The Church in a Hellenistic Renaissance

The Church in a Hellenistic Renaissance

19  Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20  But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21  And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22  The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23  When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24  for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25  So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26  and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. 27  Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28  And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29  So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30  And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (Acts 11:19-30)

Historical

Let’s take a look at our Bay Area against the backdrop of the gospel, and more specifically the book of Acts and the effect of 1st century globalization called Hellenism. We will then draw some conclusions for our own church, city and Bay Area.   In the background of the Gospels and the early church is the pervasive influence of Hellenism after Alexander the Great. Hellenism  refers to Greek language and culture, and as Mark Strauss comments in Four Portraits, “Alexander’s enduring legacy  for New Testament background is his promotion of the process of Hellenization ”. After Alexander everyone in  the Near East was in some respects “Hellenized.” They spoke Greek, Greek fashions were dominant, certain  features were expected in “Greek cities’ ‘ (gymnasiums, theaters, etc.) If a city or region rejected these sorts of things,  they were considered backwards. To be “Greek” was to be a citizen of the world.

Antioch was founded in 300 BC by Salusis the First. He was one of those who inherited Alexander the Great’s empire. He loved to found cities and name those cities after his father named Antiochis. He founded a dozen cities by the same name. The city in Acts 11 is called Syrian Antioch. In the ancient world it was a thriving city of a half a million people and the third greatest city in the world. The first was Rome and the second was Alexandria in Egypt.  Antioch was a strategic city, the third largest in the Roman empire. It was noted all over the empire as a sports center. Chariot races were a specialty. If you have read Ben Hur, or have seen the movie, you know that it is in Antioch that Lew Wallace places the exciting chariot race which is the prominent feature of that novel. Antioch was also a place of culture. And sex was worshipped there. About five miles outside the city was the temple of Daphne, where sex was enthroned and worshipped through priestesses who were really religious prostitutes. So Antioch was important in every way. Yet in the midst of its corruption this new church had arisen, and Barnabas was sent to discover what was going on. It was known for his business and commerce, sophistication and immorality. This is Hellenism at its apex. 

The struggle against the backdrop of Hellenism is the “plot” of the intertestamental period – how will the Jews react to this new  culture imposed by foreign occupiers? How can one keep “Jewish traditions” in a world which is increasingly Greek and Roman)? There will be some Jews who are as completely Hellenized as possible, yet others will resist and cling to Jewish traditions.   These were factors which led to the Maccabean Revolt in 165 B.C. as well as the Jewish  Revolt against Rome in A.D.66. 

There are several indications that many Jews accepted Greek culture. Jews with Greek names are common. The  most obvious example is that of Onias II and his brother Joshua. This priestly family battled for control of the high  priesthood in the years leading up to the Maccabean revolt. Joshua took the Greek name Jason and attempted to re-found Jerusalem as a Greek city, complete with a gymnasium near the temple.  In reaction to growing Hellenism, the Hasidism, or “pious people,” did not want to have anything to do with Greek culture. They believed that Jewish culture was from God and that anyone that adopted Greek ways was committing  idolatry and apostasy. This put into greater perspective what Peter was facing when he walked into the home of Cornelius.  This conservative movement developed into the “parties” of the New Testament period including the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Essenes. These were some of the very same people the Apostles and Peter faced in Jerusalem and who also became Christians and joined the first century Church. When they do, they also bring with them their “baggage” that needs redeeming.  These problems didn’t end when Rome absorbed Palestine into the empire either. 

The language here in the Bay areas is not Greek, but BASIC, C, C++, COBOL, Java, FORTRAN, Ada, and Pascal and blockchain. The language is social justice, finance, crypto and art. Here there is a struggle to fit in and conform while you maintain some sort of individuality and identity to some degree. In the background of the whole New Testament there is a struggle between conforming to a foreign culture (Greek, Roman) and clinging tenaciously to the boundary markers of Judaism (Sabbath, circumcision, food traditions, monotheism).  At the same time Christians were trying to answer how they too would live in such a society that asked them to live like Romans while still being disciples. There will be some like Cornelius juggling to be Roman, Greek, Jew and Gentile, talk about confusing, talk about being an outsider. 

Back to our present day,  we are asking how we can be a disciple here in our pseudo-modern day Hellenistic society where the government tells me to take a vaccine or I will be fired,  to embrace cultural immorality as normal or I will be publicly chastised on social media, and persecuted if I share my faith. How do I live as a Christian here? Can we walk a middle ground without losing ground?  As in the first century Cities, our city and Bay area do not remotely resemble a Christocentric world view. America and the San Francisco Bay are no less missional than any unreached people group. Rather than missionaries being chased out by witch doctors Christians in California are being priced out, moved out and pressured out in more sophisticated ways. Still,  how will our church reflect Christ today as the early church was the hope of Christ amongst this Hellenistic phenomena? It’s an old question and the church has been trying to answer this question in all sorts of ways for the last 50 years while it has been shrinking and steadily losing ground. So, what is the answer? 

In the book of Acts, Luke is answering the question for us. What should the church look like in a Bay Area packed full of a melting pot of Hellenistic people? What should we look like? What should Seminaries of higher education look like?  Our Bay Area is a microcosm of the globe. You don’t need to go to India or China to share the gospel in Hindi or Mandarin. You need only knock on your neighbors door here in Livermore. The beauty of this is God has brought the globe to us. Similar to how God placed a school on our property full of families from around the world. Just before Christ’s ascension, Jesus outlines the global scope of the Church’s mission:

“6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said  to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will  receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea  and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:6–8). 

As the gospel spreads through local churches, it will be like a rock falling into the center of a pond. From that node, it will initially hit Jerusalem then ripples to Judea and Samaria, and on to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:6). Yet the manner in which this spread occurs is surprising—it’s not primarily through a missions committee hunched  over maps, or attractional big events meant to draw big crowds. It’s actually not happening intentionally at all, but through persecution. This is the church growth method of “run for your life”! While you are running you still have the task of sharing the gospel. The priority is still proclaiming the gospel. It’s not setting up shop  hidden away accruing a wellspring of knowledge and holding onto it until Jesus returns. It’s how can I live long enough to tell as many people about Christ before I die?  

That’s how the gospel gets to Antioch initially. I will propose that Antioch is very similar to our region and contend there is a type of persecution taking place in the church on a multiplicity of  levels: Culturally, Morally, Anatomically, Scientifically, Politically, Militarily, Technologically and Artistically…  Let’s take an imaginative trip and  liken ourselves to modern day Leonardo da Vinci’s. Imagine walking into Windsor Castle and viewing the Royal Collection of Davinci. This collection spans the topics of botany, geology, hydraulics, architecture, military engineering, costume  design, geometry, cartography, optics and anatomy. I would like to rethink our orthodoxy and frame it in light of what we might call a Pseudo-modern Hellenistic Renaissance. In this climate we need creatives, entrepreneurs, professors, artists, pastors, missionaries, leaders, scientists, men and women who reflect da Vinci’s gallery …  As we look at what a church could look like in the Bay Area, the question is not Why? But Why Not?  

Theological & Biblical

First the church must be theological. With the growth of decentralization, the growing trend of free education, the future of denominational Seminaries are going to diminish, leaving the weight of theological education on the church once again. The future church cannot  be a theological lightweight when it comes to being able to give a reason why we  believe what we believe. It will face greater persecution and criticism and it will need men and women composed of biblical everyday disciples like Stephen, Pricilla and Aquila. The teaching and preaching in Antioch doesn’t just come from Barnabas and Paul, but from men of Cyprus and Cyrene who likely didn’t have rabbinic training or attend a Roman Ludus litterarius (school). No, these men and women were faithful disciples continually learning and growing in Christ as was Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:9-11

This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love; that you will see the difference between good and bad and choose the good; that you will be pure and without wrong for the coming of Christ; that you will be filled with the good things produced in your life by Christ to bring glory and praise to God.

These were disciples that became the answer to Paul’s prayer. These were Christians running for their life showing the love of Christ, growing in their knowledge of Christ, producing fruit in their life believing the Bible, belonging to family and building God’s kingdom. Karl Barth said, “There should be no non-theologians inside the local church.”  We  must be committed to seeing us teach theology, apologetics, biblical hermeneutics, but what we learn has to be passed on and lived out practically, missionally and evangelistically, so it brings glory and Praise to God. We must be intentional and relentless to eradicate  biblical illiteracy within the Church. We can do this through Life groups, micro churches, mentoring, corporate preaching, seminars, online classes, creating study material, raising up pastors, missionaries, interns, men, women, children who, 

“in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

Why not? 

Innovative & Inspiring

For two decades churches like ours, have been living with debt unable to do ministry while telling members it’s their biblical responsibility to live within their means and tithe. Doesn’t sound like an atmosphere promoting innovation does it?  There are churches who have been paying over $60k a month to pay off $5 million dollars in bonds, on a building that sits empty most of the week for over two decades. Why not invest God’s resources differently and more effectively? Think about it as an Entrepreneur. In Acts chapter 9, Tabitha was a Small business owner, “Tab’s Tunics”. She was also likely a widow whom the church would have assisted financially. In that culture and that time a single woman did not have very much say. But Tabitha with the help of the church not only assisted her and her start-up tunic business, but when she died the business died and through Peter, the church helped restart her tunic business and expand her generosity business plan.

Over two decades I’ve served as a church planter, revitalizing, a missions pastor, and an entrepreneur. I have worked with entrepreneurial missionaries and individuals in other countries to start businesses that create revenue for locals who are poor and they in turn create services, materials and products that help to create revenue and serve as a missional node where the gospel intersects with people whom would never step inside a church. Why not do the same thing in our own city with young mission minded entrepreneurs. Why not provide “seed money” that invests in missional business nodes where the gospel intersects with culture outside of the church? This is what St. Patrick did by encamping outside of pagan towns and showing how a Christian community could operate and do business successfully and joyfully. A church could potentially make their investment  back and then re-invest in more missional business nodes.  Why not?

We should also be looking for ways to better care for those inside the church as they did in Acts and let this be a light to our generosity and biblical fiduciary fidelity. Whether this is helping families to adopt children, become financially independent, pay of medical bills. Imagine what would happen if word got out that our church loves our members so much that they are teaching them and enabling them to be as generous as their church is. Who wouldn’t want to belong to and give to a church that lives out that type of grace and generosity? Churches could invest in land, in a vineyard, a coffee shop, music studio and resources that could be turned around to create missional revenue, employee those who need career training or in creating opportunities where the gospel is going to be taught and caught. The church should look for opportunities to innovate and inspire those we meet along the way. If we can invest and partner in startup that are in foreign countries, why not make it happen in our own city? Our country is in no less dire need for the gospel than any other foreign mission field. Why not be an innovative church reaching a community of aspiring entrepreneurs who love Jesus and are faithfully deploying businesses to display Christ? Imagine the other innovative ways Scripture can lead us to innovate and Inspire. Why not? 

Multicultural & Multigenerational

The church in Antioch was multicultural. In Acts 11 these accidental missionaries are only preaching to Jews, but from verse 19 to verse 20 it begins to spread to pagans who would have honored Zeus. Contrast this with Cornelius who was in the curious circle, maybe even more like the congregation circle, before moving into the committed and core. These new converts were “real pagans” in the circles of the crowd and critics. Many churches in the Bay area still remain largely segregated in nature struggling to reach circles outside of the congregation and these churches are struggling and dying. They find themselves losing members due to the economic, political, cultural shifts and due to the effects of COVID 19. They find themselves filled with older generations that have been clinging to the past because the culture around them is so rapidly changing. These people groups sought safe havens of seclusion and familiarity, which was the church. They remained devout in their faith, but struggled to know how to practice this faith in such a Hellenistic theater. In Acts we see a story of how even people who had not intended to be missionaries, find themselves taking the  gospel with them and reaping a multicultural harvest of epic proportions.  Contrast that with churches in our area who have remained mono-ethnic, mono-economic, and/or mono-educational because it is true that Birds of a feather do indeed flock together and the harvest seems to have flown the coop or flown south for a long winter. The only “mono” churches that seem to be seeing any growth in our Bay area are Chinese, Cantonese speaking churches. This has been trend in the Southern Baptist denomination within California, but it is an exception

We see in Acts 11:20 there are Jews and Gentiles from Phoenicia, Cyprus, Cyrene and Antioch who were preaching to Hellenists.  Barnabas is there from Jerusalem and Paul is there from Tarsus. The Church gathered in a multicultural motley crew of knowns and unknowns, poor and rich, short and tall, bald and bowlegged, in this economic metropolis of Antioch and they were all identified as Christians first. Why not be a church that reflects our ethnically rich tri-valley? Why not have diverse life groups, diverse micro churches, and worship services? Why not? 

Creative & Musical

Think about this from the point of an artist.  Did you know Hellenistic sculpture is one of art history’s most prized practices. Celebrated for its unprecedented naturalism, this movement introduced a skillful sculptural approach that artists would emulate for years to come. In San Francisco there is an immersive Van Gough art exhibit and many of the churches in downtown San Francisco also serve as galleries to display art from local artists who desire to share their artistic perspective with the public and to draw in tourists to create opportunities for the church to dialogue with their community.  One of the most effective outreaches we’ve done here at Trinity Church was to host our Art’s Camp. It attracted more non-Christians and unchurched than anything else we have done here in my five years. Why? Maybe because there are families who desire their children to be influenced by the arts and there are few high quality outlets in our city and tri-valley that provide such a resource. Why not create an artistic node that allows artists to display their art work, that allows the church to display an immersive creative environment that anyone who visits is faced with the gospel even before they see a human being. Why can’t our facility be a sculpture that points to Jesus Christ and invites the community to belong to a family that displays love and grace? Why not be a gallery for artists? Why not teach art and music to our neighbors as a missional node in our tri-valley? We are called to worship our Lord and Savior. In Romans 15:9 Paul writes, 

“And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.” 

This sounds like the church was literally inviting the gentiles into the church to sing unto the Lord. Why not? 

Inspiring & Missional

In Acts chapter 11 the gospel is spreading and they are in need of experienced leadership. There were already faithful disciples there in Antioch. When we look at Barnabas we see he was a man of faith, a good man, full of the spirit, an encourager, and defender of other disciples, like Paul. Where are you going to find someone to come in and be this guy’s encourager and compliment himself?   Barnabas does not find that resourceful, out of the box, evangelistic, entrepreneurial, encouraging, leader in Antioch. No,  he travels outside of the city, he may have secured a head hunting firm to do an extensive search, however, he knew a guy. Not just any guy.  He finds a guy who crossed his path several years back, who was an entrepreneur, a tentmaker actually and well educated I might add. This man was Saul, AKA the Apostle Paul. Barnabas didn’t go back to Jerusalem to get a denominational guy and he didn’t try to hire from within. Those who were already there didn’t have to be hired to share the gospel, they were already doing this as they traveled and lived out their lives there. What did they need at this moment? The church and maybe Barnabas, in particular, needed someone who could come in and be a boost to their ministry and maybe offer another perspective. They had to bring in someone who modeled discipleship and who could teach it to multiply it. It’s hard to sit under someone who is trying to teach you about discipleship when all they know is about it and not how to do it?  I believe we are in the same position. We need to find staff and leadership who can spur us on, challenge us, help us create and find new answers to old questions and more importantly live out what they are teaching. I think we would be hindering our opportunities if we simply try to change the course of the Church of the last 117 years if we don’t hire professional, entrepreneurial, out of the box thinkers who are missional and passionate and  will live out what they are learning as they teach us. Why not do what Barnabas does in Antioch? Why not? 

Generous & Entrepreneurial

Our bay area now has the 3rd highest number of billionaires. The link will take you to a CNBC article that identifies families that make 117k in our bay area as qualifying for financial assistance. With Crypto, Bitcoin, YouTube and Instagram Influencers, this article suggests that millennials may become the wealthiest generation of our time. However, they do not tend to be generous givers to institutions such as the church, that’s if they even remain in the church. I propose that we are at a time when we cannot depend only on tithes and offerings. The Church and denominations have for too long, misappropriated and mismanaged money while at the same time telling church members to be good stewards, spend wisely, save and give to whatever cause the church chooses that month. To be as generous as we see the church in Acts we will need to posture ourselves so people trust us as faithful stewards and managers. The Church will need to learn to create multiple streams of revenue and to make our money and resources work for building God’s Kingdom.

To teach generosity we must first practice it. We must teach on faithful giving and tithing. We should teach on saving and Investing while we model it as an institution. We should invest in current and traditional asset classes like Crypto, equities, and real-estate. A church that is actively modeling fiscal health and getting involved in their city will be respected by our city and other entrepreneurs. We won’t look like some tax shelter on a hill taking revenue away from local area businesses. The church can create an avenue to relate with business leaders and entrepreneurs. Such a model seems more wise than paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on a building that sits empty a majority of its time. Why not model stewardship and generosity at a level that will inspire others to live the same way. Why not? In Matthew 25 Jesus shares a parable,

26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.

God doesn’t just expect us to hold onto His money and gifts, nor does He expect us to live in debt. What He expects is interest earned on His money. And that interest can come in many forms and through many methods. God is blessing us with the financial resources to inspire our church to generosity. I believe that if we model the above with humility it will attract and raise up an army made up of Barnabas’ and Tabithas that will change our city. What you will see from the beginning of Acts right up to Acts 11, is that generosity is the fruit of faithful disciples. You see the church in Antioch rally to the need of a prophet from Jerusalem that declares a coming famine and then they give above and beyond to meet this need. I believe God will ordain opportunities for us to model and challenge the body to be generous. I don’t believe the money that we will have in the bank has to deter generous giving. I believe God is equipping us to display a generosity that could rival the generosity of even the church in Acts, if we let the Holy Spirit dismantle thrones we’ve built, and quicken our hearts to worship Him. Rather than think people are going to suddenly be stingy and shut off giving and tithing once we pay our debt burden, why not live in such a way that we inspire generosity in a way that we’ve never before experienced it as a church? Why not believe God is already at work in hearts to raise up generous disciples? Why not?

Prioritize

Finally this will take all of us making new priorities and setting aside our own pride and desires to pursue the desires of God’s heart. It will take demolishing strongholds, idols, traditions and customs that have superseded Christ’s commands. I believe that because God has taken us through a war he has also led us into an enlightenment. He has clearly shown us new priorities. Like in Antioch, it will be here in Livermore where they were “first called Christians”. My priority is to be a Christian first and foremost. It should also be your priority. Not that there haven’t been Christians who have come before us here in Livermore. There have been saints who have gone before us here and are cheering us on. No, what I mean is that, we may be Californians, Mexicans, scientists, teachers, etc. but before we are any of those things, we will be known first as Christians. It’s not our goal to declare ourselves any better than someone else or distance ourselves from others or excuse ourselves from serving and discipling in the church because we might find ourselves at a different place due to our walk, our experience, our sanctification. Whether that means you feel more enlightened, or you feel more persecuted, neither entitles you or I to a day off from being a disciple on this sojourn. Our sanctification actually drives us to get closer, drives us to small groups, drives us to grow more, drives us to take seminars, drives us to teach what we know, drives us to discover answers to questions we don’t know. It drives us to generosity, It drives us to share the gospel. It drives us. It drives us to take risks. It drives us to be a local faithful seed throwing, fruit bearing church. It drives us to awkward conversations, It drives us to friendships. It drives us to grace. As Christians our priorities are different from the worlds and those priorities are already on display at Trinity Church because I see them at work in this place.

CLOSING
I know that it can sound extraordinary, but look at where the Church has gotten by being ordinary, by being normal, by hiding it’s light under a bushel, by trying to look too much like the world, by being distracted with idols, by forgetting her first love.  Remember what Barnabas told the church in Antioch.  Be intelligent and live with purpose. “Remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.” The Greek here means, “according to a set plan.” They were not simply going to church and enjoy the fellowship, and the feelings of glory and excitement that knowing the Lord gave them. They were to remember that they needed to learn more of him. They had to seek the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ intelligently, through the Word of God. That is his provision. He has provided for us to be able to do something intelligently and with purpose. It’s time we give this city a look at the extraordinary Jesus we know. Why not? e we give this city a look at an extraordinary Jesus. Why not?