All right, Luke/Acts for Beginners, lesson number twenty, Paul's First Missionary
Journey. We're going to be covering Acts 13:1 to 15:35. A lot of material. So
last week we concluded Luke's description of Peter's ministry among the
Jews and the calling that he received from God to bring the gospel to the
Gentiles. Now after Pentecost it seemed that the
Apostles understood the Great Commission to be that they preach to all the
Jews in the world. They understood going to all the world, preach the
gospel in their minds preach the gospel to all the Jews in the world. It took a
miraculous event, that's Cornelius speaking in tongues, to convince Peter to
not only preach to the Gentiles, but to offer them the same salvation through
faith expressed in repentance and baptism, that he had offered the crowd
that he was preaching to on the day of Pentecost. It took years between
those two events. Several years went by. This breakthrough encouraged others to
bring the gospel to the Gentiles in the area of Antioch, where Barnabas and Paul
had an extensive preaching ministry among the mixed Jewish and Gentile
converts. So let's take a quick look at our outline, and you'll note that
we are beginning the second section of the book of Acts, where Luke will deal
primarily with Paul's ministry and his travels. So Luke has set the geographical
seen, there's Antioch, as well as the historical moment after Peter's contact
with Cornelius, when Barnabas and Paul have gained considerable experience, not
only in working together, but working with the converts to
Judaism as well, excuse me, working with Jewish converts to Christianity, as well
as Gentiles who have been converted to Christianity. So now they're
gaining experience in working with these two individual cultures as they're mixed
for the first time in one congregation at
Antioch. So now we're going to take a look at the first missionary journey that
Luke describes beginning in chapter 13. So it says, "Now there were at Antioch, in
"the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas and Simeon who was
"called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with
"Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were ministering to 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 when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands
"on them they sent them away." So what we read here is really the third step in
Paul's call to ministry. His call to ministry sets a pattern for those who
feel they are called to full-time ministry, but are not sure if theirs is a
legitimate calling from God. I've known a lot of people say, I don't know
if I should go into ministry or not. I don't know if I have a calling
or not. And whenever that happens, I encourage them to read the book of Acts
and to study Paul's ministry and how he was called. So there are three
stages in a call to ministry that are demonstrated in these - not
just in the passage here, but in the New Testament. The first of which is
the calling itself. This describes the way God has called or directed or led a
person into full-time ministry. Paul the Apostle was called in a miraculous way.
He was blinded, he heard the voice of the Lord, he was healed of his blindness.
We read in Acts chapter nine, verses three to nine and then in verse 17 about his
experience, but the manner of his calling is the exception not the rule.
Not everybody is called in a miraculous way. For most people the calling begins
as a desire or an opportunity to serve in some way, that grows stronger and
stronger with time; or it could take the form of positive feedback
from church members or church leaders who see talent in a person and they
encourage them to develop and use that particular skill in the service to the
Lord. If somebody asks you to get up and maybe you do a devotional or
perhaps a lesson and you do that, you do several. No one ever says
anything ever. You do your best. No feedback, zero. Well maybe that's
not your skill set. But if you happen to get up and do something
and you start getting a lot of feedback and you do it again and you get a lot
more feedback, and the elders and the preacher say, now you've
got skill. And you're getting that positive reinforcement that tells
you, well, maybe I do have a gift. Maybe I do have an ability that can be used for
the Lord. Many ministers go into full-time ministry because they see a
great need that the church or the lost have and they feel compelled to step up
and fill the gap, even if they don't feel qualified a hundred
percent. The need is so great they've just got to go. How many people
have gone on mission trips, young college students who are in
engineering or something and then they go to a mission trip to some country,
Mozambique or South America, and it changes their lives completely. They see
the need for the gospel and they just come back and they just switch out their
major and they go into the Bible Department and decide to become
missionaries, because God has put a burden on their heart for those
particular people. We have one young guy who was a member of the church in
Montreal, he comes from Brazil, emigrated with his family to Montreal, went to
church in Montreal and then went to Harding and then he
went on a mission trip to Mozambique and now he's almost finished and
he's trying to raise money to go preach the gospel in Mozambique. Imagine, a
Brazilian who goes to Montreal and then goes to Harding and then ends
up in Mozambique. It's just amazing how God uses people. Amazing how the call
comes. So whatever the way a person is called,
one feature is the same for all and that is the feeling that God is calling.
That feeling that God is calling you never goes away, month in and month out.
You try this, you try that, but that thing is always there, always pulling at
you. Some people battle with it for years. And even when they choose to do
something else, they still continue to feel that calling from time to time. So
the first step to the call of ministry is the calling itself. The
second step is consecration. The consecration or the setting apart is the
time that the called person spends in preparation for their ministry. Now in
Paul's case there was a period of approximately 10 to 12 years between the
time he was called on the road to Damascus and the time in Acts 13 where
the church sends him out on his formal mission trip, his first formal
mission trip. During that time, during that 10 to 12 year period, he spent three
years in the desert of Arabia being taught by the Spirit of Christ, and he
explains that himself in Galatians chapter one verses 11 to 17. He traveled to
Jerusalem and then returned to teach in his hometown of Tarsus, Acts
chapter nine, for an additional four years. He was then recruited by Barnabas to
come and teach at the Antioch Church where that mixed church, Jews
and Gentiles had become Christian. He was recruited by Barnabas to go there and
teach for an entire year. And then finally he and Barnabas were escorting
food and relief supplies to Jerusalem after a two-year famine had gripped the
country. That we read about in Acts chapter 12. So Paul's consecration period
sees him being taught by the Lord, teaching at the church in Antioch,
traveling and meeting with various Apostles and church leaders, in addition
to managing a benevolence program to help the church in Jerusalem. All of this,
a decade or more of training and preparation for the ministry he was
called to do on the very day of his conversion. On the day of his conversion
Jesus tells him, I'm going to send you to the Gentiles.
But he spends 10 years in training before he's actually sent to go preach
to the Gentiles. So what's the comparable thing
nowadays? Well, today we have preacher training schools operated by various
congregations in our brotherhood. There are also colleges and universities
where a person with a calling can receive training to prepare him or her,
because there many types of full-time ministries open to
women today. These are the places where individuals who want to go into
full-time ministry go for training. Now the confusion that some people have is
thinking that you begin your ministry the moment you feel your calling. That's
a mistake. If you feel that your calling in
life is to be a doctor, do you put on a white coat and buy a stethoscope and
just nominate yourself? Who would go to that doctor, right?
Why would we think it is any different if you feel your calling is to
be a minister? Just because you feel the calling, doesn't make you qualified.
So the consecration time is important because it usually serves to confirm if
ministry is really your calling or not. I tell young people, especially young guys,
if you like to speak in public, if that's the part of ministry that you
like, you're not going to enjoy ministry, because that part is very
small, an hour or two a week maybe. If you don't like to study, if you
don't like to read, if you don't like books, if you don't like to
dissect ideas, this isn't for you. Pulpit ministry is not for you, anyways.
If you don't enjoy people, if you don't have a willingness to help people, and if
you're a loner, maybe this is not, it's not for you. If you like public speaking,
well, be a weatherman, become a politician. There
are other things that you can do to be helpful. So the calling, the
consecration, and the commendation. The commendation to ministry is what is
taking place, what we just read there, Acts 13:1-3. The Holy Spirit through the church - and when I say,
through the church, I mean through it's leaders and teachers. So the Holy Spirit
through the church commended or sent or authorized Paul and Barnabas to take the
gospel to the world. We have to remember that God always works through His church,
on behalf of His church. For example, there are no self-appointed elders.
Have you ever noticed that? No man ever stands up and says, you know what, I think I'm
elder material, and I think today I'm just going to start calling myself an elder,
and I'm going to ask the brethren to start calling me an elder. There's no self-appointed -
I mean, I I know that's ridiculous, but there's no self-appointed
elders. Those who serve in that way are appointed, they're trained by evangelists.
That's the work of the evangelist, to raise up elders, to train elders, to
encourage them, teach them, motivate them. Acts chapter 14, verse 23, Titus
chapter one, five. There are no self-appointed evangelists. Even if you know the
Bible, you can't appoint yourself. I'm going to be an evangelist. Really? Where do
you see that in the Bible, that an evangelist, a preacher appoints
himself as the preacher to the church. That doesn't happen.
These are appointed by elders, First Timothy chapter four, verse 14. I mean, if
we're serious about New Testament Christianity, if we're serious about
restoring a New Testament church, well that's how a New Testament church
operates. Nobody is self-appointed. There are no
self-appointed deacons. These men are selected by the church, and they're
confirmed by the elders, Acts six, verses three to six. And then in Timothy, Paul
gives the qualifications of these men. There are no self-appointed missionaries,
excuse me, no self-appointed missionaries. These are trained by the
church and they are confirmed and sent by the church leadership. Always. We see
this taking place with Paul and Barnabas as the first missionaries confirmed and
sent by the church. And this method continues to this day in the Lord's
church. It isn't a certificate of studies or a college degree that authorizes a
person to be an evangelist or a teacher or a missionary. It is the commendation
by the church that sends or confirms both your calling and your consecration
to the Lord's service in and for His church. The church commends people to go
into the mission field. I mean, it doesn't mean that you're an accountant and you
get a transfer to St. Louis or somewhere, and there's no church in
that area and you take it upon yourself to start meeting in the home
to start a church. That happens all the time.
But you can't appoint yourself at that moment as being the elder of that church.
It doesn't work that way. So we look at the first missionary journey, Acts 13,
verse four, somewhere around 44 to 46 AD. We don't have the time to read, of course,
the entire passage describing the first missionary journey. So let's look at a
kind of an overview effort, of this effort, rather, geographically. Luke writes
that Paul and Barnabas and his cousin John Mark leave from the port city of
Selucia near Antioch and they sailed to the island of Cyprus, where Barnabas was
originally from. We read about his background in Acts chapter four. Then they
go to Salamis, Acts 13, verse five. That's their first stop, the friendly confines
of the local synagogue where Barnabas was probably known and welcomed to speak.
Isn't that kind of - I always say, isn't it kind of human nature. Where do we go
first? Well, let's go to where I know somebody. Let's go to Cyprus. Let's
go to the church or the synagogue where I come
from, says Barnabas. At this point he's the leader of the mission team, if you wish.
So at this point they're reaching out to the Jews,
since this was the opportunity that was open to them. Where do we go first?
Well, let's go here first. I know the elder of this synagogue and
we'll be able to speak there. All right, let's go. Then they go to Paphos, Acts 13:6-12.
Let's read about that. It says, "When they had gone through
"the whole island as far as Paphos they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet
"whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul Bergius Paulus, a man of
"intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of
"God, but Elemis the magician, for so his name is translated, was opposing them
"seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith, but Saul who was also known as
"Paul filled with the Holy Spirit fixed his gaze on him and said, 'You, who are
"full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all
"righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?
"Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see
"the Sun for a time.' And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him and he
"went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.
"Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the
"teaching of the Lord." So note that their work on the island was so successful
that the governor sent for them to hear the message. Now the fact that Barnabas
is mentioned first suggests that he is the leader and the chief speaker at this
point. Elemis, by the way, meant the expert. If you translate that into English. He was
known as the expert. So this magician was called Bar-Jesus the expert, and this
magician who had the favor of the governor interfered with their mission.
So Paul denounces him and Bar-Jesus is rendered blind for a period of time.
This is the first miracle credited to Paul.
The first miracle credited to Paul, that we read of. The governor is
converted and Luke mentions that it was the teaching of the Lord that amazed him,
not the blinding of the magician. The miracle confirmed the teaching, but it
was the teaching that actually converted him. We keep reading in Acts 13:13, "Now
Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Purga in
Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem. Note
that Luke now names Paul first, little subtle
changes. He was naming Barnabas first, and there's the miracle, and what
happened on Cyprus, but now Luke begins to mention Paul before he mentions
Barnabas, showing the transition of leadership. John Mark leaves them to
return to Jerusalem, probably because he lacked the courage to travel on in an
unknown land. I want you to note also again the small things between the lines.
Note that it was Barnabas and Paul, in that order, that had been called by the
Spirit to undertake this mission. John Mark was added by Barnabas his cousin,
not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit didn't say, I want Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark.
He just said Barnabas and Saul. They just - Barnabas decided to take his
cousin. And we see what took place. So God knew that John Mark wasn't ready.
It took Barnabas and John Mark and Paul a little bit longer to discover this as
well. So we move on to the city of Antioch, give you a little closer view of that.
There we go. That's where we're talking about. So Paul
and Barnabas do no work in Perga, but they make their way north to the city of
Antioch, located on the border of Pisidia, thus named to differentiate it
from the city of Antioch which is located in Syria, from which they come.
So there are two Anthiocs, that's the confusion. One is in Syria, near
the coast, and one is up in Pisidia. It's like Paris, Texas and Paris,
France. You have a lot of similar sounding - cities
with similar names. So this was the case here as well. So they're in this particular
Antioch. Here, Luke gives a detailed account of Paul's preaching and the
reaction of the people to him and Barnabas' teaching. So let's read a
snip of that, verse 14, "But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch,
"and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the
"reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue officials sent to them, saying,
"brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it."
So Luke describes the method that Paul used in preaching the gospel among the Jews
and the converts to the Jewish faith. The service was led by elders or
officials who would invite visiting rabbis to speak or to teach. So Paul, I
mean, let's face it, for that day and time, Paul was the famous student of Gamaliel
and Barnabas a Levite and resident of Jerusalem, both of these men were known
among the Jews. And so Paul was asked to speak. He was relatively famous.
Luke records the lesson that was probably a basic lesson that Paul
preached when addressing a Jewish audience. And so, his lesson has four
parts and could be entitled - if his sermon had a title, it would be
Israel's Savior is Jesus Christ. That would be the title of his sermon. And it had
four parts. The first part was Israel's History Leads to Jesus. And I'll read the
section, "And while John was completing his course he kept saying, 'What do you
"suppose that I am? I am not He, but behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of
"whose feet I am not worthy to untie." So Paul quotes this particular
verse, in order to explain who Jesus was historically.
Who He was to the Jews historically. The second section of his sermon: Israel
Rejects its Savior. The Savior spoken of by the prophets and sent by God."
So he says," When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they
"took him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb." Like I say, I'm only
reading little parts of what he says, but he mentions this here
to convict the Jews for having rejected the Messiah. Part three of his lesson: God
Raised Him From the Dead. And so, God fulfills His promises to Israel by
raising the Messiah from the dead. Acts 13:32-33 says, "And we preach
"to you the Good News of the promise made to the father's that God has fulfilled.
"This promise to our children that He raised up, Jesus, as it is also written in
"the second Psalm, You are my Son, today I have begotten you." The fourth part of his
lesson is: Forgiveness and Salvation are Only in Jesus Christ. He says, "Therefore,
"let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is
"proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all
"things, from which you could not be free through the law of Moses."
So there's just a summary of his sermon. This was his basic stump
sermon. Like politicians have a stump speech, that they kind of give over and
over again. This was Peter's stump sermon. This was his basic sermon
when he went into a synagogue to preach. The history of the Jews leading up to
Jesus, what they did to Jesus, what God did to Jesus by raising Him from the
dead, and that now you're responsible God appeals to you through Jesus to
have faith. So in the following verses a familiar pattern emerges, where Paul's
words draw crowds, which antagonized the Jewish leaders who begin attacking
Paul's teaching, because he is rocking the boat here. Many Jew and Gentile converts
decide to follow Paul and his teachings, to the point where Paul
declares openly that because of Jewish rejection and persecution he's going to
focus his ministry on the Gentiles. Now remember, he's originally sent to
the Gentiles. That was the ministry that God gave to him, but with time -
he begins with the Jews, that's the point I'm trying to make. He starts with the
Jews, but he's always pushed to go and preach to the Gentiles. So this produces
joy and enthusiasm among the Gentiles, because salvation was now offered to
them by God, and they could now be equal partners with Jewish Christians, with
whom they would share a place in God's kingdom, which is the church. So we move
along: Iconium, Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe. In Acts chapter 14 Luke mentions several
towns where they continued preaching and teaching. He focuses actually on two
places, one is Iconium. Acts 14, the same pattern appears here, as they're
preaching divides the audience. Some believe, others don't believe, and the
Jews step up their opposition by enlisting Gentiles to form a mob to
stone Paul and Barnabas, but they escape to another one of the cities mentioned
in verse six, another city. This time Lystra, Acts 14:8-20,
Luke describes a second miracle performed by Paul: the healing of a man
who was lame from birth, which causes a stir in the crowds, who think that Paul
and Barnabas are the incarnation of the pagan god Zeus, the
Greek god of the sky and thunder, and Hermes, son of the Greek god Zeus. So the
inhabitants mistake them for some of their Greek mythological
gods. So let's pick up a small portion of the passage here, verse 14, "But when the
Apostles Barnabas and Paul, heard of it," in other words, they heard that the
people were going to offer sacrifice to them, because they thought they were
their mythical gods, "But when the Apostles Paul and Barnabas
"heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying
"out and saying, 'Men, why are you doing these things? We were also men of
"the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from
these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the
"sea and all that is in them. In the generations gone by He permitted all the
"nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in
"that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons,
"satisfying your hearts with good and gladness.' Even saying these things with
"difficulty they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them." So Paul
takes advantage of the situation and he begins preaching to these
Gentiles using the very situation at hand as a kind of a starting point. Let's
keep reading, verse 19, it says, "But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having
"won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing
"him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered
"the city." So Paul has no chance to continue his teaching, no chance to keep
going, as the Jews from other cities begin following them from town to town.
Bad enough he goes into a city and he preaches and some of them reject him. Now
these people are forming a vigilante, posse, if you wish, and they're
kind of following him from city to city, trying to disrupt his ministry.
He's been harassed, he's been chased, but this time the Jews managed to capture
and stone him on the spot, and then drag his body outside the city, leaving him
there for dead. Luke simply states that Paul, surrounded by disciples, probably
gathering to bury him. They thought he was dead. We might as well bury
the body. He wakes up. Now there's no mention of a miracle here, so he was
probably unconscious. And what does he do? He goes back into the city. Another place
that they go to is Derbe. Luke briefly mentions that Paul and Barnabas go to
this city to preach and they have many converts and no opposition in Derbe.
Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. At this point they begin to backtrack and revisit the
people and the young churches that they had planted during this first two-year
mission trip. So what I've just explained to you, two years, in just a few
words. So let's read Acts 14:23, it says, "When they had appointed elders," see,
you see there? When they had appointed elders. No elders appointed themselves.
"When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with
fasting, they commended them to the Lord, in whom they had believed." So, many Jewish
converts had the moral and spiritual maturity to serve as elders in these
young churches. If you were an elder in one of the synagogues, you had
the moral and intellectual maturity to be an elder in
the church. What you needed was an understanding of the gospel, of course.
But a man who was qualified as an elder in a synagogue, had all those qualifications,
had all those type of qualifications that are required by an
elder in a Christian church. That's why they could do this so quickly.
Christianity was the fulfillment of the Jewish faith. And the knowledge of the
gospel was the final mystery that rounded out and completed all that they
had learned and believed as Jews. In that first generation church many Jewish
converts continued to practice their Jewish faith, and they held to the Jewish
liturgical calendar. You are a Christian, but you still celebrated
Passover and you still went for Pentecost. You're, culturally,
still a Jew, even if you had become a Christian. With time, however, and the
destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD, the distinction and the
practice of these two faiths became quite separate, with Christianity being
recognized as a standalone faith and not simply a sect or a type connected to the
Jewish religion. So it took several generations, especially for the
Jewish Christians to realize that, no, this is a different religion altogether.
Pamphylia, Perga, Italia and Antioch are the cities mentioned next.
Luke continues naming the various stops along their route home to Antioch in
Syria. Luke notes that Paul and Barnabas gather the church that had originally
sent them out, in order to give them a report of their work and especially
about the breakthrough they had in preaching and converting Gentiles. This
sets up the next scene where Luke describes an important meeting and
decision concerning the Gentiles and their entry into the church. So Luke
summarizes the issue and the approach to its resolution in these first two verses.
So let's look at that now, "Some men came down from Judea." Now realize what's
happening, Paul and Barnabas have come back. They're back with their home
church, okay. Then it says, "Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the
"brethren, 'Unless you were circumcised according to custom of Moses,
"you cannot be saved." There's the issue right there: Jewish Christians from
Jerusalem - when you're talking about Jerusalem, you're always going up
to Jerusalem or coming down from Jerusalem. If you were north or south, it didn't
matter, you always go up to Jerusalem in Jewish thought. Okay, so Jewish
Christians from Jerusalem, probably Pharisees who were converted to
Christianity, came to Antioch teaching that Gentiles had to first adhere to
Jewish laws of conversion before they could become Christians. This meant that
they had to first be circumcised before they could be baptized. Well, you think
it's hard to get somebody to accept baptism, imagine if you say, well
yeah, but before you're baptized you also have to be circumcised. Yeah, that
would be an uphill battle, because most Jewish men had been circumcised
as babies, alright. So if you were a Pharisee of that era, converted
to Christ, this idea was quite logical, nothing crazy about this idea.
I mean, Judaism came first. Jesus was a Jew. Christianity was simply an extension
of the Jewish faith, so adhering to Jewish law and custom before identifying
as a Christian, this made all the sense in the world to them. It was like an easy
sell. It was easy to preach. It was easy to prove, to argue. For them,
baptism was a kind of an add-on, if you wish. Fine, you want to be baptized? Good
enough, fair, go ahead. The problem with this mindset and the teaching that came
from it was that it did not understand Christianity's relationship to Judaism.
Judaism and its religion was a vehicle that was designed to deliver Jesus, the
Son of God, Savior of mankind, to the world. Judaism, if you wish, was a
historical and cultural and religious stage or platform upon which God would
place Jesus the Savior. Let me read something out of Matthew here, it says, "So
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all Gentiles who are called by
"My name." So the gospel was not just for the Jews, the gospel was for everybody.
And so Jewish rituals and laws and practice were meant to be a preview and
a practice of what was to come: Jesus dying as a perfect sacrifice to save
mankind from condemnation, due to sin. That's what all the animal sacrifices
were supposed to be pointing to, were supposed to be preparing them to. That
a death was required to absolve one of sin, and for centuries they
practiced that idea using animals. Why? Because one day it would be a man who
would die; the Son of God, actually, who would die. So these Jewish Christians
thought that their religion was the substance of God's will, when in fact it
was only a shadow of what God had planned to do through Christ. And that
is: make eternal life possible through faith in Christ expressed in repentance
and baptism. This teaching was dangerous, also, because it substituted a salvation
based on law. The principle of law: you be circumcised, you obey food and other kind
of laws, in order to be worthy to be baptized, and then become a Christian. Wow,
talk about narrowing the doorway to the kingdom of God. So they were replacing a
gospel based on grace and faith that said, I am saved because I believe in
Jesus and I express my faith in Him through repentance and baptism, Acts 2:38.
This was being replaced with, I am saved because I obey the law of circumcision and
rules and regulations of Judaism. In other words, I am saved because I do
things, instead of, I am saved because I believe something. Big difference, big
difference. So the solution is in Acts chapter two, verse 35. I don't have time to
read that, but we'll just read the opening sentence for now, "And when Paul
"and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined
"that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the
"Apostles and elders concerning this issue." So we don't have time to read this
entire passage all the way down to 35, but I did want to examine the approach
that they took to resolve this matter. Since Antioch was a church consisting of
both Jews and Gentiles, and since much of Paul's ministry involved outreach to
non-Jews, there was a lot at stake for him. I mean, they'd been out on the road
for two years. All of this was going down the drain. Now note that all parties, the
missionaries, the Jewish Christian teachers, the elders of the church, and
the Apostles, all together came to discuss this issue. This was not decided
by an executive group or Peter, as some kind of chief apostle. Luke
records that there was extensive discussion, and records part
of Peter's argument. Let's read Acts chapter 15. Here's Peter
arguing, he says, "Now therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the
"neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been
"able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord
"Jesus, in the same way that they also are." He also argued that bringing the gospel
to the Gentiles was part of God's plan, recorded in the scripture. Read that
passage there. He said Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about
taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name, with this the words of the
prophets agreed just as it is written." So these are just a little bit of the
argument and the discussion going back and forth. And Peter makes the
argument that no, no, the gospel was meant for the Gentiles as well. And certainly,
we're not going to lay the law on them, because we found out that we couldn't
obey the law. That's why Jesus came, because we couldn't be perfect
through obedience. We have to be made perfect through faith. And so, Paul - Peter
of course, has a firm grasp on what the gospel is. And you kind of pick up the
argument as you read through. Peter also argued that bringing the
gospel to the Gentiles was part of God's plan, recorded in the scriptures as I've
just read here. In the end everyone agrees to continue preaching to the
Gentiles, with a caution to avoid sexual immorality. And the reason for that is
that sexual immorality was a large part of the Gentile lifestyle, because many of
them participated in religious rituals that involved sexual immorality.
So the extra warning to them. They need to be careful. They need to work on that.
Also, respect of certain Jewish sensitivities towards eating meat that
was previously offered in pagan sacrifices and then sold in the public
marketplace. And of course, the eating of blood, which was forbidden for Jews.
In other words, he's saying, look you're saved, you're good. And I say to you, in
order to maintain smooth relationships in a mixed congregation, he
says to Gentiles, make a special effort to maintain sexual purity and make an
effort to be sensitive to the food laws that many of your Jewish brethren
still find themselves under. So these were given to guarantee peace in the
assembly where both Jews and Gentiles worshiped and often ate fellowship meals
together. Had to be careful. Paul talks about this meat offered to sacrifice
again in First Corinthians. That's nothing for us today. You
buy hamburger at Walmart, you're not afraid that that hamburger,
that cow was offered to a pagan God, or something, right? But in the first century
there was always that possibility. So you have the problem stated and
debated and resolved according to God's Word. And you notice that even the
Apostles and the leaders in the Jewish church were quoting scripture to each
other to make their point, as we still do today.
Luke finishes this section by recording the joyful reaction of the Gentile
Christians at the news that they were not to be subjected to the Jewish law
and were accepted by no less than the Apostles themselves as equal and full
members of God's church, along with their Jewish brethren who had been converted.
The final scene sees Paul and Barnabas remaining in Antioch, busy teaching and
preaching to the brethren there. So we're going to stop right here. A good stopping
point. Here's the assignment for next week: read Acts chapter 15, verse 36, all
the way through to Acts chapter 18, verse 22, as we make our way through the book
of Acts. Alright, that's the lesson for today. Thank you very much for your
attention. I appreciate it.