Acts 13:2-3: How To Make It Work

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1)     Acts 13:1-3 – So how do we make it work?

A)   Intro: We are a body made up of different parts, which under normal circumstances is a recipe for disaster.

1)     This is the biggest and most important issue in the entire New Testament: How can we figure out how to operate as one Christian family given that this family is made up of Jews and Gentiles.

2)     Eph. 2:11-19 – The Gospel takes people of all kinds from all places and brings them together under the banner of Christ with ONE shared identity, and ONE shared common mission.

3)     Acts 13 points towards how this can work.

What does the text say?

A)   v. 1 – “prophets and teachers”

1)     cf. 2:42 – “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

2)     We’re going to focus on what God has said.

B)    13:2 – “While they were worshiping the Lord.”

1)     Chart – “worship” is used 81 in the ESV

(a)   The word here is not the normal word for worship, and is only used 3 times in the NT.

2)     BDAG

(a)   gener. ‘perform a public service, serve in a public office’ (in the Gr-Rom. world distinguished citizens were expected to serve in a variety of offices, including esp. as high priests, with all costs that such service involved, or to assume the costs of construction or maintenance of public buildings and production of dramas and games

(b)   the word is also used of less prestigious activity: supply carts and mules

(i)    NOTE: We moved Tracey last week and Paul brought a trailer.

(c)   in our lit. almost exclusively of religious and ritual services

(d)   1. to render special formal service, serve, render service, of cultic or ritual responsibilities

(e)   2. to confer a special material benefit, serve

3)     Only used 3x in the NT

(a)   Acts 13:2

(b)   Rom. 15:27 – “service”

(c)   Heb. 10:11 – “service”

4)     Trans.

(a)   NASU / NKJV – “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting…”

(b)   NET – “While they were serving the Lord and fasting…”

5)     The normal sense of “worship” is to show love, honor, and reverence towards God, which is a part of this for sure; BUT in Antioch they were ACTING. They were SERVING God and doing his work.

C)   13:2 – “…and fasting” v. 3 – “Then after fasting and praying…”

1)     I think most of us probably think about going without food (which is true); but the purpose of fasting is what I want to especially focus on.

(a)   This is not a health or diet situation. Most of our phones have fasting clocks.

(b)   And it is not a self-inflicted punishment situation.

(i)    The Day of Atonement is called The Fast

(ii)  Lev. 16:29

(iii)          ESV – “you shall afflict yourselves” (Text note: shall fast)

(iv) NIV – “you must deny yourselves”

(v)   NASU – “you shall humble your souls”

(vi) This is not “I’m a sinner, so I’m going to hurt myself or afflict punishment and pain upon myself in order to create suffering.”

2)     The primary point of fasting is to have a time of uninterrupted focus and concentration.

(a)   Consider our food situation today:

(i)    Go to the store to get food.

(ii)  Put it in the fridge until we’re ready to eat it.

(iii)          Heat it up in the microwave.

(iv) Eat our meal.

(v)   Throw our dishes in the dishwasher.

(b)   cf. Gen. 18:3-8; 27:1-4 – Preparing food is a major operation.

(i)    You have to get the food.

(ii)  Make it all from scratch.

(iii)          Build a fire and cook it.

(iv) Eat it.

(v)   Clean up your stuff.

3)     Fasting is not just skipping a meal. It’s saying, “I’m going to carve out all of the other things that would have kept me busy and occupied in order to make space specifically for God.”

(a)   Don’t think about fasting just in terms of food.

(b)   “Tomorrow, I’m going to take all the time that I would have spent doing [fill-in-the-blank], and instead, I’m going to carve out that space and give it to God.”

(i)    e.g. You can do eating, but I’m guessing it would be more of an investment if you gave up time on your phone.

(c)   Fasting is like hitting pause button on my normal life, and I’m going to hit the mute button and silence all the noise around me, and I’m going to devote that time ENTIRELY to God, whether it be prayer, or reading (hearing what God has to say), or some other kind of service (like this context: serving and fasting).

(i)    Just think about how many times you’ve checked your phone or your apple watch in just this service.

4)     Come back to the main point: How was this church able to work together in the way that they did?

(a)   Because they made it a habit to clear the noise, and intentionally carve out space in their lives to say, “I’m going to be devoting myself completely and entirely to God and his work here.”

(b)   Imagine something with me. What would it look like if every person who is a part of this church family said, “I’m going to clear out all the noise and all the distractions and everything that pulls me away from God and his people, and I am going to devote myself ENTIRELY to God and his work.”

(c)   It’s not hard for us to do an objective evaluation on this.

(i)    Scroll back through your social media and see what your attention has been devoted to.

(ii)  Take a look at Screen Time on your phone.

(iii)          Look back through your calendar, or your checkbook.

(iv) Ask – What if all of that space and noise were cut out and completely devoted to God instead?

(d)   This is what the church in Antioch was doing.

D)   13:3 – “they laid their hands on them and sent them off”

1)     I like the concept of identification with…

(a)   e.g. Sacrifices in the OT

(i)    Lev. 1:4; 3:2

(ii)  Explanation – Lev. 16:21-22

(b)   God never intended for people to drop off their sacrifices and move on with their lives. These were symbolic acts that the sacrificer was intended to identify with. “That’s not just a goat…that’s me…I’m identified with that goat.”

2)     FF Bruce – “Their colleagues laid their hands on them, and sent them away with their blessing and goodwill. The laying on of hands in this instance imparted to Barnabas and Saul no spiritual gift or authority that they did not already possess; but by this means the church of Antioch, through its leaders, expressed its fellowship with them and recognized them as its delegates or ‘apostles.’ They were sent out by the whole church, and it was to the whole church that they made their report when, in due course, they returned to Antioch (14:26–27).”

3)     This trip was not something that Paul and Barnabas and Mark were doing. It was something that the church in Antioch was doing.

4)     The point of this lesson: We’re all going to identify with the mission. We’re different parts of the same body; but the goal of the body is the goal of each individual part of the body.

(a)   We have what we have FOR the Gospel and building up the body of Christ.

(i)    1 Cor. 12:7 – “for the common good”

(ii)  1 Cor. 14:5 – “so that the church may be built up”

(iii)          1 Cor. 14:12 – “strive to excel in building up the church”

(iv) 1 Cor. 14:26

(b)   Eph. 4:11-13

E)    Pride and selfishness are the enemies of this body.

1)     Something happens in this chapter that we’re going to see for the rest of the book.

2)     Up to this point, Barnabas has been a major character:

(a)   9:27 – Barnabas incorporated Paul into the Jerusalem church.

(b)   11:25 – Barnabas sought out Paul to work at Antioch.

(c)   11:30 – The Antioch church sent money to Jerusalem by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

(d)   12:25 – Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem

(e)   13:1 – Prophets and teachers: Barnabas (first), Saul (last)

(f)    13:2 – “Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”

(g)   13:7 – The Cyprian proconsul “summoned Barnabas and Saul”

3)     Then, 13:13 – “No Paul and his companions”

(a)   From here on, we’ll see a lot of “Paul and Barnabas”

(b)   We don’t know why Mark left the group later, but one theory is that he didn’t like that his cousin, Barnabas, was not being treated with the rightful appreciation that he deserved. He was Barnabas, after all!

4)     The big question for this lesson is, “How did 1st century Christianity work with so many different kinds of people from who would not naturally work well together?”

(a)   Answer: Only by following the self-sacrificial, humble, servant model that Jesus set for his people.

(b)   There is no room for pride and selfishness in the work.

(c)   Think about all the church problems you’ve seen through the years and ask, “How many of those had a root cause in someone’s pride and selfishness?” I bet it’s most.

(d)   This was the core problem that caused 1 Cor. 12-14 to be written in the first place.

5)     POINT: Use what you ARE and what you HAVE for building up the body of Christ, rather than being jealous of and striving for what you are NOT and what you DON’T HAVE.

Summary: How are we going to make it work?

1)     We are devoted to the apostle’s teaching, which excludes everything else that is likely to cause problems among God’s people.

2)     Our work is to serve the Lord.

3)     We need to clear the noise, and drill down and focus on God in order to hear what he has to say.

4)     We work together as a unified body of God’s people.

5)     We cut out all pride and selfishness. There’s no room for it in this project, and it’s only going to cause problems.