ACTS 13:1-12. CALLED TO REGIONS BEYOND. One of the many strengths of a scripturally gathered church of saved people is that there is a variety of gifts given by God to a variety of people from different families, nationalities, cultures, ethnic groups, and genders. All have a place to fill and a purpose to fulfill in the same way each body part accomplishes a role in making a body work properly. We all have strengths and weaknesses and, consequently, are quite limited in what we can do that is meaningful and lasting. When all of those in an assembly of believers do what they know they can and are capable of, then the results are what God intends a local church to be and do.
There were five men in the church at Antioch who were prophets and teachers. Before the New Testament scriptures were written, apostles and prophets were the foundation of the church. The Lord gave prophets special insight and inspiration to meet the needs of His people. Teachers were given the gift of explaining and applying the truth of God in contemporary words to matters of church life so that they could be easily understood. These five very different men embraced the teaching of the body of Christ and, without prejudice, were guided by the Holy Spirit to instruct the Lord’s people so that fellowship together could be maintained. A praying church becomes a witnessing church when the Spirit guides in their midst.
THE CALL OF GOD IS… A Divine Call, v.2. “The Holy Ghost said.” Fitness for a work of God comes from God, and a “call” means that it must come from God, too. To “set apart” or “separate” two men from the work they have been doing for God, where they must be from God. He ends one responsibility and opens another. Barnabas and Saul were specifically designated by God, indicating they were men who were not concerned about what they could get from the world but what they could do for God. An ambassador of the kingdom of God has a higher view of things than is common to most people. It is not God's intention to make Christianity palatable and easily accepted by the people who love the world and the things that are in it.
A Personal Call, v.2. “Barnabas and Saul.” The two men to be sent out by the assembly were not more important than other believers but were specifically identified by the Holy Spirit through prayer and fasting. Specific prayer and fasting differ from the general prayers of an assembly prayer meeting. Specific guidance by the Holy Spirit leaves no room for speculation, jealousy, envy, or questioning. Perhaps the assembly elders asked Barnabas and Saul what they would do and where they would go. Barnabas would likely have been the one to preach the Gospel in Cyprus because that was where he was from. Saul would say to preach the word of God to the children of Israel, Gentiles, and kings because that is what he was told years before when the Lord saved him. The Lord had fitted these men for service so they couldn’t take credit for their actions. All the assembly knew these men were called of God.
A Separating Call, v.2. “Separate Me…” A call of God to a special work means that we are not just separated from something but from something. They were separated from the world when they were saved. Now, they were to be separated from the assembly physically. They were separated from all that had become familiar to them and the profitable work of God in which they were engaged. A person is separated into a work for which they are to be used as a unique vessel for the Lord’s use. Believers everywhere are separated from the world by God. Separation to a call from God is set apart for a new work in which one is to be used in ways suited to the people and places they are called. It means leaving what is the familiar way of life of normal assembly life for the unknown walk of faith necessary to accomplish God’s sovereign will. It means trusting God alone to guide us and supply us.
A Call to a Work, v.2. “For the work whereunto, I have called them.” The work of God, to which we are called as a new creation in Christ Jesus, is a holy calling. The person called is a new creation, and the work before them is God's new creation. People will be saved and brought into a new life in Christ. We are privileged to be workers together with Him. That doesn’t mean we can be idle and take it easy because God is doing the work. Rather, it means moving forward with a sense of urgency to meet the demands of a new work that differs in every place.
There is no template to follow except to be guided by the Spirit and the word of God to do what is appropriate and suited to each individual place and person. Workers in a field put in the time necessary to prepare the ground for the seed. Then, they are to plant the seed and see that it is watered. It is then that God gives the increase. It is in that way we are workers together with Him.
A Call Approved, v.3. “They sent them away.” The brothers of the assembly at Antioch, who knew the two men had prayed and fasted about the call and what it meant, identified themselves with Barnabas and Saul in physical and temporal ways and sent them off in full fellowship with them. Barnabas and Saul had left fruitfulness behind them and were sent out to fulfill their call with the solemn assurance that this was the will of God. There was no going-away party. Instead, it was a solemn, holy occasion as those men went out with the call of God in their hearts, the commission of the Risen Christ as their authority, and the love of God for lost souls to motivate them.
People are not sent out as free-lances to do what they want. There is accountability in all parts of the call of God. First, we are accountable to God, who called us His servants. Second, we are accountable to the assembly we are a part of. Third, we are accountable to the elders of that assembly who have consented to send us as servants of God into His work. Then we are accountable to believers wherever they are, to conduct ourselves as representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ in ways that will enforce their testimony when we are gone. Finally, we are accountable to those to whom we preach the word of God, and we will not mislead them by misinterpreting the scriptures or by not presenting the Gospel and the whole counsel of God in the fullness of its truth.
A Call Confirmed, v.5-12. “They proclaimed the word of God… they traveled through the whole island… filled with the Holy Spirit.” A person engaged in the work of the Lord will see evidence of God working through them. There will be evidence of the power of God overcoming the works of the devil, and lives will be changed by the power of God using His word to bring new life to those who believe. The word preached will sustain those believers in the faith and promote growth. There was a great difference between Saul and Bar-Jesus, even though they came from the same background. Both were made blind by the power of God, but Saul’s blindness was caused by holy light and the sight of the Savior, while Elymas, the sorcerer’s blindness, caused him to be blind for a season to allow him to repent.
Miracles in those days confirmed the preached messages and inspired people to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sergius Paulus, who was filling his term as proconsul, was a man of intelligence and insight who wanted to hear personally what the Lord’s servants had been preaching across Cyprus. By the time they had reached the island's west side, the word would have reached Sergius’s ears but was opposed by his deceitful sorcerer. Like in the case of Bar-Jesus, there have always been, and still are, those who promote counterfeit Christianity that distorts the truth of God. The plain word of God, spoken in fellowship with our Lord and in the power of the Spirit of God, is how God’s truth bears lasting fruit in salvation and increasing faith and growth in believers.