Sermon Dan
Neary
First Missionary Journey - Acts
12:25-14:28
For those who have been with us through most of the
series, there is likely a certain sense of excitement as we approach this
eleventh sermon in our series of 19 in Acts. This passage that describes the
first missionary journey, the first time the Gospel transcends the sea, is a
significant step as the Gospel takes hold… not only in
The Great Commission of Jesus is being carried out
by His followers; the Holy Spirit is working through the Church.
In
these two chapters, there are a number of characters upon whom we could focus.
Each could provide material for a meaningful study:
·
Barnabas:
The encourager. Probably no coincidence that he was listed first. He was
closely tied to the leadership in
·
Simeon:
Likely a black African.
·
Lucius:
From
·
Manaen:
Somehow tied with Herod Antipas – son of Herod the Great. Could be a cousin,
foster-brother, or intimate friend.
·
Saul:
Last in the list… but recognized as one of the leaders of the Church… on the
verge, of course, of being used as the foremost Apostle. This is one of the
last times we’ll see him referred to by his Hebrew name Saul, becoming more
known by his Roman name Paul.
John Mark:
Came with his cousin Barnabas from
Bar-Jesus:
A Jewish sorcerer on
There is some similarity to the
Bar-Jesus story and the story of Paul himself. Bar-Jesus was blinded, just as
Paul was… but in this case the blinding of Bar-Jesus proves to be, although
convincing, not convicting. Although it did lead to faith for this next
character…
Sergius Paulus:
Roman proconsul (governor appointed by the Roman senate). Bar-Jesus would have
been some sort of court wizard. Luke describes him as “an intelligent man.” He
was probably some sort of inquisitive secularist… happy with whatever spiritual
thing that was around. He likely heard about the “Paul and Barnabas show” and
wanted to have a private showing… he doesn’t seam necessarily like a seeker of Truth,
just an innocent curious type… but the sorcerer was threatened by the Truth
that Paul and Barnabas would bring. Thus the struggle between Paul and
Bar-Jesus. The miracle of the blinding of Bar-Jesus opened the door for Saul Paulus (Paul the Apostle) to bring
the Truth to Sergius Paulus (Paul the
Roman Politician).
12 When the proconsul
saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the
Lord. [1]
The Jews in Psidian Antioch:
It was Paul’s custom to preach first, whenever possible, to the Jews in the
synagogue. Thus was the case in Psidian Antioch. The reception was warm…
enthusiastic really. But once the message began to spread and so many were
responding to the Gospel, the Jews turned on Paul and Barnabas:
45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. [2]
On
Crippled Man in Lystra:
Here’s a story that very closely parallels the scene in Chapter 3 where a
crippled beggar is healed. Take out Peter, put in Paul, and the stories are
very much alike. The results are strikingly similar as well, the cripple was
miraculously healed and crowds gathered to be impacted by preaching.
But the contexts were very
different. Peter was there at the temple in
The Pagans in Lystra:
When the crowd saw the miraculous healing of the beggar… they turned to their
gods… mistaking Barnabas for Zeus and Paul for Hermes. Paul immediately
commenced to set them straight, contextualizing his message to lead them to the
Truth of Jesus.
As in the cases before, Jews
pursued Paul and turned the crowds against him. Those who once set Paul high on
a pedestal, crowing him with deity, now…
They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.[3]
The Elders in the Region:
Paul continued throughout
23 Paul and Barnabas appointed eldersa for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.[4]
We
could jump from this character study, and move to a geography
study. Over the course of a year or so, Paul and Barnabas covered a great deal
of ground, facing both enthusiastic reception as well as hardship.
·
Spiritual Opposition
·
Human Opposition
·
Environmental Hardship
There
are a number of choices in this passage… who was the star of the show? We
really could make a meaningful study out of each of the characters I have
quickly introduced.
The most obvious star, I suppose, is Paul. What
started as Barnabas and Saul
now morphed into Paul and Barnabas.
In this church planting journey, Paul established his ability as an Apostle. To
the learned Jewish leaders he proved to be a convincing teacher of the Law and
Prophets. To the intelligent Roman proconsul he proved to be one empowered by
the Holy Spirit to do miracles and teach the Truth of Jesus. And to the
illiterate pagans in the hills of Lystra he proved his ability to reach out in
every context, now turning to nature to display the goodness of God. In each
case, no matter where he started, he ended at the same place… the Gospel.
·
The
Gospel events – that Jesus lived, died on the cross, and was resurrected
·
The
Gospel witness – that Jesus was foretold by the Old Testament prophets and was
seen both pre and post-resurrection by the Apostles
·
The
Gospel promises – that Jesus provides for salvation and the Holy Spirit
provides guidance, and power
·
The
Gospel conditions – that Jesus will indeed save those who repent and believe
This is
the Gospel that Paul preached… and he could be the central figure of today’s
sermon.
But I have another figure in mind. The Church. There are certainly
important people threaded throughout the story, and Paul is the primary person.
But this story starts with the Church, is permeated by the Church, and ends
with the Church.
Chapter
13 starts:
In the church at
This wasn’t just happenstance… the Church in
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. [6]
First off, the Holy Spirit spoke to
the entire church. The most plain understanding of how the Holy Spirit spoke
was through a prophet. We can understand the word prophet both in terms of
forthteller (like I am this morning) but also foreteller (one with a prophetic
word that comes entirely from Devine inspiration). The words here indicate that
Holy Spirit was speaking publicly, to the Church, and privately to Paul and
Barnabas.
This is the regular practice of the
Church… that calling is a personal matter, but not only a personal matter. The
Church has a role in confirming calling.
We see this played out in our very
midst. Take for example:
·
Christian to
·
Me as your Pastor
The Church also has a role in commissioning
the called. The Holy Spirit does the calling, but the Church does its part in
praying (fasting and praying) and placing their hands on them… a personal act
of prayer and blessing.
Then the Church sent them off… thus
participating in the commencing. Not merely releasing
them to whatever the Holy Spirit had in mind… but sending them off. We can
presume that the sending included provisions. We know that it included, at
least at the beginning, a helper in the person of John Mark. There were also
unnamed others who accompanied Paul and Barnabas… maybe others from
Once
underway, it is clear that The Church is the whole point and
purpose of the Missionary Enterprise. Paul wasn’t in the business of
establishing missions. He wasn’t content with holding evangelistic crusades.
The purpose of his work was to establish churches. Once
established, the Churches were sealed with:
·
Truth – Rooted in the Scriptures
and guided by the Apostolic teaching, both while with them and through letter.
·
Leadership – Paul established
elders. In other passages of Scripture we understand that there were
qualifications for various posts in the Church. It is also worthwhile to note
that Church leadership was a team approach. We see that was the case in the
mother church in
·
Holy Spirit – It is clear that Paul
knew that the Church was God’s. He could trust the Holy Spirit to do the work
of leading and guiding the Church. The Apostle wasn’t setting up franchises… he
was helping to give birth to Churches that would be sustained like all Churches
are sustained… by the presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit.
Finally,
the Church is the Benefactor of the Missionary Enterprise. Benefactor isn’t the
best word… more like reciprocating benefactor. The idea is that the system is
sort of a circuit… it feeds off of itself. The them in this verse is
“all of them”… not just Paul and Barnabas but also the Church at
The indication here is that they
all played a part in these exciting reports.
Can
you see you this applies to us today? Can you see how this Church, The Chapel
at
This pattern isn’t just for some
ancient Church… it is for us… today.
From
this passage, we get a picture of What the Church is… the Church is:
1.
An Organism – I think the Church is
best described as the body of Christ. With Jesus as the head, many parts, one
body. It grows like body, and demands care like a body.
2.
An Organization – There is order.
Leaders are called, commissioned and sent in a marvelous partnership between
the Spirit and the Church. We do well when we recognize and support leadership
that God establishes in our midst.
3.
God’s Plan – There is no
going-it-alone. Believers are meant to be connected to one another in the
context of a Church.
4.
Meant to Reproduce – God
accomplishes His purposes, to draw people to Himself, through his Church. This
organism/organization that is destined, when healthy and functioning well, to
reproduce.
And so it is with us. We are called
to seize opportunities to reproduce:
·
Coming alongside of our own like
Pat Forbes and
·
Partnering with missionaries like
the Shaws and their partners in
·
Growing as a missions church,
following the lead of our missions committee
·
Recognizing leadership that is in
our midst
·
And eventually… one day… planting
churches out of this Body