Paul Becomes a Missionary

Acts 13:1-4; 14:8-20

GOLDEN TEXT: “The Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”—Acts 13:2

THE writer of the Book of Acts, narrating an experience of Saul, observes, “who also is called Paul.” (Acts 13:9) It was but natural that the name Saul would always remind the apostle, as well as others, of the time when he so bitterly persecuted the church. It was very fitting that he should now come to be known as Paul. The apostle, however, did not forget his past, except in the sense of not continuing in a wrong course. It was an experience that served well to keep him humble and to help him realize that only by the grace of God had the eyes of his understanding been opened to know the truth; and that only by that same grace was he now permitted to serve the Lord as an apostle. That he should become known among the brethren as Paul, rather than Saul, was a further token of divine favor which doubtless helped somewhat to widen his field of usefulness.

In last week’s lesson we ob served the appropriateness of God’s servants working under the jurisdiction of their local churches. In today’s lesson this thought is emphasized again, the Lord indicating that this is His arrangement for the church. At Antioch there was apparently a fair-sized ecclesia of the saints.

Paul was brought to Antioch from Tarsus by Barnabas and introduced to the congregation, and both of them worked in conjunction with these brethren for a year. Barnabas, previously, had been sent to Antioch by the church at Jerusalem. Having already met Paul in Jerusalem following his conversion, Barnabas conceived the idea of looking him up in his home at Tarsus and inviting him to become a co-laborer. Paul accepted the invitation and together they served with the brethren at Antioch. What a blessed year that must have been. It was a happy time for the brethren, because it was a time of activity.

Then, due to near-famine conditions in the Jerusalem territory, Paul and Barnabas were sent to deliver material aid to the brethren in that vicinity, the brethren in Antioch being instrumental in raising funds for the purpose. It was upon their return to Antioch that the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, indicated His desire that Paul and Barnabas should not limit their service to the Antioch ecclesia, but should go farther afield. “The Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them.”—Acts 13:2

This information was given to he church, and it was the church that, acted as sponsors of these two servants of the Lord. It was done by the laying on of hands. The laying on of hands, as it was practiced in the early church, was quite a different matter from the way it is practiced in the nominal churches of today. It is God, through the Holy Spirit, who ordains ministers of the Gospel. All the ecclesia does is to recognize and sponsor them in their field of service.

So, what really occurred in the church at Antioch was that the ecclesia voted to send Barnabas and Paul out to do a missionary work. Our lesson states that the church was told by the Holy Spirit to do this. The Holy Spirit is not a person. It is the power or influence of God, working through His Word and in connection with divine providences. One of the manifestations of the inworking of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God’s people is that of a loving interest in others.

Our lesson shows that there were a number of teachers in the church at Antioch, probably more than were actually needed in the immediate territory. The brethren would know of the divine commission to preach the gospel in all the world. Their desire to be faithful to the Lord and to co-operate in His plan, would, in itself, prompt them to reach out into a wider field. As both Barnabas and Saul had come to them and blessed them through their ministry; and would have no special home ties in Antioch, they were the logical ones to vote for when considering extension work. Even though this entire action came about in a seemingly natural way, nevertheless it was by the direction of the Holy Spirit.

God’s blessing was upon these two missionaries as they went forth with the gospel. The close of today’s lesson finds them at Lystra, where, as a result of a miracle of healing by which a cripple was given soundness of limbs, the populace concluded that the gods had come among them and they endeavored to offer sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. Naturally, God’s servants did not wish anything like this to be done. It was their business to lead men and women to worship the Creator, the God of heaven and earth. As for themselves, as Paul explained, they were merely men of like passions with others.

The devotional nature of man is a powerful influence in his life, and, when properly directed, leads to true worship. But, under the influence of prejudice and superstition, it can be swayed in wrong directions. It was wrong for the citizens of Lystra to worship Paul and Barnabas, yet, instead of turning to the Creator to worship Him, they swung to the opposite extreme, under the blinding opposition, and hated those to whom they would have offered sacrifice, and tried to kill them. How the god of this world, the devil, can blind his servants!

QUESTIONS:

How did the Holy Spirit indicate that Paul and Barnabas should go into the missionary work?

What is meant by the laying on of hands?

What influence caused the extreme attitudes of the people of Lystra?

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