Acts 11:19-30 | God Leads From New PlacesSample

Acts tells us that when Barnabas arrived in Antioch, he saw the grace of God. Acts doesn’t tell us exactly what that means, but it’s safe to say it was witnessing God’s salvation being poured out on the Gentiles and so many of them believing in and turning to Jesus. There’s more. It’s also safe to say that Barnabas witnessed the way Jews welcomed Gentiles and how together, they became one new people of God.

But there’s still more.

Enter Agabus. Acts tells us that these days prophets also came down from Jerusalem. One, named Agabus, predicted that there would be a great famine around the Roman world. How did the disciples respond? Listen to how NT Wright puts it. It wasn’t, “Oh dear, we must have sinned,” or “God is punishing those wicked pagans,” or “This means Jesus is about to return.” They said: “Who is going to be in serious need? And how do we help?”

The grace of God is so beautifully seen when the people of God are moved by compassion and help one another. To quote NT Wright again: If it really is Jesus you’re loyal to, and if someone else completely different from you is also loyal to Jesus, you and they are part of the same family. And the point of family is that you help one another out. You share.

Paul is known for his missionary journeys, but they are not random. They launch from this starting point—from this famine. The Christians in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea (Acts 11:29). The persecuted Christians there must have faced double intensity. As Matt Harrison states: “It is significant that the first account of the proclamation of the Gospel in Acts to Gentiles coincides (11:20) with the first collection. The collection for the poor is born at the rough edge of the Church’s mission to the Gentiles. Mercy and mission go hand in hand.”

Antioch sends Saul and Barnabas to bring the relief, and they take it so seriously that it leads them to visit synagogues and Jewish communities throughout the Gentile regions for over a decade, preaching the gospel and collecting for their spiritual fathers and mothers in Jerusalem who were in need. Some of Paul’s greatest New Testament letters are born out of these trips.

God leads in new places and new ways. Staying in tune with where God is leading comes about by obedience. Don’t paralyze yourself wondering where God’s new movement might pop up or wishing a prophet would come and tell you your destiny. Just respond to the needs of this world as God would have you do. God will be in it. You’ll be a part of it. And people will see God’s grace.

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