This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - I want to welcome you to day three of week three in Acts, we're
in chapter 11. And as we look at this chapter today, we're going to be looking at
how you and I live up to our name. I don't mean the name that you were born with
in your family, although it might be good to live up to that name, or maybe some
of you need to live out a new name with your family.

I'm talking about a different name. I'm talking about living up to the name
Christian and what that means. We break into the story here in Acts chapter 11
to hear the story of what happens in a place called Antioch, a place where the
disciples are first called Christians.

And as we read what happens in Antioch, the challenge in my life, in your life,
it's clear. The way that they earned the name Christian is the way that you and
I should live up to the name Christian. What does it mean to be a Christian?

In a day when so many are called Christian, for some it's just a political
designation, for others it's just a designation of where you might show up on a
Sunday. What does it really mean? We're going to see how we can really live up to
the name of Christ.

And maybe it's obvious, but to live up to the name of Christ means you have to
live the way that Christ lived. In this chapter we see why these people in
Antioch were first called Christian, how you and I can follow in their footsteps
and live up to our name Christian. What do we do if we're going to do that?

Number one, we do what Jesus did. Number one, we follow the Father's plan.
That's what Jesus did.

He gave us the example all through his life. Even though he is the Son of God,
God in human flesh, he followed the Father's plan as an example to us of how
we're to live. This is what they did in verses 19 to 21.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen
traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, telling the message only to
Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and
began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
The Lord's hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned
to the Lord.

They followed the Father's plan. This was God's plan in people's lives and this
plan worked even through a persecution. The persecution of Stephen that arose
from the martyrdom of Stephen brought people to Antioch.

Them being in Antioch was not their idea, it was God's plan. They would have
stayed in Jerusalem, but now they're in Antioch and because they're there and
they have the heart of God, it was God's compassion in their hearts that caused
them to share the good news, not with their fellow Jews, but with Gentiles,
those who'd never heard the message. They shared because they cared.

Men of Cyprus and Cyrene, it says, were the first to share in this kind of way.
We never even hear their names and yet they had a part in one of the greatest
movements of God in all of church history. They didn't care so much about the
notice.

They cared about the impact that they made following him. They just followed the
Father's plan. That's what it means to live up to the name Christian and their
message is a very simple message.

Jesus is Lord. Many turned to the Lord. Did you notice things started out with
God here, they worked out through people, but they all led to people saying
Jesus is Lord.

That's where things are headed. That's the Father's plan. In the end, every
knee's going to bow, every tongue's going to confess that Jesus is Lord.

If I'm going to live up to the name Christian, today in my life, I've gotta follow
the Father's plan. That's what it means to be a Christian. What else does it
mean to be a Christian?

Number two, we lead by the example of serving. Leading by serving. That's what
it means to be a Christian.

That's what Jesus did. Jesus said I didn't come to be served, I came to serve
and to give my life as a ransom for many. Listen to what happened in Antioch
with the leaders that were there, beginning in verse 22.

News of this, all these people that were being saved in Antioch, all the
Gentiles coming to Christ, news of this reached the ears of the church at
Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the
evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them to remain true to
the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and
faith and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Paul, for Saul and when he found him,
he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the
church and taught great numbers of people. There are a lot of different ways to
lead.

Here you see Barnabas and Saul, leaders in this early church in Antioch. Some
people lead by pressure, others lead by bribery, some lead by default and nobody
else said they would do it. The leaders in the early church, they led by example
and they led by serving.

An example makes all the difference in the world. It's the example of serving
that makes encouragement more than comforting, it makes it challenging. When
somebody's serving out of their love for Jesus Christ and they encourage me,
that challenges me to change.

It's not just a pat on the back. It's a deep, empowering encouragement. I can
tap into Jesus's power too.

When somebody's life of service backs up their words of encouragement, they can
put their arm around me and say, I know you can make it and I can feel it in
their touch, I can see it in their eyes. Something different can happen in my
life, not because of them, but because of Jesus Christ. You see, when you lead
by serving, leading by serving, you're not connecting people to you, you're
connecting people to Jesus Christ and that's where they need to be connected for
real change to happen.

It's the example of serving that makes encouragement more than comforting, but
challenging. It's the example of serving that makes teaching more than
informational, it makes it transformational. Without an example, teaching is no
more than just one thought being passed from one mind to the other.

It's example that makes the truth able to be lived out and here's Saul, here's
Barnabas living in Antioch, a living example and they could see it. These verses
tell us about Barnabas. He's a good man, he's full of the Holy Spirit, he's full
of faith.

That example changes everything. There's a lot of people who are expert
teachers, they're very interesting and expertise may get your interest, there's
no doubt about that. But example, that's what sets the fire in somebody's life
because again, it's the example of serving that connects me to Jesus Christ.

You want to live up to the name of Christian? First of all, you follow the
Father's plan because that's what Jesus did. Secondly, you lead by serving
because that's what Jesus did.

Third, the Bible tells us these disciples were first called Christians at
Antioch. In this town of Antioch, this town in that day of about half million
people, it had a main street by the way of four miles paved with solid marble.
It was one of the very few cities, maybe the only city, ancient city, where the
streets were lighted at night.

It's the city where a lot of Roman heroes went to retire, it was a retirement
community. It was a great city, but it was also an immoral city. Each night in
this city, they reenacted the immoral practice of the god Daphne as they chased
prostitutes through the city streets.

And the combination of that greatness and immorality made it a very cynical
city. This was a city that was famous for giving nicknames to those they wanted
to ridicule. And here it was in Antioch, that they were first called Christean,
Christian.

What is a Christean? What is a Christian? The word literally means little
Christs.

And at first, it was given in ridicule. These people in Antioch wanted to
ridicule these who were saying they were following Christ. Oh, they're just
little Jesuses.

They're just Jesus juniors. They're little Christs, Christean. Jesus was all
they talked about, all that they did was affected by his leadership.

Jesus was their very way of life, so they called him Christean. What they
thought was a joke has now become our name, our label. In essence, they were
designer people.

Like designer clothes, they wore their label on the outside. They openly lived
their faith. I know some department store Christians.

You know what I'm talking about? The label that you have, you don't want other
people to see because you bought the clothes at a department store. It's not
some fancy high-cost label, so you want to hide that label under your belt.

I know some department store Christians. They hide their faith on the inside.
They only show it when there's other believers around.

Even worse than that, I know some clothing discount warehouse Christians. You
know what I'm talking about, where they actually cut the labels out, don't want
anybody to see where it actually came from. I know some people who want to cut the
label out so they can go places and do things.

They have no business being there. They have no place being there. This is a
reminder.

What does it mean to be a Christian? You wear the label on the outside proudly.
It proclaims the presence of Christ in your life.

There's anything in you that says, "I can't let other people know. " That's not
what it means to be a Christian. Everybody knows.

Everybody knows who Jesus was. Everybody needs to know that Jesus is in your
life. What does it mean to be a little Christ?

What does it mean to live out this kind of life? There's a fourth thing it
means. It means that we give to meet other people's needs.

That's what Jesus did. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. Jesus
gave his life for us on the cross.

On the cross, he gave to meet our needs. These in Antioch immediately became a
generous giving church. In verses 27 to 30, during this time, some prophets came
down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

One of them named Agabas stood up and, through the Spirit, predicted that a
severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. This happened during the
reign of Claudius. The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to
provide help for their brothers living in Judea.

This they did, sending their gifts to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. One of
the key words in this passage to me is they wanted to do this. They desired to
do this.

They didn't have to share, they wanted to share with their Christian brothers
and sisters. There's two keys to giving joyously in your life. You give to meet
needs and you give according to your means.

They gave a gift according to what God had given them. You can't give what God
hasn't given you. Some people feel guilty because they can't give more.

The truth is, whatever God's given you, you give out of that. But you don't give
just as some duty. You don't give just as some list of rules and regulations.

You give because you know God's going to use that gift to meet needs. This church
in Antioch, where they were first called Christian, reminds us of what it means
to be called Christian. So how about you, how about me today?

Am I going to be a Christian? Follow the Father's plan. Lead by serving, not by
demanding, but by serving other people.

Am I going to be the kind of person who wears the name on the outside, doesn't hide
it on the inside? Am I going to be generous in my life? Let's pray for God's
strength.

Jesus, that's what we want. We want to live out the name of Christ. So help us to
understand the Father's plan in our lives today.

Not my plan, but the Father's plan. And to live it out. Lord, help us to see
very clearly what it means to get a hold of your truth in our lives of serving
others.

Lord, it's so easy to want to be served. Help us to serve others today. Jesus,
give us the strength today.

It's your strength, so obviously you can give it to us because this is your
character. Give us the strength to let other people know who we are because of
who you are. And Jesus, help us to be generous.

It's so tempting to want to hold on to what we have, but God, you put it into our
hands for a reason. Not only to meet our needs, but also to meet the needs of
others. So out of the means that you've given to us, help us to share to meet
other people's needs.

We ask this, Jesus, in your name, amen. Tomorrow, as we look at chapter 12
together, we're going to face some real questions about how God works.