Acts 11 tells the story of a new church in a big
city. Because of persecution Jewish
Christians scattered out of Jerusalem and some of them made it 300 miles north
to the major metropolis of Antioch. While Jerusalem was large, Antioch was
larger and more diverse. History tells us it was the Mediterranean’s third
largest city of the day, sitting at the crossroads of every major economy and
ethnic group in the area. When the Romans conquered the area it left the city
basically intact, declared it free, made it the seat of the Roman governor in
the region, and absorbed much of the residual Syrian religion. As a result a
large temple just outside of the city was adapted for the Roman pantheon and
became famous for its cultic prostitution. Antioch was advanced and dynamic. It
was also debauched.
During the 30’s AD, Christians began to show up and
preach, as Luke puts it, that Jesus is Lord. The church grew among the Jews in
the city and then quickly spread to the Gentiles. The church grew and drew the
attention of the apostles in Jerusalem. They sent Barnabas, Barnabas brought
Saul, and within a generation the church at Antioch surpassed the influence of
Jerusalem and became the center of the early church for nearly two hundred
years. The disciples in Antioch were so dynamic, it was there they were first
labeled, “little Christs.”
The church in Antioch gives us some important things to
think about.
Often the “foreign mission” is across the street or
across town from us. When they first arrived the Christians preached only to
the Jews. But Antioch was full of “others” who needed to hear and it was not long before they did. And because the church was actively opening its arms to
literally everyone, a dynamic and powerful church was built. Every church in
every modern city is not far from people who are drastically different. They
are from different cultures and they have different native tongues. But the
church has never (when it is right with God) been turned off by that. More than
ever, the modern city, even of modest size, is full of “mission field” people.
We send missionaries around the globe and we ought to send them across town.
The church preached a simple message: “Jesus is Lord.” It
was clearly full of the message of the resurrected Savior, but Luke notes its
simple and effective focus in a pluralistic, pagan culture. Jesus is unique and
he alone is Lord of all. He is greater than all other idols and forms of
worship, and the human soul will find its rest alone in him. Without neglecting
the full gospel, the contemporary church can learn from a simple laser focus of
a message like this. No other substitute for God will do for human experience.
The church was unafraid to throw its message into a
crowded and hostile public square. They could have stayed in the corner of
culture where they found relative comfort in the Jewish neighborhoods and
Synagogues, but they did not. They stepped out into the fray and talked about
Jesus to the Romans and Persians on their way to their temple sacrifices. And
it worked. It can be fairly said that the greatest mistake the church can make
in the city is to fail to step out into the public area with the objective and
powerful truth of Jesus Christ.
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