One of the things psychologists tell us is that it’s not enough to give something up; we have to replace a bad habit with something positive. Jesus said a similar thing in more graphic terms: “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45) It’s not enough simply to eschew despair; we must also embrace hope.

Paul tells us that faith, hope and love are the things which will last. (1 Cor 13:13) We serve a God of hope and because of this, it’s possible for us to overflow with hope. (Rom 15:13) Hope, as the character Red said in the film ‘Shawshank Redemption’, is a dangerous thing. It is dangerous because it can be the fuel that keeps us going in the most desperate of situations. It can help us through the most difficult times because it tells us that what we are presently seeing and experiencing are not the whole story. There is more!

Easter is that time when all hope seemed lost – Good Friday shows us the depths of sorrow, horror and hopelessness from a human point of view. But, as the Negro spiritual songs remind us, ‘Friday’s here, but Sunday’s comin’!’ The resurrection of Jesus shows us that we are never without hope and because of this, we can continue with faith, hope and love. At this time when despair and uncertainty are reigning, it seems, we need, more than ever, to embrace the hope God offers us all.

One of the good things about Lent is the opportunity to pause a little and reflect more. We live in a world of hustle and bustle and hurry is something we all get used to. It can be good to take time to ponder anew all God can do and learn from the One who is gentle and humble in heart. (Matt 11:28-30) Our present situation, with bustle being forcibly removed from many, gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect even more.

Embracing gentleness means leaving behind our cut-throat society, with its dog-eat-dog mentality. It means turning the other cheek when we’d really rather not. (Matt 5:38-40) It means learning to see things from someone else’s point of view and giving people the benefit of the doubt instead of being volatile and hot-tempered. Gentleness is not something most of us find easy, but we can all probably remember what it feels like to be on the receiving end of gentleness. Having someone speak gently instead of harshly, being enfolded in a parent’s embrace when we fell as a child, being encouraged instead of put down are things which don’t take away the hurt and pain in themselves, but which make those things more bearable.

In prophesying about the Messiah to come, Isaiah said, ‘He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.³ A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.’ (Is 42:2-3) We can be the recipients of God’s gentleness to us and therefore can overflow with His gentleness to others as we abide in the vine.

The needs are enormous. Even the needs we support as a local church can seem overwhelming: talking Bibles in India; supporting Amshika, Innocent and Bedline in India, Uganda and Haiti; helping to buy sewing machines for the tailoring programme run by Reeba in India; maintaining our monthly support of the Salvation Army food bank. Then there are many more needs both locally and globally. Sometimes, we can feel as though there is no end and can wonder what more we can do. At times like this, when we are not meeting together, we can wonder what to do (if you want to give electronically, please contact Julie and we can sort that!)

The needs in the early church were often just as daunting. Agabus, a prophet from Jerusalem, came to Antioch and told of impending famine (Acts 11:28). The church in Antioch resolved to do what they could to help: ‘The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.’ (Acts 11:29) They made practical arrangements to send what they could with Barnabas and Paul to the elders in Jerusalem.

The Bible is full of practical wisdom about money and how this can be used to help those in need. God commanded His people to be open-handed towards those in need (Deut 15:11) and not to exploit the poor or crush the needy (Prov 22:22). The early church demonstrated their understanding of this in their practical support. Paul deals with the subject of giving in his letters, especially 2 Cor 8 & 9, when he talks about the practical implications of giving to help those in need.

It’s easy for us to feel overwhelmed by need, but we can choose to give from what we have, as Paul said: ‘Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.’ (2 Cor 8:13-15) The church in Antioch counted themselves blessed to be able to help. May we give with an equally positive and cheerful disposition!

In Acts 11:19-30, we see a little more of Barnabas’s character. Luke describes him as ‘a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith’ Acts 11:24), sent by the apostles in Jerusalem to check out what was happening in Antioch. (It’s interesting that first-hand reports were important in those days and in our tendency to believe all we read or see on the news or on social media, it’s worth considering the validity of first-hand reports even nowadays!) Barnabas, whose nickname meant ‘son of encouragement’, was originally from Cyprus, and it may be that because of his ethnicity the apostles felt he was the ideal person to check out what was happening in the ongoing evangelisation of the Gentiles. John Stott says, ‘He acted as a pivot or link between the Hebrew and Hellenistic elements in the church.’ (‘Acts’, P 202)

 True to his name, ‘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.’ (Acts 11:23) Barnabas was not one to focus on legalism or outward conformity to rules; he knew the value of the grace of God and the need for whole-hearted obedience to the word. Barnabas had the spiritual insight to recognise that God’s plan was being fulfilled at Antioch. He recognised that there was potential for further advances and saw the need of additional help in evangelism and teaching.

Barnabas did not work in isolation. Instead, he went to Tarsus (a 100 mile journey) to find Saul and bring him to Antioch so that the church could be built up by teaching and preaching. He knew Saul’s call to be an apostle to the Gentiles and was generous enough not to think that he could do everything on his own. His selflessness and willingness to work with others, along with his perseverance and cheerfulness, are other characteristics which mark him out as a true blessing to the church. May we know many such people in our congregations!

Luke gives us a picture of a flourishing church in Acts 11:19-30, showing us the church in Antioch. Antioch in Syria (not to be confused with Antioch in Pisidia) was a cosmopolitan city founded in 300 B.C. by Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander the Great’s generals. John Stott tells us he named it ‘Antioch’ after his father, Antiochus, and its port, 15 miles west along the navigable river Orontes ‘Seleucia’ after himself. Over the years it became known as ‘Antioch the Beautiful’ because of its fine buildings, and by Luke’s day it was famous for its long, paved boulevard, which ran from north to south and was flanked by a double colonnade with trees and fountains. Although it was a Greek city by foundation, its population (500,000) was extremely cosmopolitan. It had a large colony of Jews, attracted by Seleucus’ offer of equal citizenship, and Orientals too from Persia, India and even China, earning it another of its names, ‘the Queen of the East.’ Since it was absorbed into the Roman Empire by Pompey in 64 B.C. and became the capital of the imperial province of Syria (to which Cilicia was later added), its inhabitants included Latins as well. Thus Greeks, Jews, Orientals and Romans formed the mixed multitude of what Josephus called ‘the third city of the empire’, after Rome and Alexandria.

There can be no doubt that the formation of the church at Antioch was an event of great significance in the expansion of the church and its mission to the Gentiles. We don’t know which of the believers scattered after Stephen’s martyrdom was responsible for its formation, but men from Cyprus (like Barnabas) and Cyrene (like Simon who carried the Lord’s cross or Lucius, mentioned in Acts 13:1) took the word of God to this city and it was from Antioch that Barnabas and Saul, who worked here for a year, were launched as missionaries. (Acts 13:1-4). In this chapter, we see Jerusalem responding to the work of God by sending Barnabas to help, and Barnabas not only encouraged them to serve God whole-heartedly but worked alongside them with Saul, and we then later see Antioch responding to God’s word by sending Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem with a gift to help in times of famine. The influence of this church, which appears to have embraced Gentiles with welcome and sound teaching, cannot be over-estimated. Generosity, faith, teachability and whole-heartedness were characteristics which made the church at Antioch stand out. May these characteristics be ours today.

One of the interesting facts we learn from Acts 11:19-30 is that the followers of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’ there. This nickname, presumably bestowed on believers because they spoke so much about Jesus Christ that that was the term most associated with them, has now become a universal term for believers, but in those early days, there were many other terms:

• disciples (Acts 6:1)

• saints (Acts 9:13)

• ‘brothers’ (Acts 1:16)

• believers (Acts 10:45)

• those being saved (Acts 2:47)

• people of the Way (Acts 9:2)

The word is only used in two other places in the New Testament (Acts 26:28 and 1 Pet 4:16) but is now probably the most recognised way of declaring affinity to Jesus Christ.

There’s a challenge in the word, however. To be a ‘Christ-one’ is to be like Christ: not only to follow His teaching, but to reflect His character and life. Mahatma Gandhi is reputed to have said that he liked the Christ of Christianity but was not at all sure he liked the Christians who bore his name. Sadly, that can often be the case. We are all sinful, fallible, imperfect people, but as we allow the life of Christ to live in us, we come to take on His bearing and His nature. God’s purpose for every one of His children is that we are ‘to be conformed to the image of his Son.’ (Rom 8:29)

That will mean letting go of our need for control, to be first, to be the lord of all and will mean embracing sacrifice, self-denial and servanthood. Are we growing in our Christian journey? Are we becoming more like Christ?