Sending Out
Acts 12:19b-13:5
So last week we had sort of a review of Acts in the form of an oral pop quiz. Several of you qualified for extra credit with your willingness to share your answers out loud.
This week the reading has actually been assigned for three weeks so I know you have had a chance to read the selection. For today’s reading we will be focusing mostly on the chapter 13 portion however I want to point out some things I find interesting in the end of chapter 12.
The big picture, Barnabas and Saul had spent time n Antioch and word came of an approaching famine which the church in Antioch responded on their own by collecting money to provide food to the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.
Time wise this is not very long after Peter is freed from prison. I hope you will recall that an angel came and set him free. That James had already been executed and when the Passover ended it would be Peter’s turn to be the center of one of Herod’s shows.
Out scripture this morning starts with Herod leaving town and heading off to Caesarea where there is a negation between areas that are in some conflict with Herod and he has cut off their food supply.
So, Herod is hanging out in his capital of Caesarea, and he gets into a dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon. These were two free-governing trading cities found in modern-day Lebanon, on the Mediterranean sea.
The valleys around the lower Israel are very fertile and are the place to get your wheat, wine olives and it goes on and on. So the delegation is listening to Herod speak and they are playing it up big.
Man this guy is a great speaker, so wise…..Oh this is just so wonderful that he has come to speak to us. Then the put it on really thick, “They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.”
I would like to take a moment to offer praise to God, I know that none f you think of me as a god but I want to cover my bases.
The story tells us that these people started declaring that Herod was a God….Perhaps in a way he held some godly powers. He could give life or death to these people by controlling the sale of food. He was going to get his way and it seems that these people were there to butter him up good so things could get back to normal.
Herod is eating it up… Whither the people really believe he was a god or not is probably not as important as whether Herod though he was a god.
Herod is already headed for divine judgment for his life style and for his oppression of the Jews and now the follower of the way. When he accepts the accolades of the crowd without any acknowledgement to God, he is in a way saying, Yes…I am a god.
He is struck down with a horrible sounding affliction.
My first impression is that it is like a horror movie with the disgusting video sequence of a horrible death. But it was probably a slower natural affliction which the angel placed on Herod.
Don’t we like movies where the bad guy gets what is coming to him in the end?
Isn’t this like that. Here we have Herod executing Christian leaders. He basically condemns Peter to death right after the speedy trial but an angel fees Peter from immanent death and then Herod dies instead.
Perhaps the angel that saves Peter is the same that carries out the death sentence.
As a result the word of God continues to increase.
Evidentially, Barnabas and Saul are in Jerusalem around this time and the ending of Chapter 12 tells us, “When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.”
Their mission was to deliver the gift to the Church leaders in Jerusalem. They picked up a new companion, John Mark in Jerusalem and the three of them go back to Antioch.
John Mark would later write the Gospel of Mark. He was a friend of Peter and Barnabas. He was also Barnabas’ cousin. He will be a supporter of the apostles throughout he new testament.
A few weeks ago we talked about how it looks like God is doing new things in Antioch and has moved the center of the activity to this gentile city. Instead of the big stuff happening in Jerusalem it is happening up North.
In the beginning of chapter 13
1In 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. 2While 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." 3So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
These first 12 verses of Chapter 13 cover a lot of ground. It starts in Judah, I Antioch, where we have what sounds like a pretty mature church. It describes Prophets and teachers and then list some names. Prophets exhort and comfort the church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Teachers are those who teach God’s Word in order to ground the congregation. Many folks think that these are one in the same. I think that can be true with certain individuals, but, we see here a clear distinction in Acts chapter 13.
We have a list of people that seem to fall into these two categories, Barnabas who has gone form being a disciple with a generous heart to becoming a leader in his own right. HE had offered encouragement and support especially to a young man named Saul.
Then we have listed Simon who is called Niger who is probably a black man potentially from Africa. Niger means Black. Some believe that he was the same man that carried Jesus Cross on the way to Calvary.
We also see Lucius of Cyrene which we really know nothing about except that he is a leader n this church.
Menanen we see here was a foster-brother or playmate or some close relationship with Herod the tetrarch. This isn’t Herod Agrippa, who just died, but Herod Antipas, who ruled before him. The same king that had John the Baptist executed and presided over one of Jesus’ trials.
Last we see here Saul. Saul’s name meant “requested one”. In a few minutes he will be called Paul , which meant “Little”. God’s grace had changed this once proud Pharisee into a humble servant of Christ, and his name reflected that change.
As these men were faithful to the call that God had upon their lives, as they served the Lord there in Antioch, and fasted seeking His direction, the Lord gives them His direction.
The Holy Spirit laid it on the hearts of the men serving, that Saul and Barnabas to the further ministry that He had called them to.
Ok so….We have the church that has these prophets and teachers that is a praying and fasting church. In their time of worship someone or perhaps several or maybe everyone gets a message from the Holy Spirit.
We already know the spirit is on this church. It is growing and Jews and gentiles all join together…and it goes even farther. They have a black man as a leader in the church.
They are spiritual in not too uncommon a way, they come together for worship which means that they read scripture, perhaps sing some psalms, While the congregation is primarily Gentile, they will still use the Torah and the prophets as scripture.
Then something else that we don’t do much of today…Fasting…
Is any body here fasting today… Can anyone here tell me the last time you fasted as part of a personal worship time with God….
It seems that fasting and prayer were a normal part of the church in Antioch. We know Jesus fasted and prayed. It is pretty certain that it was a normal practice of the early church. Often people of the day fasted so that they could give a meal to some on less fortunate.
The idea of fasting and prayer is a technique many people use to help the focus and listen to God. You can fast from many things but for this discussion let’s just say food. That is the main way I fast…
Now I am not talking about a diet. I am talking about a choice where when you feel hunger pains you specifically meditate/listen and pray to God for direction, guidance or it could be for a family, church or health need.
As far as we know from scripture, this was just a normal church worship which included fasting and prayer. Perhaps like a Wednesday nigh service where people skip dinner as an offering to God along with their acts of worship.
Suddenly the message comes, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Not real specific. Except in the definition of the people.
Their response: “3So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”
I don’t know about you, but If the Spirit spoke to us as a church and we had a clear instruction, I am pretty sure that normal church would stop. I m not sure that we would continue to the end and then take action.
Now we know that in the past the disciples sent Barnabas to Antioch. They sent him there to get an Idea of what was gong on and he sent back a great report. At some point he realized he needed help and he looked up Saul and asked him to join him in this new church.
This event is different than being sent by the disciples on a mission.
It seems like Barnabas and Saul are just fine with their work at Antioch. We are not told that they had a dream or an idea for something new. In this event, the spirit communicates a call to set apart these two men for the work that God would have them to do.
When I moved to Rome about 16 years ago, I knew this guy.
He would have called himself a Christian, I am sure he had several bibles. But he did not go to church. The one day he just went. And it was not long before he and his family joined a church that seemed to need him and his talents.
Of course, he did not know he had talents, the church just kept asking him to do stuff and he would say OK.
After a year or so he was on the finance committee and in the choir and the whole family was doing stuff. All his best friends revolved around church. He agreed to go on a mission trip and something happened to him. For the first time in his church experience, he was called not just to lead a committee or a project or do a solo he was to be the leader of the mission team and that meant that he might have to pray out loud, he might have to speak to people he did not know or even speak the language about Jesus.
The was suddenly sent as a spiritual leader. This event scared him silly. Not the work part but the spiritual part. In the end it all worked out OK and he did that for a few years.
Things were not always perfect at church. At one point he and his pastor experienced differences of opinions on projects and priorities and he almost quit church. He did leave all the jobs he was doing, he left the choir he loved and he just sat in the back of the church on Sunday and kept quiet.
Then one day he was asked to be lay leader, the new pastor was some kind of nut, he wondered “ hadn’t any body ever told her about Him?” He was the hold out and quitter. He was obviously not spiritual or really talented or even needed.
Eventually he agreed and was back into the middle of things. Except the times for the church were harder, some of his feelings about priorities and some might say prophecies had come true. The church was struggling and times were starting to get hard. He was there when they had to let staff go and it hurt him a lot.
Then one evening at church he was washing potatoes for Wednesday night dinner. The pastor asks, have you heard form Harvey? No, why should I? I just heard he was looking for you. Later his cell rang during Choir practice and he described it as hearing the voice of God. The deep booming voice that asked for the “right Reverend.”
The voice said, Rev Bowen, I want to talk to you about an opportunity. I corrected Harvey Palmer and agreed to call him back later. When I did he told me that there were two little churches that he wanted me to consider serving as interim pastor.
I told Renee about it and she said, “he ask you to be the pastor?” He does not know you!
I told the church on Thursday night at the hanging of the greens service and some of my friends gathered to learn more and to pray for me. They knelt with me at the alter and some arms hugged and other hands touched and they seemed so excited.
I did not have a clue what was going to happen. I had not asked for a church but, I had responded to little nudges from god to prepare. I took classes on speaking and spoke and prayed in church on occasions.
Really the only thing I did was not say no.
The two men in our scripture had been serving God where they were. They were productive and comfortable. They were doing good things for Christ in Antioch. Then God called them to something more. Did you notice that they are named to be sent but they don’t get the direction of where.
The Church at Antioch was the place where God was working. The people worked at listening and when a message came, they shared what the knew and then responded by lying on hands. The church lays hands on as a conduit of the blessing of God to flow on them.
Then they equip them with the worldly support and it seems that these two men just know which direction to Go. Our scripture tells us they go to Cyprus. That is Barnabas’s old stomping ground. IT was new turf for the good news. IT was as good a place to start as any.
Last Sunday, the DS told us that as Christians we were each at a minimum, expected to replace our selves in the church. In reality we are expected to replace ourselves several times over. One of the signs of a healthy church is that it reaches out in ministry. In the community and from tie to time it reaches out into the world. God calls people our of safe comfortable church homes and sends them to do is work. The church is a place or raising up Christians to be sent out. People hat will respond to God. People that won’t say no even if they believe they have not time, talen or resources. The church is a place that people learn to trust in the God that lives and uses people for the work of the kingdom.
All Glory be to God!
