Acts 11:19-26

We are continuing this series on Core Values for Christian Voters. We have looked at Biblical support for health care for seniors and education for children as applications of key Biblical themes. It is a confusing time. I saw that the Christian Coalition was asking candidates about their views on gun control so I went to their web site. They list 19 areas of concern, mostly involving the pledge of allegiance, desecrating the American flag, and privatizing Social Security. They are against a progressive tax for rich people. I looked around to see where they bring in the Bible and I found a picture of a Bible, but not one reference to any of their positions. Friends, we live in a sick time, when prominent groups wave the Bible without opening it. Methodists root our faith in four ways, scripture, reason, tradition, and the moving of the Holy Spirit, but Scripture holds the key place among the four ways. That is called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral for those of you who ask what does it mean to Methodist. We have to base our personal lives, our financial lives, our work lives, and our social beliefs on scripture. Jesus is Lord over all.

 Today we will look at the sacredness of all life as we consider racial diversity. In a church such as this, you might wonder why we had to waste a Sunday going back to the Scriptures to proclaim our unity and respect for all. Friends, we are living on a little island in here while America is going to hell on this issue. The Southern Poverty Law Center just reported that hate among youth is increasing dramatically. Hate crimes are up against Hispanics and gender minorities and homeless. Girls are more likely to participate and they make up at least a third of all gang members. America is going the wrong way.

 It is not enough for us to live together in peace. We need to preach to our neighborhood and put the fires out that are quietly starting. We need a passion on this topic so that we insist that our friends and neighbors join us on Sundays. My dream is to see every seat here filled and people standing as a testimony that new life in Jesus Christ brings peace into our violence. That passion has to be kindled in you and the Scriptures can produce that holy fire.

 Our lesson today is that of Barnabas and Paul building a multicultural church in Antioch and around that area. In Acts chapter 11, Peter got a dream that the church was to open to non Jews. The news was so against the tradition of Jewish history and the bias and prejudice of history that miracles had to happen to get him and others to accept it. That is the situation we are in now. Even the plain teaching of the Bible is not enough to force some people holding them to open up their thinking.

 The problem for the church is that Peter is not cross cultural. You know what I mean. I have a couple of dear friends who believe in being cross cultural. But they aren’t. They can’t last two minutes without making a comment that limits them. So Peter couldn’t act much on this conversion moment.

 Barnabas comes to the rescue. Remember that Barnabas was a Greek speaking Jew. They called them Hellenists because they were bi cultural, both Greek and Jewish. He was working there but some of the believers were actually coming from the Roman and Jewish communities and he could not do the whole ministry. Probably he did not speak all the languages involved. So he went to find Paul.

 How was Paul different? He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews so he could relate to the Jewish culture and Paul was a Roman citizen and must have spoken more than one language.

 We get proof of the church they were building over in chapter 13 as we look at the list of leaders. Their leaders included Greeks, Romans, Africans, and Jews. And the secular community had never seen anything like this. Let’s be candid. In most places, people of different culture and color don’t live together. They don’t join the same clubs and they don’t go to the same churches and their kids don’t marry outside.

 And when history suddenly flowed the other way and they were together by their own choice and they started to have friends, the other people in the city of Antioch noticed. And that gives us one of the best verses in Scripture. In verse 26, the people of Antioch saw this weird life of peace and called them Christians.

 Friends, you and I have our label because we were mixed just like we are this morning and other people noticed. We are the people to step up and offer help and hope to America. I want you to go from here with a new passion to invite friends to church if you believe in Antioch. I want you to be committed in financial giving today as your gifts pour into a common purse in this multi ethnic witness. I want you to make a close friend in this church across a color line if you accept the Word of God for social life.

 I want to close with a warning. On Election Day, the people of Alabama will vote on whether to change the state Constitution of Alabama. The key issue is whether to remove a law that mandates segregated classrooms for different races. The issue is so abhorrent in these times that you may even be surprised that people are still voting on questions such as this.

 Tragically, the resistance is led by former justice Roy Moore. You probably know him better as the man who got kicked out of office for putting the 10 commandments in his court house. You can’t make this stuff up. Mr. Moore claims that his real reason for opposing the change of law is that it might make more money available for poor schools at the expense of richer districts.

 And on the Christian Coalition web site, one of the 19 initiatives is to vote a bill in congress to support Roy Moore’s other pet issue of putting the 10 commandments on government land.

 Simply put, this is not Christian behavior. In two weeks, you will be asked to choose between a Methodist and a Catholic for President. And your test should be do they read the Bible or wave it? And in a land tempted to rise in hate, which candidate is most likely to cross a color line and lead our nation in the Antioch experience.