Strengthening In The Faith, Struggling In The Decisions

I'd like to thank each and every one of you for being here today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's good to see you all here.

You know it's a really uh tough morning to get out of the house and drive in the snow and the storm.

But thank you for coming this morning.

Any children who are here are welcome to be dismissed out to our children's church at this time.

If you want to go out in the foyer there and we have our teacher waiting for you.

If you didn't get a sermon outline and would like to use one, uh ushers have them, just lift your hand, they'll be happy to give you one.

I don't know if you saw this in the news, but uh a van was carrying a dozen movie stuntmen in a to a film location in the mountains.

As the van rounded a sharp curve, it spun out of control on the icy road.

It ended up crashing through a guardrail, rolled down a ninety-foot embankment, turned over and burst into flames.

There were no injuries.

Give it a minute.

We've been looking at how the early church in the book of Acts almost spun out of control in trying to clarify the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The question became: is salvation received by grace through faith in Jesus, or is salvation obtained by a combination of faith in Jesus plus being obedient to God's law?

The last two weeks we've looked at Acts chapter 15 when the early church convened a council in Jerusalem with the apostles, elders, church leaders to decide the doctrine of the gospel once and for all.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

And Peter summarizes what the council agreed on in Acts 15, 8 to 11.

He said, And God knows, who knows the heart, testified to them, meaning Gentiles, to give giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us.

He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

Now, therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

But we believe that we are saved through grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they are.

They all agreed that salvation is received by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, today, as we follow Paul and Barnabas, they're going to leave Jerusalem and return to Syrian Antioch.

So they're here at the council meeting and they're going to go back up to the church that really sent them out the first time, Assyrian, in Syrian Antioch.

And from there they're going to uh leave on their second missionary journey, which we'll look at after a bit.

Uh but when the uh Jew and Gentile believers in Antioch heard what the council decided, the text says they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

Let me read that passage in Acts chapter 15, beginning in verse 30.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

So when they were sent away and went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.

When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message.

After they had spent time there, they were sent away from the brethren peace to those who had been who had sent them out.

But it seemed good to Silas to remain there.

But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching with many others also, the word of God.

Congregation rejoiced to hear that the gift of forgiveness in the Holy Spirit was freely given to the Gentiles, to those who believe in Jesus the Messiah, and that they should use their freedom to serve others in love.

Once people have understood the gospel of Christ and believed in Jesus, the hard work of discipling believers begins.

That's where we pick up the story today when Paul and Barnabas decide to revisit the churches where they had preached and continue to spread the good news.

And I'd like to look at three things today as we follow Paul on his second missionary journey.

First, uh we'll see how they're strengthened in the faith.

Then we're going to see them struggle in their decisions.

And then, third, what does it mean to serve the cause of Christ?

Three times in this passage, Luke refers to strengthening the believers in the church.

And each of those three instances answers a different question about the strengthening ministry.

How, what, and who?

What does strengthening mean?

Well, we've seen this word before.

It means to make something firm, to reinforce it, to establish a good foundation.

And the context tells us that it was their strength, the strength of their faith, that they were focused on.

The churches were being strengthened in the faith, Acts 16, 5.

What does it mean to be strengthened in the faith?

The faith refers, it's an all-encompassing term, really, in the New Testament, referring to the things we believe to be true about God, Jesus Christ, salvation, and what God has revealed to us in his word.

Second, who was being strengthened?

Luke tells us it was the brethren in the churches who are being encouraged and strengthened in the faith.

Acts 15, 32, Judas and Silas also being prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brethren.

Acts 15, 41, and he, Paul, was traveling through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches.

And the brethren simply refers to the men and women who believed in Jesus, the Messiah, for eternal life.

They are now brethren, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Third passage tells us how they were strengthening believers in the faith.

What did they do?

They taught them the word of God.

Listen to this, Acts 15, 32 and 35.

Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message.

But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching with many others the word of the Lord.

Now, I hope you heard that.

Please note they preached a lengthy message.

I just want you to know my preaching is biblical, okay?

That's my life verse right there.

Judas, Silas, Paul, and Barnabas now are going about discipling believers, teaching them the scriptures to strengthen them in their faith.

The things they're learning more about who God is, who they are in Christ, their salvation, and how to understand the word of God, all part of being strengthened in their faith.

As Paul wrote to the Ephesians church, that's one reason God has given us his word to help us grow up in our life in Christ spiritually.

Ephesians 4, 11 to 15, God gives these gifted individuals to the church to help them grow.

He gave some apostles, prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

And as a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but we are to speak the truth in love.

We are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ.

And if you take the time to just look at it in the scripture, you see the absolutely amazing spectrum of why God has given us his word and how it helps us grow in our faith.

He gave us his word for this very purpose.

It encourages us, God's word encourages us, strengthens our faith, and he gives us hope.

Listen to what Paul said in Romans 15:4.

Romans 15:4

For whatever was written in earlier times, meaning the Old Testament, was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

The word also is designed to draw us closer to God.

Listen to Jesus when he said, He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will disclose myself to him.

In other words, there's an intimacy there as we come to God's word and listen for his voice to us.

The word of God helps us to know the truth, Jesus said in John 8.

So Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed in him, if you continue in my word, you are truly disciples of mine, and you'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

The word also helps us recognize good and evil, training us to discern things in our world that we need to know.

And concerning him, the writer of the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 5, concerning him, and he's speaking of Melchizedek there, we have much to say.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

It's hard to explain since you've become dull of hearing.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk, not solid food.

And there he's referring to the appetite for the word of God, milk or solid food.

And for everyone who partakes of only of milk, in other words, just the ABCs of God's Word, is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he's an infinite, infant.

But solid food is for the mature because of practice have trained their senses to discern good and evil.

So it's this, it's our time and exposure in the word, digging deeply in study, meditation, reading, that the Lord's word helps us understand good and evil all around us and to make good decisions when it comes to that.

The word of God also helps us uh in make sense of our circumstances sometimes.

What's going on?

We didn't know what to do.

I love the psalmist, talks about this quite a bit in the Psalms.

Psalm 119, 92 and 93.

The psalmist says, If your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction.

Uh I will never forget your precepts, for by them you've revived me.

There's something in God's word that helps we help us gain a perspective of life itself, of what's going on in our life.

Another Psalm 94, 19, the psalmist says, When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, your consolations delight my soul.

And consolation is there?

A synonym for God's word.

So we're reading it, we're encouraged, we're we receive comfort uh with whatever we're going on.

Uh and the word of God also helps us help others.

I love what Colossians 3:16 says in the New Testament.

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, and with all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns, spiritual songs, singing and thankfulness in your hearts to God.

So it's the word of Christ that we minister to one another.

Finally, the word of God helps us hear God's voice through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in us.

Do you realize God uh wants to speak to us in our heart of hearts?

Um speak to us to do many things based on our needs at the moment.

Uh Hebrews 4 12, for the word of God is act is alive and active.

It's there's something otherworldly supernatural about the word that God has preserved for us.

It's living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.

It penetrates even the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

God knows you better than you know you.

And he needs to have access to you, and one of the main ways he does that is right here in his word.

And as you're reading, I don't know if you've had this experience, but quite often I'll be reading something, and it doesn't even matter what.

When God wants to show me something or tell me something about me or my circumstance, he does it.

And it's like Paul said earlier, it was written so I could be encouraged and have hope.

That's why he gives it to us.

It's essential for our spiritual growth.

Now, Paul and Barnabas, co-laboring in the gospel, helped many people come to faith in Christ.

And sometime I'm gonna I'm gonna add it up.

Uh, you can't, it's just this constant ministry they're doing from the word of God, doing the ministry.

They're not doing it just with their own ideas, they're literally presenting God's word to people.

And they're not only helping people come to faith in Christ, they're helping new believers grow in their faith in Christ, both of which come from the word of God.

But now, we'll see next, God was about to redirect them both by what happened next in their struggle to make a decision in the ministry.

See, Paul and Barnabas had to decided, they've seen many Jews and Gentiles come to faith in Jesus in the areas that they traveled.

And now uh they can't just orphan them.

Uh no Christian should be orphaned because you need to start growing, and then we need help to grow.

We need, in a sense, spiritual parents.

We need the church body.

But uh they decide, Paul and Barnabas decide to, hey, let's go see, let's go visit those churches again and see how they're doing.

Acts 15, 36.

After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let's return and visit the brethren in every city which we proclaim the word of God and see how they are.

Now, one thing you need to know before I get into the thick of this is Paul and Barnabas were not only co-laborers in the gospel ministry, they were also very close friends.

After Paul believed in Jesus, Barnabas was the first to welcome him and introduce him to the other disciples in Jerusalem.

Listen to Acts back in Acts 9 after Paul came to faith in Jesus.

When Paul came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

But Barnabas took hold of him, brought him to the apostles, described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.

So Barnabas could see Paul was not being accepted, and he went to him, grabbed a hold of him, brought him in, and was his advocate to the rest of the apostles and disciples.

Then when Jews and Greeks in Antioch were believing the gospel in Syria and Antioch, they're receiving Jesus.

Barnabas was literally overwhelmed by the numbers that were coming to faith in Jesus.

And so Barnabas went to get Saul to help him, uh, so he could help him with the discipling believers in Antioch.

Acts 11, we read, uh, and he, Barnabas, left for Tarsus to look for Saul.

And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.

And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers, and the disciples there were first called Christians in Antioch.

And so they were not only co-labours, they were close friends.

Uh, I'm sure this developed over time, but look at what Barnabas does when he needed help in the ministry.

First person to come to mind was not Peter, it wasn't James, it was Paul.

Speaks a lot of their relationship.

But when they decided to go on their second missionary journey, text says they had a very sharp disagreement.

Let's read that in Acts 15, picking up where we left off in verse 36.

After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let's return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are.

Well, Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with him also.

But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along, who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him, and they sailed away to Cyprus.

But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord, and he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Now listen, if Luke, who's writing the book of Acts, was making things up, the legend of Christianity, uh about its growth and so on, why on earth would he just include a real discouraging story like that that includes in his story?

The reason he includes it uh is because it wasn't just a story, it's what really happened.

And he's faithfully recording it.

Sometimes uh the reality is we're we're going to have disagreements in the church.

Uh sometimes two people, as we see here, will have very different ideas, very different reasons for what they want to do.

But notice something about uh Paul and Barnabas' disagreement.

Their sharp disagreement was not about doctrine, not about the gospel, it was not about any sin.

It was about a personal difference of opinion regarding whether or not to trust a brother in Christ with great responsibility in a dangerous Gospel mission.

Apparently, John Mark had deserted Paul when he needed them in their first missionary journey.

We read that in Acts 13, 13.

Now, Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos, came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Barnabas wasn't there, Paul was.

Now, I don't think we understand how serious this was for Paul.

Um and preaching the gospel in these ancient times was extremely dangerous.

And he needed all the help he could get.

But when a brother in Christ stepped back and left him, I'm sure it left it left some wounds.

Um but see, on the other hand, John Mark was Barnabas' cousin.

Family.

And Barnabas, the encourager, wanted to give him another chance.

And they disagreed over that issue and decided to go their separate ways with grace and peace.

And sent by the church in Antioch.

But I have to believe that the sovereignty of God, in the sovereignty of God, God used their decision to split up in order to expand the gospel's reach and ministry.

The thing of it is the scripture doesn't mention that Paul and Barnabas ever teamed up again.

Ironically, though, it does tell us later that Paul and John Mark were again ministering together again.

Isn't that interesting?

Colossians chapter 4, verse 10.

Colossians 4:10

Paul says it, uh Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, and also Barnabas's cousin Mark, about whom I you received instructions.

If he comes to you, welcome him.

Paul and Barnabas decide to go their separate ways.

Acts 15, 39, 41.

Barnabas took Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus.

Paul chose Silas and left.

And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Just so you can see where they're going.

So they're in Antioch.

When they split, uh Barnabas and John Mark go to Cyprus.

By the way, that that was that was where uh Barnabas and John Mark are from, Cyprus.

And Paul and Paul and Silas start going up through Syria and then into Cilicia to continue to preach the gospel, plant churches, and they also are checking on the churches that were already there to see how they were doing.

Now, there are a few lessons we can gather from this passage from Paul and Barnabas about serving the cause of Christ.

First of all, we learn two very important issues, aspects of a church's ministry.

First, the preaching of the gospel to those who don't know Christ is absolutely essential for the life and growth of any church.

And that's what they were giving their lives to.

Second, they were also giving their lives to discipling those who believe in Jesus by teaching them the word of God.

And that's absolutely essential in every church of Jesus Christ, to be strong in the faith.

Another thing we learn is that every church needs the care and leadership of pastors and elders.

In Acts 15, 36, where it says, after some days, Paul and Barnabas said, Let's return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of God, see how they are.

The word visit in Greek episcomae is the same word used for pastor and elder in the New Testament.

Let's go visit them, see how they are doing.

Paul and Barnabas recognized that the believers they had led to the Lord needed to be checked on.

They needed pastoral guidance, they needed to continue learning the scripture.

That's what they're doing when they say we're going to visit them.

When they began to establish churches, Luke writes about how they made sure to appoint elders in every church who are able to teach, continue to teach the Word of God.

Listen to back in Acts 14.

This is, keep in mind, the church is just starting out.

Got Pentecost, all these people come to faith.

The church starts in Jerusalem.

Well, then you remember the story, we followed them out.

The persecution starts uh after uh in in chapter 8, after Stephen is martyred, they start moving through Samaria and up to Antioch, through Syria, and all of a sudden we got a new church in Antioch.

And so they realized we can't just go plant these churches because they literally new believers can get kid off on all kinds of crazy stuff and doctrines.

There has to be a foundation laid from the word of God.

So in Acts 14, 23, you start to see this pattern.

When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed and fasting, and they commended to them to the Lord, commended them to the Lord in whom they believed.

They made sure there was uh people there who could continue to help them grow in their faith, pastors and elders.

That's why God gave those gifts for the equipping of the body of Christ, and to help them grow up in Christ.

And finally, the last lesson I see here is we can learn that sometimes God uses our disagreements to help us grow in our faith and even further advance the gospel ministry.

Um, what's interesting to me is God wasn't done with Barnabas.

He wasn't done with Paul, and he wasn't done with John Mark.

Barnabas ended up taking Mark to Cyprus with him.

That was where they grew up, and helped him become a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

You realize Mark would later write the Gospel of Mark, one of the pillars of our faith.

Uh, the got one of the four gospels.

And the Apostle Paul took Silas on the gospel adventure of their lives, which we're going to jump into next time.

Hope you can be there.

But helping people understand the gospel and learn to follow Jesus through the ministry of God's Word are two core ministries of every church of Jesus Christ.

Each come with their own separate goal.

The goal of understanding the gospel is to believe in Jesus as your Savior.

The goal of the ministry of God's Word, after you believe, is to become more conformed to Jesus Christ and His image in our thoughts, words, and actions, to grow up in Christ, to be a mature Christian in Him.

And I'll just end by saying if you anyone would like to learn more about the gospel or becoming a follower of Christ, I know I'm available.

Please reach out to me or Pastor Dennis or one of the elders.

We'd be happy to give you some direction because that's what we do.

So let's pray.

Father, thank you today that you've not left us in the dark about the gift of salvation available to us through faith in Jesus.

Thank you for the gospel of grace that's come down to us, preserved for 2,000 years, so we can continue to not only hear it, but also spread it.

Thank you for your inspired word, teaching us how to draw closer to you, how to serve you, how to fulfill your purpose for each of us.

And we ask you, Father, to please give us a heart that receives your word gladly and responds to you obediently, as you, sovereign, lead us to be Jesus' disciples, his witnesses in our generation.

I pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.