Acts 13 the characters in the story

Some of my fondest memories growing up are stories from church. 

The church I grew up in was full of people of many different characters and talents.

What is most fun is to think of the stories that we tell when we sit back and think about those times.

We had many colorful people in our congregation.  One man claimed that he was not sleeping but just resting his eyes.

One Sunday morning he rested his eyes so hard that his arm slipped off the arm rest and he fell over into the aisle.

We had one man that bit his mule one time when his mule bit him.

One church outing that we had I realized that one of our members was a very talented buck dancer. 

Another could yoodle with the best of them.

All I am trying to say is the church is made up of folks with personalities and lives that enrich the church.

I believe that God wants us to enjoy each other – to have joy and laughter as we labor together.

In today’s lesson I will focus in on some of the characters of the story and the drama that went on.

Sometimes we focus on a text and act like the people talked about in the Scripture were not real people just like us. 

The reason the Bible is so relevant is that it shows us people that make mistakes, that cry, that hurt, that rejoice.

In Islam it is taught that none of their prophets can make a mistake or sin.

We just know that that is not true. 

The bible is filled with flawed human beings.

Abraham lies at times.

Jacob can be deceptive.

Moses looses his temper

David falls as a victim of lust

All of these stories show real people with real problems and real sin.

We are back in Acts 13 and we are looking at Paul’s first missionary journey.

Paul’s missionary Journeys are a major transition in Acts.

My hope and prayer is that through this study of Acts you have a pretty good handle in understanding this book.

I would hope you have developed a mental outline of this book.

The Gospel started in Jerusalem – at Pentecost

Peter preaches that sermon- we see a Jerusalem Church that grows fast and is strong

It is persecuted and scatters

The Gospel goes to Samaria – the hate Samaritans become Christians

Then it goes to a proselyte from Ethiopia

And in chapter 10 we see a huge transition with the Gospel now going to the Gentiles

Today’s sermon is about another big transition  - this is where we really start to explore Paul’s missions.

We have spent a few weeks looking at Antioch – their fasting – the encouragement of Barnabas – Paul’s traveling mate

Last week we saw the Church at Antioch get ready to send out missions.

They prayed and fasted as they searched for God’s will in these things.

Now I want to look at the missions of Paul.

Transitions are nothing new to us – we all go through them in our personal lives.

We undergo personal transition – childhood, adulthood, marriage, children, retirement – we are constantly undergoing transition.

This happens on the national level.  It is happening right now in world history.

We are living in days of transition in the Kingdom of God.

For nearly 200 years, the West – particularly the USA and the UK – have been the bastion of Biblical faith.

The seat of influence is transitioning east, as China will become the leading Christian nation in a few decades. Korea is already arguably more evangelical than the U.S.

Transitions as to the epicenter of God's working are not new.

This section is a turning point in the Book of Acts.

• New center: Antioch (Syria) instead of Jerusalem

• New central personality: Paul instead of Peter

• New direction: Targeting both Jews (first) and then Gentiles instead of targeting Jews but not turning away gentiles

• I call this section, "Paul Launches Out: The First Missionary Journey, Acts 13:1-15:35."

So this first missionary journey of Paul encompasses Acts 13:1 through Acts 15: 35

This is important to know and understand as you try to read through Acts.

So what are some lessons we can learn as Paul sets out on this missionary journey

We have already explored that this began with prayer and fasting – they prayed and fasted before he was sent out.

But one thing that we tend to leave out is the personalities involved in the First missionary Journey of Paul

What if I said today we as a church will undertake a mission to the Western U.S. 

Which by the way is one of the largest English speaking non-Christian cultures in the world today.

But just for the sake of our sermon we are going out west to plant churches.  We are going on  a circuit of Washington,  Oregon, California, and Nevada.

Do you think that would take a lot of people to make that happen?  Just average folks that would have to do tons of work for that mission to take place.

You see the Bible was written in a time when writing materials were very expensive, to produce a book like Acts would cost possibly thousands of dollars.

Through the inspiration of the Spirit the book would be very concise and to the point.  It gives us details but not every detail.

Today I first want to think about the average people that had to make this mission possible. 

Think about if we desired here at Mimosa to send missionaries out from this congregation what that would look like.

We would find men that were full of the Holy Spirit and full of passion for the Gospel.

It would be a story that we would tell others about.

There would be personalities – real people involved.

One of my favorite things to do is to hear stories about how churches once were.

I love the old stories that my grandfather told me about his childhood – about growing up and the farming life.

He told me stories of relatives that I never knew and I was always amazed at the personalities involved.

Sometimes we loose track of the fact that the Bible is full of real human people that struggle like we do, hurt like we do, laugh and cry like we do,

We don’t need to forget that.

Acts 12: 25- Acts 13: 1

25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.

1Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers : Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

So in this passage we have Paul and Barnabas along with John Mark returning to Jerusalem and they come to Antioch.

We know that Paul and Barnabas had a relationship with this church at Antioch

In Acts 11 we see that Barnabas goes and finds Paul and brings him to Antioch.

For a year Paul and Barnabas teach in this church at Antioch.

So Paul and Barnabas had roles as teachers in this church.

But there are more people mentioned here in this passage.

We know about Barnabas and Paul so what about the others?

We need to realize that these names are here for a reason, the Bible doesn’t waste space but tells us things for a purpose.

Today I want to first of all talk about the importance of individual people in God’s plan.

So here is the cast of characters:

1)   JOHN MARK  - Redemption

John Mark who was with Paul and Barnabas when they arrive in Antioch.

John Mark is believed to be the writer of the Gospel of Mark – this is an unbroken tradition that dates back to the early church.

But we know from Acts 12 it is in John’s Mark’s mother’s house –Mary that the church is meeting when they are in prayer.

More than likely John Mark’s home would be a place that the church would meet in Jerusalem.

John Mark would go with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey but when they get to Pamphilia John Mark will go home.

We know that this will cause problems – John Mark goes home for some reason – probably home sick.

He doesn’t finish the mission with Paul

Obviously Paul is not happy about this and when Paul and Barnabas get ready for their second missionary journey they will disagree over taking John Mark.  They will disagree so much that Paul and Barnabas will break up.

They will not even go together on mission because of the disagreement about John Mark.

Now we do know that John Mark and Paul will be reconciled.

Paul will not always harbor ill feelings to John Mark because we see in

2 Timothy 4: 11

11Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

Paul wants Timothy to bring John Mark with him to visit him so obviously he has made amends with John Mark.

We also know that John Mark was Barnabas’ cousin which could have caused some of the issues with Paul

Barnabas we know is the ultimate optimist and as well as John Mark being his cousin saw the best in John Mark.

But it is interesting to see in John Mark that not all Christians start out in ministry not making mistakes.

We can learn from this example – if someone disappoints us we need to open the door to reconciliation and allow that person to mature.

One of the good news of our faith is that we believe in Redemption.

Christianity in a nutshell is a faith about Redemption.  – John Mark is the epitome of this – he went from someone that divided the very mission of the Church to a trusted ministry partner of Paul.

Why did Paul have this type of forgiving heart?

Do you think Paul had this in mind when he thought about John Mark?

1 Timothy 1: 15

15It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

Jesus came to save sinners – Paul was the chief sinner of all

How could Paul hold animosity toward a brother when he knew that he didn’t even deserve to be saved.

How can we hold malice to our brother when we are forgiven of so much?

God can redeem the worst of situations – even something as trivial as the tift between Paul and Barnabas and John Mark.

Many of the greatest stories from history center around Redemption –

One of the my favorite songs, carols, or just poems is found in the song-

“I heard the Bells on Christmas Day”

But what makes this poem so much more meaningful is how it came about.

One of America’s greatest poets is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The year 1860 found Longfellow happy in his life, enjoying a widening recognition, and elated over the election of Abraham Lincoln which he believed signaled the triumph of freedom and redemption for the nation. The following year the Civil War began.

On July 9, 1861 Longfellow’s wife, Fanny, was near an open window sealing locks of her daughter’s hair, using hot sealing wax.

Suddenly her dress caught fire and engulfed her with flames.

Her husband, sleeping in the next room, was awaked by her screams.

As he desperately tried to put out the fire and save his wife, he was severely burned on his face and hands. Fanny died the next day.

 Longfellow’s severe burns would not even allow him to attend Fanny’s funeral.

His white beard, which so identified with him, was one of the results of the tragedy – the burn scars on his face made shaving almost impossible.

 In his diary for Christmas day 1861 he wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.”

In 1862 the toll of war dead began to mount and in his diary for that year Longfellow wrote of Christmas, “A merry Christmas say the children, but that is no more for me.”

 In 1863 his son who had run away to join the Union army was severely wounded and returned home in December. There is no entry in Longfellow’s diary for that Christmas.

But on Christmas Day 1864 – at age 57 –

Longfellow sat down to try to capture, if possible, the joy of the season.

He began: I heard the bells on Christmas day.

Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the words repeat Of peace on earth, good will to men.

As he came to the third stanza, he was stopped by the thought of the condition of his beloved country.

The Battle of Gettysburg was not long past.

Days looked dark, and he probably asked himself the question, “How can I write about peace on earth, good will to men in this war-torn country, where brother fights against brother and father against son?”

But he kept writing – and what did he write?

And in despair I bowed my head: “There is no peace on earth”, I said, For hate is strong, and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It seems as if he could have been writing for our kind of day.

 Then, as all of us should do, he turned his thoughts to the One who gives true and perfect peace, and continued writing:

Then peeled the bells more loud and deep; “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep! The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

 With peace on earth, good will to men.”

 And so there came into being that marvelous Christmas carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

Longfellow understood that we serve a God of redemption.

A God that can take the worst of situations and work them to His glory.

The dark days of the civil war brought forth a country that had scars but was still united.

In our story today the dispute did not stop God’s purpose but God continued to work in all their ministries.

2 Simeon Called Niger – Unity – A God that brings Unity from Diversity

Simeon called Niger- Simeon is a Jewish Name -  We may call him Simon

Niger is a Latin Surname and it literally means Black – More than likely this man was of African descent and was a black man.

Simeon more than likely would have been a Jewish proselyte from Africa.  We know that Ethiopia was a common place to find Jewish converts that would have had black skin.

In the ancient world they had racial prejudice just like now,

It tells us a lot about the early church – that racial divisions still existed but they worked through them and found common ground in Christ.

Paul opposes Peter to His face because of his prejudice.

In Galatians 2 we read a passage where Paul must oppose Peter the apostle

Galatians 2: 11

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned

Why did Peter stand condemned?

Peter was openly eating with the Gentiles but when a group came for Jerusalem of Jews he was afraid to eat with them.

The Jews looked down on eating with Gentiles but God had cleansed the Gentiles through the Gospel.

There was no longer any barrier.

Peter was afraid that the Jewish Christians would look down on him for eating with the Gentiles.

So he was being a hypocrite – afraid of what the crowd would say.

Paul calls him out and tells him that he is not being straight with the Gospel of Christ.

Could we have prejudices like Peter?

Some how Antioch worked out all their racial and ethnic differences.

I believe it is because they understood that we are all one in Christ Jesus. 

We cannot as Christians, hate people based on their ethnicity or color of skin. 

There is no place for that in the Kingdom of God

We must see all people and people groups as made in God’s image.

And more than this we need each other.

We need each other in the Church.

There was a woman away at a teacher’s convention once.

She remembered that she would not be home for trash day.

She was panicking and her friend reminded her that her husband was still at home and he could take care of it.

She quickly replied to her friend, You don’t understand – it takes both of us to take out the trash.

He cant remember it and I cant carry it.

We are like that in the Church – we have gifts and we need to be unified and help each other.

3. Lucius of Cyrene a heart for mission

Lucius of Cyrene- Remember it was Simon of Cyrene that was pressed into carrying the cross of Christ.

Cyrene is an area of North Africa.

It was Cyrenians that planted the Church in Antioch that we read about in Acts 11: 20

Lucius belonged to a group of people that had no special interest in Antioch other than wanting to reach them with the Gospel.

There was no ethnic connection between North Africa and Antioch of Syria.

The Cyrenian Christian’s are an example to us today – an example that the Gospel needs to go to unreached people groups.

Some folks make the mistake of thinking that mission is for only people that we find interesting.

But mission is for all God’s creation – all people groups – all nations.

One people group is not better than another just because of where they live.

Paul tells us in Acts 17 that it was God that set the boundaries of the nations and place those people groups in places.

We in America have a greater responsibility for the Gospel because we have been blessed.

We have been blessed with great wealth, technology, and knowledge of Scripture.

I believe that God wants us to be good stewards of those gifts.

Are we as Americans doing what we can to reach the world with the Gospel.

We have the knowledge, technology, an d money to do this but the question is, Are we doing it?

And Greater still do we care if these people here the Gospel or not?

4)   Manaen – an example of great sacrifice

Manaen who was raised with King Herod- God takes a man who was raised around the worst of humanity and uses Him in His kingdom.

The word used for brought up with is a Greek word that is also used for Adoption.

This means that Manaen was not just a buddy of Herod but they were almost like brothers.

Manaen was closely, closely connected with Herod and his family.

What an unlikely guy to be a leader in the Church.

Manaen was a guy that would have been well connected – he had the family pedigree.

In the ancient world – it was all about patronage and who you knew.

Those connected to royalty would live a life of great priviledge and status.

Do you think Manaen might have had to give up some of that to become a Christian?

How do you think Manaen’s friend Herod felt when he found out that Manean had become a  Christian?

The family of the Herod’s had a history of animosity toward the Christian movement.

Herod the Great had all the infant boys killed in Bethlehem.

His grandson had James the brother of John killed.

This would not have been a good think for Manaean’s status.

We sometimes forget about these very personal stories in the text

He gave up a good bit to be a follower of Christ.

We know that many people in the early church gave up many things to follow Christ.

So what was it that they had found in Jesus?

Jesus once told a parable about a treasure that someone found in a field.

The treasure was worth so much that they bought the entire field just to get the treasure.

That is what the Gospel is like in your life.

Jesus doesn’t just want to save you but to transform your life.

To give you purpose to wake up in the morning.

To give you the status that you have been craving in this world.

To give you the relationship that you have wanted and just found emptiness.

He wants to save your whole person and because of that we are willing to give up whatever is holding us back.

God wants to give you a gift that you cant earn or get anywhere else.

You have to accept it empty handed. 

You have to realize that you have nothing to give God- God doesn’t need one iota from you.

He just wants you to come empty handed and let Him take control of your life.

That is what salvation is all about.

If you believe that message – that God loves you, wants to gift you with salvation.

Come forward today and respond to him in confessing this day that you believe this very thing and we will bury you in water baptism.  In the name of the powerful triune God.

And you will walk as a new creature.