Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Did you know this weekend is one which will find MANY people relocating and starting the next new phase of their life? This is a prime wedding weekend. Also, many recent college grads will be starting their new jobs on Monday, thus they’ll move this weekend. And because Monday begins a new business quarter many businesses made changes in May which will take effect this weekend.
Relocation is a big deal bringing with it a fresh start in a new place. You’ve probably experienced it many times as have I! Join me again in the city of Tarsus where Saul is packing, ready to relocate! His life is about to change forever!
You’ll remember I left you yesterday in Tarsus with Saul in his hometown. Barnabas had come searching for Saul. Barnabas had traveled either about 100 miles by ship or about 150 miles by road. Acts 11 simply tells us: “Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found Saul, Barnabas brought him to Antioch. So, for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.” (Acts 11:25,26)
You’ll recall Barnabas had been sent by the apostles in Jerusalem, about 300 miles north to Syrian Antioch, to investigate reports they’d heard that many Gentiles were trusting in Jesus, and a movement similar to what had occurred in Jerusalem, was happening in Antioch. (Acts 11:22)
Barnabas went to Antioch and found the reports were true! Syrian Antioch was experiencing a remarkable spiritual awakening, and because Barnabas was such a special, God-honoring, encouraging man, he became a catalyst. Quickly the ‘Jesus movement’ grew so large Barnabas needed help. That is why Barnabas went searching for Saul.
Do you remember Saul was the angry Pharisee who had overseen the execution of Stephen but then encountered the resurrected Jesus on his way to Damascus, and Saul was totally transformed. In the ensuing years the Holy Spirit had been doing a profound teaching of Saul, so that THIS Saul, now coming to Antioch with Barnabas, was a totally changed man.
It’s safe for us to assume Barnabas and Saul wasted no time getting right to work in Syrian Antioch. Saul had a passion for truth teaching, which he had first started nurturing when he was a little boy in Tarsus, studying with the local rabbi in the Tarsus synagogue. (Gal.1:14) Then as a young man Saul moved to Jerusalem and studied diligently under Gamaliel, one of the most renowned of all the teaching Pharisees and Sanhedrin members. (Acts 22:3)
You may recall we met Gamaliel when he famously warned the Sanhedrin as they considered how to punish the apostles: “Consider carefully what you do with these men…if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” (Acts 5:33-40)
In Antioch, I presume Saul quickly found lodging, perhaps with Barnabas, and then started immediately holding daily teaching sessions, probably both daytime and evening, to accommodate the people’s work schedules.
Perhaps it was patterned after what the apostles had done in the days immediately following Pentecost, remember? (Acts 2:42-47) Perhaps Barnabas was holding teaching sessions with other people. It’s clear the Jesus followers in Antioch were receiving in depth, systematic, probably daily teaching of God’s Word. They were rapidly maturing in their understanding of Jesus and His teachings.
Remember please, the New Testament had not yet been written, so Saul, with his expert knowledge of the Old Testament, and his newfound Holy Spirit insight about Jesus as Messiah, and all the doctrinal truths about the transforming, saving work of God… he would have been teaching the truths we now have written in our New Testament. In fact, do you know how many books of the New Testament Saul/Paul eventually wrote under the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Thirteen!!
That year must have been one of the most remarkable years in history. Why? Because these people who received such tremendous discipleship teaching from Barnabas and Saul were being radically transformed by the Holy Spirit of God.
The transformation of their lives was so evident the people of Antioch struggled to find a name for these followers of Jesus. Acts 11:26 says “The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
Pause. Do you see the significance of this? In Jerusalem, some had begun calling these Jesus followers ‘people of The Way’. In fact, as Saul the Pharisee went to Damascus, he had papers with authority to find and arrest any who belonged to “the Way”. (Acts 9:2) We don’t know how long the phrase “The Way” was used, but this choice of “Christian”, as the word describing these followers of Jesus, has survived 2000 years and is now a global movement of about 1 billion people!
I doubt we can adequately describe the excitement there must have been in Antioch during that full year of Barnabas and Saul teaching this first generation of “Christians”. You noticed they were called ‘the church’ as Luke described them. (Acts 11:26) Acts 11:27,28 tells us some came from Jerusalem and prophesied that a famine was soon going to strike Judea, including Jerusalem and surrounding towns.
The Christians in Antioch, even though 300 miles away, were moved by God to take an offering to offer help. As it was all assembled, they chose Barnabas and Saul to bring their contributions to their fellow Christians in suffering Jerusalem. (Acts 11:30)
What beautiful evidence that the Holy Spirit was giving the Antioch Christians the very same spirit of generosity which the new Christians had experienced in Jerusalem years before, when the Holy Spirit first came upon them, remember? (Acts 4:32-36)
We can assume that while Barnabas and Saul were in Jerusalem they met with the apostles and elders of the Christian movement there. But I’ve often wondered what it was like for Saul to again be back in Jerusalem where he had been such a violent force trying to eradicate this Jesus movement, which now he was advancing with all his energy?
Let’s pause here in Jerusalem, this weekend, and the “lessons learned” notes will help you dig more deeply into this passage of Scripture, while the worship song will draw you to Jesus in worship and reflection. I’ll be here, ready to join with you on Monday as we continue following what God is doing in this world-impacting ‘Jesus movement’.
Today’s Scripture: Acts 11:25-30.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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