a lot different than the prevailing mindset of many in secular society. In many private companies and government entities, character’s only an issue if it’s bad enough to become a public embarrassment. As long as your behavior isn’t a public embarrassment to your company or your political office, you’re fine. But in God’s eyes and in the church, it’s a lot different in that character is central. 

It’s no accident that the vast majority of the qualifications for a church elder listed in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 relate to the man’s character. With only two or three exceptions, every qualification found on those two lists is focused on character. So whenever a church goes to select church elders, that needs to be the focus. Not personal charisma or business acumen or how long they’ve been a church member or even their level of Bible knowledge in isolation from other considerations. Instead, character needs to be front and center. Now, of course, there are other things we should consider as well, such as a candidate's ministry abilities and their level of availability to engage in the significant responsibilities of elder ministry. But checking the box in all of these other considerations can never make up for a deficiency in character. 

And that’s something that our church in particular should take note of. Last week, we sent off Kevin, one of our three elders, to pastor a church replant in Michigan. And you don’t have to be math whiz to figure out that that only leaves us with two on-site elders, which isn’t very many. Thankfully, Kevin has agreed to serve as a provisional or adjunct elder from a distance for the time being, but that’s just designed to be a temporary arrangement. So, we’re actively looking to appoint one or two additional elders in our church in the next several months. We’ll actually be talking a lot more about that next Sunday. I’ll be teaching about elder ministry in the church, and we’ll be giving church members the opportunity to recommend specific people as candidates through forms we’ll provide at the end of the service next week. Hopefully it goes without saying that this is one of the most important decisions a church can make—so hopefully we’ll approach this decision prayerfully and biblically—by focusing on character as a matter of paramount importance. A church rarely if ever rises above the character of its leaders. So if we want to be a healthy church—and a thriving church—it’s absolutely critical that we have leaders whose lives deserve imitation. 

Love in Action

Finally, a fourth essential of a thriving church that we see in the church of Antioch is love in action. Love in action. Look at verses 27-30: 27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. 

So, first off, notice who takes the initiative to engage in this act of generosity. Verse 29 states that “the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.” I love that. It’s yet another example of so-called “ordinary” Christians taking ownership of things and stepping up and taking the initiative to engage in meaningful ministry. When they hear that Christian brothers and sisters are about to be in need, they take action. 

And, in so doing, they give us a beautiful picture of what Jesus said is supposed to be the defining characteristic of his disciples. In John 13:34-35, Jesus says to his disciples: 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Think about all of the things that Jesus could have identified as the defining characteristic of his followers. He could have said that all people will know you’re my disciples by your meticulous attention to sound doctrine or by the strict religious habits and rigorous disciplines you maintain, but he didn’t say that. He said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I don’t know about you, but I find that incredibly challenging. I personally have deep convictions about sound doctrine and see a high value in studying the Bible every day to accurately understand what it teaches. And I think that, by God’s grace, I’ve been relatively faithful in those things. But this command to love people—that’s something that challenges me to no end. And the more I grow in my relationship with God, the more he reveals to me how lacking I am in love so much of the time. 

Let me ask you this: what’s the primary thing you think our church will become known for in this community, above everything else? You know, every church has a reputation in the surrounding community. And since we just moved into this building, we have a unique opportunity to build that reputation almost from scratch. So what do you think we’ll become known for? What a blessing and what a confirmation of our faithfulness it would be if we became known for our love—a love that’s seen not only in our church’s official ministry efforts but also in the individual lives of the people who comprise this church. Let me tell you something: I was so encouraged last week when one of the families in our church brought a meal to another family when that family was sick with COVID. Nobody asked them to do it—and I myself wasn’t even aware of the need prior to that. They just saw a need and took action to meet that need and to be a blessing. In one sense, it’s so ordinary. You might even call it “Christianity 101.” And yet, it warms my heart to no end. If I could hear one or even several stories like that every week in our church, it would be a dream come true for me as your pastor. And more importantly, it would glorify God. The church of Antioch was characterized by love in action, and hopefully our church can be characterized by that as well. 

Conclusion

So those are the four essentials for a thriving church that we see in Acts 11. Yet, as we think about all of these elements, I’d like to emphasize that these are all the result of God being at work. Ultimately, these elements aren’t human achievements but rather divine blessings. Notice in verse 21 why it says a great number of people turned to the Lord. What caused the evangelistic ministry of the Christians who went to Antioch to be so fruitful? “The hand of the Lord was with them,” it says. Then, in verse 23, it records Barnabas traveling to Antioch and seeing for himself…what? “The grace of God.” That’s what produced such wonderful results in Antioch—“the grace of God.” And that’s what all of the elements we’ve talked about this morning ultimately come back to. We can only be faithful in our missionary calling as we’re motivated and empowered by God’s grace. Our focus can only remain on the gospel as God graciously keeps it there. Leaders can only live lives of godliness through God’s sanctifying grace. And we exhibit love in action because God graciously puts it in our hearts to do so. So all four of these characteristics of a thriving church are ultimately manifestations of the grace of God. We might even say that God graciously working in us and through us is a fifth characteristic of a thriving church and the one supporting and enabling all the rest. At the end of the day, every thriving church is what it is because of God’s gracious work. That’s the only way a church can truly thrive and produce genuine fruit that lasts. Just like God breathed life into Adam in Genesis 2, he has to breathe life into a church. 

And that’s why…we pray. And not just pray here and there but devote ourselves to prayer and pursue what we might call a culture of prayer in our church. Friends, that’s where the battle for the souls of people in this community is won. That’s where the battle for the health of our own church is won. It’s won on our knees in prayer. So I’d like to encourage you to make our prayer meeting on Wednesdays a priority in your life. I’d also like to encourage you to make good use of these prayer bookmarks that we’ve given out in the past. If you haven’t already received one, we’ve got a bunch of them available on the table next to the Connection Card box back there. They contain ways you can pray for our church every day of the week. So if you think this would a be helpful tool for you, please take one. The fact is that if we don’t have God’s blessing on our church, we don’t have anything. So let’s pray that God would be at work in our midst and bring about in our church these same characteristics that we see in the church of Antioch.