The First Mission Trip (Part 2)
a commentary on Acts 13 (Interpretation)
Thank you, Lord, for this day. May it be used for your glory!
Good morning everyone and welcome back to Biblit!
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This week we have been reading all about Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark’s first missionary journey.
Last time I gave you a map to follow along with. I’ll paste it here again for reference.
A lot of crazy things happened in this chapter over a longer period of time than we probably give credit. Today, let’s jump a little deeper and break down some of what happened.
One big theme this passage highlights (and we will continue to see in Paul’s life) is facing adversity for Christ.
Missions
As I said in yesterday’s Biblit and in this intro, this is the first mission trip we really see in the book of Acts.
Remember Jesus’s command back in Acts 1?
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 CSB).
And thus, I told you that the rest of the book is broken up into those 3 sections:
Chapters 2-7: Jerusalem
Chapters 8-12: Judea and Samaria
Chapters 13-28: the ends of the earth
Well, here we are, beginning the section of “the ends of the earth.”
Before this chapter, there were only a few cases where any of the followers of Jesus preached the gospel outside of Jerusalem. Those were when they brought the good word to Judea and Samaria because of persecution, and then when Peter and Philip were led by the Spirit to preach to Cornelius and the Ethiopian.
We have yet to see a church, even Jerusalem, send anyone out on a massive mission journey by the guidance of the Holy Spirit alone. It was always either persecution or guidance to one individual.
So, already, we are seeing a really powerful shift in how God is working in the world.
Cyprus and Paphos
On our first stop along the journey, we reach this Island of Cyprus. We notice that they land in Salamis and then walk all the way to Paphos (as seen in the map).
Just for reference, that is about a 90 mile journey across the island.
It is at least the homeland to Barnabas, so perhaps the journey itself is not too arduous yet. But 90 miles is no joke.
When they finally reach that end we notice a couple of things I want to point out.
First to the Jew?
What’s up with Paul always preaching the gospel to the Jew first and then the greek?
Even in Romans 1 he says it like this:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16 CSB).
But he says it right after saying salvation is for everyone who believes, despite ethnicity, sin, upbringing, or anything. It’s for EVERYONE.
But then he slides in “first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”
What’s going on here?
I read an article by John Piper and these are the verbatim potential reasons:
They are the historic chosen people of God.
They are the guardians of God’s special revelation, the Old Testament Scriptures.
The Messiah and Savior, Jesus, comes to the world as a Jew to Jews.
Salvation is from the Jews, since everyone who is saved is saved by being connected to the covenant with Abraham by faith.
The Jews are to be evangelized first when the gospel penetrates a new region.
The Jews will enter first into final judgment and final blessing.
While those are some compelling reasons, John points out one really interesting interpretation.
Let’s think deeper about the saying “first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”
What do you think happened when Jews and Gentiles heard that?
They were ticked off, that’s what!
To the Gentiles, they heard preferential treatment of the Jews. Though they were included in salvation, it was clear to them they didn’t deserve it. They were outsiders invited in. It was a humbling moment.
To the Jews, they heard that these dirty looked down upon sinners were invited into the Kingdom of God and counted righteous same as them.
See, this phrase and action was not to show favoritism. It showed the Jews and Gentiles alike that they were saved by Christ alone. That His blood is the only blood that matters.
This is the way Paul puts it in Romans:
“Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you do boast—you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True enough; they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but beware, because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.” (Romans 11:17-21 CSB).
See, it’s all about arrogance. Because if our salvation was works based, then that olive tree would have 0 branches.
By going to the Jews first and Gentiles second, he is actually showing them both that they are only justified by Christ alone.
Facing Opposition with Boldness
The next thing I notice is that when Paul is faced with an opposing threat to this Proconsul’s faith, Paul stands firm with boldness.
This sorcerer, Elymas, wanted to sway the Proconsul, Sergius Paulus, away from the truth. A man who was clearly searching for the truth. Upon hearing the gospel, Elymas opposed it in order to sway Sergius Paulus further.
And when he did, what did we see Paul do? It wasn’t a passive comment of “well, see Sergius, Elymas believes one way and I believe another, they are both ok.”
No, he was filled by the Holy Spirit and called Elymas out in a big way. And then to top things off, God performed another miracle, blinding Elymas, and giving Sergius the final push he needed to give his life to Christ.
Perga
Unity Despite Conflict
This takes us to our second stop, Perga.
The main piece here we should talk about is conflict within the church. As I said yesterday, we don’t know why John Mark left the group, but we do know that Paul doesn’t take it well. And we’ll come back to that in a few chapters.
But we also know that in 2 Timothy, Paul writes this:
“Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you, for he is useful to me in the ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:11 CSB).
This shows that no matter what their conflict was, Paul saw the bigger picture of the ministry and knew that John Mark was gifted by the Holy Spirit, was part of the body, and had big things to contribute.
Despite their personal differences.
Antioch (Pisidia)
Physical Opposition
I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I wanted to dive into more detail on how arduous this journey really was.
It was over 100 miles of mountainous terrain to get to Antioch from Perga. The path was often flooded, which always makes things “fun”. It was also well known for having tons of bandits. Oh, and now they are down one person.
And to make matters worse, we learn in Galatians 4:13-14 that Paul was most likely suffering from a major illness by the time they made it into Antioch:
“you know that previously I preached the gospel to you because of a weakness of the flesh. You did not despise or reject me though my physical condition was a trial for you. On the contrary, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself.” (Galatians 4:13-14 CSB).
So, to recap: 100 miles of arduous terrain filled with bandits, and only 1 healthy person left in the group.
I wish we could see the inner thoughts these men had to battle. How many times they were tempted to give up and go home, to get better, to rest, etc.
But they just kept pushing despite their crazy journey ahead.
A Relatable Sermon
Paul’s sermon, once again, is a really good one.
But what really sticks out is that it is relatable to his audience.
He met them where they were, established common ground, built on a relationship, and then shared the good news of Christ from that standpoint.
Don’t get me wrong; he emphasized sharing the message that day. He didn’t wait until they were best friends to do it.
But he did listen and understand them so he knew where they were coming from so their hearts would be more open to the Holy Spirit.
And with that, we’ll call it a day! Tune in tomorrow and we’ll jump into some application points!