a "from now on" moment
The unthinkable has happened: Greeks up in Antioch got saved ~ Greeks who were not Jewish Greeks. It is far away, 300 miles away from Jerusalem as the crow flies. I think sometimes the church of today misses and misunderstands the "9.5 Earthquake scale of the shaking" this caused. God had been dropping bread crumbs along a path to tease and tempt the church to walk into the thinking of a new paradigm.
~ Jesus told the disciples they would be his witnesses (for that read martyrs) to the ends of the earth.
~ On the day of Pentecost, the church grew by 3000 people because the goodness of God had been proclaimed by the disciples in the languages of the known world of that day. {check it out...that would be the 'in Jerusalem' part of Jesus' commission in Acts 1:7-8}
~ "Greek" widows are not served dinner
SO men are appointed as 'deacons' to do what amounted to
'Meals-on-Wheels'
AND THEN
~ when Stephen (one of the "Meals-on-Wheels" guys from Acts)
"did great wonders and miraculous signs among
the people." (Acts 6:8), and it got him killed . . . violently.
THEN
~ the guy who stood at the edge of the crowd looking on and watching the cloaks of the guys who were stoning Stephen to death
-- some guy named Saul of Tarsus --
begins to go out and arrest people, and tries to destroy the church
SO
the church is scattered and these people, running from persecution back around Jerusalem,
preach the gospel everywhere they go.
{that falls under the 'to the uttermost parts of the earth part of Jesus' commission}
AND THEN
God stops dropping bread crumbs and drops the whole loaf of bread!
Then some "over-zealous yahoos"
(OK, the Jews in Jerusalem probably did NOT say that exactly, but I don't know what the Aramaic equivalent would be)
who were from Cypress and Cyrene preached the gospel to some Greeks -- not Hellenistic Jews, that is Jews who were from a Greek culture -- but some GREEK Greeks. And they don't become Jewish first, they just accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Word gets back to Jerusalem and the leaders of the church back in Jerusalem send Barnabas to check things out. Remember Barnabas? He was the one who had the chutzpah -- when Paul, the "Church destroying maniac", got saved -- to go meet Paul and check out his story and bring him to the leaders in Jerusalem. Yeah, this is someone that people trust.
Barnabas gets up to Antioch and he thinks, "It's cool!" Exact translation would be: When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. (Acts 11:23)
Interestingly, Barnabas does NOT go back down to Jerusalem. Barnabas goes over to Tarsus and finds Paul. It takes about .83 seconds to read the verse ~
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. (Acts 11:25-26)
NIV
But think about it. Go check out a map and realize there were no air planes, no trains, not even any cars. This took time. He knew Paul was in Tarsus...but he had to find him there. Then he had to convince Paul to move to Antioch to preach to a bunch of Greeks! Paul was not just Jewish -- he had studied under Gamaliel, and he was a Pharisee. If anybody had a paradigm that was solid -- "JEWS are the people of God ~ that's IT!" -- it had to be Paul. Why would Barnabas go there? Why go get Paul? Why not Peter who had already had a paradigm shifting vision from God and who had already preached to a bunch of Gentiles? Well I think Barnabas remembered the call of God given to Paul RIGHT after he got saved.
"This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." (Acts 9:15-16)
NIV
Who wants a word from God like this one?
You are going to preach to the Gentiles
(PAUL: "but I hate them Lord." GOD: "I DON'T, AND I AM GOD, REMEMBER!!???")
and you get to preach to the people of Israel too.
(PAUL: "Whoooo! That's better." GOD: "Yeah -- I'd wait and see before I decided that was the good part..."").
I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
(PAUL: "Wait! Ummmm did you just say, 'suffer'? That's your opening promise? Not "I will bless you, and you are going to have a huge ministry, and people will all love you now, and you will be the big name at all the big conferences . . ." GOD: {lots of silence that means, 'yeah, you heard Me'} )
Barnabas goes and finds Paul! He knew Paul had gotten a revelation that shifted his heart AND all the paradigms of his life. They go back to Antioch. The church grows. This is the line in the sand. And the fight from then on hinges on the question of whether people will let God set the paradigms or will require God to move only in the little boxes built of old, dead paradigms.
I think it is still the question today ~ by the way.
~ Jesus told the disciples they would be his witnesses (for that read martyrs) to the ends of the earth.
~ On the day of Pentecost, the church grew by 3000 people because the goodness of God had been proclaimed by the disciples in the languages of the known world of that day. {check it out...that would be the 'in Jerusalem' part of Jesus' commission in Acts 1:7-8}
~ "Greek" widows are not served dinner
SO men are appointed as 'deacons' to do what amounted to
'Meals-on-Wheels'
AND THEN
~ when Stephen (one of the "Meals-on-Wheels" guys from Acts)
"did great wonders and miraculous signs among
the people." (Acts 6:8), and it got him killed . . . violently.
THEN
~ the guy who stood at the edge of the crowd looking on and watching the cloaks of the guys who were stoning Stephen to death
-- some guy named Saul of Tarsus --
begins to go out and arrest people, and tries to destroy the church
SO
the church is scattered and these people, running from persecution back around Jerusalem,
preach the gospel everywhere they go.
{that falls under the 'to the uttermost parts of the earth part of Jesus' commission}
AND THEN
God stops dropping bread crumbs and drops the whole loaf of bread!
Then some "over-zealous yahoos"
(OK, the Jews in Jerusalem probably did NOT say that exactly, but I don't know what the Aramaic equivalent would be)
who were from Cypress and Cyrene preached the gospel to some Greeks -- not Hellenistic Jews, that is Jews who were from a Greek culture -- but some GREEK Greeks. And they don't become Jewish first, they just accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Word gets back to Jerusalem and the leaders of the church back in Jerusalem send Barnabas to check things out. Remember Barnabas? He was the one who had the chutzpah -- when Paul, the "Church destroying maniac", got saved -- to go meet Paul and check out his story and bring him to the leaders in Jerusalem. Yeah, this is someone that people trust.
Barnabas gets up to Antioch and he thinks, "It's cool!" Exact translation would be: When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. (Acts 11:23)
Interestingly, Barnabas does NOT go back down to Jerusalem. Barnabas goes over to Tarsus and finds Paul. It takes about .83 seconds to read the verse ~
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. (Acts 11:25-26)
NIV
But think about it. Go check out a map and realize there were no air planes, no trains, not even any cars. This took time. He knew Paul was in Tarsus...but he had to find him there. Then he had to convince Paul to move to Antioch to preach to a bunch of Greeks! Paul was not just Jewish -- he had studied under Gamaliel, and he was a Pharisee. If anybody had a paradigm that was solid -- "JEWS are the people of God ~ that's IT!" -- it had to be Paul. Why would Barnabas go there? Why go get Paul? Why not Peter who had already had a paradigm shifting vision from God and who had already preached to a bunch of Gentiles? Well I think Barnabas remembered the call of God given to Paul RIGHT after he got saved.
"This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." (Acts 9:15-16)
NIV
Who wants a word from God like this one?
You are going to preach to the Gentiles
(PAUL: "but I hate them Lord." GOD: "I DON'T, AND I AM GOD, REMEMBER!!???")
and you get to preach to the people of Israel too.
(PAUL: "Whoooo! That's better." GOD: "Yeah -- I'd wait and see before I decided that was the good part..."").
I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
(PAUL: "Wait! Ummmm did you just say, 'suffer'? That's your opening promise? Not "I will bless you, and you are going to have a huge ministry, and people will all love you now, and you will be the big name at all the big conferences . . ." GOD: {lots of silence that means, 'yeah, you heard Me'} )
Barnabas goes and finds Paul! He knew Paul had gotten a revelation that shifted his heart AND all the paradigms of his life. They go back to Antioch. The church grows. This is the line in the sand. And the fight from then on hinges on the question of whether people will let God set the paradigms or will require God to move only in the little boxes built of old, dead paradigms.
I think it is still the question today ~ by the way.
That first Greek Greek who accepted Jesus and did not become a Jew immediately and forever changed everything. But it really wasn't something new, it merely completed the circle back to pre-Abraham when God spoke to everyone and anyone who would listen, before he had to narrow the message down to get his point across.
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