'The hand of the Lord was with them.' The very keynote of this Book of
the Acts is the work of the ascended Christ in and for His Church. At
every turning-point in the history, and throughout the whole
narratives, forms of speech like this occur, bearing witness to the
profound conviction of the writer that Christ's active energy was with
His servants, and Christ's Hand the origin of all their security and of
all their success.
So this is a statement of a permanent and universal fact. We do not
labour alone; however feeble our hands, that mighty Hand is laid on
them to direct their movements and to lend strength to their weakness.
It is not our speech which will secure results, but His presence with
our words which will bring it about that even through them a great
number shall believe and turn to the Lord. There is our encouragement
when we are despondent. There is our rebuke when we are self-confident.
There is our stimulus when we are indolent. There is our quietness when
we are impatient. If ever we are tempted to think our task heavy, let
us not forget that He who set it helps us to do it, and from His throne
shares in all our toils, the Lord still, as of old, working with us. If
ever we feel that our strength is nothing, and that we stand solitary
against many foes, let us fall back upon the peace-giving thought that
one man against the world, with Christ to help him, is always in the
majority, and let us leave issues of our work in His hands, whose hand
will guard the seed sown in weakness, whose smile will bless the
springing thereof.
How little any of us know what will become of our poor work, under His
fostering care! How little these men knew that they were laying the
foundations of the great change which was to transform the Christian
community from a Jewish sect into a world-embracing Church! So is it
ever. We know not what we do when simply and humbly we speak His name.
The far-reaching results escape our eyes. Then, sow the seed, and He
will 'give it a body as it pleaseth Him.' On earth we may never know
the fruits of our labours. They will be among the surprises of heaven,
where many a solitary worker shall exclaim with wonder, as he looks on
the hitherto unknown children whom God hath given him, 'Behold, I was
left alone; these, where had they been?' Then, though our names may
have perished from earthly memories, like those of the simple fugitives
of Cyprus and Cyrene, who 'were the first that ever burst' into the
night of heathendom with the torch of the Gospel in their hands, they
will be written in the Lamb's book of life, and He will confess them in
the presence of His Father in heaven.
THE EXHORTATION OF BARNABAS [Footnote: Preached before the
Congregational Union of England and Wales.]
'Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and
exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto
the Lord.'--ACTS xi. 23.
The first purely heathen converts had been brought into the Church by
the nameless men of Cyprus and Cyrene, private persons with no office
or commission to preach, who, in simple obedience to the instincts of a
Christian heart, leaped the barrier which seemed impassable to the
Church in Jerusalem, and solved the problem over which Apostles were
hesitating. Barnabas is sent down to see into this surprising new
phenomenon, and his mission, though probably not hostile, was, at all
events, one of inquiry and doubt. But like a true man, he yielded to
facts, and widened his theory to suit them. He saw the tokens of
Christian life in these Gentile converts, and that compelled him to
admit that the Church was wider than some of his friends in Jerusalem
thought. A pregnant lesson for modern theorists who, on one ground or
another of doctrine or of orders, narrow the great conception of
Christ's Church! Can you see 'the grace of God' in the people? Then
they are in the Church, whatever becomes of your theories, and the
sooner you let them out so as to fit the facts, the better for you and
for them.
Satisfied as to their true Christian character, Barnabas sets himself
to help them to grow. Now, remember how recently they had been
converted; how, from their Gentile origin, they can have had next to no
systematic instruction; how the taint of heathen morals, such as were
common in that luxurious, corrupt Antioch, must have clung to them; how
unformed must have been their loose Church organisation--and
remembering all this, think of this one exhortation as summing up all
that Barnabas had to say to them. He does not say, Do this, or Believe
that, or Organise the other; but he says, Stick to Jesus Christ the
Lord. On this commandment hangs all the law; it is the one
all-inclusive summary of the duties of the Christian life.
So, brethren and fathers, I venture to take these words now, as
containing large lessons for us all, appropriate at all times, and
especially in a sermon on such an occasion as the present.
We may deal with the thoughts suggested by these words very simply,
just looking at the points as they lie--what Barnabas _saw_, what he
_felt_, what he _said_.