Behold the grace of God
Main idea: See the grace of God in gregarious, good and generous Christians through whom God grows His Church.
1. God’s gregarious gospel proclaimers
2. God’s good son of encouragement
3. God’s generous second-generation givers
One of the words that many Christians use is the word ‘grace’.
We talk about God’s grace, we sing Amazing Grace and for the English speakers, what do we call the prayer we pray before we eat?
Grace.
But what is grace? And what is God’s grace?
A definition that we often use is that grace is what God has freely given us in the Lord Jesus.
Grace is God’s unmerited favour on sinners like you and me.
That’s a good, theological definition of God’s grace.
But what does it look like in action?
What does the grace of God look like?
That’s what we’re going to explore in today’s passage.
And so, please open up to Acts chapter 11 beginning from verse 19.
We’ll see three things:
1. God’s gregarious gospel proclaimers
2. God’s good son of encouragement
3. God’s generous second-generation givers
Before we look into it, let’s pray, “Father, by your Holy Spirit, open our eyes that we might see a glimpse of your glorious, beautiful, inspiring and life-transforming grace of us in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.”
1. God’s gregarious gospel proclaimers
Acts chapter 11 verse 19, “Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.”
Who was Stephen? This is the Stephen that we read about in Acts chapter 7; he was the first Christian to be killed for spreading the word about Jesus.
His death was the trigger for a wave of persecution against Christians, scattering them across distant countries as they fled for their lives.
Saul, the man who approved Stephen’s death, was like a Christian hunter, chasing after them and dragging them to prison.
This wave of persecution forced many Jewish Christians to abandon their homes in Jerusalem.
Yet, these Christians chose to embrace their faith and fled Jerusalem rather than remain in comfort and deny Jesus.
Despite being forced out of their homes for their faith, they remained committed to sharing the gospel with fellow Jews.
They were eager to spread the good news of Jesus so that they might be saved.
Some of us who have migrated to Australia might resonate with that eagerness.
When you’re an immigrant, in a foreign country, where people speak a foreign language, you can feel isolated because there’s no one like you around you.
And when you do see someone who looks like you, you run up to them and say Hello.
Has anyone done that?
When we first came to Australia in the early 80’s, finding familiar foods like BBQ pork was a challenge.
When a BBQ pork shop opens, the news spreads quickly.
You can imagine the conversation, “Hey have you heard about the new BBQ pork place, Hung Phat? They’re selling good BBQ pork and it’s cheaper than Tai Wong.
They are even giving Chinese calendars away!”
Many people would then eagerly line up to try the new place and get a calendar for free.
We immigrants naturally share good stuff with other immigrants.
That’s what the scattered Jewish Christians were doing: they were sharing the good stuff, the good news with other Jews.
But they didn’t stop with their own people.
They shared the gospel to Greek speakers, people from other nations.
Now we have to remember that Greek was the lingua franca of the time.
It was the common language that people used, a little bit like English today.
There are many people who speak many languages at Kogarah, but when they’re at the shops, they usually use the same language: English.
Many people in the New Testament times spoke their own mother tongue as well as Greek.
These Jewish Christians spoke Greek to share the good news of Jesus with people from other cultures.
These Jewish disciples were gregarious.
To be gregarious means that they loved being around other people.
The word actually came from the idea of sheep gathering together as a flock.
These Jewish disciples didn’t keep the gospel to themselves or just among Jews; they wanted everyone to join them as one Church, serving Jesus together.
Over the past two weeks, we’ve read about Peter’s vision from God, through which God tells Peter to reach out to people from other cultures, even those Peter considered unclean.
God had gone through great lengths to teach Peter that lesson.
However, unlike Peter, these Jewish disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene didn’t receive a supernatural vision.
Yet, they knew their mission and shared the gospel with Greek speakers, making this the first cross-cultural mission in the early Church.
Crossing cultures to tell the gospel is not a recent phenomenon; it’s been there from almost the very beginning of our gathering as God’s people.
These Jewish disciples were ordinary followers of Jesus, but through them, God was doing an extraordinary and mighty work which led to a large number of people believing and turning to Jesus.
The Church in Jerusalem heard about this and sent Barnabas to Antioch to investigate.
What did Barnabas find?
Verse 23, “23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts”
Barnabas saw the grace of God.
That’s what the grace of God looks like.
The grace of God is God’s people being gregarious in sharing the good news of Jesus.
It’s not letting our looks, our cultures or even our languages stop us from sharing the good news of Jesus.
It’s being gregarious, happily, joyfully, sharing the good stuff, the good news of Jesus.
That’s what the grace of God looks like – it’s gregarious.
Here at St Paul’s Kogarah, we love and cherish our Sunday Dish Sundays.
Sunday Dish is a time when we gather to share all kinds of foods and foster a sense of belonging to one another.
This belonging isn’t just about enjoying good food or company; it’s about our belonging to Christ.
It’s a belonging that happens because we belong to Christ.
This is such an important aspect of our lives together that we’re committed to making this aspect of our community one of our 5G’s: Grow, Gather, Giftedness, Go, and Gregarious.
For a long time, we have Governance as one of our G’s.
I like Governance and I thank God for the wardens and Parish council who had helped stabilize a lot of the governance at Church.
And we’ll continue to have people who are involved with governing our Church.
While Governance is still an important aspect, we’re shifting it to the background to focus on Gregariousness.
The Gregarious team, led by Peter Chan and supported by Jiawu and Xiao Meng, will help us work on the way we show God’s grace by crossing boundaries to share the good news of Jesus with other people.
They’ll help us by reach out across boundaries by things like Sunday Dish, visiting the sick, organising picnics, following up on newcomers, following up on those who haven’t been to Church in a while and supporting those in need.
In fact, both He and Hanna have already been doing a lot of things throughout the week and on Sundays to help us be gregarious to one another.
But don’t wait for the Gregarious team to prompt you to be gregarious.
Be proactive; be gregarious!
If someone seems lonely, strike up a conversation.
If a newcomer arrives, introduce yourself.
How will you show God’s grace today?
2. God’s good son of encouragement
When Barnabas arrived, he saw the grace of God.
What did he see? He saw Jewish Christians sharing the love of Jesus with other Jewish people, and he saw the Jewish Christians sharing the love of Jesus with non-Jewish people.
What a beautiful sight to behold!
Barnabas saw the grace of God in action.
By the way, you know that Barnabas wasn’t the name he was born with, right? What was his original name?
Joseph. Joseph was a Levite from Cyprus (Acts 4:36).
However, the apostles called him Barnabas, which means, “the son of encouragement”.
Joseph was his birth name, but Barnabas, the son of encouragement, was what he became known as.
I used to know someone by the name of Michael Pun.
Some of you would’ve known him as well.
Michael worked for an electronic company, and so he really liked setting up the AV for churches.
Whenever groups of churches have any big AV events, they would contact Michael Pun.
When you say Michael Pun very quickly, it can often sound like the word microphone, or Mike, for short.
And so, when you think about microphones or mikes, you think about Michael Pun, whose name was literally Mike.
When the first apostles thought about Joseph, they thought about encouragement.
Joseph was a man who embodied the idea of encouragement, and so they called him Barnabas, the son of encouragement.
How did the son of encouragement encourage the Church at Antioch?
He encouraged them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts.
He was telling them to stay true to Jesus.
It’s great that they have heard and accepted the good news of Jesus.
Now they are to stay true to Jesus.
There are so many temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil that will try to make them wander off away from staying true to Jesus.
Young Christians (and old Christians) have to intentionally focus on staying true to Jesus.
They are to stay true to Jesus with devoted hearts.
It’s not just about not giving into temptations; it’s about letting Jesus have all of our hearts.
It’s about giving him our life, our all.
Barnabas gave these words of encouragement because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
A good man of God gives gracious, gregarious words of encouragement to fellow followers of Jesus.
He doesn’t just say words to make the Christians feel better; he gives words of instructions from the Holy Spirit, telling them to stay true to Jesus.
As fallen human beings, we often find it easier to criticise people than to encourage them.
Think about when the last time you complained about someone was.
Was it last week? Was it yesterday? Was it this morning?
Now, think about the last time when you encouraged someone to stay true to Jesus.
Was it last week? Was it last month? Was it last year?
Friends, in case you haven’t noticed, you’re at a church.
If there’s any place to encourage someone to stay true to Jesus, it’s here.
If there’s any time to encourage someone to be devoted to Jesus, it’s today.
Be good sons and daughters of encouragement.
Be known as people who encourage people to stay true to Jesus.
Barnabas, the son of encouragement, then did something extraordinary.
Look with me at verse 25, “Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul,”
Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Saul and brought him to Antioch, so that Barnabas and Saul could teach the church together.
Why was it extraordinary?
Remember what I said about Stephen being the first Christian killed for telling people about Jesus.
Well, it was this Saul who gave approval of Stephen’s death.
There would be Jewish Christians in that Church whose life was turned upside down and had settled in Antioch because they were running away from Saul.
There might even have been people there who witnessed Stephen’s death, standing there in the church.
But now, their beloved Barnabas brought Saul to their Church, to be a teacher, no less.
Was this a wise and loving decision from Barnabas?
Yes, it was! Absolutely!
Barnabas and Saul taught the Church about Jesus and there was a large number of people who came to hear them.
What an amazing display of the grace of God!
The Jewish Christians, who had so many reasons to reject Saul, enfolded him into their Church.
They embraced him as one of their own.
He was one of them, and he belonged with them, because Saul belonged to Jesus, just as they were.
That’s the power and beauty of God’s grace.
It’s a grace that empowers us to forgive, even as the Lord has forgiven us.
And it’s here that the disciples were first called Christians.
Christ was all they talked about.
Christ said this, Christ did that. Praise the Lord Jesus! Pray in the name of Christ, Amen!
Do these people ever stop talking about Christ?
No! And thank God for that!
That’s what these people are all about – they are Christians.
They weren’t Jews who kept to themselves.
They weren’t Gentiles who worshipped idols.
All they did and all they said and all they thought about was Christ.
They were a new people group; they were a new race; they were Christians.
A while ago, Jenny and I were looking at an online video about a Church of England group that wants to bring different Chinese Christians together.
It talked about how good it was to see Chinese Christians working together and how they’re growing in numbers.
But I felt that there was something off with the video.
Jenny felt it too and said, “But they haven’t mentioned Jesus.”
And she was right.
They wanted to belong to one another and they wanted to grow, but we haven’t heard them say anything about Jesus.
Now, as human beings, it's important for us to come together, to feel like we belong.
After all, God created us to be social creatures, made to relate to him and to one another.
However, if it’s a belonging that’s not about Jesus Christ, then it’s not a Christian gathering.
There are times when it’s alarming, even frightening (frightening at least for me) to hear Christians talk, plan, sing, give Bible talks, and sometimes even pray, without talking about Jesus.
Disciples were called Christians because the Lord Jesus was One they love, the One they had devoted their lives to.
You can’t help but talk about what or whom you’ve devoted your heart to.
But there are people who would call themselves Christians and don’t devote themselves to Christ at all.
If the term Christian was not invented, would someone still make up the term “Christian” to describe us?
Will they see our devotion to Christ?
And are we all about Christ, in our heart of hearts?
Friends, let’s be intentional about devoting to Jesus.
In your conversations today, let’s see how many times you will talk about Christ. Don’t count how many times other people talk about Christ; just count how many times you talk about Christ.
Be a people who live and breathe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Be sons and daughters of encouragement – that’s what the grace of God looks like.
3. God’s generous second-generation givers
I’ll briefly discuss the final point.
Look with me at verse 27, to verse 28, “In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius.”
One Christian prophet at the Antioch, the prophet Agabus, predicted a severe famine throughout the Roman world.
Despite the potential hardship for themselves, the Christians in Antioch decided to give money and send relief to the Judean Christians.
They were willing to collect money, send Saul and Barnabas on a 480kms journey, to give relief to their Judean brothers and sisters.
And they did it even before the famine impacted the Judeans, since they acted on a prophecy, not a news report.
That’s what the grace of God looks like!
It’s generous and it’s willing to give to those who are in need, even before they ask for it.
Now notice that this is help for the first-generation Christians from the second-generation Christians.
These second-generation Christians from Antioch became Christians through the gospel work of the first-generation Judean Christians.
Not all of them have direct relationships with the first-generation Judean Christians, but they knew that the gospel reached them through someone from these first-generation Christians.
When they knew that the first-generation Christians may be in need, the second generation Christians were generous in providing relief, even before they asked.
Friends, we’re here today because someone from the previous generation of Christians made it possible.
They might have directly shared the gospel with us, or built the Church we’re in, or simply welcomed us into their Church.
In God’s grace and providence, they contributed to us coming to know the Lord Jesus.
Let’s not take the first-generation Christians for granted.
I’m so thankful that they are still with us here today.
Let’s be generous to them and show them God’s grace.
Some have given sacrificially so that we can gather here today.
Let’s be thankful to God for them and practically provide for them according to our abilities.
And let’s consider how we can pass on the gospel to the next generation.
Don’t be the terminal of God’s blessings to this church.
Don’t let God’s blessings stop with you.
Be a generation that gives to the next.
One way you can do this is to support Nick Hadges’ SRE ministriy, which he’s been doing for 20 years.
You will find information on how to support him from the brochure at the back.
I’ll also send you a link to his support page on WhatsApp and WeChat.
Show God’s grace by being generous, as he’s been generous to you.
Be generous to those before and after you.
What does God’s grace look like?
It’s gregarious and it crosses cultures in order to tell them about the love of Jesus.
It’s good and encourages people to devote themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s generous and gives to those who were before them in Christ and those who will come after them in Christ.
It's what I look for, every Sunday, as I come to Church.
And by faith, I see the grace God, week after week, without fail.
Can you see the grace of God?
Friends, See the grace of God in gregarious, good and generous Christians through whom God grows His Church.
Here are three questions for us to think about this week:
1. Do I look for God’s grace among God’s people?
2. Who will I encourage to be true to Christ today?
3. How do I show generosity to those who were in Christ before me?
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.
May God be so gracious to us that he will open our eyes, so that even though we were once blind to God’s grace, we might see the grace of God in Christ our Lord, here at Church, week after week.
Amen.