TEXT TO REFLECT
Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Acts 11: 27-30
REFLECT
What are some of the marks of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? This brief but significant paragraph highlights one of the results of the people becoming disciples.
The gospel had reached the people in Antioch and a church had been established. Acts 11 records that a great number had become followers of Christ and that Barnabas had brought Paul to help teach the believers about the Way. We do not know exactly how large the church in Antioch was, but it must have been large, since the recorder of the Book of Acts mentioned that a great number had believed, a great number had become disciples, and a great number were being taught by Paul and Barnabas. The number of converts must have been so phenomenal that the writer mentioned “a great number” 3 times in one brief description of the coming of the gospel to Antioch. In fact, as noted by the writer, believers were first called ‘Christians’ in Antioch.
What was most notable however, was not the numbers of Christians in Antioch, but their response to a need in a community a distance from them. One day, a group of prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of the prophets, Agabus, prophesized that a great famine would come over the whole world. Immediately, the believers in Antioch “determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.” Individual disciples decided, based on what they could afford, to send relief to the believers in not just Jerusalem, but all of Judea. This act of generosity was notable enough for the writer to record.
Antioch was about 480 km north of Jerusalem. It would take a person about 15 to 16 days (walking at 30km/h) to walk from Jerusalem to Antioch. So Jerusalem was not exactly in the Antioch neighbourhood. Yet the disciples were concerned enough for the plight of the Judeans to give sacrificially to alleviate the famine in Judea. And if as prophesied by Agabus, the famine was world-wide, then Antioch would have been affected as well. Nonetheless, the concern of the Antioch Christians was not about hoarding for themselves, but for the welfare of their brethren in Judea.
RELATE
We live in a miraculously affluent and safe city, in the midst of turbulence and poverty around us. Just a short distance from us is a raging civil war in Myanmar, grinding poverty in parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, and a little further north, starvation and civil unrest in Bangladesh. And as a church, we have been richly blessed by the working of the Holy Spirit among us. Often enough, we testify of the Holy Spirit working in our midst. We have access to the best teaching and preaching from Christian leaders around the world, and international speakers frequently visit our country.
The question I pose to myself is this: what good has all of this done in me and in our church? Has the Holy Spirit quickened my senses to the famines in communities and nations around us? Is my heart touched, are our sensibilities awakened to the sufferings around us? Care for the poor was a paramount consideration for the early church. Paul testified that when the Elders in Jerusalem approved Paul’s and Barnabas’ outreach to Gentiles, which was a monumental change to their ‘Jews-only’ theology, their only condition was that “they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” (Galatians 2:10).
We have many needs ourselves, our personal needs, the needs of our church etc. But one of the marks of the Spirit’s work in the Antioch church was that the moment they heard about the world-wide famine (that would undoubtedly affect them as well), they rallied together, not to hoard for themselves, but to care for the believers in Judea. I pray that God will work this miracle of the transformation of the heart and mindset in me and in all of us.
REST
PEOPLE NEED THE LORD
Every day they pass me by
I can see it in their eyes
Empty people filled with care
Headed who knows where?
On they go through private pain
Living fear to fear
Laughter hides their silent cries
Only Jesus hears
We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right
What could be too great a cost
For sharing life with one who's lost?
Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear
They must hear the words of life
Only we can share
People need the Lord
People need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams
He's the open door
People need the Lord
People need the Lord
When will we realize
People need the Lord?
People Need the Lord by Steve Green 1984
Chiu Ming Li
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