The Church in Antioch of Syria
19 Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. 20 However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. 21 The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.
22 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. 24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)
27 During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) 29 So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. 30 This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
Evangelism and Charitable Mission Giving
In this passage, we see the early Christian Church beginning to take shape at a city in Antioch in Syria. In fact, this is where the term "Christians" will be used for the first time to describe the people in the Church. Two things these early Christians did 2,000 years ago that continue today are: 1.) evangelism (sharing the faith) and 2.) charitable mission work (helping others).
We see evangelism being carried out by a man named Barnabus. The passage says that Barnabus was a good man and that many people came to faith because of him. Evangelism continues to be an important aspect of the Church. We are expected to grow our faith by telling others about Jesus in the hope of getting them to convert to Christianity.
We also see charitable mission work among the Antioch Christians in their gathering food and sending it to the Church leaders in anticipation of a future famine. They are trying to help others to survive. This continues to be an important aspect of the Christian Church today.
While we accept that these are two important aspects of the Church then and now, they should also be important aspects of our individual lives. We together are all the Body of Christ, and each of us has a responsibility in doing the work of the Lord. We (meaning you and I) should be telling others about Jesus and doing good deeds for others on a regular basis.
When's the last time you told someone about Jesus in the hope of leading him or her to Christian faith? And when is the last time you did a charitable act of mission work to help others? We all should strive to copy the example of our early Church leaders by making these behaviors a regular part of your life.
- Brian Hall
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