Acts 13:1-3 Patterns from Antioch
Good Morning! Turn with me to Acts chapter 13, verses 1-3, page 921 in the pew Bibles.
Our text for this morning marks a turning point in the life of the early church. Barnabas and Saul had been sent from Antioch to Jerusalem with gifts for famine relief back in chapter 11. Chapter twelve describes the death of James and the miraculous escape of Peter from prison that we looked at last week. And at the very end of chapter twelve, Barnabas and Saul went back to Antioch from Jerusalem, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.
The turning point is that focus from here on out is not Peter and the church in Jerusalem, but instead it is the work of the Holy Spirit through Saul bringing the gospel to the Gentiles throughout the Roman empire.
These few verses are the official start of that shift. Let’s take a look.
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping 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 after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Let’s pray.
Now since this is such an important moment in the life of the Early Church, and since the book of Acts is not just a description of events but a prescription for the church to follow, it is a good idea to get a firm grasp on the principles on display in this brief text.
First, let’s take a look at these five guys, Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul.
Barnabas and Saul we’ve talked about already and they really will be center stage for a while, but what about the other three guys, what do we know about them?
Umm… nothing. Well, almost nothing. There is nothing else written about any of these guys specifically outside of this text, with the exception of maybe Lucius who may have been related to Saul as he mentions a Lucius in Romans 16. It may be the same guy but nothing else was said about him.
What we do know for sure is that, along with Barnabas and Saul, they were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch.
Well, what is a prophet and what is a teacher? Since these are prominent roles in the New Testament and Scripture as a whole, we ought to get a good handle on what these roles are supposed to be.
What’s a prophet?
According to the Greek-English Lexicon based on Semantic Domains by Johannes Louw and Eugene Nida,
There is a tendency in a number of languages to translate “prophetes” only in the sense of ‘one who foretells the future,’ but foretelling the future was only a relatively minor aspect of the prophet’s function, though gradually it became more important.
Patristic authors defined the function of a prophet mainly in terms of foretelling the future. In New Testament times, however, the focus was upon the inspired utterance proclaimed on behalf of and on the authority of God. Accordingly, in a number of languages it is more appropriate to translate “prophetes,” as ‘one who speaks for God.’
A prophet is like the mouthpiece on a trumpet, the Spirit breathes into it, and the trumpet produces the music.
On rare occasions in the New Testament that music had to do with future events. Agabus was mentioned as someone who, by the Spirit, foretold that there would be a severe famine, and as a result Barnabas and Saul were sent to Jerusalem with gifts for the relief of the church back in chapter 11 of Acts. The records of instances like that are rare, but the record of people speaking the truth on God’s behalf are not. A strong case can be made that this is the work of preaching, Spirit inspired utterances proclaimed on God’s behalf.
But what separates that from teaching? After all these men were listed as prophets AND teachers.
The Greek word is didaskalos, which means, “one who instructs.” But not just a teacher in general but a teacher of specific skills. In this case, and in the case of the church ever since, the skills are focused on how to be a disciple of Jesus, how to understand and apply Scripture, this is what we are doing right now.
Saul would later write in Ephesians 4:11 regarding this type of work and its purpose.
11 And he [Jesus] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
The church has always been a team sport and these five guys were leading the team and helping the church grow up into Christ.
And that kind of answers the next question in our text, what were these guys doing?
2 While they were worshiping 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 after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
What does worship look like to you? I wonder which guy was playing the guitar, who was on bass? Manaen on the drums!
In case you didn’t get the subtle hint, worship is so much more than music.
They were worshiping the Lord but the Greek word is more specific, as far as how they were worshiping. The Greek word is: Leitourgeō.
This word is where we get the word liturgy, which means the work of the people.
Leitourgeō means to do a service, perform a work. This word was used of priests and Levites who performed the sacred rites in the tabernacle or the temple. It is also used to describe Christians serving Christ, whether by prayer, or by instructing others concerning the way of salvation, or in some other way such as aiding others with their resources, and relieving their poverty.
Scripture says that they were worshiping the Lord, leitourgeo-ing.
They were living out what Paul would later write in Romans, they were offering their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, they were doing their reasonable acts of worship.
Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul were living out their worship. Luke says that they were prophets and teachers and that they were worshiping the Lord, meaning that they were using their gifts and talents actively when the Holy Spirit spoke to them. They were prophesying, they were teaching, that’s how they were worshiping.
I have to admit that I always had in my mind when I thought about these guys worshiping and fasting is them holed up in an upper room singing and praying and hungry…
Sometimes when we want to hear from God this is what we do isn’t it? We might feel like we have to get away, get all alone in order to hear the Holy Spirit speak to us and direct us, and sometimes we do. But this Scripture reminds us that if we are active in real service to God, using our gifts, talents and abilities, He can speak to us there too.
The principle we find at work here in Acts 13 is that we are to be active in service to Jesus right where we are. The pattern for us to follow is to be active participants in the work of Christ’s church, not just passengers waiting to arrive at our final destination. Just cruising along waiting for Jesus to return is not going to get us a “well done my good and faithful servant!”
While these brothers were faithfully exercising their talents and abilities for the Lord’s glory the Holy Spirit spoke to them and said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
This was not a new call, Jesus said that Saul was His chosen instrument to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit was telling them that it was time to get started. And they fasted, and they prayed, and they laid their hands on them, and they sent them off.
And as a result of their obedience the gospel has made it all the way to West Ossipee, New Hampshire.
May we, as a church family, follow that pattern of faithful obedience, and worship through our work, as we seek to make and mature disciples just like they did for the glory of the Lord Jesus and the growth of His kingdom.
Amen.
