April 12, 2023 | Be On Mission
Barnabas & Saul Begin 1st Missionary Journey
Scripture: Acts 13:1-12(NIV)
1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with 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 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
Devotional
Back in Acts 11, we saw how Barnabas and Saul ministered and taught the Christians in Antioch, a city in Syria, north of Israel. Hearing of a severe famine in Jerusalem, the Christians in Antioch collected funds and sent the gift by Barnabas and Saul to the elders in Jerusalem (see Acts 11:30). These two men were present in Jerusalem when Peter was arrested and miraculously freed. Then they returned from Jerusalem back to Antioch, taking with them John Mark, who would later write the Gospel of Mark (see Acts 12:25).
Now, in Acts 13, they are in Antioch when the Holy Spirit proclaimed to the worshiping believers, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (v. 2). This work of taking the good news of Jesus to the non-Jewish Gentiles had been given to Saul over a decade earlier. Now it was time.
Saul (his Jewish name) became known as Paul (his Greek name). He was known by both names, as verse 9 says. From this point on, he was called Paul, as he spread the Christian faith to the Gentile (Greek speaking) people. Today’s reading begins the first of Paul’s three missionary journeys.
The first stop on the first journey was the island nation of Cyprus, which was where Barnabas was raised and became a Levite before embracing Jesus as the Messiah. When Stephen was martyred in Acts 7, persecution broke out against the Christians in Jerusalem, scattering them to foreign lands. Acts 11:19 says that some escaped to Cyprus, where they spread the gospel of Jesus among the Jews who lived there. The next verse says that some of these people from Cyprus sailed to Antioch to tell the good news of Jesus to the Greeks (Gentiles). Now the people of Antioch are sending Barnabas, Paul and John Mark to Cyprus to extend the gospel further on the island. Everything came full circle.
There they encountered a man who tried to oppose them. What is everything you notice about how that man is described? How did Paul respond and what happened to the man and his boss, the proconsul? How might this have impacted Paul and his traveling partners as they would continue to take the gospel throughout the Roman Empire?
Poem
Son Of The Devil
You son of the devil
You offshoot of shame
How dare you make crooked
Defying God’s name
You lie to the righteous
Your villainy plain
Your darkness now blind you
Your evil contain
You’ll never see vict’ry
God’s crushing heel know
Though you strike the ankle
Your head, final blow
