So we are in Acts 13. So as most of you will know, as
we've mentioned already this morning, we've been praying a
lot over the last few weeks for the Wallace family in Nigeria,
for Matt and Lisa, for Joshua, Paris, and Lydia.
Some of us will be praying for them after the service like we
did last week in the Cherry classroom just down that
corridor. So if you're able to join us,
just get a cup of tea or coffee and just bring it with you down
there and we'll pray for a few minutes.
We'll also be praying for them tonight during the March family
meeting. As Chris said, for those of you
who don't know Matt and Lisa personally, you might be asking
the question, what? Why are they in Nigeria?
Why did we send a family we love to another part of the world
when there's still many people here in Leicester who are yet to
hear and respond to the good news about Jesus?
And as Chris has prayed, we've got other mission partners we've
sent out as a church family here.
Now working overseas, we've got the Harrison family, Simon, Ali,
Samuel, Mia and Maddie working in Ethiopia.
Why are they in Ethiopia? Why did we send them to another
part of the world closer to home?
We used to have an assistant pastor here at Ave.
Dan James Little over two years ago we sent Dan, Jamie, EFA and
a team of people from Ave. to the Eres Monso Estate.
Why did we do that? Why start another church in
another part of Leicester when there's so many people here in
Clarendon Park who are yet to hear and respond to the good
news of Jesus? Oh, I think the section in the
book of Acts we're looking at this morning helps us begin to
answer that question. Acts 13, It's it's a big moment
in the book of Acts. Back in chapter 1, we have the
opening lines of the book, The risen Jesus speaking to his
disciples just before he ascends into heaven after completing his
saving work for everyone who trusts him.
And Jesus says, he says, you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the
earth. And some people refer to these
words of Jesus as if you like the contents page of the book of
Acts, because the three movements that Jesus describes
here are the three movements in the book of Acts.
So Acts chapter one to seven, that's the disciples living as
Jesus witnesses in Jerusalem. Acts chapter 8 to 12, the gospel
reaches beyond Jerusalem into all Judea and Samaria.
And from Acts 13, our passage this morning, the good news of
Jesus finally reaches into the Gentile world.
The rest of the Roman Empire, or as Jesus puts it, the good news
reaches to the ends of the earth and it will extend there in the
rest of the book. And we thought last week about
one of the purposes of the book of Acts is it shows us the
priorities of a spirit filled church.
What were some of the things the early church committed
themselves to and what can we learn from that?
So last week in Acts 12 we learnt that a spirit filled
church is a church that prays together.
This week, as we turn to Acts 13, there's still a lot of
emphasis on praying together. But look has a particular focus
here. He wants to show us that a
spirit filled church is a church that is committed to mission
both locally and globally. The reason Avenues become a
church family that has sent people out on mission in recent
years both globally, Nigeria, Ethiopia and locally Eresmonsal
is because of passages like Acts 13.
We believe one of the priorities of a healthy disciple making
spirit filled local church is that we send people on mission.
We are committed to mission, so we want to listen to this
passage and learn from it together.
And again, Acts 13, it's, it's a big deal this passage because
for the first time mission isn't being done simply by a few
individuals. It's been planned and prayed for
and organised by a particular local church.
The church in Antioch, just up there at the top there.
And the gospel isn't spreading because of persecution, because
the Christians are being driven out of somewhere.
No, it's a deliberate church decision led by the Spirit made
by the leaders in the whole congregation in Antioch to send
Barnabas and Saul out from Antioch on mission.
And we want to learn from the church in Antioch how to grow as
a local church committed to mission.
And we want to learn from Barnabas and Saul as they arrive
on the island of Cyprus, what authentic gospel ministry looks
like, what we can expect as we live as witnesses for Jesus.
So turning to Acts 13, in this first bit, it's kind of a game
of two halves. This bit verses one to three,
the church in Antioch sends out Barnabas and Saul on mission.
And then verses 4 to 12, Barnabas and Saul on mission in
Cyprus. Now we were introduced to the
church in Antioch a few weeks ago.
If you were here in Acts Chapter 11, Antioch's one of the first
places where the gospel was shared not just with Jewish
people, but with non Jewish people, with Gentiles as well.
It's a church made-up of mostly Gentile believers.
And it's the first place where disciples of Jesus were called
Christians. That's Acts 11, verse 26.
And from this point onwards in the book of Acts, Antioch
becomes central in taking the good news of Jesus to the ends
of the earth. And what do we learn about this
church in Antioch from Acts 13? The first thing we learn is that
this is a diverse church. Just look to the list of
prophets and teachers we get in verse one.
Presumably these prophets and teachers, they made-up the
leadership of the church in Antioch.
Now in the church in Antioch there were prophets and
teachers, Barnabas Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menaean
who'd been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul.
And we need to see this is a remarkably diverse group of
people. It's a very odd group to have
together in the 1st century. So we have Barnabas and we
learnt earlier on Acts, he's a Levite from the island of
Cyprus. That's ACTS 436.
We've got Simeon called Niger, he's probably from Africa.
He's a man with darker skin. That's what Niger means in
Latin, it means black. There's even a possibility that
this Simeon, called Niger, could be the same man known as Simon
of Cyrene, the man who carried the cross for Jesus outside
Jerusalem, whose sons Alexander and Rufus were known to the
early Christians. That's just a possibility.
That is the Simeon recounted here.
We've got Lucius of Cyrene, he's definitely from North Africa.
We've got Meneen, I think is how you would say it, brought up
with Herod's family from Galilee in Judea.
This man grew up with a Herod who had John the Baptist killed,
who made Jesus stand trial. He's probably not a great
childhood friend. I would imagine you'd be a bit
nervous if that's your childhood friend.
But here he is. He's, for whatever reason, he
has become a follower of Jesus and he is here in the church in
Antioch as one of its leaders. And then we have Saul from
Tarsus in modern day southern Turkey, once a Pharisee, a
persecutor of the church, now one of the main teachers in
Antioch. We need to see there's a group
of people that should never hang out together in the 1st century.
They're from Africa, from Cyprus, from Judea and Samaria,
from Asia Minor. Some of them are Jews, some of
them are Gentiles. There's a Levite, A Pharisee,
one of Herod's childhood friends.
That's the beginning of a joke. They walk into a pub or
something. But these men, they should not
be friends. And yet here they are,
worshipping the Lord together and praying together.
I think Luke wants to see this, this small group in the church
in Antioch. It is a glimpse, a taster of the
global church that the Bible lifts our eyes to again and
again. This is God's new humanity,
God's new community that the crucified and risen Lord Jesus
has brought together. Once strangers and enemies,
there are now one in Christ sharing the unity of the Spirit,
each one of them calling godfather because of what Jesus
has done for them. This is a little snapshot, a
trailer of that description in the Book of Revelation,
Revelation Chapter 7, where the apostle John says, I saw a great
multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe,
people and language standing before the throne and before the
Lamb. It's a diverse church, but also
we learned it's a praying church.
That's verses two to three. What are they doing when the
Holy Spirit speaks to them here? Well, Luke tells us verse 2 they
were worshipping the Lord and fasting and then verse 3 after
they heard the spirits call on Barnabas and Saul, they fasted
and prayed. This is a God centred church.
These aren't just a group of people trying to wing it and
work it out as they go. They are humbling themselves
before God and asking him to lead them.
They are worshipping the Lord for all he has done for them in
Jesus. They're demonstrating their
hunger for God by fasting for seasons of time.
They are praying to the Lord asking him to lead them where
they should go. And it's not clear in these
verses who the they are. If this is just the leaders of
the church, you're named in verse one.
Or this might be the whole church gathered together.
Certainly when when Barnabas and Paul come back from their
missionary journey in Acts 14, it's clear the whole church in
Antioch was involved in sending them out on mission.
But it's a praying church, and now and then fundamentally, it's
ascending church. Verses 3 to 4 in like so often
in Acts, Luke doesn't tell us exactly how they hear the call
of the Holy Spirit on Barnabas and Saul in verse 2.
It could have been through one of the many prophets who are
named here. The Spirit speaks to the
prophet, and the prophet shares that with the congregation.
It could be a conviction that comes on many in the whole
church. Whatever the method, they
respond to that verse 3 by fasting and praying.
They test God's call on Barnabas and Saul.
They need time to reflect together on whether this truly
is the word of God to them. But also they want to pray for
Barnabas and Saul as they prepare to send them out into
the ends of the earth. But whatever the detail of
what's going on in these verses, Luke wants us to see here,
mission is God's idea. It is the living Godfather, Son,
and Holy Spirit who is sending out these people into the
Gentile world. God leads us on mission by His
Holy Spirit. We've seen that again and again
in Acts. But we always need to remember
it. Mission is not something we need
to strategically come up with on our own.
It's so we need to to humble ourselves before God and say,
Lord, you've put us in this place at this time, what would
you have us do? That is what the church in
Antioch does together. And we need to see that actually
being ascending church for Antioch was costly for them.
It brings great blessings, but it also brings costs.
We need to remember the Barnabas and Soul.
They're some of the key Bible teachers and leaders in Antioch
at this time. You look back at Acts 1125 to
26, their ministries proving really successful.
Loads of people are hearing about Jesus.
They're kind of two of Antioch's best people.
And yet the Holy Spirit says those are the ones I want you to
send away. Sending people out on mission is
always costly, but it's what the Lord Jesus calls His people to
do. And and looking at this, I just
can't help but think about our own experience of that here at
Ave. in recent years. We sent Matt and Lisa Wallace
out to Nigeria. Matt was an elder here with us.
Lisa was our woman's worker for many years.
We sent Simon and Ali Harrison out on mission to Ethiopia.
They were Home group leaders here, trusted and valued members
of our church family. We sent Dan James to lead the
Eres Monso Community Church with a small team from Ave.
Dan was our assistant pastor, he was an elder, he was a a key
preacher and leader and musician.
I once described to someone like he's our best musician and Lily
was sitting next to me and challenged me.
But no. But the rest of the Eres Monso
Church, they were people we knew and loved.
We know and love. Sending people out on mission is
costly. It was for the church in
Antioch. It has been for us here at Ave.
but a spirit filled church look tells us is a church committed
to mission both locally and globally.
And alongside the costs of that, there is rich blessing as we
follow the Lord's lead on mission both locally and
globally. I think I've probably shared
this before, but on a personal level, I've been helped greatly
by Paul's words in Two Corinthians Chapter 9.
These are pinned up on my shared wall, have been for a few years
now. The primary context is giving
financially, but I've come to this passage frequently as I've
thought about what it means for us to be ascending church.
Each of you should give what you've decided in your heart to
give, says Paul, not reluctantly under compulsion.
The key phrase for God loves a cheerful giver.
I've wanted us to be cheerful as we've given people to mission
both locally and globally. And then that amazing promise
from Paul. God's able to bless you
abundantly. So in all things, at all times,
having all that you need, you will abide in every good work.
We have sent people away on mission, but we have not
diminished. We've actually grown with some
people joining us with new mission opportunities around us.
Alongside the cost of sending is the blessing of being in step
with the Spirit and following his lead.
So the church in Antioch, it's a diverse church, it's a praying
church, it's a sending church, it's a church every church in
history can learn from in those areas.
And for the rest of our passage this morning, Luke records for
us the first part of Barnabas and Saul's first missionary
journey. In many ways, actually, their
journey to Cyprus is like a snapshot of mission for the rest
of the book of Acts. A lot of what happens to
Barnabas and Saul on Cyprus is what will happen to Barnabas and
Saul wherever they go with the good news of Jesus.
So the question really is why did Barnabas and Saul begin in
Cyprus? Seem to be a number of reasons.
Sorry, I've got a lovely Christopher who's there.
That's not as clear. But Cyprus, if you see it there,
it's a a key stopping off point. If you're travelling from
Antioch, you can stop off in Cyprus on your way to Asia
Minor, what is now southern Turkey.
It was an important mining and trading centre, a really
thriving community on that island.
And another possible reason why they go there is that we just
heard Barnabas is from there. Barnabas grew up on Cyprus.
He knew it well. He would have loved the people
there. He wanted the opportunity to
proclaim the good news of Jesus to people he knew and loved.
And what do we learn from Barnabas and Saul's approach to
mission in their time on Cyprus? Then we can learn a few things.
First thing we learn actually is that their approach was to go
first to the Jew and then to the Gentile.
That's a phrase that Paul uses later in one of his letters,
Romans one, verse 16. Look at verse 5 again.
Luke tells us when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the
word of God in the Jewish synagogues.
So it seems there were a number of synagogues, a number of
Jewish people in this coastal town of Salamis.
So Barnabas and Saul began their mission there.
And it's worth noting throughout the book of Acts, wherever
possible, the apostle Paul preaches the good news of Jesus
to Jewish people 1st. And that shouldn't surprise us.
So Saul or Paul, he was Jewish himself, and Jesus is the Jewish
Messiah, the fulfillment of all God's promises to his people in
the Old Testament. I want you to remember here, the
early church never excluded or gave up on Jewish people, even
when Jewish people rejected the gospel message.
See, the church in the New Testament is made-up of Jewish
and Gentile believers who are now one in Christ.
Many of the letters we have in the New Testament, Gentile
believers seem to outnumber Jewish believers.
But the early Christians still sought to proclaim Jesus to
their Jewish neighbors. See, the church wasn't a
replacement for ancient Israel, not the sign that God had given
up on the Jewish people. No, the church with the new
Israel made-up of Jewish and Gentile believers united in
Christ. And the early Christians wanted
Jewish people in the church. So they proclaim the good news
of Jesus to them. And I think that's an important
thing to notice because we need to acknowledge in church history
right up to the present day, there has been a really dark
history of anti-Semitism among Christians.
Historically, Christians have wrongly blamed the Jews for
killing Jesus. We've airbrushed Jesus
Jewishness so as we've given up sharing the good news to Jewish
people and add that to our situation today with the modern
state of Israel. We may have deep concerns with
the modern state of Israel and some of its policies.
We may not like the leaders of Israel, but we need to remember
Jewish people still need to hear about Jesus.
Will we pray for the witness of Jewish Christians to their
neighbors when we pray for the gospel to extend to Jewish
people across the world in our local communities here in
Clarendon Park and even in the State of Israel as well?
That was Paul and Barnabas approach here in Cyprus, as it
was elsewhere. Another striking thing to notice
is that Saul becomes Paul the apostle to the Gentiles in verse
9. So from this point onwards in
the book of Acts verse 9, Luke no longer refers to Saul of
Tarsus as Saul. From now on, he refers to him as
Paul. And as a Roman citizen, Saul of
Tarsus would have had at least two names.
So Saul was his Hebrew name, Paul was his Greek name.
It wasn't a brand new name that he got after he became a
Christian. He would have had it for some
time. But from this point onwards,
Paul chooses to refer to himself as Paul, not Saul.
And I'm now going to just start saying Paul because that's
easier. But what was the significance of
that? Well, again, I think put simply,
Paul wanted to remove every obstacle between himself and the
non Jewish people. He was called to share the
gospel with. This former Pharisee, this
Hebrew of Hebrews, this persecutor of the church was now
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
He changed his name to reflect Jesus calling on his life.
If you remember Jesus words to Saul on Damascus, he is my
chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their
kings and to the people of Israel.
And again, we can learn from Paul here.
Paul held fast to the central truths of the gospel, the life,
death, resurrection of Jesus, the call to repent and believe
the gospel, the call to discipleship and making
disciples. He always remained faithful to
the Lord Jesus and the Word of God.
But at the same time, Paul was culturally flexible and
adaptable so that as many people as possible could hear that good
news about Jesus. He thought if there was an
unnecessary obstacle in a way like his very Jewish name, he
then I'm going to go by my Greek name because that will travel
better. That is the name I'm going to go
by. That was Paul's passion.
He was inflexible when it came to the gospel, but he was
flexible. And just to buy everything else,
listen to Paul's own words. In One Corinthians 9 he says,
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a
slave to everyone to win as many as possible.
To the Jews I became like a Jew to win the Jews.
To those not having the law, I became like 1 not having the law
so as to win those not having the law.
To the weak I became weak to win the weak.
I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible
means I might save some. I think every Christian and
every local church, every generation can learn from Paul
in this Will we hold fast to the central truths of the gospel
while being culturally flexible in how we proclaim those central
truths? Will we be inflexible when it
comes to the Word of God, holding fast, but flexible when
it comes to how we engage with the people around us?
That's what Paul models for us here, I think.
And what else do we learn about mission from Barnabas and Saul's
time in Cyprus? I think the headlines are fairly
simple. There will always be people
opposed to the gospel. There will always be people
hungry for the gospel. Acts is wonderfully realistic
and is wonderfully hopeful for us.
Opposition comes regularly to Paul and Barnabas wherever they
go in Acts, from Jewish and from Gentile sources.
Because the message of the gospel is fairly simple.
We need rescuing. God has sent a rescuer and his
name is Jesus. But that has an offensive
message. If you refuse to accept you need
rescuing, how dare you say I need rescuing?
How dare you say I need Jesus? So where's the opposition come
from on Cyprus? Well, verse 6, it comes from a
Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar Jesus, later
also named Elimas the sorcerer, now Jewish sorcerer.
Those two things don't usually belong together.
The Jewish scriptures condemn sorcery and magic.
And the name bar Jesus literally means son of Jesus or son of
Joshua. That could have been a family
name. It could have been just
literally his dad's name was Joshua or Jesus.
Or this could have been a claim to have the power to bring
salvation. Jesus and Joshua means the Lord
saves. Maybe this sorcerer was saying,
look, I've got the power to save people and he's got an influence
on this. This Roman governor is intrigued
by him, and when Paul and Barnabas arrive, Alamas is
threatened by them. There will always be people
opposed to the Gospel, says look, but the Roman governor has
a very different approach to Alamas the sorcerer.
Verse 7. The pro council Sergius Paulus
was an intelligent man and sent for Barnabas and Saul because he
wanted to hear the word of God. That reminds us there will
always be people hungry for the gospel.
They might be very unlikely people.
Again, Paul and Barman probably didn't expect a Roman governor
to want to hear from him, but here he is.
Why? Because Jesus is with them.
Jesus is committed to building his church.
Our God is a saving God, and Jesus loves to save unlikely
people. Paul went through that glorious
truth his whole life. I can't believe God saved me.
And that opened him up to saying God could save anyone who put
their faith in Jesus, Jesus building a global church.
And even Romans are invited. Paul learns here and again, it's
striking that even the rich and the powerful are looking for
life and meaning in this world. In Sergius Paulus, he's he's a
powerful man. He's a wealthy man, an
influential man. And he'd seen all that wealth
and power could give him. And yet he still is hungry for
more. He wanted something more.
He needed something more. So Luke tells us he wanted to
hear the word of God from Paul and Barnabas.
This Roman governor reminds us that no matter how impressive
someone may look, in the words of Saint Augustine, God has made
us for himself and our hearts find no rest until they rest in
Him. But verse 8, before Sergius
Paulus can hear the gospel from Paul and Barnabas, we're told
Elemas the sorcerer opposed them and tried to turn the pro
council from the faith. And this is one of those
fascinating moments in the book of Acts where where we get a
glimpse of a spiritual conflict that often remains hidden from
us. If you like, this is magic
versus Jesus. So like the rest of of the book
of Acts, the rest of the Bible actually, Acts just presumes,
takes for granted the existence of spiritual forces opposed to
God in this world. The apostle Paul says later in
his letter to the Ephesians, our struggle is not against flesh
and blood ultimately, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this Dark World and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
We need to be aware of that. Luke is aware of that there are
spiritual forces active in our world opposed to Jesus, but the
Bible is also clear that one effect of Jesus life, death and
resurrection is that he has defeated all those powers of
darkness and that followers of Jesus do not have to fear those
spiritual forces anymore. 1 John 3, verse 8.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the
devil's work. Colossians 2.
Having disarmed the powers and authorities, those spiritual
forces, he made a public spectacle of them and triumphing
over them by the cross. So in this moment where this
magic versus Jesus, well, surprise rise.
Jesus wins. Jesus wins the battle here.
Verse 9. Then Saul who was called Paul,
filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Ellie mass
and said you're a child of the devil.
Again, that's a reference. You're not a son of salvation.
You're a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is
right. You're full of all kinds of
deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting
the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is
against you. You're going to be blind for a
time, not even able to see the light of the sun.
And immediately, mist and darkness came over him, and he
groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
It's no contest. Paul just says Jesus has power
over you. Jesus has authority over you.
And as a sign of God's judgement, El Amas is struck
blind. And of course, Paul knows all
about being struck blind as a sign of God's judgement that
happened to him on the road to Damascus.
And interesting here, we're told El Amas's blindness would be
temporary. He says you'll be, you're going
to be blind for a time. El Amas is given a chance to
repent of his sin and rebellion, just as Paul was at Damascus.
Luke doesn't tell us if he ever did, but this is the grace of
God at work. And not only did Jesus win here,
Jesus saves here. The Roman governor comes to
faith in Jesus, arguably the first totally Gentile convert in
Acts. Previous converts like Cornelius
the Ethiopian eunuch, they had a background in the Jewish faith,
but this man seems to have had none.
Verse 12 When the Pro council saw what had happened, he
believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
In part the governor believes because he sees Jesus authority
over LMS, but even more than that, he's amazed at the
teaching about the Lord. It's the Gospel of Jesus that
grips this Roman governor, the beauty of who Jesus is and all
he has done, just as Paul would say later in life.
It's that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation
of everyone who believes. It's the gospel that God uses to
save and transform and rescue people.
So as we prepare to leave Acts this week, what do we learn from
the opening of Acts 13? I had a big lesson is that a
spirit filled church is a church committed to mission.
A spirit filled church is ascending church.
That's what the church in Antioch shows us.
That is actually the privilege the Lord has given us here at
Ave. in recent years. So the question, will we
continue to be ascending church? Are we committed to praying
together to the Lord that He will lead us on mission wherever
He wants us to go? Will we allow our worship of
Jesus lead to our witness for Jesus in this world?
And are we willing to send away some people we love out of love
for the Lord and a love for the lost?
And also, we need to remember just the realism and the
hopefulness of Acts. There will always be people
opposed to the gospel, but there will always be people hungry for
the gospel. And all the Lord Jesus asked of
us is to ask him for opportunities to share the
gospel, to live distinctively as his witnesses, and then make the
most of opportunities as they come.
Acts 13 is only the beginning. This is the gospel beginning to
reach the ends of the earth. Eventually it reached even us in
the Uka long way away from Cyprus.
And one day in the future, God's Word tells us that everyone who
trusts in Jesus will be part of a global community, diverse and
glorious, worshipping at the throne of the Lamb.
Let me finish with these words from Revelation Chapter 7 before
I hand back to Chris Revelation 7.
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude
that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and
language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches
in their hands. And they cried out in a loud
voice. Salvation belongs to our God who
sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
All the angels were standing round the throne and round the
elders and the four living creatures.
They fell down on their faces before the throne and worship
God, saying Amen, Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and
honour and power and strength be to our God forever and ever.
Amen. Lord God, we thank you that you
are the God who cares for the whole of creation.
Thank You that your grace has extended even to us.
And would you lead and show us the part you have for us to play
in continuing to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth?
Help us to be a church committed to mission both locally and
globally, for we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.