Acts 13:1-12
The evangelistic outreach and missionary task of the early Church
were directed, controlled and made fruitful by the Holy Ghost. To our heavenly
Father, to Christ, our Saviour and Lord, to the Holy Spirit, our Teacher,
Helper and Comforter, the preaching of the gospel to the untold, unreached,
unsaved is the greatest work He has called us to do on earth. Preaching the
gospel to the lost is God’s work. As God is greater than man, so is God’s work
greater than man’s work. As the spiritual need of man is eternally greater than
his temporal needs, so is labouring to save the souls of men greater than caring
only for their earthly needs. Everyone can, indeed, everyone should have a
part, a significant part, in this great task of preaching the gospel, saving
souls, bringing the lost to Christ and preparing them for eternal fellowship
with God in heaven. We may not all be full-time pastors, evangelists and
missionaries but we must and ought to go beyond labouring only for perishable,
earthly things. While we work to moderately provide for our temporal needs, we
also minister to every creature around us or beyond in foreign lands. How much
of our time, resources, money, vacation, life do we spend caring for ourselves?
Should we spend all only on earthly pursuits? Shouldn’t we live for eternity
and redirect others to turn from perdition to life eternal in Christ? “As
they ministered to the Lord” in the local Church in Antioch, “the
Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have
called them.” The Holy Ghost has not changed. The harvest
field is still ready for harvesters. There is still much work to do. The Holy
Ghost is still speaking. If we listen, willing to obey, we shall hear Him speak
in every local Church.
1. ASSOCIATED APOSTLES WITH A SACRED MANDATE
Acts 13:1,2; 9:26-28; 11:22-26,29,30; 12:24,25; 14:14,15;
Deuteronomy 10:8; Exodus 6:13,26,27; Hebrews 5:4; 1 Samuel 12:8; Matthew
9:35-38; John 4:34-38; Matthew 20:6,7.
“Barnabas and Saul” were among the preachers and
teachers in the Antioch Church. Barnabas was an effective, Spirit-filled
minister who already had a profitable ministry in the Church, both at Jerusalem
and in Antioch (Acts 4:36,37; 9:27; 11:19-24). Saul, too, was already a
faithful and effective minister with a fruitful ministry in Damascus, Jerusalem
and Antioch (Acts 9:22,26-29; 11:25,26,29,30; 12:24,25). These two ministers,
Barnabas and Saul, were not ordinary ministers in the Antioch Church. In
conversion and character, in consecration and commitment, in courage and
conviction, in exposure and experience, in faith and faithfulness, in
intercession and interpretation, in revelation and knowledge, these two
ministers (called Apostles in Acts 14:14) were far above the other ministers in
Antioch. Antioch was an important city. It was considered the third city of the
Roman Empire and the Church there could have thought that sending forth
Barnabas and Saul would create a vacuum which would never be filled. The Holy
Ghost did not send inexperienced, untried ministers to the millions (now
billions) of ignorant, darkened souls in the Gentile world. God sent (and still
sends, today) experienced, equipped, empowered servants of the Lord.
“As they ministered
to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said ...” Waiting on the Lord, ministering in acts of
devotion, meditation, intercession, offering prayer and praise, setting our
affection, love and desires on God, open the door for His revelation.
Ministering to the Lord by prayerfully and meditatively seeking His glory while
we forget ourselves and our pressing needs gladdens His heart and moves Him to
reveal His will, His most urgent will and work to us in clear, unmistakable
terms. “The Holy Ghost said, Separate ME Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them.” Unless we minister unto the Lord, fast
to be weaned from deep, personal desires, we shall be in competition with the
Holy Ghost, holding back “Barnabas and Saul” for the work WE have
assigned them. Let the Church minister unto the Lord in prayer and fasting,
then hearken unto the Lord as He speaks. “Whatsoever He saith unto you,
do it.” Let go of all and let God have all.
2. APPOINTED AMBASSADORS FOR A SPECIFIC MINISTRY
Acts 13:3-5; 6:3-6; 14:21-23; 1 Timothy 5:22;
Titus 1:5-9; 1 Timothy 1:3; Acts 20:28; Colossians 4:17; Acts 26:19,20;
Galatians 1:15,16; Philippians 2:5-8,19-22;
Hebrews 11:24-27.
“And when they had fasted and prayed,
and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” The two seemingly
indispensable ministers were released immediately. “They fasted and
prayed.” Earlier, “they ministered and fasted”. That
devotional exercise prepared them to hear from God and be sensitive to the
voice of the Spirit. This latter prayer and fasting, after knowing the will and
call of God, purged them of any inordinate affection or unscriptural attachment
to God’s servants. They loosened the invisible cord that tied them to the posts
of the Antioch Church, knowing and acknowledging that “the Lord hath need
of them” (Matthew 21:3). So, straightway, “they laid their hands
on them, they sent them away” (Acts 13:3).
“They fasted and prayed.”
Fasting and prayer, when done in the right way, with godly motives and total
abandonment to God’s will, predisposes us to God’s revelation, inclines us to
God’s will, cleanses and purges our hearts of idols in all their forms, sets us
free from the world and its slavish dominion. And “they fasted and prayed”
that God would bless and prosper them in the new and greater assignment. “They
laid their hands on them.” This act of the laying on of the hands of
the remaining leaders of the Antioch Church was not to call, qualify or ordain
them. They were already called, appointed, qualified, equipped and ordained by
God. Paul’s call, appointment and ordination were not by man but by God (Galatians 1:1,10-12; Acts 9:15; 26:16-19; 2
Timothy 1:1). By laying hands on them, they identified with them, releasing and
supporting the divine call and God’s revealed will. “They sent them away.”
“So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia.”
They surrendered wholeheartedly to go where the Spirit appointed and the Church
acknowledged the divine ownership and authority over them. The Holy Ghost sent
them forth as He went with them in great anointing and power.
3. APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY
OVER SUBTLE MISCHIEF
Acts 13:6-12; 2 Timothy 3:8,9; Luke 11:52; Galatians 1:6-12;
2:4,5; 2 Corinthians 10:4,5; 2 Kings 6:12-18; Romans 11:25; 2 Peter 2:12-17;
Acts 11:21;
1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Luke 4:32-36.
Going through the whole
island, they came to Paphos, the capital city of the island. They were
confronted by a Jewish false prophet, a sorcerer, whose name was Barjesus. What
a name! The name means ‘son of Jesus’, ‘son of Saviour’, yet in reality he was
a “child of the devil”, a son of Satan, an “enemy of all
righteousness”, sent and set by Satan “to pervert the right ways
of the Lord”. The deputy of the country, that is, the administrative
officer of the island, had called for Barnabas and Saul so he could be
instructed in the word of God. The sly and subtle false prophet was with the
deputy, closely associated and pretending to know and show the way to God. He
was an agent of Satan, assigned to be the deputy’s religious adviser to keep
him away from God, from salvation, from heaven. He “withstood them,
seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith”. “Then Saul, (who
also is called Paul,)”. This is the first time the name Paul occurs and
the last time the Apostle is called Saul. “Paul, filled with the Holy
Ghost, set his eyes on him.” Paul, full of the Spirit, had the gifts of
the Spirit in full operation. By the discerning of spirits, he declared that
Barjesus was “full of all subtilty and all mischief”.
Though he claimed to be a prophet, he was a sorcerer, a child of the devil, an
enemy of all righteousness, appointed and assigned by Satan to deceive and to
pervert the right ways of the Lord. By the gift of the word of wisdom, Paul
decreed the judgment of blindness rather than casting out the spirit of
sorcery. By the gift of faith and the gift of working miracles, he decreed and
it was established. The anointing broke the deputy’s yoke and released him from
spiritual blindness. He heard the word, he believed and turned from his sins,
he turned to the Lord and believed unreservedly in Christ as his Saviour and
Lord.
