Jesus in His Church - The..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. We are continuing in our study in the Book of Acts. It's a story of the expansion and the growing, actually, of the New Testament church.

And it continues as we follow through the chapters through the Book of Acts. And it's doing exactly what our Lord Jesus said it would do. He said that he will grow the church. He will grow the church through his spirit. And Luke was very particular when he said that in the first gospel, the gospel that carries Christ's or Luke's name, I should say, Christ began to do his work.

And here in the book of Acts, we see that Christ continues to do his work. And it's here in chapter 10 and 11, which chapter 10, our brother took us through last week, in chapter 11, that we see the church expand to include Gentiles. into the church, though we're looking at Gentiles coming in to the church. And not just the Gentiles, but it's going to expand into Gentile lands. So it's going to be ever widening.

The missionary objective of the apostles will continue to widen and widen to the ends of the earth. Now, I've said many times in our study thus far in the Book of Acts, but it's worth repeating when we read through this book we should always keep in the back of our minds the words of our Lord in the eighth verse of the first chapter and that should always be in our minds when Jesus was speaking to his disciples he said but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you speaking of course of the day of Pentecost and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That's the great commission. He has entrusted his people, his mission. It's a mission that will see the salvation of the Lord going beyond the confines of first century Palestine into the outermost parts of the earth.

That means that although salvation is from the Jews, it's not exclusively for the Jews, not exclusively for Jews. Our Lord made it clear that from the onset that His saving arm will reach all ethnicities from all corners of the globe. The apostles may have been slow to understand this critical truth, but with the gracious help of the Spirit of God and a little nudge here and there, or maybe you might want to say a little pull here and there, either way, they will come to recognize this wonderful truth and they will rejoice in it. This was his plan from the beginning. That Christ would be the unique seed of their father, Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Genesis 12, three. And now, of one of those nudges, we've seen already was back in chapter 7 with the heavy persecution that the Lord allowed on his church at the time of Stephen stoning. Up until that point, the ministry of the gospel and the Great Commission, which was to engulf the whole world, had mostly been confined within the borders of Jerusalem. But now several thousand followers of Christ were compelled through because of the persecution to flee what was once the comfort of their own homes in a place they knew and were familiar with to become refugees essentially in new lands. But what the Jewish religion leader or religious leaders meant for evil, God meant for good.

Because as a result of that persecution, as a result of that scattering, or you may say the Christian diaspora, many left their homes and their possessions behind in Jerusalem, but they did not, they did not leave their faith. Because we're told in chapter eight, now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Those who were scattered went about preaching the word. You see, although the ministry of the word was vibrant and strong in Jerusalem, because the first early chapters of Acts tells us that 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, a few chapters later, we have 5,000 and more and more being added to the church. It nonetheless was stagnant in its reach.

The light of the gospel was being confined to one place, but the dark world beyond Jerusalem was in desperate need for light. And so our Lord permits the persecution to come fast and strong, and in doing so, scatters thousands of missionaries to various regions, thousands of little candles shining the good news of the gospel, bringing the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ to a people who would otherwise be only condemned. First, it was Samaria, that region to the north of Jerusalem, the Samaritans, as we know, were a mixed people. After the Assyrian takeover in 722 BC, they intermarried with the peoples of other ethnicities now occupying their own land. What was once their land now became the Assyrian land.

They were considered half-breeds by the Jews. They were no longer pure-blooded Jews and therefore despised by their southern brothers. They refused to allow them to partake in worship in the temple. But with the advent of the gospel through the dispersed believers, and most notably Philip the deacon, the strong arm of the Lord's salvation reached this once detested people and they received Christ. And in receiving Christ, they were added to his ever-widening church.

Now the Samaritans may not have been pure blood Jews, but they certainly weren't Gentiles either. They were like exiled or disowned Jews, no longer enjoying the privileges of being among God's people at one stage or among the covenant privileges of God's people. But now in Christ, That's all ancient history because now by faith they enjoy the substance for which the old was but a shadow. Now in Christ, they have truly been restored to the people of God, to Israel, this time to enjoy the benefits and the privileges purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. And therefore, unlike previously, this can never be taken away.

But now in Acts chapter 10 and this week in chapter 11, the emphasis of the narrative is not those who have been restored to what they once lost, but the limelight in these chapters is on the Gentiles who were, as the apostle Paul says, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2.13. These are a people who had no special revelation of God. For the most part, they had no prophets to teach them to turn their hearts to Yahweh.

No scripture to reveal the God of the universe or His salvation. As with all humanity, they did, and we cannot deny this, have a God-given conscience. And they also had the work of the law of God written on their hearts. But in other words, that was only enough to condemn them as sinners. but they did not have the gracious means to know the salvation that comes exclusively from the hand of God of Israel.

That privilege belonged to the Jews and the Gentiles, that's our ancestors, brothers and sisters, that's us. Gentiles were people literally without hope. but praise be to God in Christ Jesus. So the verse I quoted earlier in Ephesians continues because it continues to say, having no hope without God in the world, that's of the Gentiles 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Praise God.

The blood of Jesus Christ brings hope and salvation where there was nothing but. judgment, and condemnation. This would be no doubt a reason to rejoice, right? No doubt, all Christians should be glad and rejoice in this good news, but beloved, that wasn't the case. Because if you thought there was deep-rooted hostility between the Jew and the Samaritan, that was nothing compared to the disdain that the Jews had for the Gentiles who commonly were referred to as dirty, uncircumcised dogs.

Gentiles were considered so spiritually corrupt that merely being in their presence was deemed to make one defiled and unclean. Last week, our brother Nelson took us through chapter 10. and we could feel the tension and the reluctance that the Apostle Peter experienced, even by having to enter into the home of Cornelius. Listen to how he admits this truth to the centurion. He says, you yourself know how unlawful it is for a Jew, hear this, to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation.

But God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. Peter felt the tension, but there's a key in this verse. The Lord showed him. The Lord God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. That's it.

The Lord showed him otherwise. Up until then, Peter had still refrained from eating unkosher foods, even though before the crucifixion of our Lord, the Lord taught Peter and the disciples personally that in the new covenant, all foods were made clean. But they didn't quite get it. And even though he was commissioned by our Lord, Peter, and the other disciples, with a gospel that would reach the ends of the earth, and you would naturally think that he would have clique, that the Gentile inclusion into the church would necessitate association with them also, because the Gentiles were the ones who were at the end of the earth. But so deep were the traditions, it took a supernatural, progressive work of our Lord to convince the heart of this truth.

Now, having said that, Peter does indeed obey the Lord. And he does go to Cornelius's house. There's no objections there. And in his obedience, the Lord gives Peter a real life experience through the conversion of the centurion and his household of what he might, what he just taught him previously in that vision, when Peter was in the trance and he saw the sheep rolling down from heaven three times. And now, and now Peter gets it.

And so in joy, Peter gets it. He comes back to Jerusalem, we're told in chapter 11, and he gives the report to those Christians who are in Jerusalem. So now together, brothers and sisters, let's open our Bibles, if we have them open. Let's read the first 18 verses of this 11th chapter in the book of Acts, and we'll go back to our exposition, and halfway through, we'll go back and we'll read the next portion of the chapter. just to keep it fresh in our minds.

Chapter 11 from verse one. Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him saying, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. But Peter began and explained it to them in order. I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance, I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from the heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me.

Looking at it intently or closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. I heard a voice saying to me, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But I said, by no means, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time from heaven, what God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times and all was drawn up again into heaven.

And behold, at the very moment, three men arrived the house in which we were sent from Caesarea. And the spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me and we entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen the angel stand in the house and say, send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter. He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household. And I began to speak.

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, how was I, how was I, who was I that I could stand in God's way? 18, when they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God saying, then To the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. Realize how the chapter begins by informing us. that word of Cornelius's conversion had reached the church in Judea. It sure travels fast, especially that he would have required someone physically making the trip to inform them. The word had reached Jerusalem and it reached Jerusalem before Peter had a chance to come back because we know from the previous chapter how it ends that Peter remained with Cornelius for a while.

But Luke tells us in verse one, the message received was that the Gentiles had received the word of God. That the Gentiles had received the word of God. This was big news. The Lord was now in the business of saving Gentiles and he's doing so in the very same way and through the same means that the Jews were saved through his word. His word preached.

The good news of the gospel. The grace of the Lord is no longer confined to a Jewish ethnicity. His grace is being poured out even to the Gentiles. Believers in Jerusalem have heard this news. Now, no doubt the Jerusalem Christians were amazed and they couldn't wait from hearing this report.

They couldn't wait to hear it, what had actually happened from the mouth of Peter. They'd heard the rumors, but they didn't have the details. But the question is, what was their attitude to this news? Was it one of joy and gladness? Was it one of praise that the mercy of God is actually reaching far and wide to undeserving sinners just as they once were?

Well, we aren't yet told of the attitude of all the believers in Jerusalem, but we do know that some were not impressed, not impressed with Peter. some were actually criticizing Peter. Verse two, the circumcision party criticized him saying, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. Now, first of all, to make something clear, in the original, there is no mention of a party. It simply states those of the circumcision criticized him.

Now, perhaps the ESV translators who do a great job have or were convinced that this is the same group of men as in chapter 15, which prompted the Jerusalem council that we'll get to in a few weeks by God's grace. The men in chapter 15 were described as a believing Jewish party in the church who were espousing a view that Christians were still to be circumcised and even to keep the law of Moses. Now, although it is a possibility that the men in chapter 11 are the same people, I personally don't think so. I believe Luke, a Gentile himself, is referring to the Christian Jews in a general way, all of which, just as we saw in Peter, they all avoided social contact with the Gentiles. In fact, the six men that accompanied Peter to Cornelius' house in the previous chapter, they too were described in verse 45 as those of the circumcision.

Further reason I believe this is because by the end of Peter's explanation in chapter 11, the same men that criticized him, we're told, fell silent and glorified God. Why is that? Because now they were convinced of the Gentile inclusion into the church by faith and through the same word they received. Whereas the party of the circumcision in chapter 15, we're told they still are bent on their own Jewish ways, even several years from this point. And that's why I believe that it's not that party in particular that is imbued.

But either way, brothers and sisters, realize what they were criticizing. You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them, they say. You see, they didn't question Peter's evangelism, but the fact that he entered into the home of a Gentile. And with the obvious conclusion of him being there for some time, they knew that he would have had some table fellowship with Gentiles. You see, what is being challenged is the Jews' understanding of what it means to be clean, to be the holy people of God.

For so long, they kept strict laws and refrained from whatever may defile them and make them unclean. And now with the inclusion of the Gentiles, much of what they believed is now being turned upside down. That's a lesson that Peter needed to learn. And he learned that lesson in the previous chapter. because God had told him what God has made clean do not call common or unclean.

You see the gentile inclusion breaks down the wall of Judaism, the wall of religion, the wall of ethnicity and culture, the wall of hostility that separates the two people and in the gospel the two become one in Christ Jesus. No longer are the people of God to be concerned, beloved, with outward purity rituals to make them clean, because now by faith, the purifying blood of Jesus Christ has made them forever positionally clean before God. He fulfilled all the requirements of the law. He's the perfect, blemishless, crystal clean, sinless lamb of God. This is a paradigm shift for the Jews, because from now, those who are united in Christ by faith are no longer concerned or are no longer to be concerned with being ritually clean, but rather they are to be concerned with what the physical things always pointed towards, inward cleanliness, inward purity.

inward holiness. So that means now being positionally clean in Christ, they are to strive, beloved, strive to also be progressively clean in their conduct. And that ongoing cleaning, that ongoing walking in holiness comes by faith in Christ as his spirit empowers genuine, joyful obedience to his word. to believe his word because he has already spoken, beloved. Salvation is both for Jew and Gentile.

The two become one and the two now in their unity have become one and they share the table of fellowship without any concern of being made unclean. So over the next 10 verses or so, Peter begins to explain to the church in Jerusalem, the events that took place in his trip to Caesarea. Now, much is repeated. A lot of the details are repeated from what we know and read about in chapter 10 last week. And to have Luke dedicate a chapter and a half to this account really does show the importance and the foundational aspect of this account for what is to come in the rest of the book, because the rest of the book will be very much focused on the Gentile mission.

Now, in the account that Peter gives to the Jerusalem council, there are a few differences in details when compared to the record in chapter 10, but that's only really not in essence, but because chapter 11 is told from Peter's perspective. Now, I'm not going to go through all the details again, as our brother did a great job last week in explaining that chapter to us. And we have so much to get through this evening, but a few points I will consider. Firstly, for obvious reason, it was difficult. It was very difficult for the Jews to accept Gentiles into the church.

I mean, it was a difficult thing. It was a difficult thing for Peter to look at the sheet that come down from heaven. You recognize it was from God. And yet he said, by no means, I've never eaten anything unclean. Three times it took for Peter to be convinced that Peter, it is okay.

I'm teaching you that don't call that which God has made clean common. three times. It was a difficult thing, beloved, for the Jews to accept the Gentiles. They have a long history of tradition that needs to be overcome. Now the Spirit of God does indeed work in them to unify the two, the Gentile and the Jew, to make them one.

But it does take time, but we do see as the book goes on that the Spirit of God is definitely at work. But beloved, I want to make something known to you. There were other events happening in the background that made this situation even more difficult in the providence and the timing of God for the Jews to actually accept the Jews into the church. You see, the Jews, except the Gentiles, my apologies. You see, it's widely accepted that the events in the first part of Acts 11 took place around the end of the fourth decade AD or at the very beginning of the fifth.

That is as late as 40, maybe 41 AD. And if this is the case, this may explain the reason Peter doesn't give any hint of Cornelius' position or rank when recalling the event in Jerusalem. You see, at this time, the tension between the Jews and the Romans was actually very, very high. The then emperor, Caligula, he's also known as Gaius, was a very self-absorbed man with some serious problems. Even those closest to him labeled him as an extremely cruel and practically mentally insane person.

He was an utterly immoral man. He indulged in all sorts of depraved, illicit passions of the flesh. I do not wish to divulge in our meeting this evening. His mind became so twisted that he derived pleasure from watching the torture of others, beloved. Here it is, including the torture of children.

That's how twisted this guy's mind was. His love for self was manifested in the latter portion of his reign when he overruled a previous agreement for the Jews to enjoy practicing their religion in freedom in Jerusalem as long as they remained peaceful. He overturned that. He overturned that, he went back on that agreement and he sent an official emissary demanding the temple grounds in Jerusalem be converted into a shrine for the imperial cult. And hear this, and he demanded that a statue of himself be erected in the temple itself.

Now imagine, imagine the Jews attitude and their emotion towards something like that. But even the temple was a ground where the people of God, the Christians for really at that point, before that point, we know that they were congregating in that place, teaching in that place. And now the emperor is saying that he wants to erect his own statue in the temple itself and demand worship. You see what happened at that point, some tens of thousands of Jews protested. And they went to his representative in an attempt to revoke this order.

But shortly after, the emperor was actually assassinated by his own guards and the threat was averted. But if this was all going on in the background, and it's likely it was, because it's about the same time, the lesson that the Jerusalem Jews had to learn was even more profound. Not only were they to accept the Gentiles into the church, those who they deemed previously as unclean and defiling, but now they also need to accept Roman officials into the church. Roman official Gentiles who threatened their very freedoms such as Cornelius himself. They had to learn that even the enemies of the flesh are in as much need of the gospel as they were.

And they had to learn this the hard way, beloved, because as ministers of the word, as those who were entrusted by Jesus with a great commission, they were mandated to love them and to show Christ's love towards them by preaching the gospel, believing that Jesus will save some. What a lesson. What a lesson that these Christians needed to learn. What a process of sanctification the Lord is putting them through. Because beloved, this is impossible with man.

To forgive like that, and to love like that, and to overcome so many centuries of tradition, it truly requires a supernatural power of the Spirit to change the heart and press these truths into one's soul. And beloved, that's exactly what he'll do because the Christian Jews criticized at first, but in the end, they will be silenced and they will indeed give glory to God. As for Peter. Verse 15 and 17 confirms that that work had already begun in his heart weeks or even months before. Let's listen to what it says.

It says, as I began, Peter speaking, as I began to speak, verse 15, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them as he's given or he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, Who was I that I could stand in God's way? As I began to speak. As I began to speak.

Did you hear that? That's what Peter's saying. As I began to speak. But we're not to take that as though Peter hadn't begun to say anything, as though he walked through the door and the Spirit of God had fallen upon him. No, because we know that what he means is he had a lot more to say, like what he had spoken was just a small portion of what he had planned to say, of what he had planned to share with Cornelius and his household.

But this man, this centurion and his household were ripe for the picking, as one would say. His listeners were a harvest ready to be reaped. They were ready. But we must note that although little was said by Peter, the gospel was still preached. We have the account in the previous chapter.

And we know Peter had already introduced Jesus Christ as the risen savior in whom there is no distinction, whether Jew or Gentile. And although his preaching was indeed brief, he did assert that only in Christ can one find forgiveness for sins. And beloved, that was enough. The Spirit who had already been at work now grants faith to the hearers and brings salvation to that household because He made them understand, He brought an understanding to their mind that they are indeed sinners and they are indeed in desperate need of the only Savior, Jesus Christ. That's where forgiveness is found.

But the key to realize that Peter is saying the Spirit fell upon these Gentiles is in the same way. That's what we need to look back. Because Peter's saying it's in the same way it fell upon Cornelius and his household that it fell upon us. He's referring to Pentecost. That's what he's referring to.

There's truly no distinction in the household of God. The language is very reminiscent of Pentecost and it's ought to take our minds back to that time. We remember when the Pentecost, when the people of Jerusalem received the Spirit of God. It's the same blessing they received that Peter witnessed with his very eyes that Cornelius and his household had now received. It's the exact same blessing.

This was groundbreaking news. You see, they weren't expecting this to be the case anymore than the believers who witnessed what happened on that day. Listen to verse 44 and 45 of chapter 10. It says, while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed.

Hear that? They were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. What were they expecting? Have you ever asked yourself that question? What were they expecting?

Now I can't answer that question. But they were amazed. They were amazed that those who believed outside the Jewish faith, outside Judaism, received the Spirit of God. Beloved, if they believed in the same Christ, and they were granted the same repentance, Why would not the Gentiles also receive the same Spirit? The only reason in my mind I could think of is that up until that point, yes, there were believers and yes, the Spirit of God had been working in their heart, but there must have still been a sense of superiority as the covenant people of God.

But beloved, after that day, no doubt in my mind that most of these people had that thought and that notion completely shattered. They were humbled. And now, too, are the Jews in Jerusalem listening to Peter give the account of what had already happened. Now it's proven undeniable that in the eternal plan of God, Believing Gentiles are united by the same spirit with the believing Jews. And now they are integrated.

They are included. Now they are brought into the same household of God. That's not plural. That's singular. Household of God.

All become one family. All become one family. You know, this day, this whole experience I think was an incredible, incredible experience for Peter. I can just imagine the spiritual growth that he experienced. But I love the way he puts it.

He says that he remembered that day. He remembered what the Lord had told him. I love that. He said, I remembered what the Lord had told me. You see, it's been many years now since the ascension of our Savior.

And in his earthly ministry, he told the disciples many things, far more than they could humanly remember. But this is the thing. They needed to remember everything that Jesus had told them because Jesus never spoke an empty word. And these men, these disciples who will become his apostles will be sent out into the world in the great commission to be the representatives of Jesus Christ, proclaiming the gospel of the good news of Christ and the salvation found in his name. They needed to remember everything that Jesus had said.

So Jesus said to them on the night that he was betrayed, hear these words. He said, these things I've spoken to you while I am still with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit and the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and hear this and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14, 25 and 26. Beloved, what we have in this case with Peter is one of those spirit recalling moments.

The Spirit of God, as Jesus had told his disciples, brought back to Peter's mind and indeed his heart, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ that had been uttered from his mouth many years earlier before his ascension. In fact, on the day of his ascension in Acts chapter one, verse five, when Jesus said, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Peter remembered because the Spirit of God had brought that to his mind. And although the words were directed at the disciples that day, Peter knew that that baptism of the Holy Spirit has now, he now has been enlightened to know that that baptism is for all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ. And that's what he witnessed that day with Cornelius and the household of Cornelius.

He was enlightened. Peter was not only remembering what Jesus said, but the previous part of that verse I quoted was the Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. Peter remembered what Jesus had said, but it only now clicked. Why? Because the Spirit of God had given him the light to understand the words of Jesus.

And then he goes on to say, you think God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus. Who was I that I could stand in his way? Peter is saying, how can I, how can I have any prejudice against the Gentiles if Jesus has accepted them into his own household? There's only one thing he can do. There's only one thing that the six men that came with him could do.

There's only one thing that the people, the Christians in Jerusalem listening to the report of Peter can do. And that is beloved, stand amazed. Stand amazed at the grace of God that extends even unto the Gentile. And that's what his listeners do. Verse 18, when they heard these things, they fell silence.

And then they glorified God. What could they say? Their mouths could not be opened. And they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. I love.

I love the way they acknowledge that it is God who grants true repentance. This is no human activity, but a divine one. You see, this is not the type of repentance that one can experience resulting in the cleaning of one's self a little to make himself or herself a better person. That's not the repentance spoken of here. People can learn from their mistakes.

We know that we've experienced that. People can also experience what we call a worldly sorrow which can bring about a certain reformation of external behaviors. People can even turn from harmful ways or their harmful traits. They can learn to be more honest. They can actually learn to be more caring and so on and so on.

But when they do repent of the things they wish to repent from, and turn from their ways to something else, whatever they turn to is not Christ. Because there's nowhere to go. They end up turning back to self. They end up turning back to their own power, their own will, their own intellect. And beloved, that sets them up for failure.

The end result will inevitably be death. But true repentance is to turn away from self. True repentance is to turn away from sin and the depravity and the ways of old, and hear this, to turn to Christ, to turn to Christ, to look to Christ. Just turning from your sin is to turn from your sin whilst looking to Jesus and walking towards Him and following after Him and to walk. in His ways as He's revealed in His Word because Jesus Christ alone is the source and the substance of life.

He empowers true change, beloved, and in Him alone is eternal life. In Him is forgiveness. In Him is eternal life. You see, the foundation, the foundation for the inclusion of the Gentile church has been laid. The mission field is no longer Judea and some of the surrounding regions.

The Gentile inclusion into the body of Christ means that now the mission field, at least the Jerusalem Jews now know that the mission field is the whole world. And now in the next section of our chapter, we will see that now that the foundation has been laid through what Peter has done and what the Holy Spirit has done through the ministry of Peter, we'll see the formation of the United Church, which includes both Jew and Gentile. Principally, the foundations have been laid, but now we see how it practically works out in the formation of the church, which includes both Jew and Gentile. But the people, and I want you to see this, and this is a beautiful thing, the people will no longer be identified as either Jew or Gentile. I love this.

The true church of Christ will now be proud to be named after her savior. her Lord, her King. Because the text we're about to read tells us that from now on the members of the united body of our Lord will now be called Christian. Let's go back to our Bibles and read from verse 19 through 30. Verse 19 through 30.

Now those who are scattered, because of the persecution that arose over Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists, also preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord, 22. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and he exhorted them to all remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.

For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a while, for a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians.

Now these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit, that there would be a great famine over all the earth, and this took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone, according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Amen. Luke begins this little section of our chapter by reminding It reminds us of the pivotal event of Stephen's stoning that resulted in a heavy persecution by the hand of the Jews, who claimed that the followers of Christ, because they heard the preaching of Stephen, which was spirit-filled preaching, that what they saw and what they accused Stephen of is that the followers of Christ were against making accusations, blasphemous accusations against God and against Moses, against the Lord, against the holy place, of course, meaning the temple. From that time, the heavy persecution arose.

And Paul, he was known back then as Saul, was instrumental in the persecution. Now we're told that the regions of the dispersion, when the people were persecuted, we're told what regions they went to. They were scattered to Phoenicia, we're told. That's a region up in the north along the Mediterranean Sea. Now it's called Lebanon.

They were scattered to Cyprus. And this is an island about 200 kilometers east of the coast of Syria. and my apologies, west of the coast of Syria. And also the birthplace, no, yes, west, my apologies, I'm getting my east-west mixed up. And also the birth, Cyprus was also the birthplace of Barnabas.

And also Antioch, we're told. Now there's quite a few cities called Antioch at this time, 16 in fact, it was a popular name for the city. But the main two that we need to know and remember for our study in the Book of Acts is the Pisidian Antioch in Asia Minor. Now it's modern-day Turkey. Paul and Barnabas will evangelize in this city very soon, and this will be Paul's first missionary journey.

And the other Antioch is on the Orontes River. It's in Syria, some 500 kilometers north of Jerusalem. And this is called the Syrian Antioch. And that's the one that is mentioned here. This is the one that's 500 kilometers north.

of Jerusalem. This is the one, this is the Antioch that's mentioned here. Now for many of the scattered Jews or Christians, as I said before, they were fervent, they were fervent for evangelism. But Luke tells us that most were doing their evangelism only among the Jews. No doubt, the local Jews who were part of the diaspora, those who exiled from the land, either in 722 or in the North by the Assyrians, or in the South in 605 to 586 BC by the Babylonians, that's where the two empires in those days overtook the regions.

Now, due to the persecution arising after the stoning of Stephen, the dispersed Christians made the journey to these lands. And they were very much refugees. And Luke is telling us that they concentrated their efforts on the Jews. So evangelism did take place and they have a fervent desire to preach the good news of the gospel, but they did it to the Jews, for the most part at least. They located the synagogues and the Jewish community that existed in these places for some maybe 200 or 300 years by that point.

And they located these places and they preached to Jesus Christ. They explained in these places that Jesus is actually the Messiah. They explained that he's the fulfillment of the scripture that these Jews were all so familiar with. The Jews would definitely need to be evangelized. Don't get me wrong, but Luke is telling us here that many only focused on the Jews.

And he wants to bring out to our attention that there were Gentiles there also, and the Gentiles were in desperate need to hear the gospel. and maybe some neglected to evangelize the Gentiles. But there were some, there were some from Cyprus and Cyrene, Cyrene's down the south in the northern parts of Libya. They'd realized that, hey, the Gentiles are in need of the gospel. So they now turned to the Gentiles to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.

They'd been illuminated in their hearts to the truth that Jesus's church is both Jew and Gentile. And they had a love for these people, and they preached the gospel to them. Now, the word here tells us, that there were Hellenists that they preached to. And I know previously that Hellenists were referring to, for example, the widows in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 6. And now Hellenists again, but beloved brothers and sisters, the term Hellenist means Greek-speaking, and the context tells us whether it's Jews, or there it is indeed Gentiles.

And that's why some of our Bibles, it translates it to Greek, the Greeks, because they made the decision, the context really does speak of Gentiles. And in fact, it is the case here. So the Hellenists now passage really does refer to Greeks. Now it's in Antioch, it's in Antioch that they're preaching the gospel. And beloved brothers and sisters, Antioch was no small city.

In fact, it was the third largest city in the Roman Empire behind Alexandria and Rome. And it had a population at this time, which some estimate of around 600,000 strong. It was a thriving city in the empire. And it was an important city, a city of importance. It had a city of great military presence in Antioch.

There was a political presence and it was a commercial center also. You see, it was situated on the Orontes River, which made it a prime location to build shipping ports to simplify the transportation of goods throughout the empire. It was a very wealthy city, Antioch. It had beautifully architecturally designed buildings and marble sculptures and beautifully paved streets. That's why it developed the nickname, the Queen of the East.

However, it may have been beautiful in its design and construction, but this pagan city was deeply, deeply immoral. Licentiousness was rampant, and it was known for its hedonism, love for self and pleasure, and its rampant sexual immorality. Let's just say these people desperately needed the Lord. They desperately needed the gospel. Everyone does.

This city had manifested a great level of sin. And so some of the dispersed Christians who are now refugees, by the way, acknowledge this and they started preaching the gospel to them. He actually says they preached Jesus Christ to them. Their hearts, their hearts had matured in the faith and their minds enlightened by the words of Christ to know without a shadow of a doubt that they're not wasting their times by preaching to the Gentiles because they knew that Jesus would save even the Gentiles. They knew that the that the Old Testament spoke of that day where all the families of the earth would be blessed.

And so they preached the gospel to the Gentiles. You see, their mindset has changed. Before the proselytes were to come to Jerusalem, they were to come to Israel and worship in the holy city, Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a center of true religion as far as they were concerned. So the people from out came to Jerusalem.

People came to them. They're now in Christ. It's not the people that will come to a central location as they once did to be among the people of God, but rather Jesus is sending his people out. He's sending his people out into the world, into all the regions of the world in the great commission to preach his salvation. As Jesus said, it would happen when he spoke to the Samaritan woman in John chapter four.

You remember, the central location of the temple will no longer be the emphasis of true religion. but rather everywhere where Christ is preached in spirit and in truth. And this was the case here in Antioch. The residents of Antioch didn't have, they didn't have scripture. They didn't know of the promises of the Old Testament, at least not the Gentiles.

They weren't awaiting a Messiah. Many had no idea of the law of God, but they were made to recognize the good news and their need for Jesus through the preaching of these faithful men. they had come to understand by the spirit that they are indeed sinners and without Christ they would perish in their sins and God in his mercy God in his mercy sent gospel proclaimers to the city to preach to the gentiles for those who for the most part were neglected and they preached him crucified and the result was that many believed Why? Why did many believe? Verse 21, and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

You see, they believed because the Lord Jesus was at work. Beloved, men's labors, they labor in vain if the Lord is not present to empower the work. Luke is making that point crystal clear. And the hand of the Lord was with them. It is Christ who is the one who will build his church.

He sends his people and creates in them a desire to preach the gospel. And he's the one who will save wretched sinners, no matter how depraved or how evil they are. And he does this by his spirit. He does this by His Spirit and unites these people who were once outcasts into His body of the beloved church. And He does that.

He does that personally. It's the work of our Lord. The Lord was with Him. The Lord was with them. It's the work of Jesus Christ, beloved.

It's the work of Christ at work by His Spirit in this pagan land. And when the hand of Jesus is in the work, verse 25, 21, a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Remember, that's true repentance. Not only do they recognize their sin, not only do they recognize their depravity, but they turn to the Lord. That's true repentance.

Now word comes back to the church in Jerusalem and good news travels fast as we've already seen, just like it did with the Samaritans, but this time it's not the apostles that will be sent, but Barnabas. They had no problems believing the news this time. They'd heard that the gospel is reaching the Gentiles even in Antioch, and it seems like there was absolutely no discussion about it. It seems like they believe now. Why?

Because the foundations were laid with Peter and Cornelius. Now they know through that event, through that record from the mouth of Peter, that the Lord is indeed saving the Gentiles. The Lord had already made his intentions clear and he makes no distinction between ethnicities. It makes no distinction in skin color, in culture, in language, or demographic, where a person lives. It does not matter.

All have sinned and all need the same grace. The grace that extends to all who believe upon the one Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So what do they do? They send Barnabas and he comes and he arrives and he sees the grace of God, we're told, and he was glad. I love Luke's words in verse 22.

In Jerusalem, the report came to their ears, but when Barnabas comes, he sees with his eyes the grace of God. The work of the Lord was so evidently clear that he was able to see it with his own eyes. And he could not deny for a moment that this is Jesus at work. He could not deny for a moment that the grace of God was here and he was working among the Gentiles. He tells us he was joyful.

He was glad. It didn't matter. It didn't matter that these were different people and there were Gentiles. It didn't matter to Barnabas. It didn't matter where he was.

He was in a filthy pagan city that had reputation as such. It didn't matter. These people were receiving mercy from God. These people were being added to the kingdom of Jesus. These people are now become his brothers and sisters and Barnabas's heart now leaps for joy and he is glad.

Oh, beloved, this is the reaction. This is the attitude of our heart when we see the Lord work by His grace. When we see evidence of the Lord's mercy, not only on our brothers and sisters in Christ now, but on those who are still sinners and we see them coming into the kingdom, where they become our brothers and sisters, we ought to be so rejoicing and so glad. Sometimes we can have a hypocritical heart at these things. May the Lord protect us from a hypocritical heart, but rather may we join in the gladness when the Lord moves, because the more that come into his kingdom, the more needs that are bent in worship of our Saviour, who is worthy of all worship, of all worship.

Now, Barnabas is now among the Antiochs, the Antioch believers. And we know in this place now there are Jewish Christians and now there are Gentile Christians. And then you'd have to ask yourself, what would you expect that Barnabas would do in this place? What would you expect from the man whose name actually means son of encouragement? That's what he does.

He actually encourages the believers. He exhorts them to remain faithful. He exhorts them and encourages them to be steadfast in purpose because we're told he was a good man full of the spirit and of faith. The Lord had done a real work in the heart of Barnabas. Remember, he was introduced to us back in chapter four, where his virtue was actually made evident back then in his generosity, his love for Christ and his church.

And the church had just compelled this Barnabas to joyfully sell a land that he owned and place the money at the apostle's feet. Beloved, Barnabas had come to recognize that there was something more precious. There's nothing more precious than Christ and his church. He'd come to recognize that there's nothing more important to his heart than to see the kingdom of God advance through the preaching of the gospel. He knew what it meant to have Jesus as his treasure.

He knew what it meant that Jesus would be the delight of his soul, and so he put his money where his heart was. And now it brings him true joy to see with his own eyes the grace of God at work among the pagans in Antioch. You see, with genuine love for Christ like that, and being filled with the Spirit and being filled with faith, he's able to be a man who recognized the work of God. This is a true believer. This man knows the Word of God.

He walks by faith and to walk by faith is to walk according to the Word of God. And one who walks according to the work of God and he's indwelt by the Spirit of God, he knows the work of God when he sees it. And that's what he's able to discern right now in Antioch, the grace of God. Barnabas was certainly the right man for this job. The Lord had gifted this man remarkably with a gift to discern the grace of God.

This is so evident already and will become even more evident as we progress through this book. Already, he alone embraced Saul, remember? Remember back in chapter nine, when Saul was made, on the road to Damascus, Saul was converted to Christ and he became a Christian, believed in Jesus. In the early stages of Saul's, after Saul's conversion, Barnabas was able to discern that the grace of God was actually at work in Saul's life. When everyone else was suspicious of Saul, Barnabas embraced him.

And in a few chapters time, once again, he'll give Mark a second chance. Because you see, Mark will abandon the group, including Barnabas and Saul, Paul, on their first missionary journey. Mark will probably feel the pressure and then abandon the group. The Apostle Paul refuses to take Mark again on his next missionary journey because he considered him to be too much of a risk. But Barnabas, on the other hand, he takes Mark under his wing.

He discerns that the Spirit of God can be and is at work in Mark. And after about 10 years or so, with Mark being encouraged by Barnabas, we're told by the Apostle Paul in the last epistle that he writes that Mark has been indeed a faithful minister of the Lord. Mark owes his maturity to Christ, of course, but also he owes his maturity in Christ to Barnabas, the son of encouragement. So no doubt the Lord had done a tremendous work in the life of Barnabas and no doubt the Jerusalem church had sent Barnabas to Antioch because they could see that this was the right man. He was filled with the spirit.

He was a man of faith and he's a good man. Very similar to the description we're given of Stephen before his stoning. You see, in love, this Barnabas gets right alongside these new converts and encourages them. He brings encouragement to them so that they would remain faithful, that they would remain in Christ, fixing their eyes upon Jesus, the author and the perfecter of their faith. Even as they progress with baby steps, He'll walk alongside them, urging them to stay the course, not to relapse into old immoral habits, and to completely discard any evil ways of the past, no longer to take part of the hedonistic ways that the city was so well known for.

That's behind you, Barnabas would say. That's your previous life. Now you're in Christ, look to Him. And now through the Word of God, He graciously and lovingly labors alongside these people, so that they would become mature in their faith and in their love for Jesus. And as a result, because the Lord was with him and the Spirit was moving in a mighty way in that city, more and more were being added.

Verse 24 tells us. Until the point Barnabas realizes, I now need help. I can't do this alone. He was able to discern in humility that he needs to reach out for help. And it discerned that it was the Apostle Paul and his gifts that were required.

Now he hadn't seen Paul for many years now, but he required Paul to come and give him a hand because he knew that the apostle Paul had the teaching and the preaching ability to partake and to partner with him in the ministry among the Gentiles in the city of Antioch. So he travels to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he finds him, Saul agrees to come back with Barnabas and partner with him in the ministry of the word. And we're told for a whole year, they taught and discipled the people of that city of the things of Christ. And the text tells us that as a result, many had become disciples of the Lord. That means many had not only come to believe, but many had come to believe.

They turned their eyes to Christ and are walking in the ways of Christ. They became disciples. Remember now in Antioch, that a Jewish and Gentile presence exists. that they were Jewish and Gentile Christians. And the evangelistic endeavors were so successful and the Lord was saving so many that in a city of some 600,000 people, the disciples of Christ were actually being identified among the multitude.

This group is ever growing and they're being recognized among the Antiochians, if you might say. I don't know if that's the word, but that's what I'd call them. And so they, They were called Christian. The name suggests belonging to Christ. Now, many commentators at this point would remark that that is a derogatory name given to the believers, a sort of disparaging term.

You are the Christ ones. It didn't matter. It didn't matter if it was created by the unbelievers for the Christians, They were no longer known as Jewish disciples or Hellenistic disciples or Gentile disciples. It didn't matter. The work of our Lord had united them in one spirit, in one church, in one body.

And so that would become known as one people, Christian. And beloved, 2000 years on, we are known as one people. In Australia, in America, in Columbia, in Lebanon. In Brazil, all over the world, no matter what color or creed, we are one in Christ. We are Christian.

This is a remarkable unity that Jesus has made in his blood. It's remarkable. And beloved, in these two chapters, in chapter 10 and 11, they teach us of this unity that is brought of the new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ. The unity where he makes the two men one. the unity in Christ.

You see, Peter learned this when he was, when he saw the vision, but he was solidified to him through the conversion of Cornelius. The Jerusalem Christians were quick to criticize, but the Lord softened their hearts. And by the time Peter was done, they too, they too were silent and they praised the name of the Lord and they recognized the unity. That was the formation. That was the foundation.

And now in Antioch, we see the practical working of the United Church, where both Jew and Gentile are united as one. The church here will soon become the central location for the New Testament church. It'll become the new Jerusalem, if you wish. But beloved, The work of our Lord in uniting a people by His blood in faith into one body is not just an external thing. Now, the people from Antioch could see that this group of people are growing and they call them Christian because they had something in you united, that were united in being the people of Christ, they could see the external reality.

But beloved, there is also a true, genuine, substantive inward reality in the unification of Jesus Christ. Because not only would the Jews and Gentiles be united in one name, Christ, and in their worship, but their hearts will become one also. And this is how the Lord matures His church, in love and unity. It's oneness. It's conforming every member and the whole into the image of the one Savior, Jesus Christ.

Beloved, I want us to remember this. A mature church is not one simply because it knows the Bible. A mature church is not one simply because it does evangelism. or engages in fellowship or any other religious activities. These are all important and they are good.

Don't hear me wrong, but these things can be superficial. The true work of the Spirit in maturing the church is seen in her spiritual unity. in his spirit beloved he knits the hearts of the believers together no matter what they look like no matter what their ethnicity is no matter what their color is no matter what their culture is he knits the heart together in truth and love. Listen how the Apostle Paul says it in Ephesians chapter 4, he says, And he gave the apostles, the prophets, and the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to the mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness, by deceitful schemes.

Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint which is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up. in love. Whole body consists of different parts, but it is united in Christ. That's the spiritual work that the body is being built up So against all odds, spiritually or physically and humanly speaking, I think it's this type of unity that the Lord is working in the lives of those in Antioch. Both Jew and Gentile become one.

Both identified as Christian from the outside, but also being identified as Christian from the inside. That unity is evident on the inside. It's a reality within. Hearts are knit together in love. Now bear with me, because what we're told, and I want to show you this, that their hearts are indeed being knit in love.

I want to show you that indeed that these Gentile Antiochs and the Jewish Antiochs are now united in a special way that can only be done through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. because the next paragraph tells us something very important below it, brothers and sisters. It tells us that a prophet comes down, that's geographically north because he comes from Jerusalem, with a prophecy. His name is Agabus and he is a New Testament prophet. Now, in this time of the infancy of the New Testament church, the spirit of the Lord was working in a unique way until the church matured and the coalition or the full setting up of the canon of scripture.

So the Lord was working in a special way. So for a time, unlike now, there were true prophets alongside true apostles. Agabus was a true prophet. His prophecy was that a serious far-reaching famine is coming. And Luke tells us that this prophecy came to fruition at the time of the Emperor Claudius' reign.

Now Claudius became emperor after the assassination of his nephew Caligula in 41 AD and Claudius reigned until 54 AD. Now it's about three to four years into his reign a great famine was recorded. The famine was attributed to a lack of wheat harvest in Egypt. Now Egypt was known as the bread basket for all of Rome. And so if they had a good amount of rainfall, the Nile River would rise and that would be great for the harvest.

But if they had a drought, as it was the case in this time, then there wasn't enough water to irrigate all the fields and that meant the harvest was severely impacted. And what did that mean? That mean the poorest of the poor in the regions of the Roman Empire were the most seriously affected because if there was only a little bit of wheat or grain, it would be shipped to the more affluent areas. Such was the case in this time in first century. but not all the regions were affected the same way or to the same degree.

It seemed clear that the city of Antioch, for example, was affected, it was affected, but not as severely as those in Jerusalem. The church down South was really feeling the pinch from this famine. Now, I want us to think about this, and I'm almost done. Up until recently, many, if not most, of the newly converted Gentile Christians didn't even know a church existed in Jerusalem. Remember they'd be living in Antioch and they were enjoying the hedonistic lifestyle as Gentiles.

They had no concern of what's going on down south in Jerusalem. They had no dealings with any of the Christians down south. They would have heard of the apostles at this stage, I'd venture to guess, they had not met anyone apart from Paul. But this is before you could make phone calls and it's before the internet so people couldn't easily contact one another so they didn't have the news from Jerusalem so there was no personal contact no personal interaction with anyone down south but when they receive news from a man by the name of Agabus and he informs them of a famine coming and somehow they find out that the believers in Jerusalem are more affected by it than they they're still affected but not quite as much What did they do? Verse 29, 30.

So the disciples, that's the Christians, determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Brothers and sisters, I don't know about you, but this I find to be absolutely remarkable. These people knew at least this much. Jerusalem is a place where you find Jews.

And we know that the Jews had a strong presence with a Jewish community in Antioch, as I said earlier, for maybe two or three or maybe even a little bit over 300 years now. The Gentiles no doubt crossed paths with the Jews as they walked by their synagogues and maybe they had a bit of an understanding of Judaism. What would they have seen, beloved? If they had even a novice understanding of Judaism, they would know that they are Gentiles and they would be deemed unclean, uncircumcised and a defiled people. You see, humanly speaking, these Gentiles had absolutely no obligation to the residents of Jerusalem.

Humanly speaking, they had zero affinity for them. Whether it was Jerusalem or northern China affected by this famine, it would have made absolutely not a single iota of difference. But for one thing, the people affected in Jerusalem are Christian. And now they've come to understand that in Christ, those Christians are brothers and sisters. In fact, we're told in verse 29, they call them brothers.

They've never met them. They've never seen them, but they call them brothers because in Christ, they now know that they belong to a family, beloved, a family. and they love them as family. Why? How could this be?

How could you love someone you've never seen? How can this be? Well, beloved, this is the supernatural work of the spirit of God unifying the hearts of believers. What he does, as I said earlier, is knit the heart together. The people's hearts, the Christian's hearts are knit together.

Jew or Gentile, we don't care what color our skin. We don't care what culture. We don't care how far away we live from one another. We do not care. They are brothers in Christ.

Our hearts are knit together and we love them. We love them. Beyond this, beloved brothers and sisters, humanly speaking, the evidence of that love is in what they do. Because we know, we know how difficult it is to pry from someone their money. We know, we know how difficult it is for someone to open their wallet.

It's an incredibly difficult thing because by nature, we are selfish human beings. We don't like to give, we like to take. And the only reason why we give is because we receive something in return. It may make us feel better. It may lift our self-esteem or whatever it may be.

It's difficult in the sinful nature because our nature is all about self. That's the nature. but it's also the nature of money. It has a certain hold on people, and it seems to be very close to people's hearts, but not so for these Christians in Antioch. They have come to know that there is no longer social or cultural boundaries.

They've come to know that in Christ, they are the one household. And although they haven't been able to sit down physically and enjoy table fellowship or a fellowship meal with their brethren down south, beloved, their hearts desire nothing more than to have one. And each according to his or her ability in love without compulsion. There's no pressure but each through the cheerful hearts without compulsion determines in their own heart to send food for relief to their brothers down south and thereby, in a way, in a way, by the spirit, they are actually sharing a meal with their Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. In a very special way, this is a type of spiritual Christian table fellowship.

that would never ever be seen on the table with their Jewish friends. And the Jews would never have entered into a house of a Gentile or accepted any food from the hands of a Gentile. But what has happened? The supernatural work of the Spirit, beloved, is now unifying the hearts of the people of God, no matter where they are. And if that's the unity manifested towards those, by the Antioch, towards those Christians in Jerusalem who are some distance away, then one can only imagine the beautiful oneness that was experienced among them in their local congregations, which now we know consist of both Jews and Gentile.

Beloved, there is no Jew or Gentile in the Church of Jesus Christ. There's simply only brothers and sisters who belong to Jesus Christ.