The Spirit Who Sends
For Meditation (Corey Widmer)
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. Our Scripture this Sunday focuses on the remarkable church at Antioch, the first truly multicultural church in the New Testament, and the place where Jesus’ followers were first called “Christians.”
Antioch was one of the great cities of the ancient world: diverse, crowded, divided, and often marked by social tension and violence. Yet in that city, the Holy Spirit formed a new kind of community that crossed barriers of race, class, culture, and geography. When Barnabas arrived there to check it out, Acts 11:23 says that he “saw the grace of God.” Grace had become visible in the life of this community- in their relationships, their generosity, their worship, and their shared identity in Christ.
But the story does not stop with grace becoming visible. The church at Antioch also became a deeply generative church. They gave away resources to those in need. They shared leadership across cultures. And in Acts 13, while worshiping and praying, they released two of their best leaders (Paul and Barnabas) for the sake of God’s mission to another place. The Holy Spirit gathered them together, and then sent them outward again.
As we continue our Growing Small series through Acts, we will reflect together on this question: What does a Spirit-filled church look like? Antioch offers a compelling answer: a church where grace becomes visible, and a church willing to give itself away.
Questions for Reflection and discussion:
Where have you “seen” the grace of God embodied in another person or in a community?
What barriers—social, cultural, political, or personal— might the Spirit be inviting you to cross?
Why do churches and people so often drift toward self-protection rather than self-giving?
What might it look like for our church to become more “generative” in this next season?
Is there something in your own life that God may be asking you to release or give away for the sake of love and mission?
Acts 11:19–26
Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Acts 13:1–3
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.