Daily Archives: June 3, 2013

Barnabas And Saul Go West

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BARNABAS AND SAUL GO WEST

“Sent off on their new assignment by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went down to Seleucia and caught a ship to Cyprus. The first thing they did when they put in at Salamis was preach God’s Word in the Jewish meeting places. They had John along to help out as needed.” Acts 13:4-5 (The Message).

Commissioned by the Holy Spirit and in partnership with Him, Barnabas and Saul made their way to the nearest sea port, Seleucia, and set sail for the largest island in the vicinity – Cyprus. Why there? We are not told anything about their planning and strategy before they left. They must surely have sat down together and discussed where they would go and how they would go about their mission, assuming that they would always be led by the Holy Spirit.

They did not go in the direction of Saul’s home city because, obviously, he had thoroughly saturated it with his teaching while he was there. There would be no necessity to go over that ground again. They trusted the Holy Spirit to redirect them if they went off course and set off in the confidence of His presence with them.

Their strategy – the most obvious place to start would be the synagogue, the place where Jews met regularly for worship. They were guaranteed a ready-made congregation of their own people who would already be familiar with the Scriptures — no need for lengthy instruction in the basics.

“They travelled the length and breadth of the island and at Paphos came upon a Jewish wizard who had worked himself into the confidence of the governor, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man not easily taken in by charlatans. The wizard’s name was Bar-Jesus. He was a crooked as a corkscrew.” Acts 13:6-7 (The Message),

So far so good. They traversed the island, preaching in synagogue after synagogue with no incident. The Cypriot Jews were seemingly more open-minded than their Judean cousins. In the main centre, however, they ran into a rather unusual fellow countryman, of all things a magician; not a magician practicing illusion, mind you, but a Jew who dabbled in the occult.

As if that were not enough, he had wormed his way into the confidence of the Roman governor — a dangerous situation if ever there was one. This man must have been so convincing that not even an intelligent man like Sergius Paulus saw through him. Imagine the influence he must have had on the governor himself, something akin to the tactics of Hitler who was deep into the occult.

“The governor invited Barnabas and Saul in, wanting to hear God’s Word first hand from them. But Dr Know-It-All (that’s the wizard’s name in plain English), stirred up a ruckus, trying to divert the governor from becoming a believer.'” Acts 13:7-8 (The Message).

Once again the first sign of opposition on the island of Cyprus came from a Jew. Satan’s emissaries are taken from all people and all walks of life. The governor’s interest in the gospel touched a nerve ending and Bar-Jesus immediately raised a very vocal protest, trying to divert the governor’s attention from the truth.

This was the smooth-talking imposter’s undoing. Thankfully his influence over Sergius Paulus had not yet deadened the governor’s appetite to hear the truth. What Paul and Barnabas had to say awakened in him the awareness that these men had a message that rang true and he wanted to know more. Truth and lies banged heads, and alerted the two missionaries to a very real enemy that needed to be dealt with.

Light and darkness cannot co-exist. Darkness is merely the absence of light and as soon as the light is turned on, everything that is hidden in the darkness is exposed. The light of God’s truth shone into this man’s heart, exposing him for what he really was and his reaction was to fight back violently.

Called And Commissioned

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CALLED AND COMMISSIONED

“Meanwhile the ministry of God’s word grew by leaps and bounds.

“Barnabas and Saul, once they had delivered the relief offering to the church in Jerusalem, went back to Antioch. This time they took John with them, the one they called Mark.” Acts 12:24-25 (The Message).

Barnabas and Saul — up to this point Saul was still the learner. Barnabas had been the teacher and initiator and Saul the follower. His apprenticeship would soon to come an end and he would become the strong leader of the missionary enterprise that would take the gospel into the heart of the Roman Empire – the very household of Caesar.

Barnabas and Saul fulfilled their commission to take help to the church in Jerusalem. They quickly returned to Syrian Antioch which was fast becoming the new centre of the church, away from Jewish persecution and far more open-minded than the Jerusalem church which was still Jewish at heart.

Another character enters the story — John Mark, a relative of Barnabas. His name has already popped up in Luke’s record, as though he was known to his reader. Who was John Mark? Traditionally he was the unknown youth who fled naked into the dark during Jesus’ arrest. His mother’s home was a gathering place for the church in Jerusalem, where they prayed when Peter was in prison at the hands of Herod.

He was also traditionally the author of the second gospel, having at some stage either accompanied Peter or laid his hands on a copy of Peter’s memoirs which he used as a base for his gospel story. He had a chequered career as a companion of Barnabas and Saul for a short while on their first missionary journey, and a quitter who was the cause of a serious rift between Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Mark were later reconciled and he became a valuable asset to Paul in his ministry.

“The congregation at Antioch was blessed with a number of prophet-preachers and teachers: Barnabas, Simon nicknamed Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manean, an advisor to the ruler Herod, and Saul.

“One day, as they were worshipping God — they were also fasting as they waited for guidance — the Holy Spirit spoke.’Take Barnabas and Saul and commission them for the work I have called them to do.’

“So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on them and sent them off.” Acts 13: 1-3 (The Message).

Is there a clue, in these three opening verses of chapter 13, to the success of the church which is largely missing today? It would seem that this group of leaders, incidentally, made up of an interesting cross-section of black and white, were aware that they must embark on another phase of outreach and growth. Barnabas and Saul had spent time instructing the new believers and it was time to move on. Who would go and who would stay?

What did this group of leaders do? Did they call a church meeting and take a vote? Did they meet in a huddle and draw straws? They worshipped, fasted and prayed and kept doing that until the Holy Spirit spoke to them. He had his men and it was up to them to find out who they were.

It was this intimate fellowship and co-operation with the Holy Spirit that gave Paul and his companions the courage and confidence to do what they did in spite of opposition and persecution. The did not quit because they knew they were called, ordained and accompanied by the Holy Spirit on a divine commission that could not fail.

Herod’s Sticky End

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HEROD’S STICKY END

“At daybreak the jail was in an uproar.’Where is Peter? What’s happened to Peter?’ When Herod sent for him and they could not produce him nor explain why not, he ordered their execution. ‘Off with their heads!’ Fed up with Judea and the Jews, he went for a vacation to Caesarea.” Acts 12:18-19 (The Message).

Judgment on Roman soldiers who didn’t do their job was swift and sure. No commission of enquiry, no lengthy probing into the reasons why Peter had disappeared; the soldiers failed and they must pay for their neglect. Of course they had no answer for Peter’s disappearance. It was a supernaturally orchestrated escape, outside the power of the soldiers to understand or prevent.

In typical ‘Herod’ fashion, because his plan to entertain himself and his Jewish subjects by murdering Peter was thwarted, sixteen innocent Romans had to do instead of Peter. To cool his anger he took off for Caesarea for a breath of sea air!

“But things went from bad to worse for Herod. Now people from Tyre and Sidon put him on the warpath. But they got Blastus, King Herod’s right-hand man to put in a good word for them and got a delegation together to iron things out. Because they were dependent on Judea for food supplies, they couldn’t afford to let this go on too long. On the day set for their meeting Herod, robed in pomposity, took his place on the throne and regaled with them a lot of hot air. The people played their part to the hilt and shouted flatteries. ‘The voice of God! The voice of God!’

“This was the last straw. God had had enough of Herod’s arrogance and sent an angel to strike him down. Herod had given God no credit for anything. Down he went. Rotten to the core, a maggoty old man if ever there was one, he died.” Acts 12:20-23 (The Message).

God’s cup of wrath finally spilled over. Herod’s curriculum vitae was filled with acts of violence and arrogance that clearly indicate who he worshipped – himself! There was no-one quite like himself in his eyes. He was so blinded by his self-importance that he didn’t even realise that the people of Caesarea were mocking him, not praising him. He absorbed their flattery like a sponge and displayed like a peacock.

How many times had God given Herod an opportunity to repent? He had had numerous encounters with God through Jesus and through His people but he was so filled with self-importance that he missed every one of them. Just one encounter with Jesus should have been enough to shake him off his pedestal. He was too blind to see his opportunities.

Others in Jesus’ earthly ministry had been transformed by their meeting with Him; Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, Nicodemus, the dying thief, a multitude of unnamed people who had been healed, the Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, and even the Apostle Paul en route to a mission of destruction in Damascus had met Jesus and never been the same again.

Herod’s meeting with Jesus when He was on trial for His life, had left him untouched – just as arrogant, blind and wicked as before. Why? He was too enamoured with himself to need another God to worship. When he foolishly accepted the title of “God”, it put the signature of God Himself to his death sentence. In one swift action, God showed him who was God.

How many times does God give us opportunity to repent and how many times do we miss it because we are too full of ourselves to recognise God’s grace. Pharaoh had at least ten opportunities and he threw them all away. The list of Bible characters who signed their own death sentence is endless.

But others saw and seized the chance to lay hold of God’s mercy. One man immediately comes to mind — David. In spite of a list of heinous sins; lust, adultery, trickery, murder and lies, his immediate response to the prophet Nathan’s challenge was: ‘I have sinned!’ He could not escape the consequences of his choices but he was restored to fellowship with God which was more precious to him than life itself.

What opportunities to experience God’s forgiveness and grace are we missing because we are blinded by arrogance or no sense of need? We must be careful that, like Herod, we do not miss our last opportunity to repent and the hammer falls!