Rejoicing in God's multicultural grace
This week is on Acts 11:19-24:
These verses are describing some of the early spread of Christianity. At first, it was just Jews sharing with other Jews. It didn't really occur to a lot of the early apostles that the gospel would have even applied to Gentiles like the Greeks. It would have probably seemed a bit like witnessing to your dog or something. But some of the guys were reaching out those people groups and God was pleased to welcome them in.
Earlier, Peter had to be convinced by a vision from God that the gospel was for the Gentiles too, and even then he seemed somewhat hesitant. There was a feeling that the Gentiles were just too dirty and ignorant to be loved by God. People assumed Jesus was only for the Jews, since the Jews had been following God on some level or another for millennia, so they didn't have too far to go in their eyes to be fully righteous. The Gentiles, on the other hand, were way out there. Beyond hope.
And yet God reached out to the Greeks too, and they were welcomed into his church. It was totally unfair! The Jews had worked with God since the beginning, and yet here these other guys were getting the same favour and grace as they had. It made a lot of people very angry.
People didn't know what to do about it. They sent a report back to headquarters, to the church in Jerusalem, where the best theologians were, to try to sort out what was happening. They sent Barnabas out to check things out, and he turned out to be delighted at what God had done! Instead of being angry or trying to talk the church leadership out of endorsing what was happening, he saw the grace of God and encouraged everyone.
Sometimes we run into people from different people groups who haven't always gotten along with us, or people with a long history of sin, who find God and become Christians and are blessed by him. There's part of us that's like "wait, no, how come they get eternal life?" We find reasons in our mind why it can't be real, why they aren't qualified for it like we are, and so on. "It's so not fair that after doing all of those things, that guy, who should be executed for what he did, is now on the same level as me!" But that's the wrong attitude to have.
Barnabas models the right attitude, because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. He celebrates and encourages them to keep at it. Instead of coming up with reasons why God couldn't save those people, he rejoices because God was even able to clean up a mess on that scale. Judging God by our standards paints him as deficient, but adjusting our standards to his is a cause for celebration. Instead of thinking of what we think he can't do, we see that if he can do that, he can do anything!
Because of what God was doing, and Barnabas' complete and total lack of interference with it, a significant number of people became Christians. Imagine things had gone the other way, and Barnabas had fought God's work like Paul had in the beginning. Imagine how fewer people there would be in heaven. Maybe even some of us wouldn't be Christians right now if some of the people who became Christians then were the ones God sent to the lands where our ancestors were living. And imagine the shame Barnabas would have felt at the resurrection, finding out that there could have been so many more people there, if only he hadn't been so self-centred and ethnocentric.
When the grace of God reaches areas it's never reached before, we should be excited, not sceptical. We live in interesting times, where the gospel is spreading farther but where we're more aware of the depravity of certain people. If you find yourself unpleasantly surprised, let the Holy Spirit show you how impossibly good God's grace is.
Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews. But there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene among them who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. A report about them came to the attention of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people were brought to the Lord.
These verses are describing some of the early spread of Christianity. At first, it was just Jews sharing with other Jews. It didn't really occur to a lot of the early apostles that the gospel would have even applied to Gentiles like the Greeks. It would have probably seemed a bit like witnessing to your dog or something. But some of the guys were reaching out those people groups and God was pleased to welcome them in.
Earlier, Peter had to be convinced by a vision from God that the gospel was for the Gentiles too, and even then he seemed somewhat hesitant. There was a feeling that the Gentiles were just too dirty and ignorant to be loved by God. People assumed Jesus was only for the Jews, since the Jews had been following God on some level or another for millennia, so they didn't have too far to go in their eyes to be fully righteous. The Gentiles, on the other hand, were way out there. Beyond hope.
And yet God reached out to the Greeks too, and they were welcomed into his church. It was totally unfair! The Jews had worked with God since the beginning, and yet here these other guys were getting the same favour and grace as they had. It made a lot of people very angry.
People didn't know what to do about it. They sent a report back to headquarters, to the church in Jerusalem, where the best theologians were, to try to sort out what was happening. They sent Barnabas out to check things out, and he turned out to be delighted at what God had done! Instead of being angry or trying to talk the church leadership out of endorsing what was happening, he saw the grace of God and encouraged everyone.
Sometimes we run into people from different people groups who haven't always gotten along with us, or people with a long history of sin, who find God and become Christians and are blessed by him. There's part of us that's like "wait, no, how come they get eternal life?" We find reasons in our mind why it can't be real, why they aren't qualified for it like we are, and so on. "It's so not fair that after doing all of those things, that guy, who should be executed for what he did, is now on the same level as me!" But that's the wrong attitude to have.
Barnabas models the right attitude, because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. He celebrates and encourages them to keep at it. Instead of coming up with reasons why God couldn't save those people, he rejoices because God was even able to clean up a mess on that scale. Judging God by our standards paints him as deficient, but adjusting our standards to his is a cause for celebration. Instead of thinking of what we think he can't do, we see that if he can do that, he can do anything!
Because of what God was doing, and Barnabas' complete and total lack of interference with it, a significant number of people became Christians. Imagine things had gone the other way, and Barnabas had fought God's work like Paul had in the beginning. Imagine how fewer people there would be in heaven. Maybe even some of us wouldn't be Christians right now if some of the people who became Christians then were the ones God sent to the lands where our ancestors were living. And imagine the shame Barnabas would have felt at the resurrection, finding out that there could have been so many more people there, if only he hadn't been so self-centred and ethnocentric.
When the grace of God reaches areas it's never reached before, we should be excited, not sceptical. We live in interesting times, where the gospel is spreading farther but where we're more aware of the depravity of certain people. If you find yourself unpleasantly surprised, let the Holy Spirit show you how impossibly good God's grace is.
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