TUESDAY 25 May 2021 “Diversity with Jesus”

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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

DIVERSITY is a word that is stirring up quite a commotion in North America these days. Hiring and even promotion decisions are being affected in all types of employment. Diversity is affecting college enrollments and athletic team recruitment of players, coaches and even owners. Diversity is becoming a very powerful political weapon causing the rising and falling of many with political hopes, and profoundly affecting political decisions which become law and policy. Societies are rapidly changing because of this one issue aren’t they? But would you consider that the global group of Jesus followers today is the greatest evidence of God directed diversity in the world?

We’ve been following the story of what happened after Jesus’ death, resurrection and return to heaven, as the story of Jesus and His Gospel spread from Jerusalem across Palestine and in all directions across the Roman empire. Socio-economic class distinction, ethnic heritage, slavery and Roman citizenship, religious orientation and even languages spoken were all really big deals in the first century. In our journey we’ve been following the story in the Bible book of Acts, and we’ve seen this huge ‘Jesus movement’ begin in Jerusalem almost exclusively among Jews who believe in Jesus as their Messiah. Those men who had been Jesus’ disciples and later called apostles, were at the forefront of this movement, and they were each and all Jewish men.

But we saw in Acts 8 that amazingly, as Philip went into Samaria to tell the Jesus story, many Samaritans believed in Jesus and the Holy Spirit came upon them as He had upon the Jews in Jerusalem. Peter and John went to investigate and confirmed, yes, this was authentic, Jesus was bringing Samaritans into His movement! Diversity was happening, even if for some reluctantly, for the prejudice divide between Jews and Samaritans was huge!

Then in Acts 10 we saw the amazing story of Peter going to Caesarea, at the invitation of a Roman military officer named Cornelius. There Peter told the Gospel of Jesus to a large group of Gentiles and the Holy Spirit came upon them too! Peter affirmed that this was authentic and urged them to be baptized, as those in both Jerusalem and Samaria had been. It was Diversity! Jesus was even saving Gentiles and inviting them into His church, His movement!

Then in Acts 11 we saw, in the large, busy and very diverse city of Antioch, a great Jesus movement was growing without the apostles and it was including people from many different social and ethnic backgrounds. It was so unusual and eclectic, the people of Antioch called them “Christians”, people like Jesus Christ! Barnabas had gone to Antioch to investigate, and seeing this was a powerful, authentic movement of the Holy Spirit in great diversity, Barnabas went to Tarsus and brought Saul the former Pharisee, to help him teach the Antioch Christians about Jesus and His deeper doctrines! My friends do you see what Jesus was doing, step by step, as He built His church with great diversity?

Today look with me at Acts 13:1 “In the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.” Luke is always careful with his words, so what do you conclude is the purpose of the words that Luke chose to describe these leaders in the Jesus movement in Antioch? Why did he not simply give their names? Do you see DIVERSITY? Barnabas was a Levite from the island of Cyprus (Acts 4:36) who had come as an emissary of the apostles in Jerusalem. The word “Niger” when describing Simeon was likely because he had dark skin and was probably from North Africa. Had he been a slave that had earned or purchased his freedom? Was he a businessman dealing in trading goods in Antioch from his homeland?

Lucius may well have also been a black man as Cyrene was a city in what is today eastern Libya, north Africa. It had a large Jewish population, as did Ethiopia. Manaen evidently had grown up known by the royal family of the Herods. “Herod the Tetrarch” was known as king Herod Antipas who had John the Baptist killed and before whom Jesus stood in trial. What relationship Manaen had with the Herod family we don’t really know, but clearly Luke is helping us see the DIVERSITY in this group of leaders in the Christian movement in Antioch.

And then there is Saul! We know him, of course, to be the man Barnabas brought from Tarsus, his hometown, to help teach these Christians in Antioch the deeper truths of Jesus. Please remember NONE of what we have as the New Testament had as yet been written and published, so teaching was verbal and Saul was particularly effective because he’d spent his entire life studying Scripture to be a Pharisee and hopefully Rabbi teacher. Then his encounter with Jesus, and his three years of study with the Holy Spirit, had positioned Saul to be the most educated of all the teachers in this Jesus movement.

It should not be difficult for us to see that Jesus was building a powerhouse church in Antioch. It was very diverse in ethnicity, education, socio-economic diversity, skin color and religious heritage. These men who were teachers were clearly well educated and anointed by the Holy Spirit. This busy business city of Antioch had a large transient population, as traveling business people were coming and going all the time, with traveling caravans of goods from all corners of the world. As these business people came in contact with this dynamic, diverse church of Jesus people in Antioch, I can imagine many came to trust Jesus and as they then moved on to their next business destination they took their new found Christian faith with them! Do you see the strategy of Jesus in spreading the Gospel from Antioch to the world?

I can imagine the people who were part of this diverse church, this Jesus movement in Antioch talked about constructing a big building, and having lots of activities and programs for the people. Therefore when what Luke describes for us in verse 2 happened, it was shocking at first and confusing! “While they were worshiping the Lord Jesus and fasting, the Holy Spirit said ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” I wonder if they were fasting about buildings or programs or outreach. or seeking to know what Jesus wanted the Holy Spirit to lead them to do next in Antioch? What do you suppose the church thought the Holy Spirit wanted to do with Barnabas and Saul being ‘set apart’?

“Set apart” means ‘consecrate for some special purpose’. It’s what Samuel did when he anointed young David to be king, or what Moses did when he identified Joshua to be his successor. It’s what Jesus did when He selected the 12 disciples from among all His followers. “Set Apart”. May I ask my “walking with Jesus” friends, do you have a sense the Holy Spirit has ‘set you apart’ for His anointing to something special?

Luke tells us in verse 3 the church in Antioch went to prayer and more fasting to try and discern what the Holy Spirit meant by His instructions to “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” I suspect they asked Barnabas and Saul what THEY thought the Holy Spirit was doing in their lives, and I imagine one or both of them said something like this: “We’ve had a great several months with you here in Antioch teaching you God’s Word, worshiping with you and watching Jesus do great things among us. Simeon, Lucius and Manaen are good, Spirit filled, wise men who have been doing a great job of teaching along with us. Our hearts are being drawn elsewhere, to take the story of Jesus and His Gospel to places where He is not yet known.”

I imagine the people asked them ‘where will you go? How will you do this new thing of speaking about Jesus where He is unknown?” And I would guess Barnabas and Saul answered “We will follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, everyday. Where He leads we will go. What He instructs us to say and do, we will say and do. We will live by faith that Jesus will supply all we need and He will protect us. We will send word back to you what we see Jesus accomplish in this adventure.”

Luke reports: “So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them off. The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed for Cyprus… John was with them as their helper.” (Acts 12:3-5)

May I ask what just happened in your heart? Excitement, worry, fear, anxiety? Barnabas and Saul were entrepreneurs, pioneers, filled with a vision from the Holy Spirit, of taking the story of Jesus and His Gospel to people who had never heard of Jesus! There was no guarantee of salary, they carried no official papers with them. They headed to Cyprus, Barnabas’ home island. At least they would start in a place with a little bit of familiarity. And they invited young John Mark to accompany them, but do you notice his role? ‘…as their helper…’

John Mark was young, and daily he was learning from Barnabas and Saul. He was not a teacher, he was a disciple, watching and listening very carefully, as they taught. John Mark was in training by the Holy Spirit, for the Gospel story that John Mark would write would become very important. Often Mark’s Gospel is the first book of the New Testament translated when missionaries go into places where the Word of God is not yet available in the language of those people.

In closing today my friends, think about the strategicness of what was happening in Acts 13:1-5. Barnabas and Saul were being sent off from this city of great diversity, Antioch, out to the frontiers of the world, with the Gospel, taking John Mark as their helper, and he would then write the story that would penetrate jungles, cities and towns around the world, for centuries to come! Could I invite you to look at your city… what might the Holy Spirit want to do through you in 2021? Are you available as Barnabas, Saul and John Mark were?

I’ve found a song of praise to God from Africa. It’s in the Swahili language, called “Baba Yetu”. Let the faces and voices of the children draw your heart to praise the Lord Jesus Christ and to celebrate that the church of Jesus, all around the world, is the place of greatest diversity for God’s glory!

Today’s Scripture is Acts 13:1-5.

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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“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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