Hands and Eyes

Acts 12:25-13:12

When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark. – Acts 12:25

 

What was the mission that they had finished?  In Acts 11, there were prophets that came from Jerusalem to Antioch.  The Lord said that there was going to be a famine around much of the world.  So, the brothers in Antioch sent money to the elders in Judea to help bring relief.  Paul and Barnabas were given the money to take to Judea.

 

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. 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.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. – Acts 13:1-3

 

In Luke 24:47-49, Jesus said,

 

and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. – Luke 24:47-49 

 

Shortly after saying these things, He ascended to heaven.  As Luke begins the letter of Acts, he records Jesus saying,

 

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” – Acts 1:4-5 

 

Shortly after saying these things, He ascended into heaven.  It appears as if the event in Luke and the event in Acts are one and the same.  Jesus probably didn’t say these things two different times unless He ascended into heaven two times, and we know that’s not true.

 

In Acts 1:8, we have laid out for us the overall flow of this letter as Jesus told His disciples,

 

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8

 

Acts 1-7 details what happened in Jerusalem.  Stephen’s murder kicked off a great persecution.  In Acts 8:1, we read about repentance and forgiveness of sins being preached in Jesus’ name to those in Judea and Samaria:

 

And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.  On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. – Acts 8:1

 

According to what’s written here in God’s word, who went about sharing the gospel so that disciples could be made?  It wasn’t the apostles, because they stayed in Jerusalem.  Acts 8-12 show us the work happening in the Judean and Samarian regions.  In our story today, we will look at the spread of the kingdom to the ends of the earth.  This is mostly what happens from chapter 13 through the end of Acts.

 

There are some things I want to point out about the sending of Paul and Barnabas.  The first thing is that the sending occurred in the atmosphere of fasting and worship.  Some translations say that they were “ministering to the Lord.”  The Greek word that’s used could be translated as “worship,” “minister” or “serve.”  It’s convicting to read this.  How often do we expect God to speak while we don’t actually expect Him to speak?  The things they were doing, worshiping and fasting, don’t make a lot of sense if we look at it through the eyes of our flesh.  Going without food and singing and praying to someone you can’t see seems like a waste of time.  If they were about to embark on a new mission, you would think they would have a big time of planning.  I know that the Spirit was doing some special things during these days, but He’s still the same Spirit. 

 

Secondly, the Spirit gave clarity of the will of God in the context of the local church.  Paul and Barnabas were in a specific local church in Antioch.  The next stage of their life in following God became clear as they submitted themselves to the Lord and to the local church. 

 

The third thing is that the Spirit of God was more concerned with sending than He was with seeing them build a bigger ministry.  This doesn’t mean that the Spirit doesn’t want any church to get bigger.  But at this point in the life of the Antioch church, He wanted to send out.  I explain to the Christians that we meet that we’re not concerned with getting bigger.  We’re more concerned with sending.  The worldly mindset is to consider a ministry successful if their large group meeting has gotten bigger.  We think God must be moving if more people are added to the seats.  In Antioch, God must have been moving not because people were being added to the seats but because people were leaving them. 

 

That leads me to the fourth thing I noticed: the church in Antioch was going through growth pains.  People leave the church for various reasons.  Just because they leave, it doesn’t mean we’re going through growth pains.  It may be painful to see people leave because you’ve lost a relationship.  In this situation, the home church wasn’t sending out the people they would miss the least.  God had called out the spirit-filled, committed believers.  God’s desire was to multiply disciples all over the world. 

 

The fifth thing that’s interesting about this story is that God didn’t send someone out alone.  Paul and Barnabas were together.  This is not the first missionary journey of Paul.  It’s the first missionary journey of Paul, Barnabas and one other person, as we’ll see in just a minute.  Paul was never alone.  He went with Silas, Barnabas, Timothy, John Mark and Luke.  The only times I’m aware that he was alone were when he went to various trials and to prison. 

 

The sixth thing is that God was calling them to a “work.”  The Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2).  Paul told the Thessalonians,

 

“We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love…” – I Thessalonians 1:3 

 

It is a labor, but it’s a labor of love.  There are days when I come home and I don’t feel like talking, not even to the cat.  I’ve been talking almost all day, sharing the gospel and training one person after another. But I still like what I do.  I like working.  Calling ministry “work” isn’t synonymous with calling it “drudgery.”  Some of the hardest things in life are the best things.  For example, raising kids is a hard thing, but it’s a good thing. 

 

The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. – Acts 13:4-5

 

The first part of their trip was across part of the Mediterranean Sea to the island of Cyprus.  This was a place of Gentiles.  Their mission begins to the remotest parts of the earth.  Jesus had told Paul that he would be a witness to the Gentiles, and yet he ended up in a Jewish synagogue.  Why would he do this?  For one thing, this was a practice of Jesus.  The Father had sent Jesus “only to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 15:24), although He did engage with Gentiles.  God’s plan was to reach the Jewish people first.  It was a matter of priority according to the Father’s plan.  Just as He entrusted His words of the Old Testament covenant to the people of Israel first, He also entrusted the words of the New Testament covenant to the Jewish people.  Paul reiterated this in Romans 1:16:

 

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel.  For it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. – Romans 1:16

 

This is one reason that is clear in the scriptures. 

 

I believe that there are other reasons as well.  These are reasons that have come to my mind as I’ve read the whole Bible many times over many years.  They’re a little bit speculative but worth looking into.  First, the Jews were familiar with the prophecies about the Messiah.  Second, they had experience with God.  This is the main reason that the book of Hebrews was written.  There were Jews who had genuine faith in God but they had not yet accepted Jesus as the Messiah.  Third, they believed in a monotheistic God.  I’ve found that it usually takes more time to lead someone to Christ that has no background with the Bible than with someone who has a background with it.  Fourth, the Messiah came from their lineage.  This would have been a great way to establish common ground and use it as a springboard into the gospel.  Fifth, they often had an influence with the Gentiles in their communities.  Sixth, many would have been open to the gospel.  Included in this group would have been mature Jews who had accepted righteousness by faith but hadn’t heard the gospel message yet.  These mature Jews would have been a bit more ready to labor in the gospel and lead a community of believers.  Seventh, Jesus’ pattern was to establish the kingdom in families and communities, not just individuals.  In Luke 19, He said that salvation had come to the house of Zacchaeus.  Oftentimes, He would teach in peoples’ homes, just like He did in Matthew’s home in Matthew 9.  In Luke 10, He told the disciples to find a person of peace and stay put in their home.  He didn’t want them to move from house to house.  In that same chapter, He was in Mary and Martha’s home. 

 

How are we to apply these things today?  I think we have the freedom in Christ to do a variety of things.  I don’t think we’re mandated to reach the Jews first everywhere we share the gospel.  The gospel did go to the Jews first.  I do think we would be wise to consider this example and see if there’s a way that we can learn from it.  One of the reasons why I try to reach the freshmen first is because they are usually the most open to the gospel and to new community.  The Bible doesn’t require every Christian organization or church to reach the freshmen first if they are trying to reach college students.  I also aim for seeing the gospel spread among the people they’re the closest to.  Hopefully, we can also connect with a few mature believers that catch the vision for reaching their dorm for Christ even during their freshmen year.  But God has a tendency to surprise me while doing something different.  We’ve been sending people out into their already-existing mission field.  Web is a student that came to Christ last spring semester.  I met him in the fall semester.  He started reading the Bible on his own and with me, then he came to Christ.  Because of the way that I’ve been reading the Bible with him, he immediately began reading the Bible with his roommates.  I’ve tried to get him to our Friday discipleship time and to Sunday morning, but I never could make it happen.  But I was able to disciple him, and he started a group on his own.  He wasn’t going to another country as a missionary.  He wasn’t even going across town.  God had sent him to his roommates.  Paul and Barnabas were sent in a way that seemed official.  But there were other ways that the believers were sent in Acts.  I’ll get to that in a moment. 

 

They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 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. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “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? 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. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord. – Acts 13:6-12

 

If you survey the book of Acts and look at the times the gospel went out, it usually was led by or followed by opposition and persecution.  As I’ve been a part of the front line of sharing the gospel and making disciples, it’s usually accompanied by works of the devil.  I’ve been threatened by campus administration.  I’ve been slandered.  I’ve been yelled at.  I’ve had so-called believers come and steal new believers away from our fellowship because they’re jealous and want to be seen as an effective ministry.  One strange situation happened shortly after I came on staff with our church in Raleigh.  I was on the Brickyard at NC State with some of our students.  We had been sharing the gospel.  We finished and I saw a guy walking across the Brickyard.  It seemed like he was aiming straight for me.  I had never seen the guy before.  A few moments later I heard him come close.  The reason I know he had come close was because I heard him cussing at me.  I had never said one word to this guy in my entire life, but he lectured me on religion, God and whatever else I don’t remember.  He was a monk in the Hare Krishna faith.  This is a so-called peaceful religion.  But it wasn’t that day.  Boy, the demonic activity rises when you encroach on Satan’s territory.  That’s what we see happening in this story.

 

Paul, Barnabas and John Mark had been sent on this mission.  I think it’s important to recognize the different kinds of sending you see in Acts.  The first type is the overall sending by Jesus that was directed toward all the believers.  That’s found in Acts 1:8:

 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. – Acts 1:8

 

There were about 120 people in that upper room when the Spirit came upon them.  He came upon the apostles as well as the rest of the body of Christ.  We know that the Spirit helps believers in a variety of ways.  In Acts, we see Him at work by helping every believer make disciples. This is the same basic message of the Great Commission said by Jesus at the end of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  No matter what spiritual gift or calling a Christian has, this sending is for every believer.  One way to think of this is to compare it to an employee working for a company.  Every employee’s goal is to either maintain or grow the company’s profits.  But each employee might have a different role or specialty.  In just a minute, I’ll go over some of the special types of roles that we see the believers had in Acts.

 

Another example of sending is what we see in Acts 3.  Peter and John were sent to a beggar by the temple.  It says that they went during the hour of prayer.  In other words, they were in their normal routine.  I think this can speak to all of us.  It’s easy to see Paul being sent because he went on a specific mission.  You and I have gone through the normal routine of going to work, or going to the grocery store or folding the same laundry.  God is in the routine, too.  They went to the temple like they normally would “at the hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1).  The one who is cooking, folding laundry or watching the kids is no less valuable in God’s eyes than the one who seems to have a flashy calling.  While in the process of picking up those same old sticks in that same old yard, I’ve seen God show up in the normal routine.

 

Another type is being sent by trial or persecution.  The stoning of Stephen kicked off a great persecution.  As a result, Acts 8 says that they were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  The making of disciples was being carried out by the everyday believer.  Luke says that the apostles stayed behind in Jerusalem. 

 

We also see people being sent one revelation at a time.  Philip was an example of this in Acts 8.  God told him to “go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26).  That’s all that God told him!  He didn’t tell him what the mission was or who he was supposed to talk to or share any other details!  As Philip obeyed, then God made his mission clearer.  He then told him the next step, “Go over and join this chariot” (Acts 8:29).  He didn’t tell him what he was supposed to do or who he was supposed to talk to!  This story almost seems comical to me.  You might feel like you’re in this type of situation now.  Most of do.  God is revealing one step at a time.  Do what you know God has made clear in the scriptures.  I’ve found that as I’ve done this, He begins to reveal more of His will. 

 

Some people were sent in ways that were miraculous.  Philip was an example of this.  After Philip shared the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch, God made him disappear and arrive instantaneously in Azotus.  If you’re wanting to save money on gas, this would be an ideal way to be sent. 

 

We also see people being sent to specific groups of people.  This is what we see in Acts 9:15 after Paul came to faith in Christ.  Jesus said that He was sending him to “Gentiles, kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:15). 

 

Some, like Peter in Acts 10, were sent to unexpected places.  He sent Peter to the home of a Gentile.  Peter wasn’t expecting that at all!

 

In Acts 11, we see Paul and Barnabas being sent with a physical blessing of money to the believers in order to provide relief during the famine.  In our story today, we see Paul and Barnabas being sent by the Spirit through the local church.  This is definitely an important mission.  But it’s not the only mission we see.  Paul and Barnabas were being sent to the Gentiles. The apostles weren’t the first to share the gospel with the Gentiles.  When the church was sent out by persecution to Samaria, they probably shared with Gentiles in Samaria.  We do know for certain that Philip preached the gospel to a Gentile, the Ethiopian eunuch.  This was before Peter went to Cornelius’ house.  Cornelius, a Gentile, is in Acts 10.  God had a specific use for the apostles.  God was performing miracles, signs and wonders through them (II Corinthians 12:12).  These things would have confirmed that they were telling the truth about Jesus’ resurrection and that they were telling the truth that they were prophets speaking and writing new scripture.  They also were men who saw Jesus (Acts 1:22 and I Corinthians 9:1).   They had the calling and spiritual gift of apostleship (I Corinthians 1:1 and Ephesians 4:11).  It wasn’t something they obtained by training.  Even though the general body of Christ had shared the gospel with the Gentiles, God wanted to confirm the new scripture and confirm the life and resurrection of Jesus.  They were also taught directly by Jesus about how He wanted the church to carry on what He had started.  These are reasons why it was so important for the apostles to go to new places even though someone may have shared the gospel before they got there. 

 

In Acts 15, we see another type of sending when the church leadership in Jerusalem wanted to clarify certain doctrine and practices for the Gentile churches.  In Acts 15 and 18, we see men sent in order to strengthen, encourage and care for the believers.  We also see people being by means of redirection.  In Acts 16, God had closed the door to Asia for Paul, Silas and Timothy.  Instead He sent them to what we know today as Europe for the sake of someone who was open to the gospel.  Her name was Lydia, and she was the very first convert in Europe.  I’ve dealt with the frustration of doors being closed.  This wasn’t a sign from God to give up.  It was a sign of God being at work.  I could go on about other examples, but I’ll need to stop here.

 

What was the requirement for being sent (in a general sense like I mentioned in Acts 1:8)?  The qualification was to receive the Spirit.  What were the qualifications for the missions that the apostles did?  It was a very specific sending.  I mentioned those qualifications earlier. If they were sent with money, then they would need to be trustworthy.  All of us are being sent, but each one of us have a unique mixture of spiritual gifting, experiences and desires.  This past school year, Sarah ran track.  All of her teammates were on the track team even though they were involved in different events.  She ran the 400m hurdles as her main event.  They all had the goal of winning on behalf of the high school track team.  Each event had different qualifications.  Those who rain the 1600m race weren’t required to jump over a bar or throw a disc—although it would make it a lot more interesting if they did both at the same time.  There was a group of girls that ran the 400m hurdles.  Even though they all had the same event, they each had a lane to run in.  If they couldn’t get over the hurdle, then they couldn’t run the 400 m hurdles.  Those who did the long jump didn’t have the same gifting, desires or experiences as those who ran hurdles.  

 

In the same way, we are all part of the same team being sent for the same general mission from the same coach.  Just because someone doing shot put can’t understand for the life of them why someone would jump into a box of sand, it doesn’t mean that jumping into the sand is wrong.  My prayer is that we would work together as the body of Christ.  If I’m trying to take a walk and my left leg is trying to walk but my right leg is trying to jump, then I’m going nowhere.  Or, I’ll go somewhere looking like an idiot.  We are not just thirty individuals who happen to be in the same room.  We are a body.

 

What about you?  Have you received the Spirit of God?  If so, would you like to know how God wants to send you to the people you know and care about?  Would you like to know what it would look like for you to reach your family, relatives, friends, coworkers or close neighbors?  Since we are worshipers of Jesus, we want to imitate Him.  We tend to imitate what we love the most.  Would you give me one hour of your time to learn more about the pattern Jesus gave us to make disciples?  We would need to figure out a time that we can do it, but we can figure out that later.  Text me or email me and we can work something out.