Introduction
When you think of an effective church, what comes to mind?
What are the traits of an effective church?
I typed the following statement into my Google search bar: “Traits of an effective church.”
Some of the responses included the following: “Nine habits of highly effective churches,” “Ten Characteristics of a Healthy Church,” “10 signs of a thriving church,” “12 Characteristics of a Healthy Church,” and so on.
Many of these traits, habits, or characteristics are helpful.
Today, however, I want us to examine an effective church in the Bible and learn about some traits of an effective church.
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 13:1-12:
1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of 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 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Lesson
There is much truth in the humorous adage that some people make things happen, others watch things happen, and others wonder what happened.
What is true of individuals is also true of churches.
Some churches are dynamic, aggressively reaching out with the gospel to make an impact on the world.
Some know God is moving in other churches and wonder why they aren’t experiencing that impact in their church.
Still others barely exist, languishing while the spiritual weeds grow.
Acts 11 introduces a church that impacted the world: the Antioch church, the first beachhead of Christianity in the pagan world.
That church had an impressive beginning. Acts 11:21 records that “a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” under the ministry of Grecian Jews who fled Jerusalem following Stephen’s martyrdom (11:19-20).
The Antioch church grew dramatically under the capable leadership of Barnabas and Saul (11:26).
Today, Acts 13:1-12 shows us some traits of an effective church.
I. An Effective Church Has Spiritual Leaders (13:1)
First, an effective church has spiritual leaders.
Effective churches always have strong, godly, spiritual leaders, and the church at Antioch was no exception.
Luke tells us that there were five resident prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch.
He doesn’t explain how he understood the distinction between the two ministries.
Nor does he tell us whether all five men exercised both ministries or (as some have suggested) that the first three were prophets and the last two teachers.
What he does tell us is their names.
The first was Barnabas, whom he had described as “a Levite from Cyprus” (4:36).
Second, there was Simeon who was called Niger. The word Niger means “black,” and Simeon was probably a black African.
The third leader, Lucius of Cyrene, definitely came from North Africa.
Fourth, there was Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch. He had been raised in Herod the Great's household and was possibly Herod Antipas’ foster brother. Since Manaen had been raised with Herod the tetrarch, he was likely Luke’s informant regarding Herod’s court and family.
And finally, there was Saul, who, of course, came from Tarsus in Cilicia.
These five men were the spiritual leaders of the church at Antioch.
It was through their preaching and teaching ministry that the church at Antioch was built.
The application for us is this: if the Tampa Bay Presbyterian Church is to be an effective church, we must have strong, godly, spiritual leaders.
Teaching and Ruling Elders must be strong, godly, spiritual leaders.
They must be men who know the word of God and can preach and teach the word of God.
II. An Effective Church Is a Sending Church (13:2-3)
Second, an effective church is a sending church.
In verses 2-3, Luke says, “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.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”
The Holy Spirit revealed his will to the church while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting.
The Holy Spirit tells the church, presumably through the ministry of one of the prophets, that Barnabas and Saul were to be set apart for the work to which he had called them.
While the call to go was clear, the place they were to go was not clear.
Now, I want to note several principles in this section.
First, God chooses those already active in ministry for further ministry.
Barnabas and Saul (later known as Paul) were already active in the Antioch church's ministry of prophecy and teaching.
They were faithfully serving the Lord in Antioch.
They were not sitting around waiting for the Lord to use them in some more exciting, exotic place.
When I was serving as an associate pastor in my previous church, I remember a man who was frustrated about his ministry in the church.
He would briefly get involved in a ministry and then drop out and try something else.
Finally, I asked him, “What ministry would you like to do in the church?”
He told me he wanted to be an Elder.
I told him that if he wanted to be an Elder, he would have to be faithful in the areas of ministry in which he was already involved.
Friends, God chooses those already active in ministry for further ministry.
You may desire to be used by the Lord in some specific way.
Get involved in ministry now!
Serve the Lord now!
Find an area of service and get involved now!
Don’t stay idle or uninvolved until something interesting or exciting comes along.
Get involved today!
Second, God chooses the best for the missionary task.
God chose experienced, proven men for the vitally important missionary task of taking the gospel to the pagans.
God did not choose those whom the Antioch church could spare.
No.
God chose the two most gifted leaders in the church.
James Boice makes an interesting comment in his commentary on Acts. He says:
If a seminary graduate is of average gifts, we think he should pastor a church. If he has above average gifts, we think he should pastor a large church. But if he has exceptional gifts, we think he should teach in seminary. I say in schools of theology that this is not the way it should be. In my view, the worst should teach, the more gifted men should pastor churches, and the very best should be missionaries. That may be a slight exaggeration, but I think Acts 13 does give us insight into the mind of God in this area (James M. Boice, Acts[Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997], p. 230).
Lee Eclov was the senior pastor at my previous church. Before his call to that church, he was a much-loved associate pastor at a large, wealthy suburban church north of Chicago.
One year, at a missions conference, the visiting missions professor spoke about sending the best overseas.
At that point, he had Lee stand up in the service.
Without Lee’s prior knowledge, he announced to the congregation that Lee had volunteered to go overseas.
Of course, this was not true, but no one knew that, and Lee played along.
The congregation was shocked.
How could their beloved pastor leave?
How would they ever find someone as competent to minister?
How would they ever manage without him?
In the end, the visiting preacher told the congregation what he had done.
Naturally, they were relieved but also realized how hard it is to send the best overseas.
Some of you need to consider serving the Lord as a missionary.
You have gifts and talents that God can use in the missionary task.
“But,” you ask, “how do I know if God is calling me?”
That brings me to the third principle.
Third, God sovereignly calls some into vocational ministry.
All Christians are called to be witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ (1:8).
Indeed, this is our primary calling.
Our secondary calling is a vocation, through which we use the gifts and talents God has given us to be salt and light in every sphere of existence (Matthew 5:13-16).
While God calls all Christians to witness and vocation, he sovereignly calls some into vocational ministry.
There are two components to every call to vocational ministry: an internal and an external component.
The internal component is the internal call of the Spirit to the individual. They sense God wanting to use them in a particular way.
In Acts 13:2, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
The external component is the affirmation of the church of that call.
In Acts 13:3, Luke tells us, “after fasting and praying they [that is, the church leaders] laid their hands on them and sent them off.”
My call to the pastorate was similar to this.
While I was a university student, I began to sense that the Lord might be leading me into vocational ministry.
I prayed about it for many months.
Then, I began to talk to the church leaders about it.
They prayed with me and, after some time, affirmed that they believed God was indeed calling me into vocational ministry.
If you think God may call you into some vocational ministry, pray about it first.
If, after a period of prayer, you still believe that God is calling you into vocational ministry, set up a time to talk with the Session.
We will pray with you and for you about this decision.
And if it becomes clear to us that God is indeed calling you to vocational ministry, we will affirm and encourage you in that calling.
Friends, it is my observation that effective churches are sending churches.
Whether they send their own or support others, they actively spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have yet to hear.
III. An Effective Church Is an Evangelistic Church (13:4-12)
Third, an effective church is an evangelistic church.
Barnabas and Saul, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went to Seleucia, the port about fifteen miles away, near the mouth of the River Orontes. From there, they sailed to Cyprus.
We are not told why Cyprus was chosen as their first destination, although we know that Barnabas was from Cyprus.
Perhaps that is why the Spirit led them there.
Luke then tells us that when they arrived at Salamis, a commercial city on the east coast of Cyprus, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.
Luke tells us nothing else except that John (Mark 12:25) was with them to assist them.
Luke tells us in verse 6, “When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus,” which means “son of salvation.”
In verse 7, Luke tells us, “He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.”
Of course, Barnabas and Saul gladly responded to his summons because that is precisely what they had come to do—proclaim the word of God.
“But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them”(13:8a).
Elymas is most likely the Greek transliteration of the Arabic word for “magician.”
At any rate, Elymas became alarmed at the prospect of Sergius Paulus’s conversion and his subsequent loss of status.
So, he tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
The missionaries saw this as a severe attack by the evil one, and so “Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time’ ”(13:9-11a).
God’s judgment of Elymas was fitting. “Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand” (13:11b).
The judgment served as a witness to the proconsul. Elymas, the pagan magician who supposedly could see all, was now struck blind.
In a great irony, due to Elymas’ blindness, “the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord” (13:12).
The combination of the word and sign, the apostles’ teaching and the sorcerer’s defeat, astonished the proconsul and brought him to faith in Jesus.
Practically, what does this text tell us?
First, our evangelistic and missionary endeavors must be based upon a clear theology of evangelism and missions.
Luke’s account of the church’s evangelistic and missionary activity in the Book of Acts shows that such endeavors are based on a clear theology of evangelism and missions.
This theology of evangelism and missions is straightforward.
The kingdom of God advances through word and sign, through preaching the word of God and administering the sacraments.
Numerous conversions and the subsequent establishment of churches evidence the kingdom's advance.
Once churches are established, works of charity immediately follow, and the particular church begins to consider planting new churches and supporting the further spread of the gospel.
We must keep this vision of evangelism and missions before our eyes.
Second, we must expect opposition.
Opposition from people like Elymas will occur as we advance the kingdom of God.
An evangelistic church will constantly conflict with false prophets who tell people exactly what they want to hear to keep them from wrestling with the demands of the Law and the Gospel, thereby trying to turn them from the faith.
As the word of God spread, Luke repeatedly describes the ongoing encounter between Christianity and Judaism, paganism, and various magic, occult, and superstitious practices.
We are fooling ourselves if we think we will be spared from such encounters.
The real temptation will be to take the easy way out and to avoid these encounters altogether.
But if we do that, we are no better than Elymas, for by not telling people the truth, our silence also risks turning people from the faith.
And if we as a church seek to confront the spirit of the age, there will also be the same subtle and very real temptation to tell people what they want to hear.
And then, what are we left with?
We are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
We, too, become false prophets.
And so we must expect opposition in our faithful proclamation of the gospel.
And third, we must put our confidence in the word of God.
To be an effective church, our confidence must be in the word of God and not in programs, techniques, and personalities.
When the missionaries in Acts took the gospel to the nations, they were undergirded with prayer and supported by works of charity and mercy.
They placed no confidence in merely parroting the spirit of the age while trying to be relevant.
To be an effective church, we must be armed with the word of God so that we, too, can withstand the challenges raised by encounters with our unbelieving generation.
We will encounter contemporary versions of Elymas.
Satan’s opposition to the gospel of Christ will come in all kinds of ways, some blatant, some subtle, some sophisticated.
Our weapon against these modern false prophets is the same weapon Paul used—the word of God.
The truth of God’s word, clearly taught and proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit, defeats the false prophets of our age.
If we are willing as a church and individuals to confront the unbelief we see around us with the word of God, we may see many more than we can count to come to faith in Christ. With our own eyes, we may see the kingdom of God advance beyond our wildest expectations.
For it is through the word and sacrament that God extends his kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord Jesus is pleased to use us, his church, to do it.
Conclusion
The church in Antioch was Spirit-filled because its members were deeply committed to the word of God.
It was an effective church because, among its many traits, it had spiritual leaders, was a sending church, and was an evangelistic church.
May God make us a Spirit-filled church with a deep commitment to the word of God.
May God raise many more spiritual leaders at the Tampa Bay Presbyterian Church and make us a sending and evangelistic church. Amen.
