T(r)oy's Marbles
cyrene's pioneers (5th part)
What happened after Stephen’s execution
Followers of Jesus were scattered everywhere. Ironically, those who led the persecution against Christianity were indirectly responsible for its increasing strength. As followers of Jesus moved on to escape martyrdom, they carried the message of Jesus’ resurrection with them wherever they went. Philip, for example, went to Samaria, fulfilling a significant chunk of Jesus’ commission to take the gospel to “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
In point of fact, the Cyrenian believers played a catalytic role in taking care of the last portion of Jesus’ commission. That is, the Cyrenian believers led the way in taking the gospel to the Gentiles (i.e. “to the uttermost parts of the earth”). Most times we think of Paul as accomplishing this, but the Cyrenian believers were actually the first. Here’s how it happened:
Peter was given a vision of a Gentile named Cornelius. Through this vision, God indicated to Peter that Gentiles were also to be included in the community of believers. That is, Peter learned that Jesus is not just for the Jews, he’s also for the Gentiles. Upon investigation of this, church leaders in Jerusalem gave approval to the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles. What to do now?
The Cyrenian believers were the first to act on this new freedom, and in Acts 11:19-21 (immediately after the account of Peter and Cornelius) we read about their champion work: “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to 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.”
This text is significant since the story of Cornelius and Peter serves as sort of a “test case” with this issue. But this is the first instance we see the words “a great number” connected with the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles. And the Cyrenians led the way, just as Simon of Cyrene (their “cousin”) led the way! (I wonder: was Rufus among them?)
But wait, there’s more! The passage goes on to note: “News of this [that is, the conversion of a large number of Gentiles at the hand of the Cyrenian believers] reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch [to check it out!]. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, 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.”
It’s extremely interesting to see how Stephen’s persecution comes full circle here: In Acts 6 we are told that Stephen is a man “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” who was killed by a bunch of Cyrenian Jews. In Acts 11 we are told that Barnabas is a man “full of the Holy Spirit and faith” (note the parallel with Stephen!) who serves the Cyrenian believers!
Because of this, Barnabas developed a most providential connection with the Cyrenian believers in Antioch. As we will discover, his blessing to the Cyrenian believers comes full circle in the commissioning of Paul to reach many, many more Gentiles as the believers in Antioch would later send Paul and Barnabas off with their blessing. All the way around, there’s blessing upon blessing upon blessing shot through this story.
Tomorrow, read on to find out how this happened, while keeping in mind that we’ve left behind the Cyrenian believers in Antioch for a moment with the Gentile believers…
teachings | Comments (0) | June 30, 2005