The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is where one stumbles upon some obscure piece of information—often an unfamiliar word or name—and soon afterwards encounters the same subject again, often repeatedly. Anytime the phrase “That’s so weird, I just heard about that the other day” would be appropriate, the utterer is hip-deep in Baader-Meinhof. Most people seem to have experienced the phenomenon at least a few times in their lives, and many people encounter it with such regularity that they anticipate it upon the introduction of new information.[1] Today we come to learn how when you’re asked what you believe and when you tell them you’re a Christian. (The title Christian actually comes from the people of Antioch who had a habit of giving nick names to different groups of people.) The Christians of Antioch stood out so much so they deserved a nick name to be called something as a group. What these people from Antioch called you was reflective on who they were always speaking about. it’s here we take up again on what happens following when Stephen is stoned to death in Jerusalem. How following his death, many believers flee persecution from Jerusalem to all point of the compass even to Phoenicia, Cyprus & Antioch. Just as we see the gospel compels us to tell its story. It is the story of God who has changed our lives forever we know the gospel is not a treasure we go and bury in the ground hoping that someday somebody might just come and dig it up to find it. This is where we find ourselves in Acts 11 we have Good News worth telling as we read in verse 19
19 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.
The question we’re asked is who do we think the Good News is for? Who deserves to hear it? What qualifies you to be someone to tell others about it? These ordinary people now Christians in Antioch went about their usual daily chores having been touched by the extraordinary love of God in Jesus. They had a whole new purpose in life and they shared it, just like what Peter had just confronted with Cornelius. These men and women fleeing Jerusalem seemed to be only speaking with those who were Jews as they had once been (a situation that quickly changes), verse 20
20 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 lives of these people in Cyprus & Cyrene are so touched by Jesus command over them to repent and believe. These people make the journey to Antioch telling anyone who will hear about him, Jews & Greeks anyone prepared to listen. The response was overwhelming as a great number believe and turn to the Lord. It is here we are re-introduced to one of the solid men of faith in the Bible, Barnabas who is described to us in verse 24
24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
Barnabas was contagious for Jesus as he was known for his faith and generosity. He was a man prepared to take on those who others rejected. Barnabas was an encourager. He understood how the gospel transforms lives of even the most hardened men. It is only Barnabas who is prepared to take Paul under his wings, to and bring him to the Apostles, so that he might learn from them all about what Jesus had taught them, and now with such a response happening in Antioch, Barnabas reaches out again to get someone to help him disciple these new Christians to encourage them in the faith. These new believers were full of love towards Jesus as they bore a determination amongst themselves to add more followers to the Lord. And seeing the work ahead of him Barnabas also enlists the help of Paul, so he travels to Tarsus where Paul was living wondering the streets until he finds him and brings him to Antioch. As we read in verse 26 starting part way through
26b So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Such is the mark of these followers of Jesus the locals of Antioch start referring to them as Christians (literally the Christ people). Antioch will be such a force in the life of the early Church that Paul will begin missionary journey’s from here, and we will soon see how these Christians are also known for their compassion and care. Barnabas is helpful for us in thinking about encouragement. I wonder how you usually experience that? Often times we think of encouragement as someone putting an arm around our shoulder telling us to lift up our heads and get on with it . Someone like Barnabas shows us how he comes alongside someone with immediate aid for the need of the moment. How in Jesus biblical comfort brings relevant mercies and actual truth. As we read in verses 29-30
29 The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
It soon becomes apparent for these Christians that faith in Jesus is an encouragement shared in practical parts of ordinary life as through a prophecy of one of the Jerusalem prophets in Antioch Agibus, is given foreknowledge of a famine that is to hit Jerusalem. It is here the tables are so quickly turned as Jerusalem was where the church began
now the daughter church in Antioch, and seeing the need sends money to the mother church. A partnership in the gospel is forged as the Antioch Church was now a church with a missionary role who saw its part in partnership in missions. Just like we at TCPC have our partnership with Beverley Hills Chinese Baptist Church in our ministry to Chinese people here in Tamworth and how we both receive a blessing in that in being encouraged together
In a documentary called "In the Shadow of the Moon." David Sington sought to get on tape what the Apollo program astronauts who set foot on the moon thought about it. Of the 12 who walked on the moon's surface itself, only 6 are alive today, and the youngest is 81. The documentary “walking on the moon” goes on to show that for these brave few extraordinary men on their return back to earth, in the years after their travels, a few of the men struggled with depression. Some became environmentalists. Some turned deeply spiritual. Like Gene Cernan, who made the last man to land on the moon in 1972 said
"I felt that the world … was just too beautiful to have happened by accident. There has to be something bigger than you and bigger than me," Cernan says at one point. "And I mean this in a spiritual sense, not a religious sense. There has to be a creator of the universe who stands above the religions that we ourselves create to govern our lives." [2]
As I was thinking about this I was wondering if we have an attitude like those disciples of Jesus who went to Antioch. I wonder if we feel the same sense of privilege and awe with the gospel about Jesus Christ that we would tell others about it in what ways others see our generosity in Christ’s grace how Jesus shapes us in the ordinary things of life?
Let’s pray…
David Hassan @ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 30/4/17
[1] https://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/
[2] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=3399586&page=2