As I said this morning, I don’t know how Paul and Barnabas knew that it was time to bring this missionary journey to a close.
Perhaps the Lord came to one of them in a dream.
Maybe God sent an angel with detailed instructions.
Or perhaps during prayer the Holy Spirit just impressed both their hearts that they needed to return to the cities that they had just evangelized and to organize churches there to help the new converts.
However it was that they determined the Lord’s will, the intrepid missionaries retraced their steps.
They could have continued to travel east and on to their home church in Syria, but that would have left their commission only half filled.
By the way, it needs to be remembered that Barnabas was in all respects worthy of as much respect as Paul.
Of course, the penman of the Book of Acts was Luke, the assistant of Paul,
And ever since the Cyprus campaign, Paul had become the chief preacher of the team.
He, too, was on the front lines of this evangelism and mission work.
And his life was in just as much danger as Paul’s was.
“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.
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”
Together with the next few verses Luke outlines the work of the God-ordained missionary:
Among other things, they evangelized, discipled, confirmed, exhorted, ordained, prayed and commended.
This morning we looked at the first three in this list, and tonight, we finish them up.
Have you ever had to endure the same kind of burden and spiritual intimidation?
I doubt that the opposition to our faith even comes close to what those people had to face.
It didn’t matter if they had been raised Jews or Gentiles, they were considered religious & political traitors.
Some of them may have lost their jobs.
Were any of them beaten or stoned?
Did any of them have their houses rifled or wake up to burning crosses on their lawns?
And maybe that contributes to the weakness of our faith and our convictions.
Because we have not yet resisted unto blood, we aren’t sure that we really need the fellowship of the Lord’s church or any of the brethren.
And because we are free to own and read our Bibles, we don’t really care if have a Bible.
And this was the reason Paul and Barnabas had to exhort them to continue in the faith.
What does that mean?
It could mean that Paul encouraged those new believers to CONTINUE BELIEVING in Christ.
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.”
If those people were going to have any strength against the upcoming onslaught of Satan it would have to be through the power of the Lord.
“Trust Him,” Paul was probably telling them.
As we’ve told you before it is not only referring to our faith, but it also refers to what it is that we believe.
Most often when we read the word “faith” in the New Testament with the definite article before it . . .
Forty-two times various pen-men in the New Testament speak of “the faith.”
Paul exhorted Titus about the Cretians, “Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in THE FAITH.”
If I didn’t tell you that this next quote was from Colossians, couldn’t you hear Paul preaching to the new saints in Iconium or Lystra:
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
If ye continue IN THE FAITH grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake.”
They were going to face temptations to blend Christian doctrines with the pagan teachings of their parents.
They were going to face pseudo-scientists who would tell them that the idea of resurrection was illogical.
They were going hear that if there really was a God of love, He would accept both Christians and pagans.
They were going to be told that sin is sinful only when it caused personal harm to someone else.
“Contend for the faith, fight for the truth,” Paul was exhorting them.
And of course the word “exhort” suggests the idea that Paul was preaching this kind of message with energy and enthusiasm.
He was excited because he knew the importance of what he was saying,
And he wanted them to be just as excited.
The fifth thing that the missionaries did was that . . .
The word “elder” is the Greek word “presbuteros” ( pres-boo’-ter-os ).
Unfortunately, all that the Presbyterians find here is their name – certainly not their organization.
Presbyterian church government is based on two bodies, the Elders and the Deacons.
The Deacons are the actual servants or pastors of the various churches.
Each church elects elders or presbyters, to represent their church in their regional synods, which in turn elects elders to the General Assembly.
To them an Elder is a religious statesman with authority beyond the local congregation.
I believe that a careful study of the Word of God reveals that “elder” is a synonym for “pastor.”
In I Timothy 5 where Paul was reminding Timothy about church polity, he wrote:
For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.
Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.”
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
There are a lot of good preachers, who refer to themselves as “Elder so-and-so.”
It is certainly Biblical, but I still prefer to be called “pastor,” because in our society today, it is more clearly understood than “elder.”
That means that they were “set apart” for their special ministries.
I can’t tell you whether each church nominated men for those offices and the Apostles approved them,
Or whether it was the other way around; that Barnabas nominated some men and the church members voted on them.
Maybe the church wasn’t directly involved in the choice at all.
However it was done I wouldn’t suggest that it was unbiblical because some perceived rule of order wasn’t followed to suit you and me.
And that Paul and Barnabas ordained elders in each of those churches, points out something quite obvious.
At some time during that missionary journey there were churches established which required pastors.
And that suggests something even more basic: the missionaries had been baptizing the new believers as they traveled from place to place.
Just because these things are not mentioned doesn’t mean that they hadn’t been taking place.
As you know, the words which so often are called “The Lord’s Prayer” are completely mis-named.
“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”
So not only did the Lord pray for His disciples, he taught them how to pray.
I’m sure that Paul and Barnabas taught these people how to pray, but verse 23 is talking about long seasons of actual prayer.
Coupled to that prayer were seasons of fasting as well.
I read recently the testimony of a new believer, but a man with amazing insight.
The new Christian admitted that he couldn’t figure out the purpose of fasting,
And since God works toward us through grace; we cannot influence Him by penance or sacrifice.
The purpose of fasting is not to impress God and induce Him to bestow special blessings;
The purpose of fasting is to enable the saint to focus on the Lord.
And as I tried to say a few weeks ago, to plan on fasting and to schedule a fast seems to me to be putting the cart before the horse.
Fasting should come as a RESULT of our concentration on the Lord, not the CAUSE that forces us to concentrate.
Generally speaking, I have found that a growling, empty stomach doesn’t help ME to be more spiritual.
Paul, Barnabas and the other saints in those four communities, spent some considerable time in seeking the Lord’s blessing and power on their lives, their churches, and their ministries.
Just as we did a couple of weeks ago, I’d like you to pretend that you are very sick.
You tried your home remedies for a while, but they didn’t do the trick.
You went to your naturopath who gave you a course of treatment, but you still didn’t have any relief.
And finally you went to the emergency room at the hospital.
Paul and Barnabas did everything that they could to prepare these new saints for the real world of Satanic hatred and opposition.
They discipled them as best they could.
They organized churches around them and ordained the best of them to continue to preach the Word.
They prayed for them and taught them to pray for themselves.
But when push came to shove, all that they could finally do was commend them to the Lord.
A.T. Robertson says that this word “commend” is an old banking term.
What the missionaries did was deposit their friends in the Lord’s bank account.
They entrusted them to the care and keeping of the Lord.
This sounds like a simple and obvious operation, and it is.
But if you stop and think about it, it may have been the most difficult thing of the seven in our outline.
Don’t we all want to stay in control, if not actually in charge, of our lives?
Don’t we want to know that the medicine that WE are taking, really is working?
Don’t we want to think that OUR choices are wise?
Isn’t it tough to obey Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
But this is where we have to be, because that is where the Lord resides.
It’s the missionary’s job; it’s our job, to do all that we can to strengthen ourselves and our church,
While at the same time believing, “It’s not my will that is going to be done, but thine Lord.”
That is what is meant by the words “They commended them to the Lord.”
I wish that we had reliable information on what happened to those four churches in the next few years.
Did they prosper and grow?
Did they flourish or fail?
Did they suffer or did they compromise and loose their distinctive edge?
Only the Lord knows for sure.
Perhaps the more important question is where our church is going to be in ten years time.