Apostolic Success – Acts 13:44-52

We are going to finish our study of Acts 13 by expanding our thoughts from last Sunday night.

The idea for this outline came from a message by Spurgeon, but his theme went in a different direction.

Spurgeon was far more bold and daring than I am.

I can’t tell you if his message was preached to his church or to a gathering of preachers,

But he basically said that Christianity is only a shadow of the original, because the servants of the Lord are only shadows of Apostles.

He then proceeded to rebuke his audience by contrasting them with the example that we have in the our text.

I would like to add a couple of things that I see in this scripture which Spurgeon didn’t address,

And, perhaps because I am such a weak servant of God,

I would rather praise the Lord for what I find here than to condemn us for our failure to duplicate it.

But if in the process the Lord rebukes us, I guess that we’ll just have to take it. Amen?

Why was the gospel so successful in the sinful city of Antioch?

It goes without saying that it was due TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

I suppose that we really should try to define what we mean by “success.”

But do we have any business trying to define success in the eyes of God?

Are we that smart?

Can we be absolutely sure that success in one place is exactly the same in another place?

For example, humanly speaking, is the Lord pleased with souls professing to believe on Christ but without a church ever being established in that place?

Is success simply to be defined as souls being saved, or can a thorough evangelization of a place without a multitude of conversions be what the Lord wants?

Could Paul’s ministry in Athens have been called just as “successful” as it was in Ephesus?

My theological position is that the conversion of souls is the ministry of God, not of men.

Is a ministry where God saves one soul, less successful than a ministry where God saves a hundred?

I’m not sure that any of us have the means of answering these questions.

But in my opinion, right or wrong, Paul and Barnabas had a successful ministry in Antioch.

Basically the Jews were put to shame, even though a few of them trusted Christ.

And there were many of the Gentiles in that city who believed.

The Word of God was published throughout all the region,

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.

I would be overjoyed if the same things could be said of the Spokane, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene region.

It would mean that the sovereign God was working in our midst.

However, does it mean that when we don’t see souls saved and the church growing that we have any right to blame the Lord?

There are thousands of lazy, faithless, cowardly pastors and Christians

Who are content to rest on their heels, twiddle their thumbs,

And say that God must not want to work in their city the way that He once did.

They say that back in the 20’s or back in the 50’s those were days of grace, but not today.

We have no business to blame the Lord, despite believing in the sovereignty of the Lord.

What does Paul say in Romans 10?

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

But, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

Those of Antioch who were ordained to eternal life believed.

But they believed the message of the Gospel which was brought to them through Paul and Barnabas.

I think that I can safely say that those people would never have believed if someone hadn’t given them the things which they were to believe.

And yet, the Apostolic success in Antioch was due to the sovereign grace and power of the Lord.

But, as I’ve already suggested it was ALSO due in part to THOSE MEN with their beautiful feet.

And it began, so to speak, with THEIR CONVERSIONS to Christ.

We don’t have the details about the conversion of Barnabas, although I’ve given you lots of different things in his past which probably had a role to play in his salvation.

I think that it’s probable that Barnabas’ coming to Christ was somewhat ordinary and unspectacular.

Raised in traditional Judaism, and stirred by the Holy Spirit, when was convinced that Jesus was the Christ, he quickly believed.

Paul on the other hand was spectacularly converted.

He was not only a rebel and a sinner, but an man bent on the quashing of the heresy about Jesus of Nazareth.

It always takes a miracle of God to save any sinner,

But in Saul of Tarsus the miracle was so spectacular that there couldn’t be any denial that it was of the Lord.

Immediately Paul turned 180 degrees and began to serve Christ with the same zeal with which he had served Satan.

Would to God that we had servants of the Lord “AS converted” as was Paul.

I can’t say that the story of his conversion preceded him where ever he went, but if and when that testimony was presented to people, especially thinking Jews, it must have had an astounding affect.

I suppose that there is good reason to suspect the conversion of Jane Fonda, Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama, and TV stars like Kirk Cameron and Loretta Swit,

But certainly these people are not beyond the grace of the Lord.

And if they truly are saved, and if they had embraced all the counsel of the Lord, what powerful testimonies they could have for the salvation of God.

Unfortunately rarely do we ever find the whole package in prominent people like this.

But the city of Antioch had the privilege of two great servants of the Lord

And they served Christ out of HOLY LOVE and UNDYING GRATITUDE for saving their sin-dead souls.

For Paul and Barnabas preaching Christ wasn’t a form of recreation or an appointment in their weekly planner; it was their calling and even at the very heart of their lives.

“Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel.”

“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed,

But that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body,

Whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

After all He’s done for me; after all He’s done for me;

How could I do less, than give Him my best and live for Him completely.

After all He’s done for me.

That was the Apostle Paul.

“I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

These men approached their commission with a zeal that was driven by the grace that they had received.

And they also came with FAITH.

Off they went from Syria into Cyprus, not knowing what would befall them there.

But that was the birth place of Barnabas; and the Lord blessed.

But then they sailed the 50 miles from Cyprus into Pamphylia.

This really was unchartered waters for these men.

But despite John Mark’s desertion, they knew that they weren’t going there alone.

They were traveling and serving by faith.

They believed that when they opened their mouths to speak of Christ, that the Holy Spirit would use their words to shake the community.

They had seen it in Salamis and then again at Paphos.

The Lord had gloriously converted Sergius Paulus and had judged Barjesus, the sorcerer.

Now they were moving forward in faith, expecting God to continue to bless His word and His work.

Ah, but how often do we come to the house of the Lord, expecting to see the power of God displayed?

Do we come in faith or in familiarity?

Do we come in expectancy or complacency?

Those brethren were not surprised when they were locked out of the synagogue.

Nor were they surprised when many of the Jews and proselytes followed them.

They went into Antioch believing that there were many there ordained unto eternal life.

They also went about the Lord’s work in COMPLETE SELF-DENIAL of themselves.

Initially they had John to their minister.

But for some undisclosed reason John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.

We don’t know for sure what responsibilities John had within that little evangelistic team,

But we can be reasonably sure that this put more work on the two remaining preachers.

But it didn’t matter to them, because they were still about the Master’s matters.

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”

That I might win the smile of the Lord.

As we shall see in the next chapter, Paul and Barnabas had not yet seen the difficulties of serving the Lord with that kind energy and zeal.

They were willing not only to suffer loss, but even to suffer the loss of their earthly lives.

No wonder the work of the Lord prospered there in Antioch.

In addition to the character of God’s servants there was the CHARACTER of their SERVICE.

Judging from the 40 or so verses in this chapter that deal with Antioch,

The primary aspect of the ministry of Paul and Barnabas was preaching.

I wouldn’t try to tell you that they were silent from Sabbath to Sabbath, but the Holy Spirit has chosen to give us the details only of their two preaching services.

We had a message dealing with this a couple months ago.

And as I recall, I took you forward to Paul’s thoughts about preaching in I Corinthians:

“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

Did those Apostles spend their time producing skits and passion plays to teach the gospel?

Did they write and print parabolic stories which they then sold in the market place?

Did they sit around with their guitars, trying to put inspired lyrics to uninspired melodies?

No, they preached the word, instant in season and out of season.

And their preaching was EXCEEDINGLY BOLD, as we are told in verse 46.

They didn’t mince words and try to win friends before trying to influence people.

They basically repeated the words of the Lord Jesus:

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;

Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish.”

Another part of their work was ITINERATION.

They made sure that the Word of the Lord was published throughout ALL the region.

They didn’t have their little white church building on a prominent corner on a main thoroughfare.

They didn’t just put up a sign advertizing their hours of operation.

They didn’t just put some ads on the radio or even pass out a few handbills and invitations.

They did their best to evangelize, Antioch and all of Pisidia.

These things in themselves didn’t guarantee the success of their ministry, but they were a part of the means that the Lord used to further the gospel.

Perhaps another ingredient in that success was the sinful reaction of the Jews and the people of the city.

“But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.”

The way that Luke records the beginning of this persecution suggests that Paul had told him that it began with some of the female proselytes.

The Jews had stirred up some of their more emotional converts.

These were people who in their own way were very religious and devout,

And they were also “honourable” which means that they were people with position and distinction

John Gill says that the Syriac version declares that they were “rich”, and their husbands were influential, magistrates and officers in the community.

Somehow these city officials were able to charge the apostles with disturbing the peace or some such silly thing and to force them out of town.

We have seen this sort of thing before – various forms of persecution.

And I’ve told you that most of the time, I think that physical persecution is the result of hatred toward the truth, but without any logical means to oppose it.

When these people couldn’t answer Paul or the scriptures that he used, they attacked the preachers.

But in nearly every Biblical case, persecution didn’t really hurt anyone but the persecutors themselves.

It certainly didn’t stop the spread of the gospel.

In this case the Apostles just walked up the road to the next city, Iconium.

What is the reference to shaking off the dust of their feet against the rulers of Antioch?

In Matthew 10 when the Lord Jesus was giving instructions to His disciples, He said:

“And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And when ye come into an house, salute it.

And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

Mark adds the idea that this was a testimony against the city.

And Luke says “Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”

When Paul and Barnabas shook the dust of their feet off against them, they were saying that even the dust of the city would rise up in judgment against them some day.

They were saying that they were through with them, and didn’t even want to carry their dust away.

They were saying that they were severing all connections with them.

Brother Ken Johnson and I were visiting door-to-door in Calgary years ago, and we talked with a man who became more and more belligerent as the conversation progressed.

I can’t remember any of the details; I can’t remember if he professed to be a Christian or an atheist.

But I remember vividly that as we began to leave his porch, Bro. Johnson said something like, “I kick the dust of my shoes off as a testimony against you.”

And then he tapped his shoes on the side of that porch.

I have often wondered if that man had any idea of what Bro. Johnson was doing.

And I wonder how many of the people of Antioch knew the symbolical significance.

Of course, Paul was not writing-off the converts of Antioch.

And in fact, Paul and Silas returned to Antioch later.

But symbolically, they said that they were through casting their pearl before these swine.

The last great ingredient in the success of the ministry was the JOY of the disciples.

“And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.”

The best advertising for any product is a really happy previous customer.

Do you remember the blind man whom the Lord healed in John 9.

He was eventually expelled from the Temple because of his testimony of the Lord Jesus.

The man couldn’t keep quiet about what had happened to him.

And he almost laughed at the priests as they quarreled with him.

But his joy and excitement couldn’t be denied.

Over and over again we see the same sort of thing.

For example there was the crippled man at the Beautiful Gate who began leaping and shouting because of the grace of the Lord.

When YOU first surrendered to the conviction of the Holy Spirit;

When you first came to understand what it was to believe on Christ;

Did you have the same kind of joy that I had when I was saved?

Oh, if the Lord would restore to us the joy of those first few hours of our salvation.

If that was an emotion that couldn’t be denied or postponed or buried, what servants of God we would be today.

Why is it that with increased knowledge and wisdom, so often there is an equivalent loss of zeal and joy?

The Antiochian disciples were filled with joy and with the evidence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

First, the loved ones of these Christians were drawn to these things.

And then came the neighbors to investigate.

Why don’t our neighbors yearn to see what makes us tick for Christ? What is missing?

The ministry of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch was apparently a great success.

Why can’t we have the same kind of success here?

As Mr. Spurgeon said to his people, maybe its because we are so very unlike the ministry that Paul and Barnabas had in Antioch.