Well, let me say a word of welcome to all of you, especially if you're joining us for
the first time.
My name is Tommy.
I'm the rector of this church, and so we're delighted to have you.
We're going to have a little time that we spend looking at God's Word together, and
then we are going to have a baptism, which is something that we are very excited about.
It's one of our absolute favorite things to do.
If I haven't had a chance to meet you and you're new, let's talk after the service.
I'd love a chance to shake your hand and say hello.
And for the men who made it back from the men's retreat, well done you.
Well done you.
That's impressive.
In 2010, there was a famous, really priceless painting of Picasso's called The Artist, and
it was hanging in the Met in New York.
It's about six feet tall.
And there was an art class happening, and one of the participants of the art class sort
of stumbled and lost her footing and slammed into this painting and tore a huge gash right
into the middle of it.
Maybe you remember this happening.
Imagine that you come in the museum the next week and you see that painting and you see
that large gash in the painting.
I assume you probably wouldn't blame Picasso for that, right?
I assume you probably wouldn't blame the painting for that.
I assume that you would assume that something had happened to that painting.
It had gotten messed up and it needed to be restored, which it was restored.
They took three months of painstaking work to restore it back to the original beauty of
this masterpiece.
The point of that is to say this.
I think that there is a similar kind of thing that happens when we consider the church, right?
When we see things happening in the church, such as moral failings by prominent leaders
or abuse and scandals that are then covered up or any of the other things that we could
name that are very real wrongs that happen in the church, there can be a temptation for
some people to say, well, see, that's the problem with the church or that's why I don't believe
in God.
But in the same way that I would say we shouldn't blame Picasso or the painting for what happened
to it, I would humbly suggest that it doesn't make sense to blame God or to blame the church
for the fact that there are times when the church is used and abused and mistreated and
damaged for all kinds of reasons, right?
Some unintentional, many intentional.
Because as we look at Scripture, the church is, in fact, God's masterpiece.
Everything that Jesus did, everything that He accomplished in His life and His death and
His resurrection was not just to accomplish individual salvation.
It was to establish a community, which is the church, which is God's plan A for the world.
And there is no plan B for the world.
And so I think the question that we should ask is the same question that a person looking
at that painting should ask.
What was the original artistic vision for this masterpiece?
What should this look like?
And we're going to ask that about the church this morning, and I think there's no better place
to look than Acts chapter 11, this is where we see for the first time the gospel come to a major
city center and a church is established in the heart of the city, perhaps the world's first urban church.
Antioch is no small city.
It was the capital of Syria, the third largest city in the world at this time.
And the reason that this church is so successful and becomes a launch pad for mission all around
the world is because it had within it certain characteristics that you don't often see together
in the same church.
And so this is not an exhaustive list that we're going to look at, but there are certain characteristics
that are held together in tension in this church that I think were the key to its effectiveness.
So let's pray, and then we're going to look at three of them.
Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you that you are always present, that you are
always at work in our lives, that your word is living, that it is active, that it never goes out
and returns to you void.
It accomplishes everything that you set out for it to accomplish.
And we pray now that we might sit under your word, that you might open our hearts, that we might
receive what you have for us this morning.
Lord, for our good, but chiefly for your glory, we pray that you would do your work in us through
your word.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So the first characteristic that we see in this church in Antioch that is so wonderful is
that it is what we would consider to be lay-driven, leader-supported.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, the word lay is simply an old word that means anyone who's not ordained.
So a lay person or the laity, that refers to people who are not ordained, ordinary Christians.
And one of the first things that we learn about the church in Antioch is that it was started
by lay people, ordinary Christians who are simply trying to follow Jesus faithfully in
their daily lives.
And these are not people who had a master plan to go plant a church in a major urban center.
These are ordinary Christians who are fleeing persecution, and they just happen to wind up
in Antioch looking for a safe place to root down, right?
I don't know what brought you to D.C.
Could be a job, internship, school, marriage, whatever.
Multiple, all of the things on that list brought me to D.C., right?
Years ago.
But what this shows us is that we can have our reasons for coming to a place like D.C.
or Antioch, and then God can have His reasons for bringing us where He brings us.
So they didn't come here planning to plant a church.
What happens is that they end up in Antioch.
They're fleeing persecution.
We don't even know their names.
All we know is that they started telling people about Jesus.
And the Holy Spirit began to work.
And a lot of people started coming to faith.
And before long, you have this young, thriving church in the heart of the city.
And yet, this grassroots, Spirit-filled movement was not totally leaderless.
Barnabas comes down from Jerusalem.
Very important.
In order for this church to survive, it has to be connected to the larger church.
It has to be connected to a larger body where there can be support and accountability.
So often these days, we see what goes wrong when churches have no source of accountability
outside themselves.
But notice that Barnabas doesn't just arrive and say,
Well, you know, good job, normal people.
Step aside the professionals here.
That's not his approach.
Barnabas' entire ministry is to encourage the ministry that is already happening,
is to encourage what the people there are already doing.
And then he raises up other leaders who do the exact same thing.
And you have to admire Barnabas here.
Because there can be a temptation, especially in a situation like this.
If you're a leader like Barnabas, there can be a temptation to want to be the star of the show.
And certainly there are many churches that get built up entirely around one personality.
They become a kind of cult of personality.
But we know enough about Barnabas to know he is humble enough to realize,
It is not about me.
It is not about Barnabas.
It's about what God is doing.
And in any church, in any organization, but especially the church,
a good leader's job is to make themselves less necessary, not more necessary.
So what does he do?
He raises up other leaders.
He has a good friend, Paul.
Paul is much more highly educated than Barnabas, perhaps much more gifted than Barnabas,
the kind of leader that might make most leaders feel threatened.
And yet Barnabas is not threatened by gifting and talent.
And he travels a hundred miles to Tarsus to recruit his friend Paul to bring him back to help encourage
and support and strengthen the ministry there in Antioch.
And that's exactly what he does.
So we have this wonderful balance here in Antioch.
We have leaders who provide oversight and direction.
But when it comes to the ministries of the church, such as evangelism or caring for those in need,
the whole community takes part.
And when you see that, you say, that is a healthy church.
It's what we might call an every-member ministry culture.
Everyone is involved.
Everyone is necessary.
When someone doesn't show up, there are things that don't get done,
because every single person has a vital part to play.
And this is such a powerful corrective for us today as we look at the church in our time and place.
As we said, so many churches are built around a charismatic leader.
They are leader-driven, not lay-driven.
Congregants are basically audience members who come to watch a performance,
to support the leader and buy their books.
And this is the opposite of how the Apostle Paul thinks about the church.
His favorite metaphor in the Bible for the church is the human body,
where he says no part is superior to any other part.
What matters is that every single part is serving its purpose.
And the way a body works is that every part, right, every cell, every organ,
has to do its part to serve the whole.
And this is extremely important as we think about what it means to be a part of a church body.
Because if we are all like parts of a human body, that means, among other things,
that the best way for me to get my needs met
is to focus on meeting the needs around me.
It's very counterintuitive.
But if we are, in fact, like a human body,
then the more I seek the well-being of the body,
and the healthier the body is as a result,
the more then I will get my needs met in return.
The more I give myself away,
the more I will gain myself.
We are like a human body.
And there's a tremendous blessing that comes with serving in a local church.
If you want to grow in your faith,
if you want to develop deeper friendships and community,
this is how it happens.
There's no secret way for that to happen.
There is no…
It is not rocket science, right?
This is how the church is designed to function.
The more you are involved and serving and giving yourself to the broader community,
the more you are going to grow in your faith.
If you're here primarily to take,
if you are in a place where you just want the church to meet your needs,
there really is not a category for that in Scripture.
That's really not what it means to be part of a church community.
And this is an important thing for us all to be reminded of,
because I know for some of us,
this might be the first church you've ever really been a part of.
And there's not a lot out there,
other than places like this in Scripture,
that tell us what that should actually look like.
And so it's important to understand
what we mean by being involved in a local church.
So we say, well, what does this look like?
Well, it means on a basic level
that every single person who calls Advent their home
should be actively involved in serving in some way.
If you're here from another church,
I would strongly encourage you,
if you're not actively involving and serving in that church,
to go back to that church next week,
and to get involved.
This is what it means to be part of a church body.
So for example, if you go to Church of the Advent,
what does this look like on a practical level?
I'll give you one example.
Right?
The next time Kirsten and Heather reach out and say,
we need people to love and serve our kids or our youth,
then the thing that you do is say,
yes, I will do that.
What do you need?
And there's a whole lot of different ways that you can serve.
But simply saying yes and then showing up and doing it.
And why do you say yes?
Not because I said you should,
or not because you think you should,
or not because you're doing anybody a favor.
The reason you say yes is because you need to say yes.
It's because you need it for yourself.
You realize this is what it means
to be part of a church community.
This is actually how I'm going to grow in my faith.
If, you know, showing up and giving some of my life
and my energy and my time and my love and my attention
to the next generation of Christians,
that's how I'm going to grow.
One of the best ways to grow in your understanding of the Bible
is to have to teach the Bible.
I mean, take it from me.
I often think one of the only reasons,
one of the only ways that God knew
He could get me actively reading Scripture in an ongoing way
was to put me in a position where I had to stand up and teach it.
This is how we grow.
We give ourselves to the body.
The same could be said for the welcome team,
the production team, our prayer ministries,
the list goes on and on and on.
If you want help figuring out what this looks like for you,
I would love to talk to you about it.
Any of us would.
So the first characteristic of this church
that I think makes it so effective
is that it is lay-driven,
but it has support from godly leaders.
It's not a cult of personality.
It's not leader-driven.
Every single person is actively involved
in serving and ministering in the church
and to the broader community.
That's the first thing.
The second characteristic we see
is that this church is both outward-facing
and it's also Christ-centered.
It's outward-facing and Christ-centered.
Because of its proximity not only to Jerusalem
but also to Asia and to Africa,
Antioch was an incredibly diverse,
pluralistic, multicultural city.
It really was unprecedented at this time.
And the city had at least 18 ethnic quarters
representing different ethnic groups
that were called Antioch home.
And they had actually built walls.
This city was built around 300 B.C.
And they had actually built walls
to keep these ethnic quarters
separate from one another
because of all the infighting
between the various groups.
So to keep the peace,
they just kept them separate.
And so some of the Jewish Christians
fleeing persecution
when they ended up in Antioch,
it says that they only wanted
to interact with other Jews.
And you know, that makes sense.
I think especially in times of crisis,
we can tend to want to seek out
what is most comfortable
and most familiar.
And so that makes sense
if we understand human nature.
But what's really amazing
about this account
is that there are also Christians
who are facing the same crisis
and yet somehow they stay,
they remain outward facing.
They never lose sight
of the mission given to them by Jesus
to bring the gospel to the nations.
So they're willing to share the gospel
with just about anybody
who's willing to listen.
And because these Christians
were outward facing,
they begin developing relationships
and sharing the gospel
across ethnic and cultural lines.
And the gospel begins
to transform the city
because as people come to faith in Christ,
in all of these various ethnic quarters,
people are coming to faith
and word is spreading.
And then these Christians
start to go over the walls.
Because they want to all meet together
to worship Christ.
And you have this unprecedented,
diverse community
rising up
where people are going over the walls
to worship together
for the first time in history.
And if we look a couple of chapters later
in Acts chapter 13,
we see the impact this has
on that early church.
As we look at the leadership structure
of this church,
there's incredible diversity.
The leadership body
of the church in Antioch
has people representing
three continents
and four ethnic groups.
You have to understand,
this is centuries before diversity
was something that people valued
or pursued.
The only reason, arguably,
that diversity matters
to people today
is largely because
the Enlightenment stole the clothes
off Christianity's back.
How is it possible
to have such diversity
and yet still to have such unity?
Why did the infighting
that happened everywhere else
not happen in this early church?
How could they have such unity,
even among the leaders?
It's a very, very pressing question.
And the simple answer is,
because the gospel transforms
how we see ourselves
and how we see other people.
Paul in Galatians chapter 2,
verse 20 says,
here's the impact
of the gospel on my life.
I have been crucified with Christ.
It's no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me.
What he means by that
is that Christ has become
a new foundation
for his entire identity.
Christianity.
The other things
that used to define us
before we became Christians,
things like our race,
our gender,
our culture,
our ethnicity,
our class,
our politics,
those things don't go away,
but they all take
a massive step back.
Right?
The new center of your life
becomes Christ.
Therefore,
when a Christian meets
another Christian,
even if you're from
very different places,
even if you have
nothing in common
culturally or politically,
even if you can barely
communicate across
a language barrier,
you discover a common
foundation in Christ,
and it makes relationships
possible across all kinds
of social and cultural barriers.
I remember experiencing this
for the first time.
It really struck me.
We, years ago,
we had a partnership
with a church in Rwanda,
and I went,
we went to Rwanda,
and I really wanted
to go and to meet
the pastor of this church
personally,
and so I traveled
out to Nagatari,
and he met me
and gave me a big hug,
and he could,
we could barely communicate.
I speak no Kenya Rwanda,
surprisingly,
and he speaks English enough,
but we,
through broken French
and English,
we were able to communicate
to a certain extent,
and the first thing
he wanted to do
was to tour me
around the village,
and so then he takes my hand,
and we start walking
around his village,
and we spend the next
maybe three,
four hours
just him telling me
about everybody
in the village,
right,
and we're holding hands
the entire time,
and I'm talking fingers
interlocking,
holding hands,
and I,
my wife will tell you,
I just don't like
to hold hands.
I don't,
I'm not a hand holder,
I'm,
I'm happy with hugs
and other things,
but hand holding
is just not in my,
you know,
that's not my vibe,
and so,
I'm walking around
with Pastor Deo
interlocking fingers,
hot and sweaty,
for like three or four hours,
right,
in this tour.
Here's the most amazing thing,
it felt completely normal
and natural.
After about five minutes,
I forgot we were even
doing that,
I just completely lost myself
in the experience
of seeing Nagatari
through Deo's eyes,
and the thing that really
struck me about that experience
is that here I am
with this man
on the other side
of the world,
we can barely communicate,
completely different culture,
ethnicity,
completely,
we could not be
more different,
right,
and yet this man
radiated Christ,
and some of you
have met him
and you know exactly
what I'm talking about,
and because of that,
I remember it striking me
as we're walking
down the sidewalk,
I feel like I have known
this man my whole life,
I feel like we grew up together,
and then it struck me,
I have,
I feel like I have
so much more in common
with this man
than I do with my own
biological family members
who are not Christians,
and I realized it's because
we have a common foundation,
we are family,
and that is the kind
of experience,
that is the kind
of experience
that you have,
that you can have
because of Christ,
when Christ gives you
a common foundation,
and this is how
the church in Antioch
was able to have
such unity and diversity
at the same time,
because on the one hand,
they're outward facing,
meaning they are focused
on sharing the gospel
across all social
and cultural barriers.
Everything they do
is oriented toward
bringing the gospel
to people outside
of their community,
and yet they are also
Christ-centered,
which made it possible
for them to have unity
across all of those barriers.
In fact, I think this is why
when Barnabas shows up,
it doesn't just say
he encouraged them
in a general sense,
he gives them
a very specific encouragement.
statement, stay true to Christ.
Keep your focus
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's his message.
And I think it's in part
because he shows up
and he sees all of this,
these diverse people,
and he's amazed,
and he thinks the only thing
holding this group together
is Christ.
Stay focused on Christ.
This is how it works.
And again, you know,
I think this is why.
I think they heard his message,
and this is why
this is the place
where followers of Jesus
first come to be known
as Christians.
Those people are so focused
on following Christ.
They're Christians.
They're little Christs.
They're Christ followers.
And this is a surprisingly
relevant corrective for us
as a church
in a place like D.C.
for a couple of reasons.
I mean, I think, honestly,
I think there can always
be a temptation
in the church
to turn inward.
Right?
There can always be
a temptation
to want church
to be safe,
to want it to be
comfortable and convenient.
If we feel overloaded
and overwhelmed
and we've got demanding jobs
or young children,
we want church
to be the one place
that feels safe,
comfortable.
We want it to be easy.
I do think, honestly,
this is ramped up
since COVID.
There's so much
happening out in the world.
I just want church
to be the one
comfortable, easy thing
in my life.
I think we begin
to lose sight
that the church
is in fact
a missionary outpost
that exists
to bring the gospel
to the city.
There's this,
along with that,
I think,
ever-present danger
on the other end
of the spectrum
where Christ
ceases to be
the center
of our common life.
You know,
everybody these days,
I think largely
because of the impact
of Christianity
on the modern West,
really wants diversity
and there's a lot of good
that comes with that.
But you see
some organizations
that make something
like diversity
into their central
highest ideal.
often what happens
in those cases
is that you may end up
with a community
with people who look different
but they all are exactly
the same politically.
It's not true diversity.
Antioch shows us
actually what is possible
when you have a church
that is truly outward-facing
and it's also Christ-centered
where everything they do
is aimed at bringing
the gospel to people
outside the church,
where people come
to worship
expecting and hoping
that they will run
into first-time visitors,
that there will be guests,
that there will be people there
who have no idea
what's going on,
who are completely disoriented,
who don't know
when to stand
or when to sit
or when to talk
or when to not talk
or when to respond
or when to not respond,
who think it's all weird.
And there are people
who come to church
knowing there's going
to be people like that
and they want to actively
engage those people
and help them
feel more comfortable.
Right?
So they're truly outward-facing
and yet they share
a common identity
in Christ
that runs deeper
than any other
defining characteristic.
So they have both
diversity and unity.
So, so far,
as we've looked at Antioch,
what are some of the things
that we might include
in God's vision
for His masterpiece,
the church in a place
like Antioch or D.C.?
So far,
everybody's involved,
lay-driven,
leader-led.
Also, they're outward-facing
but also Christ-centered
and so they can have
unity and diversity.
Lastly,
we see that this church
is both spiritually maturing
and socially engaged.
This is a young church
full of new converts.
Barnabas realizes
that they need to be encouraged
to grow into maturity.
So he goes
and he recruits Paul
and together
they spend the next year
preaching and teaching
in the church.
It's a kind of
spiritual boot camp.
And you can imagine
it wasn't just once a week.
They're probably doing this daily.
It's a spiritual boot camp.
The point is very clear here.
There is no substitute
for strong preaching
and teaching of God's Word.
There is no substitute
for people gathering together
and study Scripture.
There's no substitute
for classes and books
and other resources
that help us understand
the Bible and theology better.
You simply cannot grow
into maturity
if that is not a high,
central priority
in your common life.
God's Word has to be central.
And at the same time,
this is a very socially engaged church.
And that simply means
that they are aware of
and responsive to the needs
in the community around them,
in the broader world.
One of the other church leaders,
a prophet named Agabus,
raises awareness
about a coming famine.
He says,
this is going to be
a serious problem.
We need to prepare.
We need to make sure
the people around us,
our other churches,
are prepared
because there's going to be
a lot of people coming
who have a whole lot of need
and we need to be ready
to meet those needs.
And so he puts the Word out.
They gather together
as a church
and decide to send
financial assistance
back to the church
in Jerusalem.
Even though there's
persecution there,
they're like,
we got to get some help there.
And what's amazing here
is that everyone
gets what they can.
This is not just delegated
to the mercy ministry team.
This is not just
a few wealthier people
who have more disposable income.
This is not just people
with the spiritual gift
of generosity.
This is everyone.
Everyone gives what they can
according to their means.
And this kind of generous
social engagement
is a big part
of how the early church
had such an impact
on the Roman world.
It wasn't just
the preaching of the gospel,
although that was necessary.
It was the preaching
of the gospel
paired with
incredibly self-sacrificial
love and service
to the broader community.
The historian Rodney Stark
writes this.
He says,
Christianity revitalized life
in Greco-Roman cities
by providing new norms
and new kinds
of social relationships
able to cope
with many urgent urban problems.
What does that mean?
To cities filled
with the homeless
and the impoverished,
Christianity offered charity
as well as hope.
To cities filled
with newcomers
and strangers,
Christianity offered
an immediate basis
for attachments.
To cities filled
with orphans
and widows,
Christianity provided
a new and expanded
sense of family.
To cities torn
by violent ethnic strife,
Christianity offered
a new basis
for social solidarity.
We just talked about that.
And to cities faced
with epidemics,
fires,
and earthquakes,
Christianity offered
effective nursing services.
That is God's masterpiece.
That's what it's supposed
to look like.
As with our previous
two points,
this offers,
I believe,
a much-needed corrective
for the church today.
Unfortunately,
I think many churches
tend to emphasize
one or the other
of these two things.
You sometimes see churches
that emphasize
theological formation
and discipleship.
They have lots
of great programs
for their members,
but they're not
very involved
in meeting the needs
of the surrounding community.
Or you see churches
that do a lot of work
in the community,
but their discipleship
is very thin.
It's very shallow
because it's not a priority.
And the problem
in either case
is that you have
a very unbalanced view
of the Christian life.
The truth is
we need both.
We need the inward
spiritual growth
in our faith
into maturity.
But that,
the entire purpose
of that
is that it can express
itself
in the outward dimension
of the Christian life,
in the fruit that we bear,
in the way that we love
and serve our neighbors.
You need the inward
and the outward.
You need both.
It's a balance.
There's much more
we could say
about this amazing passage.
I want to bring this
together though.
This is what I believe
we are called to be
as a church
in a place like D.C.,
which is arguably
very similar to Antioch
in certain ways.
Arguably,
cities like D.C.
that have emerged now
in recent history
have much more in common
with a city like Antioch
than they do
with many of the cities
and places that people
have lived
in all of the
intervening centuries.
In terms of application
and relevance,
we are very, very, very close
to many of the realities
that this first urban church faced.
But I believe
that the qualities
that made that church effective
are the same qualities
that we need
in our community.
My desire,
our desire,
is that we would be
lay-led
and leader-supported.
Where the leaders
are here to support
and equip people
to serve.
And where the biggest problem
we have
is that our ministries
have to turn people away
because we have
too many volunteers.
Stop calling me
and ask if you can volunteer.
We have no more room for you.
Find another way to serve.
Where we are outward-facing
and Christ-centered.
Where we all share
a common identity
in Christ.
and yet where
if this is the first time
you have ever darkened
the door of a church,
you already know
even though there's a lot here
that I don't understand,
I have been so warmly welcomed
by so many people
that I feel like
this is a place
I could belong
and be for the rest of my life.
And I would love
to figure out
all this other stuff.
That we are called
to be a church
that is spiritually maturing
and socially engaged.
Where we do have
strong preaching
and teaching
and small groups
and classes
and Bible studies.
And yet we are so invested
in the surrounding community
that even if people
disagree with our beliefs,
they feel loved
and cared for
by our community.
Let's pray.
Lord,
may we never forget
that all of this
is a result of your work
and your ministry
and your presence.
There would not be
a church in Antioch
had your Holy Spirit
not empowered
the faithfulness
and obedience
of your people.
And the same is true for us.
The only reason
we are even here
is as a result
of your goodness
and your blessing
and the presence
and power
of your Holy Spirit
in our midst.
So we pray now
that what would be
impossible for us
would be made possible
through you.
That through your Holy Spirit
you would restore
that which is broken in us.
Those gashes
that may have been torn
in the fabric
of the canvas
of our community.
And that you would restore
your vision
for your masterpiece
not only in our church
but in churches
all throughout this city.
That your manifold wisdom
would be put on display.
That the truth
and the power
of your gospel
would be made
irresistibly compelling
through the common witness
of the church
the body of Christ.
And it's in his name
that we pray.
Amen.