ACTS CHAPTER 15:36-16:7, “The
Second Missionary Journey Begins Amiss”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last two studies, we
looked at the Jerusalem Council which came about as a result of some Judaisers
who came unsanctioned from the church in Jerusalem and told the believers at
the church in Antioch of Syria, who were primarily Gentiles, that in addition
to believing in Christ that they also had to be circumcised and keep the Law of
Moses in order to be saved.
1.1.1.
We saw how Paul and Barnabas
and some others then journeyed to
1.1.2.
The
1.1.3.
The church councils were
always called in order to determine correct doctrine after false teachers had
infiltrated the church with heretical teachings
1.1.4.
The Jerusalem Council then
determined that the Lord Himself had unequivocally demonstrated and revealed
that salvation was by faith in Christ, plus nothing, and thus the council
drafted a letter and sent it back to the church in Antioch of Syria, affirmming
their decision
1.1.5.
So, then we saw that the
church in Antioch of Syria rejoiced greatly that they were not required to
follow the many ceremonial laws of Moses, nor the additional laws of the
Pharisees, but that they were fully accepted and given eternal life by their
trusting in Christ for salvation
1.1.5.1.It was then on the heals of this tremendous mountain top experience,
and the rejoicing in all that God was doing, that the events of our section of
scripture that we will study today occurred
2.
VS 15:36 - “36
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the
brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how
they are.”” - Paul and Barnabas
decide that it would be a good idea to go and visit the brethren in all of the
cities from their first missionary journey
2.1.
This second
missionary journey begins very differently than the first one. Let me jog your memory back to the events
leading to the first missionary journey.
At that time, the church was not sitting around in committees conjuring
up grand schemes for world evangelization, rather they were just spending their
time ‘ministering to the Lord’ as they were continually in worship, fasting,
and prayer. Then, the Holy Spirit spoke
to them and told them to ‘release’ Paul and Barnabas for the ministry, and thus
the men were sent out by the Holy Spirit, and we saw that man really had no
voice at all in their being sent out.
Then, at every step of the way during that first missionary journey, it
was obvious that the Holy Spirit was leading them, as much fruit was born
albeit amidst much persecution.
2.1.1.
However, the
second missionary journey occurred after what really was a great triumph and
vindication of Paul and Barnabas and their ministry to the Gentiles, by the
mother church in
2.1.1.1.I have heard both Chuck
Swindoll and Chuck Smith separately say that the time when a pastor really
needs to be careful and keep his guard up is when there have been great
victories and God is using him in a big way, or in other words after the
‘mountain top’ experience in ministry.
2.1.1.2.Also, I think that all of us as Christians have
experienced times where we found out that the things that seem to us to be ‘good
ideas’, turn out not to be good at all.
2.2.
As we study this missionary journey we will see that for the most part
this journey did not accomplish the goal which Paul initially desired, of going
to the brethren in all of the cities from the first missionary journey and
encouraging and strengthening them:
2.2.1.
This journey
began with strife which was not resolved in a proper manner between Paul and
Barnabas, as each one took a partner and went on their own journey, Barnabas
with John Mark and Paul with Silas. They
literally broke fellowship with each other.
2.2.2.
Then things
continued to be amiss, for it seemed that everywhere that Paul desired to go
and preach the gospel, the Holy Spirit forbade him to go.
2.2.3.
Paul ended up
going into many areas which he had not
gone previously, especially the Macedonian area, after he had received a dream
of a man requesting their help.
2.2.4.
We know
nothing at all about what became of Barnabas’ journey, and he sort of fades out
of the picture.
2.3.
As we study
the second missionary, we are immediately struck by the fact of the humanity of
these men of God.
2.3.1.
The Bible is
always straight forward and records the wonderful deeds done by God’s servants
as well as their great moral failures, it never candy-coats the things that the
men and women of God did.
2.3.1.1.The writer of the book of
Acts could have spun this whole incident between Paul and Barnabas in a
positive light and mentioned that Paul felt led to go one direction and
Barnabas another, and thus twice the amount of ministry was accomplished than
they originally had planned, but the Bible doesn’t tell its stories by
candy-coating them.
2.3.1.2.The Bible tells its stories in this sort of way
because, as Ken Ortiz has pointed out, “The hero of the Bible is
always God, not men.”
2.3.2.
These men
were ‘apostles’ of the early church, and in the highest places of leadership,
and though often times people tend to place the apostles of the Bible up on a
pedestal, it is obvious from this story that these men both made wrong choices
concerning their conduct.
2.3.2.1.We Christians should be encouraged that God can use
men who sometimes get in the flesh, sin, and do not listen to His voice in
their lives as they ought to.
2.3.2.2.We need to realize that disagreements and conflicts
can occur in the church, even between men of the best of intentions, and men
who are spiritually mature and leaders within the church.
2.3.3.
We should
likewise be encouraged that even when God’s servants make bad choices, of which
there are some grave consequences, in the end the Lord works through their lives
in spite of it, and He brings some good out of the situation.
3.
VS 15:37-40 - “37
And Barnabas was desirous of taking John, called Mark, along with them also. 38
But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted
them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose
such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas
took Mark with him and sailed away to
3.1.
John Mark,
who had deserted them during a difficult part of the first missionary journey,
was a nephew or cousin of Barnabas, and because of his close relationship with
John Mark, Barnabas wanted to give John Mark another chance and allow him to
accompany them during this journey.
However, Paul felt that a man who had done what John Mark had done on
the first missionary journey could not be trusted, plus he probably remembered
the Lord’s words in Luke 9:62 where it is written, “62 But Jesus
said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is
fit for the kingdom of God.””
3.2.
We cannot
underestimate the sharpness of this contention that arose between Paul and
Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas actually
broke fellowship with each other over this issue, and as they departed from each
other, they were both in the wrong, and both ‘in the flesh’ and not filled with
the Holy Spirit.
3.3.
There are
many opinions that men have come to about who was wrong, Paul or Barnabas,
however I believe that both men were in the wrong because of the way that they
handled the situation, and thus I believe that eventually God dealt
individually with each man and that at some later time these men were very
repentant and sorrowful for their conduct.
3.3.1.
The church in
3.3.2.
Barnabas has
been criticized because the narrative says that he was the one who departed and
when his own way.
3.3.3.
However, many
people side with the sympathies of Barnabas and feel that Paul should have been
more willing to give a brother a second chance.
3.4.
Regardless of where we stand on who was right, Paul or
Barnabas, we can still learn many things from what occurred:
3.4.1.
The
weaknesses and failings of men are usually shadows of their strengths.
3.4.1.1.We see this in the fact that Paul’s great strength was
in his whole and complete devotion to the Lord which permitted no
compromise.
3.4.1.1.1.The shadow of this strength is seen in Paul refusing
to trust again a man who had looked back after plowing, and therefore was not
worthy of the calling.
3.4.1.2.The great strength of Barnabas was his gift of
encouragement, in which he was always moved out of compassion to encourage and
strengthen his brothers and sisters.
3.4.1.2.1.The shadow of this strength is seen in Barnabas
perhaps having his judgment clouded when he trusted that this time John Mark
would not turn and flee from the mission field because the work was
difficult.
3.4.2.
Paul and
Barnabas should have worked out this difficulty without separating from each
other.
3.4.2.1.What they did was not Christ-like, nor gave glory to
God. For many years after there was a
rift between Paul and Barnabas and they did not work together.
3.4.2.2.One of them should have given in to the other for the
sake of resolving the conflict, or they should have agreed upon some middle
ground of compromise.
3.4.3.
In spite of
the wrong that was done by Paul and Barnabas, we can see that the Lord worked
the circumstances for good in the lives of Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark.
3.4.3.1.We can see how this sternness of Paul was used in John
Mark’s life, as he eventually wrote the gospel of Mark, where Jesus is
portrayed as being the perfect servant.
3.4.3.2.We see fruit produced in Paul’s life when he wrote
many things in his subsequent epistles that deal with putting aside selfishness,
and the importance of maintaining unity within the church:
3.4.3.2.1.For instance, in Philippians 2:1-11, Paul wrote
under inspiration of the Spirit, what I believe are many lessons which he
learned right here in this conflict with Barnabas, “2:1 If therefore
there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if
there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make
my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in
spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,
but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important
than himself; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but
also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was
also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not
regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking
the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being
found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him,
and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and
under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
3.4.4.
We Christians must be people of prayer, and all new ministry endeavors
that we consider, must be bathed in prayer as we spend time worshipping the
Lord and waiting upon Him to reveal clearly to us His leading in regard to the
new ministry.
3.4.5.
The Lord
worked good of the situation because of the fact that two missionary journeys
were accomplished and we presume the work accomplished was doubled.
3.5.
Many years
later Paul in his letters speaks very warmly and affectionately of Barnabas,
and he even requests that John Mark be sent to him since he was very helpful to
him in his ministry. So, these men
eventually worked things out between themselves in a Christ-like manner.
3.6.
There are many lessons which we Christians must learn
and apply to our lives from this incident with Paul and Barnabas:
3.6.1.
We must never
allow selfishness and pride cause us to refuse to work out a peaceful result to
a conflict with a brother or sister in Christ.
We must be willing even to suffer loss in order to resolve some
crisis’s. However, there are other times
when we must hold to a position that we are sure that the Lord does not want us
to compromise.
3.6.2.
One of the pastors that I served under for 7 years during my early
Christian walk used to always tells us that in the church that we must never
use the excuse of having a ‘personality conflict’ with another brother or
sister, for not loving each other and being able to work together in the
church. I have realized over time the
wisdom in his words.
3.6.3.
Proverbs 13:10 says, “only by pride comes contention”, and when we see a situation
where contention arises between people in the church, we can be sure that the
source of that contention is ‘pride’.
3.6.3.1.In James 4:1-2, which Allen taught at our
men’s Bible study a week ago, we saw that James pointed out that the source of
quarrels and contentions within the church, it is our own fleshly
self-centeredness and lust, “4:1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts
among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2
You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot
obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.”
3.6.3.2.Whenever we find ourselves
in conflicts and contentions, we ought to ask the Lord where our pride and
fleshly self-centeredness might be involved in that, for even if we are for the
most part in the right, there is often just below the surface a motive that is
really of pride and selfishness, and thus impure.
3.6.4.
We must be
filled with and led by the Holy Spirit, for only thus we will be walking in a
manner that is pleasing to God, for when we are filled with the Spirit, Christ
is on the throne of our lives, not us, and thus we will not have motives of
pride and selfishness.
3.6.4.1.You see, to be ‘filled’ with the Holy Spirit means to
be controlled by the Holy Spirit, to have Him behind the wheel and steering the
car, so to speak (see Eph. 5:18 where Paul contrasts being out of control with
drunkenness to being filled with the Holy Spirit).
3.6.5.
We must
recognize that every Christian may not see every situation in the way that we
see it, and we must extend to them “grace” seeing that they may have a
difference of opinion about truth that is not essential to the Christian life.
3.6.5.1.People’s gifts of the Holy
Spirit dictate what they believe should be done with people, in a ministry
sense, and I believe that much of this conflict between Paul and Barnabas
occurred because of their different spiritual gifts. Barnabas, who had the gift of mercy as thus
his knick-name was ‘Son of Encouragement’, was convinced that they just needed
to hang in there with young John Mark and forebear him in his weaknesses, and
that the Lord would work in his life.
However, Paul having the spiritual gift of ‘prophesy’, a leadership
gift, he didn’t see that as a priority at all.
3.6.5.1.1.In some ways, a person with
the gift of leadership as had Paul, approaches situations from the mentality of
a ‘field general’ who sees the battle to be won and knows that he must do
whatever is necessary in order to win, even if it means sacrificing a few men
here and there.
3.6.5.1.1.1.With the gift of leadership
which Paul had, I’m sure that sometimes he would rub others the wrong way, and
he may have sometimes been an unpleasant person to be around.
3.6.5.1.2.The first few years of my marriage, this was one of
the lessons that became so come clear to me.
My wife and I are opposites in our spiritual gifts, and even today if
you were to bring up 100 subjects even just in conversation, my wife and I
would disagree about a large percentage of them. My wife and I would often, and still do
sometimes today, disagree about how a situation should be handled. In those times, my wife and I have learned
that just because the other one doesn’t see a situation just like we see it, it
doesn’t necessarily mean that either one of us is wrong or that we aren’t
seeking the Lord in a matter. We have
many times just agreed to disagree about a situation, and on other times I as
the head of our marriage have felt that before the Lord I had to make and hold
to a decision that my wife did not agree with.
My wife and I have grown through all of these years and the many
disagreements, to love and trust each other.
3.6.5.1.2.1.The other day, an old friend of mine sent me and
several other of his Christian friends an email asking us a hypothetical
question about whether we would allow our 16 year old daughter to do something
that he and his wife of 25 years were disagreeing about. She thought it would be perfectly fine for
their daughter to do this, and he thought it would be horribly wrong. So, he thought that if he sent out this
email, that given enough input from their trusted Christian friends, he would
be able to use this to convince his wife that he was right. It turned out that she ended up agreeing with
his position in the end, and after reading all of the responses they
received.
3.6.5.1.3.This is what should happen in the church, however so
many times believers are living so much in the flesh life they are not willing
to die to self and thus be able to resolve conflicts when they come, so they
just run off and join another church when a contention arises.
3.6.5.1.3.1.In our society, when problems arise in our marriage we
dump our spouse and find another spouse.
When problems arise at work, we dump our company and get another
job. When a conflict occurs at church,
we dump our church and find another church.
When difficulty occurs in a friendship, we dump our friendship and find
other friends. This worldly attitude
that the church has picked up is so wrong.
3.6.5.1.3.2.The church is deeply affected by this selfish and worldly
attitude, for the last several years statistics have shown that the divorce
rate among Christians in the church is just as high as it is in the rest of the
world. I even heard the other day that
the rate in the church has now actually risen higher than the rate of those
outside of the church.
3.6.6.
The church
must never give up on a young believer who takes a fall. God uses men again after they have fallen, as
so many of the Bible stories reveal to us.
3.6.7.
The churches
job, as Paul writes in Gal. 6:1 is to restore those who fall in a spirit of
gentleness.
3.7.
We Christians
sometimes will find that only after many years we see the fruit from a very
difficult ministry which the Lord had us perform. We need to be encouraged that the Lord will
cause his servants lives to count for His kingdom if they will just allow Him
to work through them in the way that He is wanting to work.
3.8.
Last week we saw Silas had gone from the mother church in
4.
VS 16:1 - “6:1 And he came also to Derbe and to
Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a
Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, 2 and he was well
spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra
and Iconium.” - Paul and Silas come to Derbe and Lystra and
meet up with Timothy
4.1.
Paul, showing
again his bravery, went right back to the area where he had been stoned on the
first missionary journey.
4.2.
We see that
there is one very tremendous fruit that was reaped by Paul as a result of his
being stoned there in Lystra. It appears
that Timothy had been converted during that stay of Paul.
4.2.1.
Timothy now
will become perhaps the greatest asset to the ministry of Paul. Paul and Timothy go on to have such a
relationship with one another that Paul called him his son in the faith, and
said that he served him as a son serves his father.
4.2.2.
Timothy had
been raised by a godly woman of Jewish background, although his father was a
Greek. This combination of Jewish and
Greek heritage in Timothy suited Paul perfectly since he had a similar
heritage, and since he had been called to take the gospel to the Gentiles.
4.2.2.1.Christian mothers need to be encouraged by the example
of the godly mother of Timothy. Even
though his father was not a believer, Timothy’s mother was faithful to raise
him up to know and walk in the ways of the Lord, and thus the Lord had prepared
him to be the pastor that God called him to be.
4.2.3.
Timothy had
all of the qualifications necessary to make him a good pastor and missionary,
and we see here that he was ‘well spoken of by the brethren’ in the
church.
4.2.4.
Paul wrote
two of his epistles to this young man, and he referred to the fact that Timothy
had been given a gift by the laying on of hands. This gift may have been the gift of pastoring
and having a pastor’s heart, since he seems to be the prototype of a pastor in
every sense.
5.
VS 16:3-4 - “3
Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him
because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father
was a Greek. 4 Now while they were passing through the cities, they were
delivering the decrees, which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders
who were in
5.1.
Paul has been
criticized by some for compromising in having Timothy circumcised, as if he had
compromised himself, however we know from Paul’s writings that he only did such
things so that he could win even more people to Christ.
5.1.1.
In other
words, Paul had this circumcision performed so that he could “become all things
to all men”, and so that the more people could be saved.
5.2.
Paul and his
companions were traveling around and delivering the letter from the church in
6.
VS 16:5 - “5
So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in
number daily.” - The Gentile
churches were growing strong in Christ
6.1.
We see from
this verse the tremendous revival that was going on among the Gentile churches
where Paul was preaching the gospel.
They ‘were being strengthened in the faith’ as a result of the ministry
of Paul and Silas, and ‘were increasing in number daily’.
7.
VS 16:6-7 - “6
And they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden
by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; 7 and when they had come to
Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not
permit them;” - They passed through
the Phyrgian and Galatian regions, however the Holy Spirit revealed that they
were not to go there
7.1.
We see the
Holy Spirit in this chapter often forbidding them to go to a particular region
and preach the gospel. The Lord wants to
have the gospel to go to the whole creation, however everything must be done
according to His timing. In these cases,
the Lord knew that the hearts of the people were not at the ripe point most
expedient for that work to begin.
7.2.
We do not
know the way in which the Holy Spirit made His mind known to Paul, however it
does not seem to have been an audible voice in which he heard.
7.3.
As was
mentioned at the outset of this chapter, from the very beginning this second
missionary journey began on the wrong foot, and from that beginning point of
contention between Paul and Barnabas things did not progress smoothly.
7.3.1.
It seemed
that there was a hindrance in their ministry with every step.
7.4.
The ‘Spirit
of Jesus’ is just another title for the Holy Spirit, the third person of the
trinity.
7.5.
Paul in his
epistle to the Galatians mentions that the reason that he went to
7.6.
This second
missionary journey had not been conceived by the Lord in prayer as had the
first one, and the encumbrances during the trip could only be overcome by
prayer.
7.6.1.
We Christians
must be conscientious to bathe all of our efforts in much prayer.
7.6.2.
Our focus
must always be that we must pray for the Lord to bring down all of the
encumbrances to our ministry as they appear.
7.6.3.
G.
Campbell Morgan writes, “Here
is the revelation of the fact that the Spirit guides, not by flaming visions
always, not by words articulate in human ears;
but by circumstances, by commonplace things, by difficult things, by
dark things, by disappointing things.
The Spirit guides and molds and fashions all the pathway. The important thing, however, is that the man
whom the Spirit will guide is the man who is in the attitude in which it is
possible for the Spirit to guide him. So
we look again at this man, and we find an attitude of life revealed. It is that of loyalty to the Lord, faith in
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and constant watchfulness. There is where we too often fail. It is when a man is in fellowship with the
Lord that he sees that the disappointment and the difficulty are also under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the
watcher for the Lord who sees the Lord.
If we make up our minds that the way of guidance is the way of flaming
vision, and rolling thunder, and an articulate voice, and a lifting to a height
of ecstasy, then we may never be guided.
But if we are watching for Him, we shall find Him guiding us in the day
of difficulty, in the day of disappointment, in the day of darkness when it
seems as though the rhythmic and majestic flow of the river has ceased, and we
are in crosscurrents, and are tempest-tossed.
The Holy Spirit forbade proconsular
7.6.4.
We Christians
often miss seeing the Lord working in our lives because we have preconceptions
and expectations of what He is or should be doing in our life. We must get to the point where we realize
that we probably have no clue what the Lord may be doing in our lives, but we
are just open to Him, looking to Him, in prayer to Him, and trying to see the hand
of the Lord which we do not expect.
Then, we shall also make the best of the difficulties in our lives,
because we shall see that they are just opportunities to trust the Lord,
opportunities to exercise our faith and see how that the Lord may choose to use
us.