Acts 11:1-30
The beginning of cross-cultural missions was not without
some difficulties, obstacles and hindrances. The initial resistance of the
first apostolic missionary was overcome by a specific revelation. Returning
from this first missionary outreach, Peter was challenged by the other Apostles
who yet had not understood the saving plan and purpose of God for the Gentiles.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost took place seven years
earlier, yet the Spirit-baptized ministers and members had not understood the
mind of God on His free and full grace for citizens of other nations. “They
of the circumcision”, that is, the Jewish believers, thought
that a Gentile must be circumcised in order to qualify for salvation from
Christ. And they thought it was wrong for Peter, the Apostle, to eat with the
Gentiles. They counted it unclean and unrighteous to eat Gentile food prepared
by Gentiles in a Gentile manner. Cross-cultural evangelism and mission outreach
will be impossible without freedom from nationalistic tradition and cultural
attachments.
In defending his action and preserving the vision of Gentle
evangelization, Peter rehearsed God’s revelation, the Spirit’s interpretation
and the Spirit’s manifestation which convinced him of the divine approval of
his action. To bring about the first cross-cultural mission outreach, God
worked in so many definite and distinct ways. For Peter to resist and remain
rigid and unyielding would have meant opposing the Lord and fighting against
God as the council in Jerusalem did (Acts 5:38,39; 2 Chronicles 13:12; Acts
23:9; 11:17,18).
1. THE REVIEW AND
REVELATION OF CROSS-CULTURAL MISSIONS
Acts
11:1-18; 10:3-6,9-20,22,30-32; Psalm 22:27; Isaiah 49:6; Hosea 2:23; Matthew
8:11; John 16:12,13; Acts 14:27; 15:3; 26:17-20.
‘Cross-cultural
missions’ means mission outreach to people, communities and tribes of another culture.
It means evangelistic outreach to people who are different from us in customs,
social practices, pattern of life, dress and feeding, communal, social, shared
characteristics. Cultures vary from nation to nation. The Jews and the Gentiles
are different in many ways. Food regarded unclean by the Jews are eaten freely
by the Gentiles. Patterns of dress approved and worn by Gentiles were
abominations to the Jews. Circumcision, an indispensable mark for a Jew, was
taboo for Gentiles. To put it mildly, the preferences of Jews were prohibitions
for Gentiles. Peter, a Jew, going to Cornelius, a Gentile, to preach,
fellowship, pray and lead the household to faith in Christ, was crossing from
one culture to the other without changing the culture of the other. The Jews
counted their culture sacred and superior. The Apostle Peter once counted all
people of other cultures unclean, unacceptable and so impossible to reach, and
to be given the gospel. God, by a special revelation, broke through his proud
cultural shield and removed the blinds from his eyes. An angel spoke to
Cornelius. God brought the clean and the “unclean” before Peter and commanded
him to reach out to both with the same gospel.
The
Spirit spoke and bade him go. The Spirit came on the Gentiles “as on us
at the beginning” without first compelling them to be circumcised.
God’s will was made clear without any shadow of doubt, and Peter had to say, “what
was I, that I could withstand God?” Then the rest of “the
Apostles and brethren” “held their peace, and glorified God,
saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life”
(Acts 11:1,18). Let us not sacrifice the eternal destiny of never-dying souls
for any tradition or culture, which is neither sacred, nor essential to
salvation. Let us, like Peter, like Paul, forsake tradition, preferences and
opinions and reach out to souls in cross-cultural mission outreach with
Christ’s pure, unadulterated gospel.
2. THE RESPONSE
AND RESOURCEFULNESS OF CONSECRATED MISSIONARIES
Acts
11:19-26; 8:1-5; 17:6,16-18; 19:10-12,20; Ephesians 3:8; 1 Thessalonians
1:5-10; Acts 14:22; 15:19,20; 11:21-24; Ezra 7:6,10,28; Ezekiel 37:1-10;
Matthew 28:18-20.
“Now
they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen
travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to
none but unto the Jews only” (Acts 11:19). From this point, the course
of the history of the Church takes a new direction. The narrative now goes back
to the time of “the persecution that arose about Stephen”. Those
who were “scattered abroad” “travelled as far as Antioch”
“preaching the Word”. “Some of them spake unto the Grecians
(Gentiles), preaching the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20). Those who brought
the gospel to Antioch were not Apostles. This was an important step in the
forward march of the Church. Antioch was the third city of the Roman Empire and
it has been called “the Paris of the ancient world”. From here, Paul and his
companions later went forth on their missionary journeys, taking the gospel to
the Gentiles. These unnamed disciples who first preached the gospel in Antioch
kept the salvation message free from the ceremonial laws of Judaism. These
unordained, unpaid evangelists and missionaries set a great example of
missionary outreach during the triumphant period of the Church’s history.
If
the early Church had committed the work of pastors and missionaries to only
employed preachers and evangelists, their world would never have been
evangelized. If they all had to be paid for their services, very few churches
would have been established.
“And
the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned
unto the Lord” (Acts 11:21). The expression, the hand,
the arm, the finger of God or of the Lord, means, the power, the might, the
supernatural miracle-working energy of God. The power of God which followed
them and impressed their preaching on the hearts of the hearers, convicted and
converted them. The Lord working with the ministers of the Word, caused “a
great number” to believe that Jesus was the Christ, who died and rose
again for their justification. Believing, they turned away from their sins,
transgressions, iniquities, vanities, idols, evil ways (Acts 3:26; 14:15; 1
Thessalonians 1:9; Jonah 3:10) and turned wholeheartedly to the Lord.
3. THEIR READINESS FOR THE RESPONSIBILITY OF
A CARING MINISTRY
Acts
11:27-30; 15:32; Ephesians 4:11-14; Matthew 7:15-23; 24:23-25; 2 Peter
2:1-3,18-22; 2 Corinthians 8:2-5; Acts 4:34; Romans 15:25-27; Luke 19:10,13;
Romans 1:14-16; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23.
“And
in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.” In the New
Testament, “prophets” were teachers, and instructors sent from God. To
teach the people the doctrine of Christ and the way to heaven was a major part
of the prophetic office (1 Corinthians 14:3; Mark 11:32; Luke 1:76; 7:28;
16:29-31; Acts 3:22,23; 15:32; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11-14; 2 Peter 3:2).
Foretelling the future by revelation and inspiration of the Spirit was also
part of the prophetic office. “Agabus signified by the Spirit that there
should be dearth throughout all the world.” A world-wide famine was
prophesied. So the believers “determined to send relief unto the brethren
which dwelt in Judaea.” These Gentile believers felt compelled to send
relief to the Jewish brethren. They had received immeasurable spiritual benefit
from the Jewish church so they were willing to show gratitude and send material
things to them to meet or supply their temporal needs. They sent the needed
help “by the hands of Barnabas and Saul”, the leading
ministers in the Church. Responding to the spiritual needs of communities and
nations in famine demands that we send the best of our ministers.
“Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a
famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east,
they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it”
(Amos 8:11,12). The most grievous of all famines is the famine of hearing the
words of the Lord. This is a period of severe spiritual famine in many
countries all over the world. Many famished souls wander from place to place
seeking the true way of salvation, seeking the nourishing Word of God but they
are dying without hope of heaven. We cannot keep to ourselves and act
unconcerned. We must send “relief”, send “the bread of life”
and “the water of life”, the gracious gospel of God, to perishing
souls in other nations. And we must be willing to send the most faithful, the
most effective and the most spiritual of our ministers and members to reach the
unreached before they become unreachable.
