Acts of Prayer: Snapshots of the Prayer Life of the Early Church. Snapshot 6, "A Church in Tune with the Spirit" Acts 13: 1 – 3 (Sunday March 11, 2012)

* 1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. ~ Acts 13:1-3 (ESV)

- Up to this point, God has been preparing his church for the Gentile mission.

- If we go back and reread Acts 1:8, what we find is essentially an outline of the book of Acts.

- * "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8 (ESV)

- The Holy Spirit gives the disciples the power to witness for Jesus and the gospel message takes root in Jerusalem and then gradually spreads out to the entire Roman world.

- The last two centuries of church history and our own experience has consistently taught us that mission is something that happens in foreign countries.

- But if we read and understand our Bibles, then we must understand that was/is a completely inadequate and unsatisfactory understanding of mission.

- God's mission for the church is to be witnesses for Jesus Christ beginning right where we are.

- As the local church becomes an effective witness in her Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, then God calls her to the end of the earth.

- Listen to some of the highlights in the chapters that we skipped.

- We read of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira when they tried to deceive the Spirit and how awe came upon the church, we read of Stephen's testimony before the Sanhedrin, his death as a martyr, and of Saul's persecutions and conversion.

- We read also of Philip's witness in Samaria and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch who was a royal servant in that country.

- We read of Peter's encounter with Cornelius and his household and how the Holy Spirit came upon them all.

- Lastly we read of Peter's report to the Jerusalem church that the Holy Spirit came upon "even the Gentiles."

- Even in this hasty outline of these earlier chapters, we can see that God was preparing his church to further his mission to the world.

- Last week I commented briefly on God using the beginning of the persecution of the church to push his people out onto the Gentile mission field.

- But this week as we look at these three brief verses, we get a different point of view on how God moves his people onto the mission field.

- Let's return to our text.

- *Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul (verse 1).

- Syrian Antioch was (and is) 480 km north of Jerusalem in modern-day Syria, not to be confused with the ruins of Pisidian Antioch which are found in modern day central Turkey (*see map).

- Antioch of Syria was a cosmopolitan city that served as a trade link between the Eastern and Western Roman Empire.

- Now, these five men, both prophets and teachers, who led the church of Antioch represented their cosmopolitan city.

- Simeon Niger had a Jewish name and a Latin nickname meaning 'black'; Lucius, another Latin name, was from Cyrene; Manaen was the childhood friend of Herod the tetrarch who was King a generation before Herod Agrippa 1. Of course, Paul and Barnabas were Jews; Paul was from Tarsus which was northwest of Antioch and Barnabas was from the island of Cyprus.

- Not only did these men represent the ethnic and cultural diversity of Antioch, they also represented regional trade.

- Shifting gears, as we come to verse two, we see that it is out of the context of worship and fasting that God speaks to the church of Antioch and calls them to set aside Paul and Barnabas for a new work.

- *While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (verse 2).

- I believe it is absolutely critical for us to not miss the boat on this next point.

- *What do we see in this verse? We see that it is in the context of the worshiping community praying and fasting that God calls his people to mission. Worship and mission go together. They belong together like bread and butter.

- The church has two main tasks: worship and mission. Everything else is nonessential.

- If it isn't immediately obvious whether or not a task is related to worship or mission, then the church needs to evaluate whether or not she should continue to do that task.

- Well, let's note a few more things about this prayer meeting with the church of Antioch in verse two.

- * First, to whom does the Holy Spirit reveal his will? The Holy Spirit reveals his will to the worshiping community and its leaders.

- While it is obvious from the context that the Holy Spirit was speaking directly to the church's leadership as they were worshiping and fasting. It's not as immediately obvious that the Spirit was speaking to the entire church.

- But it is upon the return from their journey that we read in chapter 14 that the church was gathered together to hear the report of Paul and Barnabas and God's work in them and of the open door to the Gentiles.

- * Second, to what ministry was God calling Paul and Barnabas to be set apart?

- Just as God called Abraham so also this call was somewhat vague. Their response to God's call required a spirit of adventure and a willingness to step out in faith.

- * Third, how did God reveal his will to them? While the Scripture is silent regarding this question, it would not be unfair to assume that God spoke through one of the prophets present among the church's leaders as we read in verse one.

- * In verse three is the answer to our fourth question, how did the church respond to hearing God's voice?

- Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off (verse 3).

- So the church fasted and prayed, both in order to verify that they had heard God speak and also to pray for those two men whom God said to set apart.

- Only after fasting and praying did they lay hands on them and send them off.

- The beginning of Paul's personal mission was within the life of the worshiping Church and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

- Paul is not some solo act or Lone Ranger figure.

- It was both the Holy Spirit and the church which sent out Paul and Barnabas from the midst of the worshiping community and onto the mission field.

- That brings me to the final question I want to ask today.

- What did Luke tell his readers the result of a praying church and its leadership was?

- Luke told his readers that the result of a praying church and its leadership was a church in tune with the Holy Spirit and obedient to his voice by setting apart and sending out Barnabas and Saul.
- *Scholar and commentator Darrell Bock writes, "Here is a church that has seen the need to reach out to the world as its members draw near to God. Their heart has become wedded to God's calling as a result. They commissioned their messengers to their work for the world. They are acting as believer-priests on behalf of God. Worship and mission appear side-by-side as key tasks of the church... Everything about Acts shows us that its impetus [its drive or motive] is toward the church's call in mission. We build churches not just to go in for worship but also to go out with God's heart for people" (Bock, Acts, p. 440).

- The church at Antioch was a church that recognized that they needed to reach out to the world even as they drew near to God.

- But the church at Antioch also knew something else; nothing can be accomplished without prayerful dependence upon the ever-present, living God.

- If the church wants to hear the Spirit's voice and be filled with the Spirit's power, then we must give our hearts over to God in worship.

- A church that forgets to gather in worship & for fasting and prayer is a church that will not succeed in the tasks which God has given in worship and mission.

- It is prayer that drives our relationship with the Holy Spirit. It is prayer and the Holy Spirit which guide the actions of the church.

- Without prayer that cultivates within us God's heart for people, then the church becomes little more than a religious institution or a puffed up social club.

- However, with heartfelt, earnest prayer, we become in tune with the Holy Spirit's voice.

- When the church in worship fasts and prays, she hears the Spirit's voice and obeys.

- Through genuine unity & earnestness in prayer, we will hear the Spirit speak and we will do what he asks.

- Gathered to worship, in fasting and in prayer, we will hear God's voice sending us into the world saying, "I am for you. I am with you."

- And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us and if our God is with us, then what could stand against?

- When the church in worship fasts and prays, she hears the Spirit's voice and obeys.

- Prayer is not a program or a task. Prayer is foundational to our ongoing relationship with God.  Prayer is basic to everything the church is and does.

- If we have forgotten that, then it is time we remembered that prayer is essential to who we are and what we do.

- Our verse for meditation and memorization this week is Acts 13:2. It reflects everything we've been talking about this morning. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

- When the church in worship fasts and prays, she hears the Spirit's voice and obeys.