“Come, we that love the Lord, and let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord
And thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne.
We’re marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.”
Do you have the subject of Zion completely straight in your mind?
I would venture to guess that 90% of Christians are confused when they hear the word “Zion.”
Originally Zion was the hill upon which David built his palace in Jerusalem.
It was across the valley from Mount Moriah where the Temple was later built.
Ironically, it is about 150 feet higher than Moriah.
For a long time Zion had nothing to do with the Temple or the worship of the Lord.
These are the easy aspect of Zion to understand, unfortunately there is more:
There are a lot of Protestants, who take Zion in Hebrews 12 to be talking about the Lord’s church,
“Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”
I’d like to tie some loose ends together in these verses before we move on.
Let’s think about this Journey to Jerusalem – this March to Zion – and note that the brethren were:
Judiciously sent, Joyfully Heard and Kindly received.
I said last week that the Judeans who came with their Christianized Pharisaism, should have met with the elders of the church in Antioch before they ever started teaching the brethren.
The problems which they caused in the church could have been avoided if they had practiced Christian ethics.
The pastors of that church were responsible to God for the doctrine which was being taught there.
And by the way, If you think that your pastor is unscriptural in some doctrine, it’s not your job to correct the church behind his back.
Feel free to teach your family what you think is the truth.
But you should talk to the pastor about it before you ever try to teach the rest of the church.
He will be judged; not you.
These Judeans had no authority to go to the membership of another church, without first contacting the leadership of that church.
Hebrews 13:17 applies to this situation in more than one way:
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: For they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
It appears that these Judaizers were telling the church in Antioch that they were from Jerusalem.
They may have even hinted that they came with the authority and blessing of the elders and Apostles.
If they had said that it would have been untrue, but they might have left that impression in order to impress.
Just as the church in Jerusalem had no authority over the church in Antioch, neither did Antioch have authority over the members of the church in Jerusalem.
And so it was decided that not only should the wisdom and doctrine of the Apostles be consulted,
It reflected directly on the church and the Apostles.
They didn’t go to sneak in the back door and disrupt the peace of the church.
Once again, I stress to you that you are members of Calvary Independent Baptist Church.
You have no authority to correct or discipline another Church of Christ or any of its members.
If you have a problem with another church perhaps you should forget about it.
And then together – perhaps – we should talk to the pastor of that church.
It is my responsibility to strengthen them in the things that we mutually agree upon.
Secondly in regard to Paul’s judicious journey, “they were brought on their way by the church.”
Those words could mean two different things.
Some commentators think that this refers to a kind of honour guard which traveled with Paul and Barnabas
But there may have been a larger group of members just going to show their support and agreement.
They were “brought on their way by the church.”
They had their motel rooms covered by the church credit card.
They gave them some cash with which to buy meals along the way.
“Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.”
Last week I put a note in the church bulletin encouraging everyone to look at a new link on our web-page.
That link takes the student to a site that pronounces Bible words.
Many preachers pronounce it the English way “Phoenicia” (fen-E-cia).
I have heard some Greek experts pronounce it “fen-I-cee.”
But my computer program with its Strong’s Concordance pronounces it “fo-NEE-kay.”
Chances are, the next time that have to say this word, I’ll give it an even different pronuciation.
Whichever way the place is pronounced, it was the country clinging to the Mediterranean coast just above Mount Carmel
Its two major cities were Tyre and Sidon.
It was evangelized at the same time as Antioch because of the persecution in Judea.
Acts 11:19 says, “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.
And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.”
That passage in Acts 11 goes on to say,
Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.”
So this journey back to Jerusalem, five or ten years later, was a kind of homecoming all a long the way.
And the saints in those churches rejoiced to hear what the Lord had been doing in Galatia.
Samaria had been evangelized earlier than Phenice.
The primary evangelist was Philip.
Acts 8: 5 – “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
And there was great joy in that city.
When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”
And these people rejoiced with the news that other Gentiles were being saved through the ministry of Paul and Barnabas.
Now stop and think about this joy for just a moment.
The salvation of strangers hundreds of miles away, probably didn’t directly relate to anyone in Samaria.
Except for some who may have joined Paul’s missionary party.
But they heartily rejoiced anyway.
They rejoiced because it confirmed that the power of God was not limited anywhere in the world.
They rejoiced because of the promises and grace of God.
They rejoiced because the Lord was keeping His word in regard to the ends of the earth.
They rejoiced because at the very least they would meet and fellowship with these people in Heaven some day and then throughout all eternity.
They rejoiced because God was being magnified in the sight of the heathen.
And they rejoiced because at least some of the heathen were no longer heathen, but brethren.
Sergey Mocholav is preaching the gospel in Russia and being used to win the lost to Christ.
There is a man whom 20 years ago, we might have considered to be one of our country’s enemies.
But after the war he was in Spokane on a couple of occasions preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul and Barnabas brought great joy among Samaritans and Phoenicians when they told them that God was saving the heathen of Lycaonia and Pisidia.
Shouldn’t we have greater joy over the spreading of the gospel and the victories of the gospel?
Or course, the first thing to remember is that our Saviour is being glorified around the world.
The third thing expressed in these verses is that:
Can you imagine the cacophony of emotions which rang in the ears of Paul and Barnabas?
For Barnabas Jerusalem had been home for years.
At some point in his young life he had immigrated to the greatest city of the Hebrew world.
Barnabas probably still had kin folk there, including his sister and John Mark.
He had been a member of the church in Jerusalem and an evangelist out of that church.
He had given a great part of his inheritance to be a blessing to the people of that church.
It was probably a joy-filled day when Barnabas returned to Jerusalem.
But what were the emotions of Paul?
He too had immigrated to the great city years before, and went to college there at the feet of Gamaliel.
In some ways he probably had fond memories of Jerusalem.
He had been one of the leaders in the synagogue of the Cyrenians and may have first met Barnabas there.
Paul too probably had relatives in the city including a sister and a nephew who may have been a Christian.
But Jerusalem was also the scene of his darkest day – the murder of Stephen.
And when he attempted to return to Jerusalem from Damascus, he was not well-received by the church.
Things that he could never forget, because they were in some ways true.
Christians can be, and often are so very, very cruel to one another.
It was probably with mixed emotions that Paul returned to Jerusalem.
But when they arrived they were well-received by the church.
There was probably a public reception with an official greeting from James and perhaps Peter.
And then they were probably received as missionaries and perhaps permitted to speak to the church before the meeting about doctrine ever began.
They may have been received into peoples’ homes, if not to stay, at least for meals.
Hospitality is supposed to be one of the traits of the Bible Christian.
Hebrews 13 – “Let brotherly love continue.
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
But to the praise of the church generally, they warmly received those very special guests.
May we learn to behave just as commendably.
As we shall see over the next couple of weeks, this journey to Jerusalem was very important.
Not only was it an emotional homecoming, but it also marked the vindication of Paul and his ministry.
I hope that our church never does anything to hurt the ministry of any true servant of God.