GOD
ESTABLISHES HIS CHURCH IN THE WORLD
Sent
Out by the Holy Spirit
Acts
13:1-13
Jerry
A Collins
SCC
6/22/03
Ø
Does the Holy Spirit call us to a
ministry?
Ø When
does God extend our ministry?
Ø Why
do we experience opposition to our ministry?
While we plan, pray and
prepare for ministry, it is the Holy Spirit who places us in it. The first is our job and the other is God’s
job. We should constantly be preparing,
praying and planning for ministry while the Holy Spirit provides ministry for
us to do and more of it as we develop our ability and experience in it. Acts 13
marks a turning point in ministry. The first 12 chapters has
focused on Peter’s ministry and the remaining will be on Paul’s ministry. The
emphasis has been on the Jerusalem church and now on
the spreading of the church throughout the Roman world. It is the Holy Spirit
who provides both ministries and sovereignty directs the ministry they are
doing and will do. He still does the same today.
First, we learn that God
places a premium on spiritual leadership. The five men mentioned
in verse 1 were the heart of the ministry in Antioch. This group is described
as prophets and teachers. Both descriptions identify their ministry as
primarily proclaiming and teaching the Word of God. It was thru this ministry
that the church was being built up in faith. If they are listed in order of
prominence or experience, observe that the first and the last are taken, vs. 2
and the middle three are left. That means that Barnabas seems to have been the
leader here while Paul was the newcomer. Up to this point Barnabas has always
been mentioned ahead of Saul implying precedence of some kind. Both of them brot their unique Christian experience to their ministry.
Simeon called Niger was an African, Lucius of Cyrene in North Africa and Manaen
who was reared in Herod the Greats household along with Herod Antipas. The
church, believers, in Antioch was cosmopolitan with leaders from many lands and
variety of backgrounds. They had learned to serve together because they were
together in Christ. Contrast this with the church in Jerusalem which was Jewish
and focused on her Jewishness. Second, it was
while these men were serving that God redirected them vs. 2. Their ministry
was not to a congregation but to the Lord. It is crucial to understand that God
is the audience for all spiritual ministry we do not
people. If our goal is ministering to people we may be tempted to compromise to
achieve that. Making God the object of our ministry will eliminate that
temptation (2 Tim 2:15). The combination of ministering and fasting
conveys self denial and sacrificial dedication to the Lord. This is the
spiritual atmosphere in which the call of God can be heard. Third, spiritual
men with effective spiritual ministry will see God extend their spiritual
mission vs. 2-3. God chooses for further ministry those already actively
serving Him. God is not likely to take idle Christians down from the shelf,
dust them off, and entrust them with important work. Saul and Barnabas had been
deeply involved in ministering to the Lord when their call for further service
came. God chose experienced, proven men for this important mission to the
Gentiles. This call was not the outcome of a working agreement between these
men. It was a call thru the direct agency of the HS. None can call us to our
work for God but the HS. A church cannot do it, nor
any group of gifted spiritual leaders--but the Spirit alone. Here the HS speaks
with sovereign authority. It is not separate to God but separate to Me. It is not the work the Lord has called them but the
work to which I have called them. The HS is God and within the church He
acts in divine authority and calls as He wills. There are three results this
call produces in these men:
(1) Fresh dependence upon the Lord and when they had fasted and prayed vs. 3. They had been doing this and after this call they do it again. Ministry God calls you to is ministry that will bring you to your knees because without God’s help it cannot be done effectively. God given ministry always produces a need for dependence upon God to do it. (2) The full agreement with the Lord and laid their hands on them. This simply
signified
identification as a sign of consent and fellowship and agreement in this thing.
(3) Faithful obedience to the Lord they sent them away. They
released them from their duties in Antioch so they could be available for this
new work. These are the only proper responses when one receives a call for
ministry to the Lord.
Fourth, God initiates the
ministry of His church in the world. The sovereignty of the HS is
prominent as already noted in vs. 1-3. (a) It becomes evident again in vs. 9
when the Spirit does not permit a Satanic agent to
succeed in turning aside a seeker after the truth. (b) The Spirit’s sovereignty
chooses to perform a miracle thru Saul who becomes Paul vs. 11. Paul has been
mentioned second up to this point but now comes to take precedence. God now
lays His hand on His chosen vessel to the Gentiles. His first known convert is Sergius Paul, typical of the Gentiles to whom Paul will go
vs. 12. Both of these incidents are orchestrated by the HS. While we are doing
ministry and available and prepared for more of it, the HS is ordering and
orchestrating the circumstances and situations which will make that ministry
effective. That is His job. For Paul that meant going to Cyprus first to the
synagogues as was his custom in each place he traveled vs. 4-5. This began the
1st missionary journey and John Mark, Barnabas’s cousin traveled
with them vs. 5.
Fifth, God-given ministry
will be successful in spite of opposition to it vs. 6-12. This
passage is typical of the Gentile ministry toi which
Paul had been called. (a) Sergius Paulus
was an understanding man vs. 7, in contrats to the
blindness of this Jewish opponent (typical of the spiritual blindness of Jews).
God will
go to the prudent gentile rather than the blind Jew. (b) Bar-Jesus typical of
Jewish opposition to Gentile faith which becomes evident from this point on
(13:45). (c We find in Sergious
Paulas and Elymas the
typical seeker after and opponent of the truth. The latter afflicted by mist
and at last darkness unable to guide himself dependent upon man for direction.
The blinding of the false prophet opened the eyes of a seeker. The seeker sees
and believes the truth.
(1) God plans and provides ministry for us to do.
(2) We prepare and pray for the ministry God has
for us to do.
(3) This ministry will be effective and
successful.
(4) God will give us more ministry
to do as we are faithful in the ministry we already have.