The Making of Christianity

[0:00] Well, we're going to read about that message just now in Acts chapter 11. And if you have that, please turn to that. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning.

[0:11] We thank you for this day. We thank you that we are able to gather in your name. And we pray that as we open your word, that you would speak to us. We pray that as we sing together your word, that you would encourage us.

[0:26] And we pray that as we do so together, you would strengthen us and glorify your son, Jesus. Amen. Well, Acts chapter 11, the first 26 verses.

[0:42] Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.

[1:01] But Peter began and explained it to them in order. I was in the city of Joppa praying. And in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners.

[1:17] And it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, Rise, Peter, kill and eat.

[1:28] But I said, By no means, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time from heaven, What God has made clean, do not call common.

[1:41] This happened three times. And all was drawn up again into heaven. And behold, at that very moment, three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea.

[1:54] And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. And these six brothers also accompanied me. And we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen the angels stand in his house and say, Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter.

[2:12] He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved. You and all your household. As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as on us at the beginning.

[2:27] And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John, baptize with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?

[2:46] When they heard these things, they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.

[2:59] 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.

[3:11] 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.

[3:22] And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

[3:34] 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. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

[3:49] And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.

[4:00] For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. Amen.

[4:13] Well, when I was a young boy, I used to enjoy taking things apart, putting them back together. Often electronic things, so whether it was a cassette deck or a toy or even a plug.

[4:25] Anything really you could unscrew and take bits apart. I was always intrigued as to how things were made. Seeing how they're put together and often sitting with many parts lying around, still perplexed as to how a thing works.

[4:40] So later in my teens, I remember a TV show started called How It's Made. Don't know if you've seen it. But I found I could just sit and get lost learning about how things are made.

[4:53] Well, Acts chapter 11 is a bit like that. Acts chapter 11. This is a unique chapter in the entire Bible because it's all about how Christians are made.

[5:07] If Acts 11 was a documentary, it might be called The Making of a Christian. Now, I know that might seem a bit odd because we've already spent 10 chapters in Acts with thousands of people becoming disciples of Jesus.

[5:23] But neither the disciples, nor Luke who wrote this, nor anyone else in the story could have known that this would become the settled name, not only for individuals, but for the whole movement itself, Christianity.

[5:38] That this movement that Luke is writing about, which even at the end of Acts, he still calls, or it's still called a sect, would later be known worldwide as Christianity.

[5:53] You see, the word Christian is only used three times in the Bible. Twice in Acts, and once in Peter's first letter. The next time it's used in Acts is chapter 26, when Paul is given a defense before King Agrippa.

[6:07] And the king asks Paul if he think he could in such a short time persuade him to become a Christian as well. So by that time, the nickname is well known that these people are called Christians.

[6:22] And it's the same in 1 Peter. He writes about how to respond in times when you suffer as a Christian. But still, the whole movement is still known as a sect.

[6:35] So at this point in Acts 11, this is not only the origin of a nickname, but if you pay close attention, you'll see that Luke is highlighting it to show us what a Christian really is.

[6:46] What makes a Christian? What is the making of a Christian? It's interesting because in our day, in our context, the name Christian is just so common.

[6:57] And often the subject of much misuse and misunderstanding. Such that there can often be a desire among Christians to deliberately use different names.

[7:10] Yeah, we want to clarify what we mean. We're disciples. We're followers of Jesus. There's believers. Or even Jesus freaks. Whatever it is, there can be a desire to use a term that gives a little bit more meaning or clarity to what a Christian is.

[7:27] But this is quite a big moment in Acts 11. This is quite a big moment in the history of the church. And it just happens to be in the place where it was common. Antioch.

[7:38] It was common to give nicknames to groups. So like when I was a child, if we look at the last word in our text, that this is what they were called, Christians first, and we take it back to the start of the chapter, we unscrew it.

[7:53] We will see the parts that led to this name. And hopefully, when we see that, we can be quite encouraged at having the nickname Christian. So before we get into different aspects of the name itself, let's take it back to what this thing was made up of.

[8:09] Let's lay all the parts out to see how a Christian is made. And then we'll see why the name is appropriate. I've got five big points. So, one of the first things to note about Christians is that they are a people who are saved by a message.

[8:25] You might think the first thing should be something about Jesus more than the message. But actually, what we see in chapter 10 was it was only by the message that Cornelius learned about Jesus.

[8:37] It's only by the message that any of us learn about Jesus. This is what we were singing about. We've got a message to take to the nations. And it's only by that message that people can learn about Jesus.

[8:51] This whole account was all leading to this moment when Cornelius would be told a message by which he would be saved. You see, there's actually something that looked left out in chapter 10 until Peter's report to Jerusalem.

[9:07] And part of the angel's instruction to Cornelius was the whole reason that he was to send to Peter was so that he could hear a message. The salvation of Cornelius and his whole household was hanging on hearing this particular message.

[9:24] Now if that's the case, you don't want to get the message wrong, nor do you want to give the wrong message. I remember hearing a story about a man who sent his son to get some things from the shop.

[9:42] You know, a lot of times we would call that go for the messages. So a man sent his son to get some things from the shop, things like bread and milk and so on and so forth. And he gave his boy a message on paper of the things that he should get and he gave him a £20 note.

[9:58] There you go, that should be more than enough. Now the boy came back with most of the things on the note but no change whatsoever out of a £20 note. So his dad said, where's the change and why did you buy so many rolls?

[10:17] And the boy answered, well, I tried to get 100 rolls but they only had 60 odd and I ran out of money to which the dad replied, loo rolls.

[10:29] Not 100 rolls, loo rolls you were supposed to get. Got the message wrong. You see, some messages are more important than others.

[10:39] You don't really want to run out of toilet roll but missing the boat on salvation because you never got the memo is certainly something you don't want. And I say missing the boat because that is what salvation is like.

[10:53] You see, Noah's Ark in the Old Testament was the only salvation from the floods of judgment. That boat was the only salvation and it was a foreshadow of a far greater means of salvation in Jesus.

[11:07] So you definitely want to hear the message. You see, I remember when Jen and I got married, we went to Sky. I don't know if I told you any of this. If you know this story, bear with me.

[11:20] On our honeymoon, we decided to go to Sky, the Isle of Sky. And at that point, we didn't have a car of our own. So we hired a car and Jen's brother let us borrow his sat-nav for the journey.

[11:31] So we put in the address of the cottage and we set off around noon. And we had fun on the journey, enjoying the scenery and we didn't really pay much attention to anything around us except for the sat-nav.

[11:43] We just did what the sat-nav told us to do. So it was around 5pm we arrived in Malague and we never actually intended on going to Malague.

[11:54] So we were quite taken by surprise and we thought, oh well, I guess the sat-nav just thought this was a quicker way to go. So we thought to ourselves, well, okay, we intended on going to the bridge but we're already in Malague, why don't we just get the ferry?

[12:10] So I went and inquired about getting ferry tickets and the man said, yeah, see that boat in the distance going to sky? That was the last ferry. Oh dear.

[12:23] Malague is no small detour, I tell you. It was an hour out the way. So we thought, okay, right, we'll just try and reroute the sat-nav. And I don't know what was wrong with this sat-nav that we get given.

[12:33] Maybe it was old or whatever but it did not know that there was a bridge. So it was taking us to all sorts of places, taking us to Ullapul to go to the Isle of Lut, you know, the outer Hebrides and then back again and stuff.

[12:47] And we thought, what are we going to do? And we couldn't use our phones because it was out of charge. So we were left with this sat-nav that didn't have a clue that there was a bridge to sky, no other means of directions stuck in Malague at a time when there was nothing open.

[13:03] What were we to do? Oops. Well, as it happened, we were parked in this little car park where you could go a walk and we were kind of just hanging about scratching our heads and this older gentleman came back to his car that was parked next to us.

[13:19] So I went and asked him for directions and I told him our predicament and this lovely man had a road map in his car and he just gave it to us.

[13:31] He says, this is, you know, it's old school but it beats your sat-nav. You know, so take this and always have one of these in your car. And so we got to Sky and it was about 10pm by the time we got there.

[13:46] You see, Christians are Christians because they've heard the message of salvation. They've been given the directions and they know the way unlike me and Jen stuck in the lake.

[13:59] In our situation at that time of the day, there was only one way to get to Sky and that was via the bridge. And you see, there's many messages out there in the world. Many road maps, many religions but it's just like the road to Sky, the Sky Bridge.

[14:16] All roads do not lead to heaven. Taking the wrong road, you will only end up stranded in Malague with no boat to take you over. There's only one road map.

[14:27] There's only one way. There is only one message that leads to salvation. And a Christian is someone who's heard that message and believed it and went that way.

[14:39] That's the gospel. So Christians are those who are saved by a message. And secondly, Christians are a people who are given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[14:51] And this isn't in some arrogant way as though we've done anything at all to deserve this. This is what Peter calls it a gift. Remember back in chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, Peter, his first big public sermon, Peter says, if you repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[15:15] It's a gift. A gift only by the grace of God. And we have done nothing to earn it. We are simply recipients. And anyone who believes the message will be given this gift.

[15:28] So Peter's big point in Acts chapter 11, when he was criticized about going to the Gentiles and eating with them, he says in verse 17, if God gave them the same gift, the same gift that he gave to us when we first believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I?

[15:46] That I could stand in God's way. This is God's way and I'm not going to stand in the way. And at that argument, they all fell silent. You see, sometimes when people talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit, they are thinking about the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives.

[16:01] But we must remember that the Holy Spirit himself is a gift to all Christians. Remember Jesus said in John, I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever.

[16:19] The Spirit is a gift to us, not an entitlement, a gift of God's grace and love. And although God loves the world and gives gifts of common grace to all people, he only gives the Spirit to those who receive the saving message about his son Jesus.

[16:40] The Spirit is given only to those who believe in Jesus because the Father is only going to give the helper to those who receive his son. You see, in many places, Paul calls the gift of the Holy Spirit a seal, a guarantee of an inheritance, a deposit, a down payment, a pledge of what is to come.

[17:06] A pledge of what is to come. Therefore, it makes sense that this is the only, this gift is only given to those who will receive salvation because it's a pledge, a deposit of that salvation.

[17:19] This is a guarantee of the salvation that's to come and it's only given to those who receive the message of salvation. So, when Cornelius heard and received the word, Peter didn't give him the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[17:32] God did. And it was outwardly shown so that Peter would recognize that. It was outwardly shown in that Cornelius began to speak in languages just the same way.

[17:44] The same way for the sake of Peter and the Jerusalem church the same way that they had received it. Why did Cornelius speak in languages? To show Peter that it was the exact same gift that he got.

[17:57] They were given the Holy Spirit. And likewise, after Peter's report, when those scattered, going around preaching, those who believed, everyone who believes, even if we don't speak in languages when we receive it, everyone is given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[18:14] Everyone who believes the message of salvation will be given the deposit of salvation as a down payment and a guarantee of what is to come. Thirdly, this group of people glorify God.

[18:27] Christians glorify God. You see, following the silence after Peter's report, they do what is most appropriate to do and that is to glorify God for who he is and what he does.

[18:39] And this is no small thing. when they say the Jerusalem church, those hearing this report in verse 18 say to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.

[18:54] That's no small thing for them to say but they say it. It's a major step forward in salvation history. And last week we saw how God tore down the wall and built a bridge pretty much between one Jewish man and one Gentile man.

[19:08] You see, God tore down the wall between Peter and Cornelius which then led to the wall being tore down for the whole group of Jesus followers who up until that point were only Jews.

[19:23] But God did the work in Peter first as one of the chief apostles. Although at first there were some criticisms, the whole group of disciples then accepted that Gentiles could now be part of this movement.

[19:39] And instead of listening to the small group of critics who might not have even been Christians, the Jerusalem church glorifies God for his inclusion of the Gentiles.

[19:51] Me and you. You see, how often are people distracted by the things and many things that we could critique instead of glorifying God for the many more things that we ought to give God glory for.

[20:04] And this is the correct posture for a Christian that we would look to our brothers and sisters with humility and grace knowing that we are completely on a level footing being saved purely by grace and nothing else.

[20:18] And together we can rejoice and glorify God for how good he is. And without this happening, without this happening first in Acts 10 for Peter and then for the whole Jerusalem church, the rest of this chapter would not have happened and you and I would not be here today.

[20:37] Fourthly, Christians are a people who speak the word. You see that in verse 19. This is not the apostles. This is not even the deacons chosen in Acts 6.

[20:50] But this is everyday Christians going around speaking the word of Christ. And although this group is only speaking to Jews, at least they're speaking the word.

[21:02] You see, I think the point here is that they haven't got the memo. These folks who are only speaking to Jews haven't got the memo yet that Gentiles are included. They're speaking to no one but Jews because they still think this is just a Jewish thing.

[21:16] After all, the message is about the hope of Israel and the kingdom of God. But then there are some who end up in Antioch and they speak to Hellenists too.

[21:28] Now a quick note, the word here is not the same as the Hellenists in Acts chapter 6 because they were Greek-speaking Jews but Jews nonetheless.

[21:41] So if you're reading the Bible and it says in Acts chapter 11 Hellenists, then they're not talking about the same kind of group as in Acts chapter 6 because that wouldn't make sense in this passage.

[21:53] You see, the Hellenists in our passage in Acts 11 are not Jews but they're Greeks. They're Gentiles. And I suppose part of the reason for that word is that in Antioch there were not only Greeks but there were also Romans.

[22:12] Cornelius was a Roman but here now we have Greeks receiving the word and turning to the Lord also. and one thing to note is that the difference between these two groups going about preaching the difference is not that one's preaching and one's not.

[22:29] Both of them are spreading the word. Both of them are telling the message of salvation to people. The difference is that they're telling it to certain groups of people.

[22:42] It's a wonderful thing both of them are sharing the gospel. That's a wonderful example to us. Wherever they went they're scattered and they have this burden and joy of sharing the message of salvation that saved them in the first place.

[22:56] See they're both like that older man who gave me and Jen the road map. They're sharing the message that they received. They're sharing the directions that they were told.

[23:08] They're telling other people the only way to the destination salvation. The difference is who they're sharing it with. And we're not told we're not told if the people were preaching the Lord Jesus to Greeks because they heard about Peter and Cornelius.

[23:24] We're not told why they begin to do that. We're simply told that they were doing it. But I think if we've learned anything from this whole series in Acts if we've learned anything from Acts chapter 10 or even if we've learned anything about point two that all Christians are given the gift of the Holy Spirit then it was likely the Holy Spirit in some way that encouraged and prompted these ones to begin to share the message with Greeks also in Antioch.

[23:58] And that's not to say that the ones who weren't sharing it with Greeks didn't have the Holy Spirit. Of course they did. But it's simply to say that the Holy Spirit does things in an orderly manner.

[24:11] For whatever reason just as Cornelius was the first Gentile household so it seems that Antioch was the first city where Gentiles were gathered en masse.

[24:26] And just look at the response of this. A great number who believed turned to the Lord. And then afterwards Barnabas goes and a great many more are added.

[24:37] And as we read on in Acts we'll see that the Holy Spirit uses this first city to include Gentiles as a major missionary church and a great support to Jerusalem.

[24:50] You see this church in Antioch effectively becomes the place that is the centre of operations for Jesus' mission to the world. So my thought is whatever the difference was that caused these Christians to begin to share with Gentiles in Antioch it was the Holy Spirit who was behind it all.

[25:09] And there's something that we ought to all be confident about is that everyone who is a Christian has been given the Holy Spirit. And so we ought to be praying we ought to be expecting we ought to be learning to walk in step with the Spirit and we ought to share the word with confidence knowing that the Spirit is both with you and goes before you.

[25:30] And fifthly Christians are a people who are united by grace. you see because of Peter in Acts chapter 10 and then because of the Jerusalem church accepting the report and glorifying God at the Gentile inclusion we see in verse 22 that when the report of the Greeks come into faith in Antioch they don't criticise and they don't need to debate and they don't even need to send an apostle instead they send Barnabas.

[26:04] What a great move. If there wasn't enough for the church of Jerusalem to stop criticising for them to fall silent if it wasn't enough for them to accept the Gentiles and to glorify God what they do for these new Gentile believers in Antioch is wonderful.

[26:21] You see one of the things about Cornelius is that it was just him and his household. Although the Jerusalem church accepted them as legitimate Christians there was no need at that point for them to mix.

[26:35] This was just some household over there and they didn't need to mix but now in Antioch there is for the very first time in history a church that is made up both of Jews and Gentiles.

[26:50] First time in history. And so this big hearted guy this is what the Jerusalem church does for these new Gentile Christians.

[27:01] They don't send an apostle to investigate and approve it they send the son of encouragement to encourage them. And boy does he do it this big hearted man Barnabas is full of joy he's glad at seeing the grace of God among them and he builds them up in such a way that even many more people are added.

[27:24] And the encourager doesn't just stop there you see he remembers that Paul is way over here in Tarsus so he goes in search of Paul Paul who was the persecutor and now a disciple Paul who the apostles were suspicious of and didn't believe he was a disciple yet it was Barnabas it was Barnabas who encouraged Paul and convinced them that he was legit and now Paul is off in Tarsus how would he have felt after being told what his mission was to then be sent away by the church he sent away tucked away in a corner doing nothing Paul tucked away in Tarsus and now waiting for years for something to happen something to happen after being told that he would go to Gentiles and to Jews and to rulers and he's been waiting and waiting and waiting and here is

[28:26] Barnabas Barnabas goes and gets them and finds them and brings them to Antioch the very place where there are Jews and Gentiles together and they spend a year together teaching this mixed church of Jews and Gentiles Paul is now finally doing what Jesus said he would do in Acts chapter 9 and it was Barnabas the encourager that encouraged him to do so in a city where there are Jews Greeks and Romans Paul is well suited as a man who was a Greek speaking Jew who also had Roman citizenship it's wonderful and Barnabas knows exactly what he's doing bringing Paul there to Antioch and it's there the last verse in our passage it was there that the disciples were first called Christians why is it that because this is the first place where Jews and Gentiles are brought together in a church first ever church of Jews and Gentiles you see in Antioch

[29:28] Antioch was a place where Romans were known to give groups of people nicknames and although it wasn't the disciples who named themselves there are a couple of notable reasons why it is such an appropriate and encouraging name for a believer to be called a Christian because this was the first place where Jews and Gentiles were together united by grace a wall that was previously between them now torn down and a bridge built between them God is bringing people together that had never been together in the history of the world and there was no category for such a group of people for what the church in Antioch was there was no category nowhere on earth at that time was there a mix of people like this prior to this Christianity was simply known as a sect of the Jews because they were all Jews but now this is not so and if you were a Roman in Antioch observing what was going on and seeing this church you wouldn't know what to call them and that's precisely why it was there where the name was invented for them because it was the first place to show a new group of people to the world that would need a new category to be invented see the people in

[30:49] Antioch couldn't call this church Jews couldn't even call them a sect of Jews because now there are Gentiles in there they couldn't call them Greeks they couldn't call them Romans because there are Jews in there there's a group that there is no name for a new group of people united by grace and although the world that we live in seems like it is more inclusive and more diverse now the world likes to act that they are the ones who invented inclusion and diversity the world likes to act like Christians are the odd ones out when it comes to inclusion and diversity but it must be noted that the origins of true diversity and inclusion was the church of Jesus in Antioch and beyond nowhere else on earth did Jews and Gentiles mix like this live together eat together you could say worship together nowhere else on earth nowhere else on earth where slaves and masters eating at the same table the rich and the poor children and parents

[31:59] Jews and Gentiles a multi-ethnic group of people in the one church nowhere else on earth the church of Jesus is the true origins of true diversity and inclusion if it wasn't for Christianity there would not be multi-ethnic diversity and inclusion the world likes to think that they made it up but they didn't so this new group of people united by grace what do the Roman occupants of Antioch do they make up a nickname and what they did is what they normally do they looked at who this group claimed as their head like Herodians were those who followed Herod so they looked at this group of people and they said these people follow who they claim as the Christ let's call them Christians I remember being in Glasgow and there was a building just up near

[33:00] Bath Street the Christian Centre and the title of the Christian Centre is in lights and I remember it was I don't know it surely wasn't in purpose but it was funny I was driving up there one day and some of the lights were out there was a problem and some of the lights were out and it just simply read the Ian Centre when you take Christ out of it it's just the Ian Centre this group of people claim Christ to be their head which there is only one there's only one Christ and he is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings you see if Christians were called Jesuits yes we would be proud the name the name of Jesus is the name the name of Jesus is the name above all names by which all will bow but we would not want the world to think that we only follow a man and no more and no doubt the term Christian was not appreciated by unbelieving

[34:01] Jews because the disciples were named Christians because they claimed that Jesus was the Christ and there's only one Christ he is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and if you're a Christian then you are such because you follow not a mere man but you follow the Christ himself who is Jesus he is the only way to salvation I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me the words of the Christ so be glad to be called a Christian for as a Christian you have heard the message of salvation and believed it and by believing the message you have received the gift of the spirit the down payment of that salvation and as such your new self in Christ glorifies God you are one who knows the message that saved you you've been given the spirit to help you share that message with others and we do that together as we have been united by grace under the name of

[35:02] Jesus who is the Christ let me pray our heavenly father we thank you so much for the Lord Jesus who is your son who is the Christ and we thank you for your faithful servants Christians throughout the ages who have brought us the message of salvation without which we would not know Jesus we thank you that you have ensured that the message comes to us and by your spirit you've opened our hearts to receive it and to believe and you have given us your spirit as a deposit and down payment and guarantee of that salvation that is to come and we thank you and we glorify you we pray that you would help us to share this message of salvation with others and we thank you for this morning that you are uniting us by grace so we thank you that we can gather together in that very name of Jesus who is the Christ the

[36:03] Son of God and in his name we give you thanks and glory and praise forever amen let us sing a song together