Real people, real places, real consequences

Acts 15 begins with a council in Jerusalem. Gentiles were now coming to real saving faith as well as Jews.  What should be required of these converts?  After the council concluded, a letter was drafted to be taken to Antioch and the other churches.  (The issue would seemingly be settled, but anyone who has read Paul's letter to the Galatian churches knows it to be otherwise.)

Four men traveled to Antioch: Paul, Barnabas, Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas; I suspect Luke accompanied them although he doesn't use "we" until chapter 16, verse 10. They shared the letter, encouraged, and strengthened the believers.

When Paul decided to visit the other churches, he had a falling out with Barnabas.  During their first missionary journey, a young man named John Mark had not completed the trip with them. Barnabas wanted to include him this time, but Paul was not in favor of that.  Scripture is silent over why John Mark had left, but not over the rift this time.  Paul took Silas and went in one direction, while Barnabas took John Mark and headed in another.

Chapter 16 has Paul and Silas meeting another young man, Timothy.  Paul and Silas were now back in the area of Derbe and Lystra and Iconium. Lystra is where Paul was stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:19). Now, on the second missionary trip, Paul and Silas decided to take Timothy, who had been commended by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Knowing they were traveling into Jewish areas, Paul had this son of a mixed marriage circumcised.

As the group traveled, they delivered to the churches the decision of the Jerusalem Council.  What was the effect? Acts 16:5 tells us: "So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily" (ESV).

Everything seemed to be moving forward as they traveled through Phrygia and Galatia, but then in Acts 16:7-8 we learn that God forbids them from going first into Asia and then into Bithynia. Instead, from Mysia they go to Troas.

Here Paul received what we refer to as "the Macedonian call."  Here Luke first used "we" and "us" in Acts 16:10: "Immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel there."

Don't you love the word "immediately"? It reminds me of Mark's gospel and no time to waste.

So they sailed from Troas to Samothrace, went the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi. Luke mentions this is both a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. These facts matter.

The first known convert here is a woman named Lydia, from Thyatira, a seller of purple goods.  Luke made it clear that she was already a worshiper of God and "The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul" (Acts 16:14; ESV). Baptized with joy, she prevailed on Paul and his companions to stay with her.

The events that transpired in Acts 16:16-24 appear to have taken place over several days with those from 16:25-34 occurring over one night.

The singing of Paul and Silas was nothing like prisoners' usual behavior, so the rest of the prisoners listened as they sang hymns to God.

As much as "immediately" in verse 10, we have "suddenly" in verse 26 as we are introduced to an earthquake sufficient to shake the foundations of the prison. "And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened" (16:26; ESV).  Put yourself in the place of the jailer, awakened by this earthquake.  Would you not make the same assumption?  Once he realized that all were accounted for, what was his reaction?  Not to refasten the bonds and relock the jail, but "What must I do to be saved?"

"And they said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.' And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were in his house. And he took them that same hour of night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God" (Acts 16:31-34; ESV).

God had set the slave girl free (Acts 16:17-18), which led to these men being imprisoned (16:19-24), which led to the salvation of the jailer and his family (16:30-34). And the story of God's work in Philippi is not over.

Like a weary pilgrim

Like a weary pilgrim,
With flesh and spirit contending,
I yearn for Jordan and
This life's ending.
Like a weary pilgrim,
Tent grown tattered,
Sand and wind storm rim'd,
Heart and eyes increasingly dimmed.
Like a weary pilgrim,
Travel stained and sore,
How I yearn to serve
Until I reach Heaven's door.

Barnabas and Saul

Now you need a map; there is probably one in the back of your Bible identifying Paul's Missionary Journeys.

Start with Acts 11:19-26 (ESV): "Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians."

Barnabas and Saul traveled together a lot after that. Acts 11 not only finds them going to Antioch but also to Judea (Jerusalem) with a special offering (11:30), then Acts 12 again to Antioch (12:25), and in Acts 13 being set apart as the first missionary team.

Acts 13:4 (ESV): "So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Selucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus"; 13:5 landed at Salamis; 13:6 as far as Paphos; 13:13 Paphos to Perga in Pamphylia; 13:14 from Perga to Antioch in Pisidia.

It appears from Acts 13:16-49 that God did such a work that Barnabas and Paul became persona non grata. How did they respond? Verse 52 (ESV) tells us: "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."

Acts 14:1, "Now at Iconium..."; 14:2, "But the unbelieving Jews...."; 14:4, "But the people were divided...."; 14:6, they fled "to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lyconia, and to the surrounding country"; 14:9, "But Jews came from Antioch and Icomium...stoned Paul...." Paul was driven from Lystra, back to Derbe, back to Lystra, Iconium, Antioch (in Pisidia).

Acts 14:22-23 (ESV): "Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed." Paul and Barnabas traveled through Pisidia to Pamphylia, Perga, Attilia. They sailed from Attilia to Antioch "where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done for them and how he opened a door of faith in the Gentiles" (Acts 14:26b-27, ESV).

I thought I would comment on the distance Paul and Barnabas traveled and what they did, but the more I considered this trip, the clearer the point became: God used them to accomplish his will. May the same be said of us when people look at our lives, because we too have declared all that he has done for us.

7 January 2014

I plan on writing reflections on the recorded prayers of the apostle  Paul, but first some background.

We meet the future apostle in Acts 7:59 when Stephen was stoned for proclaiming Christ. While Stephen's death was something Saul agreed to, that one man's death was not enough for Saul. He went on a rampage, ravaging the church in Jerusalem, going from home to home, and taking men and women to prison. Success in this was not enough for Saul. He was going to wipe out this blasphemous  sect wherever it was. That desire is what set him on the road to Damascus.

Saul was at the top of the top in Judaism. He gave testimony to this in Philippians 3:4-6: "If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless." His spiritual resume was impeccable, externally.

This was the man whom God chose, whom God converted from the most zealous Jew to the most zealous Christian.

This one man's conversion would shake everyone from the Christians and the Jews in Damascus and outward. But his conversion was genuine. As he had sought to persecute believers in Christ, now he was willing to be persecuted as one of them. All he once cherished, he now considered as dung.

All was now turned upside down. A nervous but obedient Christian in Damascus named Ananias was sent by the Lord to Saul. Calling Saul "brother," Ananias was God's instrument by whom Saul received his physical sight and received the Holy Spirit. Once healed and so filled, Saul was baptized and then finally had his first meal in three days.

We are informed after this he "immediately began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues in Damascus, saying 'He is the Son of God.'" This baffled people. He was recognized as the same one who had persecuted believers in Jerusalem and had come to Damascus to do the same. Could he be trusted?

Neither the Jews nor the Christians knew what to think. Saul's reputation had preceded him. Was he proclaiming Christ only to bring believers out of hiding with the intent of jailing them?

The Jews decided his conversion was real and he was trouble for them. He had to run for his life. He fled Damascus for Jerusalem. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire" is the expression that comes to mind.

Suspicion on the part of the Christians in Jerusalem awaited Saul. Providentially, a man named Barnabas vouched for Saul. Accepted by the Christians in Jerusalem, again the Jews sought his life. Again, Saul had to flee.

As recorded in Acts 8, when the church in Jerusalem was persecuted, all but the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. It is likely that Saul was an active participant in this persecution. But in Acts 10, after his conversion, matters were different: "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase" (Acts 10:31).