Antioch, Apostolic Sending and Setting - Part 4

persecution for whom the scriptures were originally intended. Those to whom these epistles came or are described in the book of Acts were not receiving material for Bible study, they were receiving instruction for life under hazard and oppression. And when our circumstances will again be comparable to theirs at the end as it was at the first, the scriptures will come into a new dimension of cogency and significance that they do not now have for us. As we say in Pentecostal circles, can you say amen? Okay, that's about the most elaborate introduction to a message I've ever given. It's so elaborate, it's a half a dozen messages already in itself. Okay, Acts chapter 13. Now, in the church at Antioch, you can read Singapore. Of course, this was the thought with which I was awakened before this morning. There's a correspondence between Antioch and Singapore. As you'll see as we read on. Antioch is not Jerusalem. Jerusalem is an exclusively Jewish church. Antioch is cosmopolitan. Antioch contains a myriad of nationalities, ethnic groups, racial origins, and that's all the more profound because it's one thing for Jews as Jews to come to a place of agreement, but the diversity of races and nationalities and ethnic origins that had been historically at each other's throat in ancient and biblical times for them to constitute a church together is all the more significant. That's why I think there's hope for Singapore. Now, in the church at Antioch, not at the church, in the church, see how a little two-letter word is full of meaning. These were not casual attendees coming to a place for services. The church was their life. Their professions and occupations and businesses were mere secondary enablement. Their place in the church was the purpose for their being and their salvation. That's the difference between being at the church and in the church. And until you're in, in that kind of fullness and recognition that this is the purpose for your life and being, you're only at, and therefore Antioch inwaits. They were in the church who prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaan, a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. Wow, what a spectrum. Just look at the nationalities that are represented there. Barnabas and Saul are Hebrews. Simon, who was called Niger, is evidently an African because the word means black. Lucius of Cyrene, one of the Mediterranean ethnic nationalities, Manaan, a member of the court of Herod, might even have been a Roman or a mixed bag person. Why does the scripture give us these details? Why is it important that God inspires Luke, who is the careful author of the book of Acts, to let us know the diversity of nationalities, races, ethnic groups that compose the church? Because that's the genius of the church. That's what makes the church an apostolic setting, that anyone who was sent forth from there represents the reality that is there. And when God says, it's time now to send, separate unto me, it's men who reflect and bring to the what has been obtained at Antioch, namely an agreement, an unfamed love, an authentic unity that is not ecumenical or polite. Why? How do you know that, Art? Because it says, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. Does not mean singing choruses with the overhead projector. I like that. But here, worshiping has a much deeper significance. Because if there was unresolved difficulty, if there were yet a residue of animosity and unreconciled racial or ethnic differences or fear, black and white, Jew and Gentile, their worship would have been stunted. It would have been artificial. It would have been synthetic. It would have been choruses. Worship is a deep statement of agreement with God and with men. That cross has a horizontal member as well as a vertical. You know the great legend of Columbo, who was the missionary to Scotland, when Scotland was nothing but a pagan jungle of warring factions, and even to this day something of that remains. And Columbo was the missionary from Ireland, long before the Reformation. And it says, according to legend, he came with a group, a company of believers, and they lived for two years off the coast of Scotland on an island. And at a certain time, evidently, the Lord moved upon him then to come to this mainland, and there was a double-thick fortress, a bastion, impregnable against any penetration coming from outside. And according to the legend, Columbo made the sign of the cross. And when he made that sign, the gate fell down or opened by itself. That the key of entry was the authentic sign of the cross, not as a little religious genuflection, but as a statement of the authenticity of what is represented when you point up to the Lord and point this way toward men. There was something in that band of souls with him that was tempered and true. The horizontal member was as authentic as the vertical, and in fact, the one will drive you to the other. If you're earnest about the relationship with each other as saints, you'll find out in short order that your patience and goodwill, sympathy or other human qualities that are okay for a Sunday service are not sufficient for the kind of depth of relationship that distinguishes the Church as the Church, and that we need God for grace, patience, wisdom, longsuffering, for who is more a trial than a fellow believer. My greatest distresses and vexations and opposition and suffering has not come from unbelieving Jews. That's nothing to get kicked in the shins or be spit at. My greatest suffering is in the Church, in the naivety, the immaturity, the subjectivity of the saints, each one having their own opinion and scriptures to support it. It drives you to madness. Where is reality? Where is objective truth? This one sees it this way, that one sees it that way, and you've got to live with that.