THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP
OF CHRISTIANS
International Sunday School
Less©* for September 16, 1951.
Memory Selection: “He that
ia not against yon is for you.”
—Lake 9:50.
Lesson Text: Acts 11:27-30;
15:1-2, 22-23, 28-31; II Corinth
ians 9:1-5.
The persecution which followed
the martyrdom of Stephen caused
the disciples to flee from Jeru
salem. Some of them went to
Antioch, in Syria. This city was
the capital of the Roman province
in Syria and was situated on the
River Orontes, about twenty miles
from its mouth.
The disciples who fled from
Jerusalem to Antioch first
preached the doctrine of the new
faith, as well. The church at
Jerusalem, hearing of this, sent
Barnabas to investigate the new
development but he rejoiced in
the work when he recognized the
genuineness of the conversion ex
periences of the Gentiles.
Fifteen years of the Christian
era had passed and Antioch was
to become the second birthplace
of Christianity through its vision
and wisdom in sponsoring the
first missionary program of the
new faith. It was in Antioch
that the new believers were given
the name “Christ-ans,” first as a
sign of derision but later it was
accepted as the name to designate
believers in the new faith. It was
from Antioch that Paul and Barn
abas launched their first mission
ary tour. ,
Everything, however, was not
going: well with the believers in
Jerusalem. A great famine, pre
dicted by Aga*bas, had swept over
the land and the people were in
dire distress. The brethren in
Antioch, hearing of this great
need, collected funds for their
relief. Of the generosity of these
early believers in Christianity,
Dr. G. W. McDaniel has this to
say: “Liberality thrives In an
atmosphere of evangelism. The
heart that is warm with the
grace of God is generous toward
every human need. Money flows
freely from Christians in a state
of revival. The financial prob
lem of any church is fundament
ally a spiritual problem. The
first act of the Antioch church
was to takers collection. Agabus
predicted a dire and distressing
famine. Barnabas was qualified
as an authority in beneficence.
He probably led in this offering.
The man who gives can induce
others to give, anywhere, every
where, for any object. The people
know. They cannot be camou
flaged by the preacher's talk or
pretensions to liberality. They
measure him by what he is and
does. When he leads unselfishly,
heroically, they follow. A liberal
preacher makes a liberal church.”
Opposition to the missionary
-labors of Paul and Barnabas was
encountered from two different
sources in the Gentile world.
First, the orthodox Jews rejected
the new faith and their hostility
often caused much inconvenience
and trouble to the missionaries.
Second, in seeking to propagate
the new faith in the Gentile
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world, Paul met with resistance
from the para a inhabitants who
believed in their varying religions
and violently opposed the efforts
of those seeking to enlarge the
new faith.
Notwithstanding the opposition
from those two classes. Paul suc
ceeded in establishing Gentile
churches of the nqw faith, as
others had done in Palestine
proper among the Jews. Soon
these Gentile Christians found
themselves the subject of a heated
and bitter controversy waged by
the believing Jews in an effort
to subject the Gentile Christians
to all the requirements of the
Mosaic law. Thus, early in its
history, Christianity stood at the
crossroads, compelled to decide
its future course — whether it
would be bound and shackled by
the exactions of Jewish legalism
or be free in the new liberty of
grace.
It became necessary, in order
to settle the difference, for Paul,
Barnabas and others to make the
trip back to Jerusalem. There,
Paul had a preliminary meeting
with the leaders of the home
church. The problem was feeely
considered, with “much disput
ing.” The final decision was
greatly influenced by an elo
quent and impetuous declaration
of Peter against the binding of
the Gentile converts with a yoke
which he declared the Jewish
forefathers had been unable to
bear. He testified as to his ex
perience with Cornelius and logi
cally inquired why the church
should prescribe requirements so
patently ignored by God himself.
The decision was a simple com
promise of the conflicting ex
tremes and while it recognized
the freedom of the Gentile Chris
tians from the yoke of the law, it
tequired them to meet the same
conditions as formerly were re
quired by the Jews of proselytes
admitted to the synagogue. Thus,
the Christian world today is in
debeted to Peter for having
courageously opposed and con
quered at this time the Jewish
attitude and hostility to other
races. Paul carried the applica
tion of this doctrine to its full
logical conclusion, representing
the surprising reality of a Jew,
who had been reared and trained
for leadership of an illiberal
group becoming the champion of
human brotherhood and equality
of all men before God.
Christians today need to fully
appreciate the error of holding
contempt for other races and peo
ples. It should be realized, too,
that God loves and accepts right
eousness, clean living and pure
thinking, and an honest search
for truth wherever and in whom
soever these qualities are found.
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