An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 13:1-12, for Sunday, September 1, 2024, with the title, “Sent.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  “The Scottish Reformer John Knox (1514-1572) was called to the work of preaching and pastoring in the course of a worship service by a preacher who declared it was God’s and the congregation’s will. Knox ran out of the gathering in tears and locked himself in his room.”  (Lewis Allen, The Preacher’s Catechism, pp. 57-58)

Then ask:  ??? Can you share a time that you/someone you know, felt a particular call to a certain ministry??? When and how did that happen?  

(My own call to ministry came during the winter of my sophomore year in college, when I had been majoring in political science, hoping to go into law or politics — but I loved music, and had gone on a mission trip, so I wondered if I might be called to music ministry. We got snowed in one week at school, and I was alone in the house a group of us were renting, all week by myself. I had just begun to read my Bible daily, so I spent most of my time reading God’s word that week. I kept writing down insights and outlines, and from Jeremiah 1 especially I got the message from the Lord that I was not called to law or to music, but to share His word.)

You/your group can share your experiences/those you’ve heard, of being called to a ministry, or a mission trip, or whatever — then say something like: in today’s lesson in Acts 13 we see how the Apostle Paul & Barnabas were called to do their missionary work among the Gentiles.  

(ALTERNATIVE: ask members how they decided to go on their first international trip or mission trip: then = today tells us how Paul & Barnabas went on the “First Missionary Journey” to the Gentiles.)

CONTEXT

We’ve been studying in Acts the story of how the early church spread against both internal and external obstacles. 

Acts 11 tells the story of how the persecution that broke out against the Christians after Stephen was killed, drove many of them to other places, including Antioch, in Syria, north of Israel. Some Gentiles were saved there, so the church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to them (of course! He was an encourager and discipler. That passage says he found Saul, and brought him to Antioch, and they were there for a whole year teaching (:26), and “the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.” 

Chapter 12 gave us a brief “interlude”: the story of how God miraculously delivered Peter from prison in answer to prayer, and now Acts 13 picks up the story, with Barnabas and Saul (and John Mark 12:25) in Antioch. This is where today’s lesson will open, and will lead into what will become known as “Paul’s First Missionary Journey”

OUTLINE

I. The Characters (:1)

II. The Call (:2-3)

III. The Mission (:4-12)

TEXT

I. The Characters  (:1)

At the beginning of Shakespeare and many other plays, there is often a list of characters that introduces the play. It is somewhat the same here with this “scene”: Chapter 13 gives us a list of some of the “characters” involved here:

:1 begins “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.”

5 men are mentioned by name here:

— Barnabas, interestingly, was listed first, as if he were presently regarded as the greatest — and indeed he had a great reputation at this time of being the great discipler and encourager.

— Simeon who was called Niger. The word means “dark.” Many commenters believe this indicates that he was originally from Africa — a good indicator that the early church included people of all races and backgrounds. And Simeon was not merely “in” the church, but he was a prophet or teacher in the church, so he was a leader of high standing.

— Lucius of Cyrene — same place as “Simon of Cyrene,” whom Matthew 27:32 says was pressed into service to bear the cross of Jesus!

— Manaen, (or Menachem) “who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch.” “Herod the Tetrarch” was the same as Herod Antipas, who presided over the deaths of John the Baptist and Jesus. Herod was a King. So Manaen may have had a kind of “celebrity;” he’d grown up with King Herod, whom everyone would have known. If you walked into the church at Antioch, someone might have pointed to him and told you: “He grew up with King Herod!”

People are often interested when someone “really knows” someone important, and that becomes their “claim to fame.” There is a man in Oxford who grew up playing with C.S. Lewis’ son Doug Gresham, and that is his “claim to fame.” When we went to England in 2010 he took us on a “C.S. Lewis Tour” of Oxford. So “he grew up with C.S. Lewis’ son” — kind of like Manaen here: “he had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch.”

— “and Saul”: interesting that Saul — still called by that name at this point by the way — is just tossed in at the end, as if he may have been regarded as least at this point — and many commentators believe that is exactly the point! (But that won’t last long!) 

So all of these 5 men were “in the church” at Antioch. They weren’t just living there in the city, they were “in the church.” If we are living somewhere, we ought to be “in the church” there! We should be a part of it, serving and using their gifts.

And these men were using their gifts: it says they were “prophets and teachers.” “Prophet” is basically what we might call a “preacher.” I Corinthians 14:3 gives us a definition of “prophecy” in the New Testament church: “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.” I like that definition! A prophet “speaks to men” to “edify, and exhort, and console” them (and we might add that they would do it from the word of God).  

So some good information about the “characters” here in the church at Antioch, and also a couple of challenges and applications for us:

— Be “in the church” in the place where you live. If you aren’t a member, and involved in a church in the place you live, you ought to be, as these men were. You might use this opportunity to encourage someone to join the church, or to enroll in your church’s membership classes. 

— And once “in the church,” USE the gift(s) that God has given you. These men were “prophets and teachers,” those may not be YOUR gifts, but whatever gifts God has given you, you ought to be employing them in your local church, to minister to people, expand the Kingdom, and glorify God.  

II. The Call (:2-3)

:2 “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. (:3) Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”

FIRST of all, notice WHEN the missionary came to Barnabas and Saul: “while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting.”

— What does “ministering to the Lord” mean? The Greek word “litergeo” is the basis of our word “liturgy” — which means an order of service a minister performs. So basically this means the church was “worshiping.” They were praying to the Lord, singing to the Lord, blessing the Lord (like Psalm 103, “Bless the Lord O my soul …”). 

It might sound odd to us to think that we could “minister to the Lord,” but that is a neat concept. Psalm 149:4 says “For the Lord takes pleasure in His people.” He enjoys it when we sing to Him and worship Him! That might put a new “spin” on our worship for Sunday morning — and our every morning worship at home too: “minister to the Lord” every day in worship, singing, and prayer.

I think it is significant that it was in the midst of their worship that the call from God came. There’s no evidence here that these leaders “set out” to discover God’s leadership for a mission work. They were just “ministering to the Lord and fasting” — just faithfully loving God and doing what they should have been doing — and through that, God called them to this mission.

Isn’t this often the case? Sometimes we obsess with “what is God’s will” for the “big” things in our life? But often, if we will just be faithful in the “little,” everyday things, God will make His will for those “big” things known. 

That’s what He did for me, when I was reading my Bible at OBU over 40 years ago. I didn’t set out to read my Bible to “get called to ministry.” I was just reading His word because I was coming to love it. But through that “every day” reading, He showed me His will. You’re free to use that story if you’d like to. But the point is, God often reveals His will as we go about doing the regular, faithful things He has called us to do. That’s what He did here. They were just “ministering to the Lord and fasting” — and He made His will known to them in a big way! 

It is no “accident” that God’s will was made known to them as they were in the midst of worship! Worshiping God is the most important thing we can do. Everything else we are and do, flows out of worship. 

SO while they were “ministering to the Lord,” “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”

Several things here:

— First, notice the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. He is one of the Persons of God, who is a “Triune” God, one God who exists eternally as three “Persons,” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here the Holy Spirit spoke, and notice it portrays Him as a Person, “Set apart for ME” — “Me” is a person!

— And notice that this Person SPEAKS to His church. The Holy Spirit spoke to them, and He will speak to us too. We need to be careful to discern the Spirit, and as many of us know, He will never tell us anything in contradiction to His word, but He DOES speak! More of us need to listen for the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

— And see His message: “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” This is certainly not an “unBiblical” message: God gives us each gift and callings, and each of us should devote ourselves to do what God has called us to do. 

— And here’s a 4th thing: Barnabas and Saul had a specific call to go on mission. I think it is notable that NOT ALL of the men here WERE CALLED TO GO on the mission: Barnabas and Saul were called to go; but Niger and Lucius and Menaen were to remain where they were.

So this is applicable too: not everyone is called to go overseas on mission! That might sound controversial to the ears of some, but I believe that’s true. That’s what we see here, isn’t it? Some were called to go, but others were not.

This is something that we see repeatedly in scripture: God has given a variety of gifts and callings in His church. As I Corinthians 12 so aptly points out, we are not all the same in the body of Christ: there are “eyes” and “hands” and “feet” and all kinds of body parts; and not all have the same gifts and callings. And honestly, we need to stop making people feel guilty for not doing what God has not called them to do! 

I’ve heard some people promoting missions say things like: “We’ve already got the Great Commission; if you aren’t specifically called to stay, you are to go overseas!” I think that’s one of those sayings that sounds good in a sermon or something, but it’s not really true. We see here these men were specifically set aside for the purpose that God had for them — the missionary endeavor. But the others were not. Surely we have the same kinds of distinctions in our churches today. 

— Does this mean we shouldn’t preach and teach fervently about the need to share the gospel, and to go overseas on mission? Absolutely not! Use this passage and others like it to “call out the called”! 

— But does this mean that every single member of our church is called to go on mission overseas? Honestly, it does not. We often talk about mission work as involving “praying, giving, and going.”  Some are called to leave and GO on mission — but others are called to “hold the ropes” for those who go, through PRAYER and GIVING. And each part of that trio of mission work is important, and necessary. Don’t devalue what God has or has not called someone else to do.  

I think this is also a good word for some people who think that EVERYBODY should be involved in THEIR particular mission project, or their favorite mission destination. I’ve seen some people act as if you weren’t involved in THEIR mission, you weren’t a godly person! But we need to recognize that just like Acts 13 here, God gives different calls to different people, according to His will. Some people may be called be God to support or serve in a different mission than you are. Some may be called to focus on India, others to Bulgaria, others to a local mission or to the youth or children’s ministry. This is why I like to set a number of mission projects and partners before our church, and let them serve as God leads them. And I try to remind them: Not everyone can do all these things; don’t feel guilty if you can’t do ALL these things; no one can actively serve in all of them. You serve in the mission/ministry that God specifically calls YOU to. 

The Holy Spirit told the church at Antioch: “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” They did what GOD called them to do. That is what each of us needs to do: do what God has called YOU to do. He has a specific plan for your life, in which He will use YOUR particular gifts and abilities — and it will be different from the plan and gifts He has given to others in your church. So encourage your members: do what God has called YOU to do.

But you might also include: do NOT take the fact that God has not called us all overseas as an excuse to sit and do nothing. God has not called any of us just to sit in the church and be “spectators.” He’s given us all gifts, and called us all to serve in SOME way. No, you don’t have to go overseas to serve God; but if you don’t, you ought to be serving Him in your “Antioch” right where you are. Some of your members may be “Barnabases and Sauls”, who are called to go overseas on mission. Encourage them to go on that mission trip (this would be a good place to encourage class members to go on an upcoming mission trip your church is sponsoring; have that information ready to hand out). Some may even be called to full time mission work; lay that challenge before them. But also realize that some of your group members are also Nigers and Luciuses and Menaens, who are called to stay where they are. Recognize that all of these are legitimate ways to serve the Lord — the important thing is to hear His specific call for YOUR life, and obey it. 

:3 “Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” 

So what did they do to set Barnabas and Saul apart for the mission?

— fasted

— prayed

— laid their hands on them

This is where we get our “ordination” ceremonies from: we often lay hands and pray on new ministerial candidates or deacons.

But you might also NOTICE the prominent position that FASTING is given in this narrative:

— :2 says this all happened “while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting”

— Then when they were sending them out, :3 says they fasted and prayed again.  

This gives us insight regarding the practice of the early church. There’s a lot of fasting here! They evidently fasted quite a bit.

Our typical Baptist churches? Not so much, right?

A friend told me of a minister from India was once visiting the United States, and after speaking at several churches he asked his host: you American Christians have a lot of fellowships and eating; this is great — but, he asked, “When do you fast?”

That’s a good question. When DO we fast? Fasting had a pretty important place in the practice of the early church — but from my observation, it has not had much of a place at all in our churches in America today — and it probably should. Maybe we would hear powerfully from the Holy Spirit like they did in Acts 13, if we did!

III. The Mission (:4-12)

Then :4-12 detail the first days of the mission itself. This will become what church historians call “Paul’s First Missionary Journey.” 

:4 “So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit” (notice again the prominent place the Holy Spirit has in the early church; let’s make sure He is not the “missing Person of the Trinity” in our churches!)

“they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.”

So I would definitely have a MAP that shows where all these places are. You can get one from the Lifeway Resource Kit, or if you don’t have that, download a map online that you can post: 

So show where they went down to Seleucia, which was a port (Antioch was not) to sail to Cyprus. (Barnabas, as we read earlier, was from Cyprus, so this was not “unfamiliar territory” to him, which may have helped on the mission. 

:5 “When they reached Salamis (which as you can see is on the east side of Cyrprus) they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper.”

— so when they got there they proclaimed the word of God. The word “proclaimed” here is “katangelo.” “angelo” is to share a message (like an angel does); “kata” before it means “down to a point” — Helps word study = i.e., sharing the message in a definite, binding way. They were definite and particular about the gospel message they were sharing! 

— and where did they do this proclaiming? It says “they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.” 

We will see this pattern on these trips. They start with the Jews in the synagogues — then when they are often rejected there, they will move somewhere else, to reach the Gentiles. (Just like Romans 1:16 says, “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek”!)

— then it adds: “and they also had John as their helper. This is “John Mark, whom Acts 12:12 says his mother Mary’s house was where the church met to pray for Peter; and 12:25 says Barnabas and Saul took him with them from Jerusalem to Antioch.” So now he’s gone with them on this “First Missionary Journey.” 

Verses 6-12 then describe a “highlight” from the first part of the mission on Cyprus: the encounter with Elymas the magician.

— :6 says “they had gone through the whole Island as far as Paphos” (show on the map they’re now on the WEST side of Cyprus!) “they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar Jesus.”

This guy is really messed up:

— He was a “magician”

— He was a Jew

— He was a false prophet

— And oddly enough, his name was “Bar-Jesus” (“Bar” the Jewish word for “son.” “Bar-mitzvah” means “son of the commandment,” or one who is now under the Law)

So :7 says this undesirable character “was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulius, a man of intelligence” who wanted to hear the word of God from Barnabas and Saul.

But :8 says “Elymas” (another name for this character) opposed them, and sought to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

BUT THEN :9 marks an important turning point, early in this first mission: 

— “BUT SAUL (who was also known as Paul)” — this is now the first mention that “Saul” would become “Paul.” And then we’ll see from :13, “Now PAUL …” and that is how he is referred to afterwards. So it’s a turning point in that regard — but also much more than that. Because now we also see Saul/Paul becoming very powerful in his ministry and leadership: it says:
“filled with the Holy Spirit, (he) fixed his gaze on him (:10) and said, ‘You who are full of deceit and fraud, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? (:11) 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.”

So the Lord worked a powerful miracle through Paul here. This false prophet was struck blind — a very symbolic punishment: he himself was blind spiritually, and was seeking to keep Sergius Paulius from seeing the ‘light,’ but now he himself was struck with blindness. It was a very ironic punishment.

Dante in his classic Inferno, where he “tours hell” with the writer Virgil, comes to the “8th circle of hell,” where the sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets are, and he sees that their heads have been put on their bodies backwards for all eternity, as an ironic punishment: they sought to “see forward” in the future in an ungodly way, so their punishment was that they now had to walk backwards for all eternity.

And Dante’s ideas are not without merit; we often see in scripture where God gives ironic punishments: many of the judgments on the Egyptians were on the gods they worshiped: they worshiped the Nile, so it was turned to blood; they worshiped frogs — so they got a lot of them! The worshiped the sun, so it was blotted out, and so on. 

That’s the kind of ironic punishment God gave Elymas/Bar Jesus here. He sought to keep Sergius from the light — so now HE HIMSELF would be in the dark for a time. 

But the chastisement God gave had a purpose: 

:12 “Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching on the Lord.”

This wasn’t just a “show;” God used this episode to bring Sergius Paulius to faith in Jesus. 

And that should be the bottom line for the things we do on mission too: we can do a lot of things on mission, but let’s make sure that the end result of them is that we are able to witness to people, and lead them to Jesus. You might take some time to talk about some of your own church’s missions/mission partnerships. What are you doing? Can we see a direct link to how the mission work witnesses to Jesus, and leads people to Him? Like Paul & Barnabas, THAT is what our mission should be all about! 

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