2008-08-22
01. Our previous teaching dealt with the ministry of the apostle Peter, the miracles he performed in regard to a man called Aeneas and a lady called Tabitha and his preaching of the Gospel to an Italian centurion called Cornelius.
02. The present teaching focuses on the Holy Spirit’s ministry in Antioch and Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey.
03. Two general remarks at the outset. Firstly you will have noticed that, as from chapter 1 of the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit, through His different servants, ministered mostly to the Jewish people. They were God’s covenant people, the descendants of Abraham. Only rarely did He minister to none Jews like the Samaritans, the eunuch of Ethiopia and Cornelius and his family and friends. As from chapter 13, it is clear that although God’s grace was still extended to the Jewish communities, His focus now was clearly shifting to the non-Jewish world, the gentiles or heathen, as they are sometimes referred to.
04. The second observation is that whereas the first 12 chapters centers, generally speaking, on Peter’s ministry, chapters 14 to 28 has Paul as its main character. For this reason, inter alia, Peter is often referred to as the apostle to the Jews and Paul is called the apostle to the gentiles.
05. Let us read from Acts 11:19-26:
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. 20 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. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22 News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 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. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 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.
06. We see here that the persecuted believers fled Jerusalem and how some of them, on settling in a city called Antioch, way north of Palestine, shared the Gospel with the Greeks or as some translations have it, the Greek speaking Jewish community. A great number of them put their trust in Jesus so that a strong congregation developed there.
On receiving this joyous news, the Jerusalem congregation sent Barnabas to assist them. Perceiving the great work God was doing there, Barnabas was overwhelmed by the tremendous need for a deeper ministry into the lives of these new converts and realized that he urgently needed help. But who would be the right co-worker? He needed someone that would have a deep insight into the Scriptures but, at the same time, understand how God had, from the beginning of time, coveted the salvation of all nations and not just the Jews. The apostles and other leaders in Jerusalem did not share his deep concern for the heathen, so he could not turn to them for assistance. Guided by the Holy Spirit, his thoughts turned to Paul and so he set out for Tarsus to enlist his help.
07. Now you will remember that Paul, earlier on called Saul, was mightily converted on his way to Damascus by the Lord Jesus Himself, speaking to him from an opened heaven. From other Scriptures like Gal 1:17, we gather that, although witnessing fearlessly to one and all regarding his newly found faith, he did not immediately enter into a fulltime ministry, but withdrew himself for a period of about three years. Paul was a very learned man who, before his conversion to Christ, had studied the Old Testament Scriptures under a renowned professor called Gamaliel. Now, after having found Jesus, and during his time of seclusion, Paul probably compared all the information he could gather regarding Jesus, with what he had learned from Moses and the prophets and discovered to his amazement that it all fitted together.
This enlightenment by the Holy Spirit took time for he had to work it through, not only in his mind, but also in his heart. Just like Peter, he had to overcome his deep rooted hardness of heart because of a wrong interpretation of the Laws and prescriptions of God and understand the sweetness of God’s grace, extended, not only to the Jews, but also to the gentiles. At last, the time came when God, who knows the deepest thoughts of His children, considered Paul ready to be launched into fulltime ministry. Therefore, when his old friend Barnabas suddenly turned up one day requesting him to come and assist him, not in Jerusalem, but way up at Antioch, he knew that this was a call of God that he could not resist and so he went with him.
08. Barnabas and Paul combined to form an excellent team and for a full year they instructed a considerable number of believers in the teachings of Christ. In this way Paul also gained valuable experience in practical teaching, answering the questions of new believers and counselling the troubled at heart. In short he learned to lead a young congregation towards maturity and also to raise up leaders that would be capable of stepping into his shoes should the need arise. This indeed was a crucial year to prepare Paul for the years of service that lay ahead of him.
09. Also note that it is to the congregation of Antioch that you and I are indebted to be referred to as Christians. Up till that time, Christianity was generally referred to as “The Way” but that was rather a vague term. Which way? Their answer was “We are following the Christ way. Christ lives within us and therefore we are Christians.”
10. Now let us read Acts 13:1-3:
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. 2 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.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
11. This congregation was blessed by at least four mighty men of God from diverse backgrounds and places of birth. Who were they? Firstly there was Barnabas the Jew, originally from Jerusalem, of whom we haveread several times before and who, in chapter 11:24, is spoken of as a “good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” Then there was Simeon, a black man, possibly from Nigeria. Also Lucius of Cyrene and lastly Saul, the zealous Pharisee from Tarsus, the man whose testimony of conversion would always grip the attention of his listeners. Their very diversity would attract all the many kinds of people that visited and lived in this city of commerce.
12. These men were also flowing in two very important ministries namely teaching and prophesy. What do these terms signify and how do they differ from one another ? The Lord Jesus was often addressed as teacher. A teacher conveys knowledge to his pupils. He would impart basic facts regarding how to read and write, or history, geography or mathematics, etc. To do this, he receives handbooks from the Department of Education at the beginning of the year and teaches the facts contained therein, page by page according to a predetermined curriculum. He does not phone the Minister of Education every morning and ask him “What must I teach my pupils today?”
Likewise the Christian teacher has received from the Lord, the Bible as his handbook and he teaches it to his congregation page by page. Otherwise he may select certain Books, topics or doctrines like faith or love and reveal what every Book has to say in that regard. He could also focus on a certain Bible character like Abraham and see what spiritual lessons may be derived from the story of his life. In bringing this material, he is of course very dependant on the Holy Spirit, the Inspirer of the Bible, to explain the contents in such a way that his pupils will understand it. The Spirit also has to cause these spiritual truths to grip their hearts, their spirits, their emotions. He is to make them pray and trust God to raise up within them, the totality of this new life in Christ. The teacher’s aim therefore is not only to convey the facts contained in the Bible to his pupils, but also to build all the spiritual principles into their lives. Of course he will be guided by the Spirit in emphasizing certain truths above others at certain times. His end objective is to transfer all that is contained in the Bible into the minds and hearts of his students. He must be God’s instrument in conforming his students into the image of Christ.
13. The prophet plays a different role. It is important to note right from the outset that there is both a similarity but also a difference between the gift of prophecy (see 1 Cor. 12:10 ) and the prophetic ministry which is one of the fivefold ministries mentioned in 1 Cor 12:28. It may be said that when a person is regularly or continually flowing in the Gift of Prophecy and his words thus uttered are being proved in the congregation to be from God, he may in due time be acknowledged by the leadership as having a prophetic ministry or to put it differently, being a prophet of God.
14. But now, what are prophetic words? Let us again take the example of the school teacher. Let us say that while the teacher is busy teaching physics, the principal suddenly enters, stops the teacher in giving his lecture and says to the class “I have just had a phone call from the minister of education saying that tomorrow has been proclaimed a public holiday and that none of you need to attend school.” That announcement has nothing to do with the normal curriculum but is a direct communication from the top downwards. A Word of prophesy through a prophet may be compared to such an announcement. Prophetic words, are words flowing directly from God through his prophet, to his people.
This impartation may come by way of a dream, or the hearing of God’s voice with his physical ears, or him being transported into heaven and seeing and hearing certain things there, or a message conveyed to him through the ministry of an angel. The Lord may even choose to appear to him in some or other physical form or simply, as what mostly happens, just by a strong impression he receives deep within his spirit which is in fact the Holy Spirit transferring God’s thought or message into his spirit. It may come while he is studying the Scriptures, but the importance is that it is not the exposition of Scripture but a word flowing directly from the throne of God at that moment. This thought is meant to be conveyed to a certain person or group or nation, mostly by way of verbal communication or actions appropriate to convey God’s message most effectively. The prophet is a messenger. He listens to God, then speaks to men. The Bible teacher says “Listen, these are the principles God wants to teach you through His written Word.” The prophet says “Listen, these are the words God is speaking to you from His throne right now.”
15. Now what may the prophet’s message typically be and how will he convey it? He may say, “God says He is bringing an abundance of rain over the XYZ province for three years and after that a terrible drought for the same period of time and He wants His people to save up whatever they can during the time of bounty for the time of need.” Now this is supernatural knowledge for no man can predict this ahead of time. Secondly, you can not gain this knowledge by studying the Bible for nowhere in the Bible is it written down when the XYZ province will have rain and when it will have drought. So God imparts this knowledge through the prophetic ministry and not through the teaching ministry.
16. Here is another example. God may speak to a congregation in province XYZ through a prophet that comes from Nigeria and knows nothing about this congregation, saying, “The Lord says that there is a lot of backbiting and gossiping going on amongst the leadership of this congregation and that those that are guilty should repent or He will deal with them severely.” The prophet may then take a portion of Scripture that deals with this sin and also another portion that deals with the blessing of love and unity to bring home God’s message more forcefully. This could be termed prophetic preaching.
17. Can you see the difference between teaching and prophesying? And can you see how important both of these ministries are? And can you see how important it is that a congregation should have both these ministries flowing within it so that the body of Christ may be properly built up into the fullness of Christ. Now, do you have these ministries in your congregation; if not, pray to the Lord for He is the giver of all good gifts.
18. Now let us continue with the exegesis of our text above. While this group of leaders were fasting and worshipping God, something special happened. In the Old Testament prophets wanting to enquire from God, often asked a musician to play on an instrument. As he did so, the prophet was better able to subject his flesh and open up his spirit to the Spirit of God and receive whatever message the Lord wished to communicate to him. In our times, worshipping and praising the Lord with musical instruments and in song, has the same result, namely tuning our hearts to God. It is mostly during such times that the prophetic ministry flows more strongly. This can be enhanced by fasting at the same time.
This is exactly what happened in this congregation. As they fasted and worshipped, the Holy Spirit spoke through one or more of the prophets saying, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” It seems that, having received this word from God, they continued fasting and praying during which time all the leaders received confirmation in their spirits that this was indeed a word from God. So they responded immediately in obedience to him. They laid their hands on these two men and sent them off. Although the prophetic word did not state what God’s work for these two brothers in Christ would be, they had probably, for some time, had a strong desire to take the Gospel to the rest of the known world. The prophetic word would have com as confirmation and so off they went.
19. How many pastors in our days, having built up a strong and fast growing congregation, would be willing to pack up at a moment’s notice and move on to plant new churches in the dark, remote corners of their countries? And how many congregations would be willing to release their leading pastor and elder to follow the calling of God?
20. Let us continue. From here on we will just touch briefly on the more important portions of Scripture and especially on Paul’s ministry. We are now only halfway into the Book of Acts and will not be able to deal in detail with the rest of the 14 chapters. We read from chapter 13:4-12:
The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. 6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 ‘‘You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
21. The first important point to note is that not only their calling, but the whole of their journey, was orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. God had a plan and used them to carry out Hís plan, not their own.
22. From Antioch they traveled down to Seleucia where they took a boat to cross over to the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean sea. Salamis probably was the first major settlement where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Being a gathering place for people religiously inclined and with whom they had the Old Testament in common, they targeted the synagogues as a springboard for proclaiming the Gospel in the towns and cities they visited.
23. They took a young man, John, along with them. He might have been the nephew or other relative of Barnabas and they probably thought that he might assist them in some or other way. We should however be very sure of God’s will when we incorporate other people in our outreach teams. Lot, whom Abraham took along when he emigrated to Canaan, was more of a burden than a blessing.
24. From Salamis they traveled on to another harbour town called Paphos where their ministry caused such a stir in the community, that the ruler of the island, a pro-consul of Rome, invited them to his place to tell him all about this new teaching. He clearly was a good man seeking after truth and a deeper meaning to life.
25. The devil however had long ago planted his own prophet, Elimas, also known as Bar-Jesus (which means son of Jesus) there. He was a sorcerer, and was one of the inner circle of officials that attended to the needs of Sergius Paulus, tje pro-consul. He must have possessed supernatural powers which he used to impress the governor. On hearing the Gospel, this evil man immediately rose up in opposition to prevent the Governor from escaping from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. Barnabas was a softer kind of person that would rather seek ways of reconciliation than of conflict, but Paul never shied away from a battle. Realizing that it was Elimas’s word (who Sergius knew well), against his own word as a stranger, he knew that there was only one way to victory and that was to enter into spiritual warfare.
First of all he spoke out fearlessly telling him outright that he was a child of the devil, filled with deceit, an enemy of that which is right, who has consistently been twisting the truth of God to suit himself. Then, to prove his words, he spoke blindness over him. At this, God struck Elymas with blindness and he groped around for someone to lead him. Probably everybody was afraid to touch him less they invoke the wrath of God upon themselves. Sergius, having heard the message of redemption and now seeing a demonstration of God’s power, forthwith put his trust in Christ. So we see how Paul was led by the Spirit, inspired by the Spirit and vindicated by the Spirit of God.
Our words may sometimes seem so frail but what we proclaim under the inspiration of the Spirit, God will uphold.
26. Now let us read from verse 13 to verse 16:
From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. 14 From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, ‘‘Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.
27. The first notable matter is that, whereas the name of Barnabas had previously been put first when he and Paul were mentioned, Paul’s name is now given preference, showing that in God’s planning and in practice, he took over the leading role between the two of them.
28. Secondly, we see that they again took a boat and crossed over to a place called Perge in the country of Pamphylia.
29. The third notable fact is that the pressure became too much for John. He just did not have the faith to face all the hazards of this pioneering journey into the darkness of satan’s domains and so, notwithstanding Barnabas’s encouragement and Paul’s reprimands, he turned tail and set out for Jerusalem.
30. Paul and Barnabas, however went on to a town also called Antioch, but situated in the land of Pisidia where they again visited a Jewish synagogue and was afforded the opportunity of bringing the Word of God to believers of the 5 Books of Moses and of the Old Testament prophets. Also note that again Paul was taking the lead by being the spokesman.
31. We will not discuss the contents of his message, but will only look at the outcome and therefore read from verse 42 to verse 52:
As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. 43 When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. 44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: ‘‘We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ”‘I have made you g a light for the Gentiles, that you h may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. ” 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. 49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
32. Just a few brief remarks. Firstly note the tremendous impact of these two men’s ministries upon that whole region.
33. Secondly, note that it was God’s traditional people, the Jews, those that were so privileged as to be afforded the first place in receiving God’s word of redemption, that rejected the message of the cross. Also note that jealousy was their root cause for doing so. So vehement was their reaction that Paul and Barnabas, having sowed the powerful seed of the Word of salvation, considered their job done for the time being, shook the dust of their feet as Jesus had taught His disciples to do when persecuted and moved on to the next town.
34. Thirdly see how the Gentiles, though they had to wait a full week just to hear the Word, gladly accepted God’s grace in Christ and in turn received eternal life. This marked a turning point in shifting the focus of the ministry from the Jews to the Gentiles.
35. Fourthly note that God’s two servants went their way with hearts filled with gladness and with the Holy Spirit. May your heart also be filled with gladness and with the Holy Spirit as you minister God’s Word all over.
36. In closing, do read verses 26 to 28 of chapter 14 which tells us how Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch from where they had been sent. There they gave a report of what God had done through them and how He had opened a door to the heathen. There after they remained at Antioch for a considerable time.
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