Several years ago a preacher came to me with a grave warning about another pastor.
I was told that this third person was a terrible heretic, a trouble-maker, and a potential a church wrecker.
It was recommended that I have nothing to with the man.
One of the things that I was told was that he claimed to be “a prophet of God.”
I don’t know if you are aware of this fact, but clowns and politicians don’t have a corner on stupidity market.
Even preachers can say and do the dumbest of things, even while attempting to look brilliant.
In this case I’m not exactly sure who was the dumber preacher.
From what I have been able to ascertain, the accuser in the above story didn’t actually hear the accused say that he was a prophet.
He got his information from a third party, and as a result probably didn’t get the whole story.
But then again on the other side, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that accused may have actually pontificated that he was a prophet of God – without ever explaining what he meant by the statement.
Preachers sometimes make bold declarations in an effort to shock people.
And sometimes they egotistically declare things, defying their hearers to try to figure out what they meant.
Of course, I would NEVER do such a thing as that, but I know preachers who would.
I have come to find out that there was essentially nothing wrong with what the accused pastor had said.
He had referred to himself as a NEW TESTAMENT prophet.
Whereas his opponent was accusing him of claiming to be like one of the Old Testament prophets.
Although there are similarities between the two, the primary perspective of each is different.
The accusing man was suggesting that the other claimed to have special revelation from God, but the other never said any such a thing.
There were Baptists and others 250 to 350 years ago who called themselves “New Lighters.”
These people believed that they had been given special new light on the scriptures.
This kind of people have not completely disappeared, and I exhort you to stay away from them.
There is no new thing under the sun,
And there are no new things between the leather covers of your King James Bible.
Every word of the inspired and preserved Word of God has been around for at least 2,000 years.
But a New Testament prophet of God isn’t claiming to be a “New Lighter.”
“And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.”
I know that we have touched on this subject before, and I don’t claim to have any new light on the subject,
But I thought that it might be profitable for us to think briefly once again about New Testament prophets.
Let’s think about PROPHETS, THESE prophets, and the PROPHECY which they shared.
And verse 25 says: “It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, m
Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.”
In all my research, I don’t think that I’ve found a better definition or description of the office of a prophet than what we find in verse 27.
I have heard these men called “inspired teachers.” and “Holy Ghost filled preachers.”
I have heard that they were men endowed with eminent gifts for teaching & interpreting the Scriptures.
For the hundredth time I remind you that after a thorough investigation and prayer, the church in Jerusalem prepared a letter to be sent back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.
It told the Gentiles that it was not necessary for any of them had to be circumcised in order to be saved.
In this letter, you might say that the church in Antioch possessed THE WRITTEN WORD.
But if there were any of the heretics left in Antioch, they might suggest that Paul, Barnabas, Titus and the other representatives had forged the letter.
So James sent along two of their prophets to repeat BY MOUTH what was declared in the written word.
This is what the work of the prophet is all about, whether in the Old Testament or in the New Testament.
This is why a man in the 21st century might still be considered a prophet of God.
The prophet is a mouth-piece for the Lord. His work runs parallel with the written Word of God.
A.T. Robertson described these prophets as “fore-speakers” for God.
Most people color their definition of the word “prophet” with pictures of the great Old Testament prognosticators, like Daniel, Isaiah and Jeremiah.
But David and Moses, who spoke relatively little about the future, were also prophets of God.
Listen to Deuteronomy 34:10-12:
In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand,
And in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.”
Moses was a spokesman for the Lord, and in that he met the basic definition of the prophet.
And that was basically all that Silas and Judas were – spokesmen for the Lord and for the church in Jerusalem.
Verse 32 then seems to take that theme one step farther:
“And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with MANY WORDS.”
What did Luke mean when he said that they exhorted “with many words?”
A.T. Robertson said that those words mean: “with much talk.”
And Jamison Fausett and Brown interpret it to mean “with much discourse.”
But as the Syriac version suggests, rendering it, “with a rich word”; with copiousness, fulness, and abundance of Gospel truths, with which they comforted the brethren, giving them many useful instructions and exhortations.”
Synonyms include: loquaciousness, garrulousness, gabbiness & verbosity; none of which apply to me.
Rarely will one of my messages ever be longer than 40 minutes and most are about 30 minutes.
And if you had ever sat through a two hour sermon, or if you regularly had to endure hour long homilies, you would quickly learn to appreciate my relatively brief expositions.
There is something else here which I said the other day that I didn’t intend to return to,
But in an effort to extend this message to 31 minutes I must touch on it once again.
Twice we are told that these prophets which James sent to Antioch were “chosen” men.
And verse 25: “It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul.”
The word “chosen” in these verses is the Greek word “eklegomai” ( ek-leg’-om-ahee ).
In Ephesians 1:4 for example, it is exactly the same word:
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”
That is precisely the nature of God’s election unto salvation – it is a choice made by the Lord
He will become Paul’s co-missionary before we finish with this chapter.
He will be miracle-working with Paul and jailed with Paul.
He will be attacked with Paul and victorious with Paul.
As we shall see, he appears to have been a Roman citizen, but how and why, we can’t say.
We don’t know if he was born a Jew or if he was a proselyte.
We do know that in Paul’s epistles he is known as Silvanus.
I think that we’ll have to be content with our introduction here in Acts 15 and what we shall learn in the chapters to come.
When it comes to Judas we know even less than we do about Silas, except that his surname was Barsabas.
Never again do we run into the name Judas Barsabas.
BUT consulting a concordance we do find that the surname Barsabas comes up one other time.
A man named Barsabas ran against Matthias for the office vacated by Judas Iscariot in Acts 1.
But that man’s name was JOSEPH Barsabas.
And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen.
And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”
In fact, since Joseph was surnamed Justus, I rather doubt that there is any relationship at all.
Those commentators might just as easily say that they were cousins, or that Joseph was the father of Judas.
And we do know that they were both prophets.
We know that they were respected enough to be sent as ambassadors by the church in Jerusalem.
“Chief men” seems to indicate that they held positions of leadership either as pastors or teachers, or as deacons or some other helpful office.
But after these things, there is little more that we can say about them.
I might point out that in just about every church there are people like Judas and Silas.
They may not be in the pulpit week after week, and they may not be the financiers of the church.
But they are faithful, helpful, prayerful servants of the Lord.
Often times they are so humble and quiet and selfless that other members take them as much for granted as the electricity that powers the lights.
But the Lord knows who they are, and their rewards will be great when they stand before their Saviour.
Bless God for the Judas Barsabas’s of the world.
This is exactly what Paul and Barnabas did on their return trip through Galatia: exhortation and confirmation.
“And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
In this case Judas and Silas confirmed – he strengthened – the brethren in the truth.
One of the blessings which perhaps you do not get to enjoy enough is the ministry of other preachers.
So many times, the pastor of a church teaches and expounds certain truths, and he seems to be doing nothing but beating the air.
But then along comes Judas from Jerusalem, who says exactly the same thing but with a different accent and the truth which has been taught or months instantly solidifies in the heart of the home church.
Pastors have to get used to seeing children of members coming to Christ under the preaching of a visiting Silas, when for years they seem not to have heard a single plea from their pastor.
That is the way of the ministry, and we pastors have to get over it and praise the Lord.
Judas and Silas didn’t teach anything that Paul, Barnabas and the others hadn’t been preaching, but what a joy it was it hear it from another man’s mouth.
Not only did they confirm the saints in Antioch, but they exhorted them.
Not only did they repeat that salvation is by grace through faith,
But they repeated and expounded the recommendations that James and the church had made.
“Beloved, if you would like to continue to enjoy the fellowship of other godly people, it is going to be essential that you live godly yourselves.
Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”
In fact it was so precious and prosperous that when it came time for the visitors to return to Jerusalem, Silas just couldn’t leave.
He had learned to love the people in Antioch so much that he couldn’t tear himself away.
And he had learned to respect Paul to the degree that he realized that in him there was a very special servant of God.
Those months in Antioch made Silas realize that he too had a ministry which would extend even to the ends of the earth.
Oh, that we had more prophets of God; more Judases and Silases today.