Going Separate Ways in Ministry

Transcript

GR 1616
10/09/2011
Going Separate Ways in Ministry
Acts 15:36-16:5
Gil Rugh

Something new is taking place in the world. Paul writes about to that greater depth and detail in his letter to the Ephesians. He said, the truth to what God was doing in the church had not been revealed before. So through the history of the book of Acts, we see an unfolding, understanding of what is taking place.

The church begins in Acts, chapter 2. There is a recognition of that new work of God and fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy about the coming of the Spirit. But there wasn’t an understanding of this dramatic change. This just wasn’t going to be – a new work of God within the nation of Israel. As Jesus had told his followers in Acts 1, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judaea and Samaria and to the other most parts of the world.

As we move through the history as Luke unfolds it in the early period of the church, you see a progressive understanding as the Jews believe and they function in Jerusalem with a Jewish church basically made up of Jews and then persecution, the Gospel carried out to the Samaritans. That is not a big difference, because the Samaritans were a mixed blood. Jews had intermarried over time.

But then in Acts chapter 10, God revealed to Peter that he intended for the Gospel to go the Gentiles. That took special revelation from heaven Peter said for him to be willing to do it. He carried the Gospel to the house of Cornelius. Preceding that God had made clear with the conversion of Saul that he would be his particular instrument in carrying the Gospel not only to Jews but to Gentiles on a broad scale.

When we got to Acts 15, there would be some issues to be resolved regarding what is involved in salvation. This comes about because in chapters 13 and 14, Paul and Barnabas had taken the first missionary journey and that was the Gentile parts of the world. Now you are focusing on Gentiles primarily.

So in the church of Antioch of Syria where Paul started out from, there was a debate between the Jews, who professed to believe in Christ, the Messiah and the Gentiles and Paul and Barnabas. What is necessary? Do Gentiles have to be circumcised and submit to the Mosaic Law for salvation? Remember the issue was not is Jesus the Messiah and do you have to trust in him and his death and resurrection. But is that alone enough and as a result of the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15, it is clarified and the leadership of the church in Jerusalem agree with Paul and Barnabas and Peter that the Gentiles do not have to revert to Judaism. Salvation is by grace alone through Faith alone. And there is no necessity for adopting circumcision or submission to the law.

Now there are certain things, the Gentiles have are sensitive to. There are certain things that would be sensitive in your faith, offensive to the Jews, eating meat with the blood and so on. So there were some of those guidelines reiterated in a letter in verses 28 & 29 of Acts 15. “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden than on these essentials. Abstain from things sacrificed to idols from blood, from things strangled, from fornication, keep yourselves from these things. Farewell.”

We noted that this is consistent with what Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 8 & 10 and to the Romans in Romans 14 & 15 on this sensitivity. Here the sensitivity is beyond the part of the Gentiles. You don’t have to convert to Judaism. You don’t have to submit to circumcision and keep the Law. But neither do you have to use your freedom to purposely offend the Jews. These guidelines are given. That resolves the problem, there is unity in the church. It will not make the Judaisers go away. They will be present and appear in various places where Paul goes.

We’ll see them later in the book of Acts, we’ll see them in the book of Galatians, and they will come in other letters like the Philippians and so on. But that crisis has been dealt with. Now what happened after the meeting with Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas and representatives from the church in Jerusalem, in particular a man named Judas or Barnabas and Silas come and return to Antioch and go over these things to the church of Antioch as well. Then they go back to Jerusalem and Paul and Barnabas stay in Antioch. Verse 35, ”Paul and Barnabas stay in Antioch teaching and preaching with many others the word of the Lord.” Now “after some days,” verse 36, “Paul said to Barnabas, ‘let us return and visit the brethren in every city which we proclaim with the word of the Lord and see how they are.’” Paul proposes to Barnabas a revisiting. This will really be the second missionary journey, but what Paul has in mind at this point is just going back to the churches in the areas that they visited on there first missionary journey recorded in chapter 13 and 14 and see how those believers are doing, how those churches they established are doing. They have an opportunity to encourage them and bring them along.

Sounds like a simple idea, but it creates another issue. There is a disagreement between Barnabas and Paul. We are told in Verse 37, “Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark,” sometimes we called him John Mark, wouldn’t have been the way he was known, it wasn’t his first name and last name. But like Saul and Paul, two names here, John and Mark, we sometimes refer to them as John Mark because that helps distinguish them from other Johns and so on. Along with them also, that creates a real problem. Verse 38, “Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.”

Back up to Ch. 13 which opens up with what is going on in Antioch and then, verse 2, “the Holy Spirit told the assembled church there to set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” They send them on their way on the missionary journey on this trip. Verse 4, “being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Pelusium and from there sailed to Cyprus. When they reached Salamis they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews and they also had John, who is also called Mark, as their helper.”

Come to verse 13, they proceed on. “Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos, came to Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and returned to Jerusalem.” That is the issue now that Paul is talking about in Chapter 15. Note the language here. All Luke said in Chapter 13, used the word there that means to leave. “He left them and went back to Jerusalem.” Paul in verse 38 of Acts 15, “Paul kept insisting they should not take him along,” he had deserted them. He used a word that refers to desertion here. His wasn’t he left, he decided, “I think I’m going back to Jerusalem if it is alright with you.”

To Paul this was an act of desertion. Paul could be fond of military terms, being good soldiers and so on. Mark had deserted the work, deserted them at this key time in their carrying the Gospel out. There are difficulties and trials along the way and one that was one to be a helper that they counted on. From Paul’s standpoint, they deserted them. He had not gone to the work. He had committed to this and then he bailed out and left Paul and Barnabas to go on.

We know that in our studies back in Chapter 13, in light of what Paul had written to the Galatians because that was where they were going. These churches in southern Galatia where Paul will write the letter of Galatians to, he visited them because of some health problems he was having. Perhaps to leave the low country and perceive higher. We are not told the details.

So it would have just compounded the problem. You not have the difficulty of the ministry of the gospel, but Paul is having his own physical problems and then Mark decides he is going home. Paul said he deserted us, he cannot come. From Paul’s standpoint, he is not dependable. This causes a strong disagreement.

Verse 39, “there occurred such a sharp disagreement.” This is not just an amenable discussion. This was a heated disagreement, sharp disagreement. They could not come to agreement. The disagreement is so strong that they separated from one another and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. The discussions on this verse go round and round this issue. Was Paul stubborn and should have relented? Was Barnabas stubborn? Obviously, Barnabas is determined Mark is going along. If we don’t go together, then I’m going with Mark. That is the way it is.

It is striking to see that there is a disagreement like this, it is not a doctrinal disagreement. The doctrinal battle they had to go through in the first part of Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas are together and they stand and help the church work through this crucial doctrinal issue. Now it comes to a matter who is going to be part of the traveling party. Is this that big of issue. Do you think Paul might have said, “well Barnabas, if you think that strongly about it, let’s give him another chance.” Or Barnabas would have said, “Look, Mark doesn’t have to go, he could do ministry and you and I will go on and take somebody else.” But they both are set in their conviction here.

Come back to Acts 4, just to remind you of the part that Barnabas has played in the early history of the church. We first meet him in Acts 4:36 in the context where the church of Jerusalem is joined together and to meet the needs of the poor there. Because remember the Jews who have placed their faith in Christ, where are they going to get a job now in Jerusalem? That could bring great stress and families, disowning family members. They have all these conflicts.

We are told in verse 36, “now Joseph the Levite of Cyprian birth,” a reminder of that, that is where Barnabas is from, that is where he is going to return to the island of Cyprus when he separates from Paul. He is a Levite of Cyprian birth who is also called Barnabas by the apostles which translated means, son of encouragement. He owned a tract of land, he sold it; he brought the money and laid it at the apostle’s feet. He was a man who was willing to give of what he had to sell. A piece of land that would be of value to him, but he give the money to help with the ministry of the church.

Come over to Chapter 9 and the apostle Paul has been converted. “When he comes to Jerusalem” in verse 26, Paul, Saul, he was known more familiarly then.
“When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples. They were all afraid of him, not believing he was a disciple. They thought it might be a trick because Paul was known as the persecutor of the church. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, that he had talked to Him, how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.” So Barnabas here, the first one if you will, at the church of Jerusalem, to befriend Paul and help him to be accepted as a true believer in the church.

You come over to chapter 11, in verses 22 and following. When the church in Jerusalem hears that there have been conversions in the church at Antioch, they send Barnabas as their representative to learn more of the situation there. So in verse 22 of chapter 11, “And the news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then when he had come and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul;” Tarsus, remember we know him as Saul of Tarsus, his home. “And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” So that bond and relationship that Paul and Barnabas have in ministry here, and Barnabas is key, again in bringing Paul to the fore.

Down in verse 30 of chapter 11, “after the prophecy about coming famine and the coming famine, they took a collection and sent it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.” The church at Antioch takes this collection, then who do they send to the church in Jerusalem? This offering to help meet their needs? Saul and Barnabas. Chapter 13, chapter 14, all of the chapters, the first missionary journey, who’s on the first missionary journey? Paul and Barnabas.

You come to chapter 15 and when the church at Antioch is going to send representatives down to Jerusalem to meet with the leadership of Jerusalem, who do they send? The first 4 verses you have Paul and Barnabas, verse 2, “and when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension then the leadership of the church decided Paul and Barnabas and others from the church ought to go to Jerusalem.” Verse 22 of Acts 15, “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men form among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas,” Judas and Silas, leading men from Jerusalem to go back to Antioch to share the conclusion of the leadership at Antioch. In verse 25 in this letter “it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

High commendation for Barnabas as well as Paul. Then we come to verse 35, Paul and Barnabas in Antioch teaching and preaching along with others the word of the Lord. Now we come to a sharp disagreement. There are people on both sides as I’ve mentioned. I tend to be on the side that Barnabas should have given way to Paul here. Acts 9:15, God makes clear that Paul is “God’s appointed instrument to carry the gospel to the Gentiles.” There’s no doubt He will provide the leadership, and that others will join with him at different times. But God, through the prophet Ananias says that Paul is a chosen instrument of mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles as well as the Jews. There may be some family issues here. There may be some personal things.

Barnabas, remember his name Joseph is also called Barnabas by the disciples, because he’s the son of encouragement. So he was a person to have that, you can see in dealing with Paul, he’s the one who helped Paul when the other leadership in Jerusalem wasn’t willing to accept he was a true believer. It’s Barnabas who comes and helps. In those situations it seems to be his makeup. That could make it more difficult for him just to leave Mark behind. We‘re also told in Colossians 4:10 that Mark is the “cousin of Barnabas,” so you have a family relationship here. How that plays into it, we don’t know. But in Colossians 4:10, we are told that he is the cousin of Barnabas.

With the division here, Acts is done with Barnabas. We’re told that he’ll set sail with Mark to Cyprus, but we hear no more about him in the book of Acts. We are told that the church commends Paul and Silas to the grace of the Lord, but nothing about their actions with Barnabas. We want to be careful that we don’t say, “well we have two missionary teams now, Barnabas and Mark and Paul and Silas.” Maybe that’s the outcome, but we’re only told that Paul and Silas are committed to the the grace of the Lord. Barnabas leaves the picture.

There is another mention of Barnabas. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 9. Paul will later mention him. And he does continue in ministry. So we’re not saying that he’s like Demas, who forsakes Paul, and is probably not faithful to the ministry anymore. Both Barnabas and Mark will be faithful in the ministry. In 1 Corinthians 9, and this will be a later event when verse 5, “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working?” So here Barnabas is well enough known in the church at Corinth and his ministry is of such stature and continues. And he followed the practice of Paul. Paul uses him as an example here, why do Barnabas and I not have the same rights, even though they’re not traveling together again.

Mark will be mentioned in other places. Colossians 4:10, I mention to you, in this passage Paul writes, and this is one of his prison epistles, written later of course. “Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas’s cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him.) So, positive comment about Mark. It doesn’t say, if he comes to you watch out, he’s not trustworthy. At this later time in Paul’s ministry, he has regard for Mark. They are to welcome him. And it’s a recommendation of Mark, of his relationship to Barnabas, that they would be even more familiar with.

Philemon, the little one chapter Philemon, just before Hebrews. Philemon 23 “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas,” Demas has not forsaken him at that point. Mark mentioned again, greetings from Mark, so Mark is evidently with Paul at that point and Paul can send greetings.

Just back up before that a little bit, into 2 Timothy, this is Paul’s last letter. 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul is in his final imprisonment, here awaiting execution. “Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.” It’s a little different attitude than is expressed. For some of those reasons people say, well Barnabas’s ministry with Mark was successful and that would seem to be the indication. Mark, he stumbled on that occasion, fell on his face, but that didn’t mean God was done with him in ministry. And Barnabas continues in ministry.

I don’t think Paul is saying back in Acts 15 that Mark could never be used of the Lord again. We know Paul, the kind of ministry he had, on that first missionary journey, what he had to get through; he was stoned and left for dead. Remember Annaias was told by the Lord, “I will show Paul how much he must suffer for my name sake.” Paul could not have someone that might be able to endure the rigors of what God had called him to do. Paul was prepared for the worst wherever he went. He was never caught off guard, he just plows in. You can’t take Mark to see if he’ll make it there; there may be places for Mark to be trained with Paul if not one of them. It takes a person who will be more reliable than that. That is the way I would see it.

God continues to use both Barnabas and Mark, although I would look at it that Barnabas missed the opportunity to be a part of the ministry of the greatest servant we have recorded at this time in the New Testament. A privilege given to someone else and the inspired record will go on with Paul and Silas at this point. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus so remember that is Barnabas’s home. What they do on Cyprus, I take it they minister, from future references, and Barnabas will continue to travel in ministry and Mark will continue in ministry. We know Mark intersects with Paul because he sends greetings from Mark in the letter read.

About Barnabas, Paul is familiar with Barnabas’ ongoing ministry and comments about it. That is all we know, we know no more about that ministry of those men. What is Paul going to do? Verse 40, “Paul chose Silas and left. Being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.” I am thinking here, there are no doctrinal issues here, so there is no indication in the later references, brief as they are, regarding Barnabas and then a few more on Mark. We indicate these men did not divide the church over it. They are not attempting to get their own following. This is an issue over whether Mark can be part of Paul’s ministry or not and Paul says no, so Barnabas says I can’t either. But they go on with the ministry. You don’t have the Barnabas faction, the Mark faction, Paul faction. Paul could further them comfortably and it is left there.

He selects Silas, who’s noted better by his other name, Roman name, Sylvanus. He is mentioned a number of times in the New Testament, II Cor., I Thess., II Thess. Usually in the first part of those letters, in the first chapter associated with Paul because he had become a travelling companion with Paul. Then he also will be mentioned in I Peter 5:12.

Now we have a change, Jerusalem, is about 200 miles south and a little west of Antioch. In the first missionary journey, they crossed over to Cyprus and then up to Pamphylia and into that region. Since Barnabas is taking Mark and gone to Cyprus, Paul doesn’t take Silas and say let’s go visit that way. What he is going to do is go up around the top and he’ll go up through Cilicia and over into the visit the churches that they had visited in the Galatia region. So he is going to go to the same place but he is taking a different route. Paul seems to prefer land routes at least from the records we have. He has had maybe from some of his unpleasant experiences that II Cor. 11 records, he preferred not to go by ship if he could go by land.

On this second journey, he is going up over but he’ll end up at the same churches but will not visit the island of Cyprus. What he is doing, verse 41, he is “traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.” So Syria is the region and that goes into Cilicia and the churches as they travel, he is strengthening them ministering the word. Remember these are new churches. They have the word of the apostles and prophets, but they don’t have the New Testament scriptures yet. So Paul can bring inside an understanding of what God is doing and build them up. Chapter 16, Paul “came also to Derbe and to Lystra,” places they had been on the first missionary journey. It was at Lystra, that the ministry of Paul and Barnabas had such great impact. Remember they wanted to worship them as Gods. Then with the fickleness of the unbelieving crowd, when they don’t take worship and that doesn’t suit them, they turn against them and stone Paul and leave him for dead.

So Paul’s ministry here had a great impact. Significant here, “a disciple was here named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the Brethren of Lystra and Iconium.” So those regions in the area where Paul had visited with Barnabas on the first missionary journey and established churches. “Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman and a Greek Gentile father. And he is well spoken of,” he has a good reputation. Young man, but already a good testimony as a believer. The believers speak well of him. He probably converted on Paul’s first missionary journey.

Turn over to I Corinthians 4: 17, “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.” That expression “who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord” indicated Paul had the privilege of leading him to Christ. So he had fathered him “spiritually speaking” by being the instrument God used of bringing the Gospel to him and bring salvation to Timothy.

As Paul has returned, Timothy has matured and grown, his mother is a believer and let me just read to you, II Timothy 1:5, when he writes to Timothy, Timothy becomes a prominent man in the New Testament. He has two letters written by him and is being referred to on other occasions. Paul writes to Timothy in II Timothy 1:5, “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.”

In all probability, these women had been converted on Paul’s first missionary journey prior to Timothy’s conversion. There you see the work of the Lord working through the family. The grandmother and the mother get saved, passed on to Timothy as he becomes exposed to Paul’s ministry, the way the Lord often works, the way I was converted. Our family, first my mother, works through the family. Well she takes us to hear the Gospel that she has heard and we become believers. That evidently happened in Timothy’s family and we find out the women in his family were saved; indication would be his father was not. The reference here, his father was probably deceased by this time. But at any rate, he is not in the picture.

Having a Jewish mother and a Greek father raises some issues that have to be dealt with. He has a good reputation, is well spoken of by believers in that area there. In that region, the believers would have known one another. Paul wanted this man to go with him, so in effect, Timothy is going to be the replacement for Mark. Silas replaces Barnabas. He is a prophet himself, verse 32, chapter, 15, “Judas and Silas also being prophets themselves.” He, Silas, has the prophetic gift so he comes to join Paul, replacing Barnabas, and now looking for a young man, maybe to carry the luggage, to be trained and help them with things that need to be done to free them up with some things to be in the ministry. It will be a training ground for Timothy; it works well.

He took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew his father was a Greek. Interesting what Paul does here. In Galations 2, you remember, verse 3, Paul says, “when he took Titus with him to the conference in Jerusalem, he didn’t have Titus circumcised,” verse 3, “not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.” You think, well now, Paul makes a point of refusing to have Titus circumcised. Why? Well he is a Greek, there is no Jewish blood in him. If Paul required to have Titus circumcised, he would be giving in to the circumcision party that says Gentiles have to be circumcised. Now it is a different issue with Timothy. He is known in the area to be a child of a mixed marriage. A Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father. Perhaps the father would not have him circumcised, not consent to it.

This is an issue for the Jews. Having a parent who is Jewish, he should be raised Jewish. Jews say at that time they thought that if you had a Jewish parent, you should not be raised Jewish. This young man has not been subjected to circumcision. Reason we assume, his Greek father would not permit it. At any rate, he doesn’t.

Now this raises an issue. From the eyes of the Jews, he is denying his Jewishness. Well that is not required to be a believer. The Gentiles do not have to convert to Judaism nor do the Jews have to deny their Jewishness. They don’t have to become Gentiles. So this becomes an issue for the Jews. Why have you, being a Jewish man, not been circumcised? Word gets around. Had a Greek father and was not subjected to that, this would be an issue.

Paul is just following the principle here. It doesn’t have to be an issue here, he is Jewish and has a Jewish mother. It is fitting for him to be circumcised in light that he is a descendant of Abraham and has the sign of the covenant which is not required for his salvation. He is not standing against being Jewish. It is a different issue than Titus. And you see how careful Paul is. When there is a theological issue at stake, he won’t yield on Titus. He will not have him circumcised. That would bring confusion. But when there is from the other side, this could be understood. He is willing to yield the point.

Turn over to I Corinthians 9:19-20, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews.” We’ll see this later in Acts, he’ll still practice some Jewish practices because he doesn’t have to give them up. Like we said, Jews don’t have to start eating ham sandwiches. They are free to observe the restrictions they want, but they are not required; that is just a matter of Jewishness. Not a matter of salvation. “To the Jews, I became as a Jew so that I might win Jews. To those under the Law, as those under the Law, though not being under myself under the Law.” He understands that the Law is not operative anymore, but I can choose to do things that the Law requires if that gives me an openness to the Jews. They recognize I am a Jew, to make an issue of not doing them would make an issue that doesn’t have to be. That is fine. I can practice things that the law says as a Jewish man. But I know I’m not under the law, but I’m using my liberty properly so that I might win those who are under the law.

That is what he is doing with Timothy. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, but he has a strong ministry to the Jews as well. He is going into the synagogue when he goes. Let’s just take care of this before we start. Let this be a non-issue, dealt with, so nobody can question, is it true that this man has a Jewish mother and he is circumcised. That is an issue for a male descendant of Abraham. “To those who are without law as without law, they will not be without the law of God but I’m under the law of Christ so that I may win those who are without law. To the weak, I become weak so that I may win the weak. I become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the Gospel so that I can become a fellow partaker of it.”

That is Paul’s pattern. So he is not vacillating, he is just evaluating carefully so that when we start this trip, we will be ministering in Jewish areas. Timothy has a Jewish mother; not to be circumcised would be an obstacle that doesn’t need to be there. That is the practice he does. While they were passing through the cities, back in Acts 16: 4-5, “Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees, which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe. So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.” It is important for them to be delivered there daily for this becomes an issue in these places.

So Paul is sharing what was decided in the council of Jerusalem. It is resolved. He is sharing those decrees where the very issue was over circumcision so there was no issue in having Timothy circumcised. He is a Jewish man; that is a different issue. He is not saying a Jewish man should not be circumcised. That was a requirement in Israel for all; they were circumcised in eight days. It was not even a matter of faith. It was not even a matter over faith, for that child did not have any faith. He was only eight days old. That would have been a practice of Judaism required of Jewish men. Sign of the covenant God had with the nation. In one sense separate from salvation in that sense. Now the nation of the nation would be committed to God. The desire was that they would all come to trust in Christ.

He is sharing the decrees. The Gentiles can be saved apart from Judaism. They don’t have to convert to Judaism. That involves explaining things, they explained the law, what God is doing, as we see in the letter of the Galatians that fleshes out how Paul feels with these things and explains. Even “the Law was the school master until Christ came.” That letter would be written to these churches in these areas. We know some of what have been going on. The churches were being strengthened in the faith, were increasing in number daily. God is blessing his word and we have a new missionary team, Paul, Silas and Timothy. That will go on and Timothy will be faithful.

The last letter Paul writes is written to Timothy, to Mark who was used of the Lord as a valuable servant. Barnabas evidently continues in ministry from the brief in Mark. And the ministry of the word continues on. We are ready to pursue the second missionary journey and it will carry Paul to length that he never anticipated or planned but God has because he will be crossing to a new continent to carry the Gospel to Jews. That will be in our next study.

Let us pray together. Thank You Lord for Your faithfulness. Lord, even in times of disagreement and conflict. It is Your work that has preserved Your church down to this present day. Turmoil and disagreement in conflict in Your sovereign plan and Your work of grace. We are gathered together as Your church in this place to study Your Word. To have the ministry of the spirit in our hearts and minds, to be privileged to see other churches brought together by Your grace, to see the Gospel carried to other people in this city and other cities and other places. Your work continues in the world and we are privileged to be part of that. Lord we would take this history of the early church to heart, to be encouraged by it and Lord to be strengthened that we might be faithful in our service in these days. Bless us in our ministry and service in the week before us. I pray in Christ’s name. Amen