Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
And while they were ministering to the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass, that for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people; and that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
—Acts 11:26
These are the verses for the moment. As you know, in the evening we try to give a very important illustration from the Bible, because we are speaking about the way of the church. Thank the Lord, there is a good example in the Bible: the church in Antioch.
Last night we spent some time fellowshipping concerning this church. This evening we will go on a little further.
Last night we considered the birth of the church in Antioch. Thank the Lord, we know that it was by the work of the Holy Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit who baptizes us into one Body.
Historically speaking, on the day of Pentecost the church in Jerusalem was born. Then, when we come to Acts 11, after the event in the house of Cornelius, the church in Antioch was born.
Peter experienced something in the house of Cornelius that he did not initially know how to explain. But later, when he remembered what the Lord had said, he immediately recognized that it was the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, he connected the event on the day of Pentecost with the event in the house of Cornelius.
Actually, these were one work of the Holy Spirit. With God there is only one act. With God there is no past, present, or future; with God it is always now. But with us, it took many years—from Acts 1 all the way to Acts 11.
When we put these two events together, we understand that we are baptized into one Body. Whether we are Jews or Greeks, whether we are bond or free, we have all been made to drink of one Spirit.
Thank the Lord, on the day of Pentecost the church in Jerusalem was born; after the event of Cornelius, the church in Antioch was born. These two churches are representative.
In Acts 2, the work of the Holy Spirit was dramatic. The Holy Spirit came like a mighty rushing wind, and there were tongues as of fire. They heard the sound, and they saw the sight. That was what happened on the day of Pentecost.
But when we come to Acts 13, we find a new beginning. Actually, it is a continuation of the same work. The church had begun to grow. The work of the Holy Spirit was still there, but it was no longer so dramatic.
Now it was in the form of a still small voice. The Holy Spirit wanted to call Barnabas and Saul to a work. This was the will of the Holy Spirit, but He had to speak to the leading brothers in the church.
While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, their ears became sensitive. They were able to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, and they began to understand the will of God.
The Holy Spirit wanted to send Paul and Barnabas, but the brothers had to hear it. They were sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit—not merely to outward sounds and sights, but to His inward leading.
Brothers and sisters, when believers become more mature, they are always ready to be moved by the Holy Spirit. God was going to do a further work, and so they sent these people out.
According to the Bible, however, it was the Holy Spirit who sent them out. From that time onward, the Holy Spirit continued to work with Paul and Barnabas throughout their first, second, and third journeys.
Sometimes the Bible says that the Holy Spirit forbade them to go to a certain place. On another occasion, the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. It was still the work of the Holy Spirit—no longer as dramatic as in Acts 2, but just as real.
When we come to Acts 13, the Holy Spirit begins a new chapter in His work. His intention is still there, but now He speaks to the church in a still small voice.
When we come to the list of five names of the leading brothers, we learn some very interesting lessons. We are told that there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul.
Who was Barnabas? He was a Levite. One day, when he was touched by the love of God, he sold some of his property in Cyprus. He was a Levite who had lived on the Greek island of Cyprus.
If you look at a map, you will find that Cyprus is not far from Antioch. It is still a very scenic island today, and many people want to visit it.
Barnabas came from Cyprus. He did not originally belong to Antioch; he had visited the church there and became part of it. He was not a native of Antioch. That was the first background we know.
Then we come to Simeon who was called Niger. Simeon is a Jewish name, so he must have been a Jew. But Niger is Latin, and it means black. It speaks of the darkness of his complexion.
Some Bible scholars have studied the whole New Testament and have come to the conclusion that Simeon who was called Niger may have been Simon of Cyrene.
You remember the story of our Lord Jesus carrying His cross. He had been beaten deeply; He was exhausted, yet He still had to carry the cross. Then the soldiers found a man coming from the country, whose name was Simon of Cyrene.
Cyrene is in what is today Libya, in North Africa. The climate there is hot. So, even if Simon was a Jew, it is possible that his complexion was dark. Therefore, Simeon called Niger and Simon of Cyrene may have been the same person.
In Romans 16, Paul speaks of Rufus and of Rufus’s mother. Somehow Paul must have been very close to this family. If Simon of Cyrene was indeed Simeon called Niger, then his history becomes very interesting.
Simon came from the country, probably to Jerusalem, perhaps simply to see what was happening. But then a soldier touched his shoulder.
According to Roman law, if there was a public need, a person could be compelled to serve. For example, if someone needed you to carry something from one place to another for public service, a soldier could simply touch your shoulder, and you were expected to do that duty.
Yet Roman law limited such compulsory service to one mile. That is why the Lord Jesus spoke of going the second mile. When you have already fulfilled the requirement of the law, the life of Christ within you enables you to go an extra mile.
This was the background of Simon of Cyrene. Carrying the cross was a duty for him; he could not help but do it. But when our Lord said, “Take up your cross and follow Me,” He spoke of something done out of love.
How often, when we take up the cross, are we like Simon at first? We do not want to do it. Yet Simon never knew what a privilege he had. He followed behind every step of our Lord Jesus as He went to be crucified.
When he was in the presence of the Lord who was about to be crucified, what kind of message must have been spoken to him? In the beginning he took up the cross out of duty, but gradually he experienced the presence of the Lord.
We do not know whether these two men were the same person. But if they were, I would not be surprised that Simon of Cyrene became one of the leading brothers in Antioch. When the Lord places responsibility upon our shoulders, we learn the lesson of taking up our cross and following Him.
Then we read of Lucius of Cyrene. Cyrene was in North Africa, so most likely there were two leaders from Africa among these prophets and teachers.
Many Bible scholars believe that people from Cyprus and Cyrene preached the gospel to the Gentiles, and in this way the church in Antioch was born. If they began the work, then it is not surprising that one of them, Lucius of Cyrene, became a leading brother.
They were taught by the Holy Spirit, and now they were able to teach others. They received revelation and learned how to speak the will of God. No matter what complexion we have, what background we have, or how much education we have received, we all need to be taught by the Holy Spirit.
Then there was another man called Manaen. The name is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Menahem, which means “comforter” or “consolation.”
Who was Manaen? He had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch. This was Herod Antipas, the one who beheaded John the Baptist. Our Lord referred to him as “that fox.”
Manaen and Herod Antipas had been brought up together. They were foster brothers. Think of the contrast in their backgrounds. One was connected with the royal court, with Herod, and indirectly with the power of the Roman Empire.
According to Dr. Lightfoot, there was a Menahem in Jewish history who was a prophet and who prophesied that Herod the Great would become king. It is possible that Herod adopted the son of that Menahem, and that this was the Manaen in Antioch.
You can see the variety and the different backgrounds among these brothers.
Finally, there was Saul. Paul embraced three worlds. On one hand, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. On the other hand, he was brought up in one of the most important Greek cities, Tarsus. Then he possessed Roman citizenship.
Using today’s language, Paul had the passport of the Roman Empire. He was able to travel everywhere in the Empire.
These five brothers ministered before the Lord, and somehow the responsibility of the church was upon their shoulders. Yet they had very little in common in their natural backgrounds.
Their one common feature was that there was no natural common ground among them. Their diversity described the nature of the church at that time. Their leadership represented the diversity of their congregation.
Antioch at that time was the third-largest city in the Roman Empire. It had experienced explosive growth and was called “the jewel of the East.”
We have mentioned that there were three hundred thousand free men and two hundred thousand slaves. This helps us understand why the Bible speaks of slave and free, Jew and Greek, Gentile and Jew. In that city, you saw tremendous variety.
God gave the saints in Antioch an opportunity to become a wonderful experiment before the eyes of men. God was going to do something that could not be found anywhere in the world.
The Holy Spirit chose such a city for a new chapter of His work. Antioch was a melting pot of many cultures and peoples.
There were Syrians, the local people; Greeks; Jews; and later Romans, after Pompey conquered the city in 64 B.C. Besides these groups, there were immigrants from Cyprus and Cyrene.
Several languages were spoken there, including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, and Persian. That was the city called Antioch.
Why do we speak about the church in Antioch? Because today we live in New York, and New York is a city very similar to Antioch at that time. It is also a melting pot of all kinds of people.
You never know why people from Cyprus moved to Antioch, or why so many people from North Africa were there. Yet God had brought them together.
How are we going to deal with the many unbelievers and the many different peoples around us? Brothers and sisters, that is a good challenge. New York is like Antioch: a great melting pot.
Antioch had a main street four miles long and one hundred feet wide. It had colonnades and covered walkways on both sides. There were hundreds of pillars, and in the evening the street was illuminated with torches.
In New York we have something similar: Fifth Avenue. The only difference is that we do not have the same colonnades.
The northern and southern portions of the main street met at a junction, a public square that became the marketplace. There people traveled here and there, and you could find all kinds of people from different parts of the world.
If you wanted to learn the news of the world, you would go to that square. You would hear everything there. It was a place where people gave nicknames and tried to explain unusual phenomena.
We have a similar place in New York called Times Square. If you sit there, you can watch people from Africa, Europe, China, and everywhere else. If there were no television, computer, iPhone, or iPad, you could still go to such a place and hear the news of the world.
One day, people in Antioch noticed something. These people were not merely Africans or local people. They were not simply Jews, Gentiles, immigrants from Cyprus, or people from Cyrene. Something had happened to them.
They had experienced something in their lives, and their lives had made an impact on society. The people of Antioch did not know how to describe them.
If they had been only Jews, people could have called them one branch of Judaism. But they were not merely Jews. Some were Gentiles; some came from Cyprus; some came from Cyrene. They had no natural label.
Finally, they found a name: Christians.
The word Christian is Christ with a Latin ending. It means one who belongs to Christ, or one identified with Christ.
Christ means Messiah, and Messiah means “the Anointed One.” The Anointed One is King, Priest, and Prophet. These three offices are combined in one Person: Christ.
If our Lord is Christ, then we are Christians. What does that mean? We are the anointed ones. He is the Anointed One, and we are His anointed people.
Why did people give them this name? During that one year of teaching and labor in Antioch, they had learned lessons of the church. They were filled with something, and people sensed it. Something overflowed from them.
Let us read two passages concerning anointing. The first is Acts 10:38.
How God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.
—Acts 10:38
Now we understand the meaning of Christ. Our Lord Jesus of Nazareth was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Whenever we speak about anointing, it is connected with the Holy Spirit.
The second passage is 2 Corinthians 1:21-22.
Now He that establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;
Who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
—2 Corinthians 1:21-22
Not only was our Lord anointed with the Holy Spirit; we also are anointed with the Holy Spirit.
That is why I mentioned last night that, when our Lord was anointed, the precious oil flowed upon the head of Aaron, then upon his beard, and then down to the edge of his garments. This is what happened on the day of Pentecost.
When the Body of Christ was born on the day of Pentecost, the precious oil that was upon Christ flowed to you and to me. Therefore, we became anointed ones.
The people in the streets of Antioch may not have understood this, but with the Word of God we understand it perfectly.
The anointing oil had a special fragrance. It was unique and precious. That fragrance belonged to Christ.
No wonder we read in Song of Songs:
Thy name is as ointment poured forth.
—Song of Songs 1:3
He is the anointed King. When you are in the presence of the anointed King, you can sense that fragrance.
When believers in Antioch walked in the streets of Antioch—when they walked through their public squares—you can imagine what happened. People sensed the fragrance, and they wondered, “How can we describe them?”
Finally, they gave them that wonderful name: Christians.
That name tells us a secret. Why were they called Christians? Because they listened to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.
Why does the Bible describe the church like a mustard seed? The mustard seed is very small. In the Holy Land, it is the seed of a shrub, and it is tiny.
The Holy Spirit is like the wind. The wind blows where it wills. Because the seed is so small, even a small wind can carry it wherever the wind wants it to go.
A tiny seed can enter a crack in a rock. It can go where no one expects it to go. Then life grows, and one day that life can break the rock.
That is the secret of life. Compared with the world, we are so small. But when the Holy Spirit moves, even a little, we are ready to go. We can go wherever the Holy Spirit wants us to go.
That was the beginning of Paul’s journeys. From that time onward, Paul traveled through Asia Minor and much of Europe. He carried the gospel far and wide.
How did Paul and Barnabas begin this work? One day, five leading brothers were ministering to the Lord. They heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. There was just a little movement, a little blowing, and the church in Antioch was ready to go.
That is how the word of the gospel conquered the world. We now receive the benefit of that work.
The still small voice can accomplish a wonderful work. We do not need outward drama. The Holy Spirit can move like a small wind, and we can go wherever He leads.
It was not our choice to be here, brothers and sisters. It was God who put us here. For this reason, we are being built up together.
All these brothers and sisters learned how to be moved by the Holy Spirit. When they came to the breaking of bread, they did not need a program telling them how to proceed. One by one, they were touched by the Holy Spirit.
If you are filled with the love of Christ, and if the Holy Spirit touches you with His love, you cannot help but give praise and thanksgiving. You do not need to worry about your broken English, because your love is great.
The question is this: are we willing to be moved by the Holy Spirit? Sometimes we determine, “Today I am not going to pray. Today I am in a bad mood. I will let other people pray.”
We may complain that one brother prays too long, or that someone must translate. But perhaps that brother is being moved by the Holy Spirit. He is small enough to be moved; perhaps we are too big.
We should have a living meeting in which everyone is moved by the Holy Spirit.
I had a very interesting experience in Paris. There was a group of brothers who had migrated from China. They did not speak French, and they brought many practices from China with them.
They had imported, in a sense, the whole church life from China—the hymns, the manner of meeting, and the way they broke bread. They stood up and participated with reverence.
When I attended their breaking of bread, I was touched. Their meeting lasted two hours. Everyone opened his mouth in prayer or praise. They not only praised the Lord, but later worshipped the Father.
They may not have been highly educated. When they prayed, you could know their level of education and culture. But they had a living contact with the living Christ.
The Holy Spirit touched them, and immediately they stood up. They did not wait for perfect language. They simply responded to the touch of the Holy Spirit.
As young people, we sometimes think we need to help the Holy Spirit. We may say that if the young brothers and sisters remain silent in the breaking of bread, the meeting will be very slow. So we try to take over the meeting.
Perhaps our intention is good, but we need to learn to follow the Holy Spirit rather than trying to manage everything ourselves. In the beginning it may be difficult, but gradually believers learn how to become alive in the breaking of bread.
In the church in Corinth, when the church assembled, someone might have a psalm, another a teaching, another a revelation, another a tongue, or another an interpretation. They were under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
If believers are anointed by the Holy Spirit, they do not need to advertise themselves. They simply walk in the street, and the world senses the fragrance.
This is the way of the church.
If you go to the church in Jerusalem, you find a long history of Judaism. Jewish people know how to pray. In the synagogue there is a liturgy; there are established forms and written prayers.
This can be good in one sense. A prayer book, such as the Book of Common Prayer in the Church of England, contains beautiful language and can be deeply rooted in Scripture.
But when you live under the shadow of a long tradition, it can become very easy to come together mechanically. Someone says, “Stand,” and you stand. Someone says, “Sit,” and you sit. You become one part of a mechanism.
Even in the Dark Ages, the mass was often conducted in Latin, whether or not the people understood it. People simply came and watched.
But when we come to the breaking of bread, we must come to the Lord. When the Lord touches your heart, then you pray. That is the difference.
It is easy to live under tradition, because everything is already programmed. You simply follow the book. The liturgy may be beautiful and scriptural, but you may never need to come into the presence of the Lord.
That is the problem. We need to be moved by the Holy Spirit. We have received an anointing from the Holy One.
And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye all know.
—1 John 2:20
We encourage one another and love one another as we learn to follow the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Let me give one illustration. In 1727, there was a man in Europe called Count Zinzendorf. He was wealthy, but he loved the Lord and gave himself to the Lord.
He helped brothers from Bohemia who were suffering persecution. Eventually, he received a group of people on his estate, and they built a village called Herrnhut.
In the beginning, these people from Moravia had been persecuted, but they were well taught. They knew Bible truth. They had a wonderful heritage, reaching back even before Martin Luther.
But not only Moravians gathered there. There were Lutherans, Reformed believers, Separatists, and people of many different backgrounds. Because they had different teachings, traditions, and ways of thinking, it was difficult for them to live together.
The Lutherans had their traditions. The Reformed believers had their doctrines, including predestination. The Moravian brethren were deeply concerned about biblical simplicity. There were many differences among them.
After five years of adjustment, they felt that they could hardly continue together. Yet one brother, Christian David, a carpenter who had worked hard to rescue persecuted brethren, encouraged them.
Then, on August 13, 1727, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the congregation. It was not merely an emotional movement. The Holy Spirit did a deep work among them.
Christian David said that it was truly a miracle of God that people from so many kinds and sects—Catholics, Reformed, Separatists, Moravians, and others—could be melted together into one.
Another brother said that from that time onward, the group became a living congregation of Christ.
That day was a day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the congregation. It was not merely a revival. The Holy Spirit did something new in one locality.
These people came from different backgrounds, but through the labor of Zinzendorf the Holy Spirit did something that affected the world.
You cannot erase your history. Some had received help from Catholics; some from Lutherans; some from Baptists; some from other groups. But they were no longer merely Reformed, Catholic, Separatist, or Moravian.
How can we describe them? According to Ephesians 2, on the cross the Lord created them as one new man.
That He might create in Himself of the two one new man, so making peace.
—Ephesians 2:15
In one locality, you see one new man; in another locality, another new man. In this way an image of Christ is shown to the world.
A new man has a new personality and new habits. The Moravians had their own language and their own heritage, but when they came to Germany, they had to learn how to speak German in order to contribute.
In the same way, we may have learned wonderful lessons in China, but when we come to New York, we should not simply bring everything from China. God can do something new here.
Through adjustment, through breaking, and through many lessons, we become one. That is very important.
No matter what lesson you learned in your original place, you must recognize that you are here for the Lord’s testimony. In New York, the Lord may do one kind of work; in Memphis, He may do another work, with different components.
The important thing is that it is a wonderful privilege.
If you read Galatians 2, you discover that the church required years of adjustment. It is like a husband and wife in the early years of marriage: both have to make adjustments.
One may squeeze toothpaste from one end, and the other may squeeze it from the other end. You have to learn how to adjust. Divorce is not the solution.
When we come together, we are being transformed. We have been baptized into one Body, and therefore we must learn to make adjustments.
There was even a clash between Peter and Paul. Today we may think of Peter and Paul as two angels, but they had to learn lessons in practical church life.
What was the solution? Listen carefully. Paul put this phrase in that context:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.
—Galatians 2:20
“I, the Chinese, have been crucified with Christ. I, the Brazilian, have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
After the adjustment, Paul learned a very important lesson. If you use one phrase to describe the normal Christian life, it is this: not I, but Christ who lives in me.
Normal Christian life leads to normal church life.
When you study the Song of Songs, you read:
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers
In the vineyards of En-gedi.—Song of Songs 1:14
That speaks of an individual experience. But then the book also speaks of a bed of spices, a mountain of myrrh, and a hill of frankincense.
The mountain of myrrh speaks of, “I have been crucified with Christ.” The hill of frankincense speaks of, “Not I, but Christ lives in me.”
The Mount of Olives was once associated with gardens and spices. The thought is that, if we are anointed ones, people can sense the fragrance.
One henna tree may not be noticed very much. But if there is a whole group of trees, even from a great distance people can smell the fragrance.
Our Lord Jesus is no longer the only begotten Son in the sense that He has brought many sons unto glory. He has His glorious church.
This means that it is not merely one tree, but many trees. The world can sense the fragrance, and how will they describe it? They will say, “They are Christians.”
Christ plus “-ian”: I am nothing; Christ is everything. It is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me.
Brothers and sisters, that is the way of the church.
Let us pray.