Barnabas and Saul Set Apart For God's Work

INTRO

One of the main visions of Revive School is to paint a complete picture of the Messiah in all 66 books of the Bible. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said He had not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them. That’s what we get to see—the fulfillment of Scripture come to life. In this chapter, we make a radical shift from Peter’s life to Paul’s missionary journeys. Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The church began in Jerusalem and then spread to cities, including Samaria, Damascus, Caesarea, and Antioch in Syria. At least 40 different cities are named in Acts.”¹In Acts 1:8, Jesus had told the disciples to spread the gospel in Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Now we see this expansion in the book of Acts. Henry Martyn said, “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we must become.”²Spending time with Jesus naturally overflows into telling others about Him. Act 13—14 covers Paul’s first missionary journey, which included six cities. Paul started in Antioch and ended in Antioch. Acts 15—18 covers Paul’s second missionary journey, which occurred in AD 50–52 and took about 18 months. Acts 18—21 covers Paul’s third missionary journey, which took two years and three months. Paul made these journeys as he worked out his calling to take God’s name to the Gentiles, kings, and Israelites (Acts 9:15).

TEACHING

Acts 13:1–3: Saul (Paul) and five other men were fasting and praying when the Holy Spirit told them, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to” (v. 2). Barnabas and Saul were sent on the first missionary journey. They had fasted, which meant they had given up food (not other forms of fasting common to us today). The men “laid hands on them.” Both Nelson’s Commentary and John MacArthur said that in the Old Testament, when someone offered an animal for sacrifice, he laid hands on the sacrifice as a method of identifying with the sin he placed on the animal.3 In the same way, when Jesus healed people, He typically put hands on the people. This little group of men put hands on Barnabas and Saul when they prayed for them.

Acts 13:4–5: The first missionary journey included stops in Seleucia, Cyprus, and Salamis. Much of Paul’s journey took place on the water, so Paul had to be a skilled sailor. Cyprus was Barnabas’s hometown. Throughout the missionary journeys, they went to the Jewish synagogues to preach.

Acts 13:6–12: Barnabas and Saul went through the whole island sharing the good news. When they arrived in Paphos, they encountered a sorcerer who opposed them when Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, summoned them to share the gospel with him. In verse 9, Saul was identified as Paul for the first time. Saul was his Hebrew name and Paul was his Roman name. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul stared at the sorcerer and called him the son of the devil who was filled with deceit and fraud and an enemy of righteousness. Paul said God’s hand was against him and would cause him to be blind. When the proconsul saw this, he believed in the Lord.

Acts 13:13: In Paul’s missionary journeys, he never changed the message of the gospel, but he did change his methods based on his environment. We have to be willing to do the same thing to share the gospel. When they reached Perga, John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. Something happened in Paphos that caused John Mark to desert Paul and Barnabas. Wiersbe described some possible reasons: maybe he was homesick, maybe he didn’t like the Gentiles coming to know the Lord, maybe he just didn’t like Paul, or maybe he was afraid of the danger they would face in Perga.4 No matter the reason, Paul lost a part of his team.

Acts 13:14–15: Paul and Barnabas then reached Antioch in Pisidia. They had travelled more than 100 miles north and more than 600 feet in elevation to reach this city. On the Sabbath, they went to the synagogue and sat down (v. 14). After the synagogue leaders read from the Law and the Prophets, they invited Paul and Barnabas to speak.

3 John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005), p. 1459; Earl Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, and H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary: Acts (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), p. 1394.
4 Wiersbe, p. 365

Acts 13:16–25: These verses contain Paul’s first sermon. He gave a brief history of how God had chosen Israel and brought them into the land of Canaan, where he destroyed seven nations. Deuteronomy 7:1 says God wiped out the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This all took about 450 years (v. 20). Paul referenced the Old Testament and the history of his people group—the Israelites. Paul said God then gave them judges, Samuel the prophet, and when they demanded a king, God gave them King Saul. After 40 years, God removed Saul as king and gave them David, “a man loyal to Me, who will carry out all My will” (v. 22). Then from David’s descendants, “God brought the Savior, Jesus, to Israel” (v. 23). Paul also described John the Baptist’s role as the forerunner of Jesus (vv. 24–25). In this part of his sermon, Paul described the preparation God had made for the promised Messiah.⁵

Acts 13:26–37: Next, Paul made a declaration to his audience.⁶Paul said God’s message of salvation had been sent to them (v. 26), but they condemned Him (v. 27) and asked Pilate to kill Him (v. 28). They then took Him down from the cross and put Him in a tomb (v. 29); but God raised Him from the dead (v. 30), and He subsequently appeared to many (v. 31). First Corinthians 15:6 says Jesus appeared to more than 500 witnesses. In the process of making this declaration, Paul quoted from Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 55; and Psalm 16:10. Paul constantly tied his message back to the Old Testament.

Acts 13:38–52: Paul finally makes a personal application.7 Through Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you (v. 38). Paul gave everyone an opportunity to put their trust in Jesus Christ because everybody who believes in Him is justified. As people believed in the gospel, the Jews saw the crowds, and they opposed what Paul preached by insulting him (v. 45). Paul and Barnabas responded by saying they spoke God’s message to the Jews first, but since the Jews rejected Jesus, they would turn to the Gentiles (v. 46). They clearly knew their mission—to take the message to the Gentiles. That’s what happened in the first missionary journey.

CLOSING

This chapter shows Paul living out Acts 1:8 and Acts 9:15. When we study Acts 14 tomorrow, we’ll see the missionary journey continue.