71 Acts 13:42-43 MISSION WORD AT ANTIOCH OF PISIDIA Introduction: Let me remind you that Paul and Barnabas had been sent out as missionaries by the church at Antioch of Syria. In our text they start a new church in the city of Antioch of Pisidia. These are two different cities which have the same name, but they are located in two different countries. I think it unusual that the two missionaries were sent out by the church in the city of Antioch in one country to organize a church in the city of Antioch in another country. I. The setting for our text On the first sabbath day after Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch of Pisidia they attended a worship service at the Jewish synagogue. Upon being given an opportunity to speak the Apostle Paul reminded the congregation that God had promised to send a Savior through the lineage of King David. Paul declared to them that Jesus is the Savior whom God had promised to send. He acknowledged that the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem had crucified Jesus, but asserted that the death of Jesus did not mean that He is not the Savior. Paul said that God had raised Jesus from the dead and that numerous witnesses had testified that they had seen Him after He arose from the dead. Paul said that this was very good news to the congregation to which he spoke. It was good news because through this man, Jesus, God was offering to them the opportunity to have all their sins forgiven. Paul said to them that forgiveness of sin cannot be obtained by trying to keep the Law of Moses. Paul warned them that they should beware lest they fail to accept God’s offer of forgiveness of their sins and the salvation of their souls. If they should neglect to trust Jesus for forgiveness of sin there would be no way for them to make it to heaven. There would be no way to avoid suffering the full penalty of their sins in a place of torment. With this Paul appealed to them to trust Jesus and be saved and closed out his message. Then he apparently turned the service back to whoever was in charge and had invited him to speak. II. The reaction to Paul’s message V. 42, “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.” The King James Version reads, “When the Jews were gone out of the synagogue...” This could lead one to believe that all of the Jews had gone out of the synagogue before anyone asked Paul to come back the next sabbath day. However, most modern versions of the Bible indicate that the reaction of the congregation to Paul’s message took place as the people were leaving the building, or at least while they were still gathered together outside the building. It would not have been surprising to us if the people had expressed great anger at Paul for declaring that Jesus is the Christ in contradiction to the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem who said that Jesus is not the Christ. But instead of being angry, the congregation expressed overwhelming approval of his message and expressed their desire that he would come back the next sabbath and speak to them again about Jesus being the Christ, the promised Savior. You will also note that the King James Version says that it was Gentiles who expressed their approval and invited him back. But so far as I know all modern translations leave the word Gentiles out of the verse and state simply that it was the people of the congregation who invite him back. This seems to be a more accurate account of what actually happened. In the first place, it is highly unlikely that any Gentiles would be present except proselyte Gentiles and it is highly unlikely that proselyte Gentiles would presume to take a leadership role in a Jewish synagogue. They would leave it to those who were of Jewish blood to make invitations for a guest speaker to return. But the more convincing evidence is that the older Scripture manuscripts do not have the word “Gentile” in this verse. Now with that little detail out of the way, let us focus our attention on the tremendous result of Paul’s message. Instead of ranting and raving because Paul had contradicted the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem, the majority of the congregation thronged around Paul and Barnabas and asked them to come back the next sabbath day and tell them more about Jesus. Some translators say that the Original Greek language indicates that they actually begged them to return the next sabbath. This is a strong indication that some of those people believed what Paul said about Jesus being resurrected from the dead. It indicates that some of them believed what Paul had said about Jesus being the Christ, the promised Savior. It indicates that some of them believed what Paul said about Jesus being able to forgive all their sins and to make them to stand justified in the sight of God. It strongly indicates that a goodly number of them had trusted Jesus to forgive their sins and be their Savior. It indicates that a goodly number of these people had gotten saved as a result of Paul’s sermon. It indicates that Jesus had, indeed, forgiven their sins and saved their souls. It is no wonder that they were so excited and were so anxious to have Paul and Barnabas to come back the next sabbath. Luke says that they asked Paul and Barnabas to return the next sabbath to preach to them again about Jesus being the promised Savior. They, no doubt, not only wanted to hear this good news all over again, but they wanted him to tell them more about Jesus. III. A new church started by the missionaries V. 43, “Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas...” It should be noted that Luke does not say that a new church got started at this point of time, but when we closely examine what Luke does say, it leads to the conclusion that this is leads us to conclude that this is what happened. A new work for Christ got started. It surely was a church. Therefore, a new church got started there at Antioch of Pisidia that day. Now get the picture. The services were dismissed and a large number of the people on their way out of the building spoke to them and pleaded with them to come back the next sabbath day and tell them more about Jesus. Then after the people were on the outside of the building and the congregation dispersed, instead of going to their homes a large number of people followed Paul and Barnabus. I can imagine that they were asking questions and eagerly listening to every word that Paul and Barnabas had to say. I do not know just where Paul and Barnabas were staying, but I assume that they went to whatever place of lodging they had at that time. These Jews and Gentile proselyte Jews from the synagogue were so eager to learn more about Jesus that they could not wait until the next sabbath day to learn more about Jesus. Now note especially the later part of this verse. (V. 43), “...who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” This could not mean that they persuaded them to remain saved. The saved are kept saved by the power of God. Now let me paraphrase that statement. “Paul and Barnabas persuaded them to continue to be identified with the cause which teaches that salvation is through the grace of God through Jesus Christ, the Savior.” Let me put it another way. Paul and Barnabas persuaded them that as individuals they were to be baptized so as to be publicly identified with the cause of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. I am confident that they agreed to go to some place where there was sufficient water available for them to be baptized. In addition to being baptized, Paul and Barnabas persuaded them to band themselves together in support of this common cause, the cause of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul and Barnabas persuaded them to continue to meet as a group and to learn more and more about Jesus and His cause. Paul and Barnabas persuaded them to spread the news to others about forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus Christ. To put it another way, Paul and Barnabas persuaded them to unite themselves together in a New Testament church and to spread the good news about salvation to all the areas around. I think that you can see that, in effect, what Paul and Barnabas did was to take these new converts and start a new church in the city of Antioch of Pisidia. The membership of this church was made up of the people who had been saved under the preaching of Paul in the Jewish synagogue and had followed Paul and Barnabas to their place of abode. Therefore, it was made up of some who were of the Hebrew bloodline and of the Jewish faith. Some of them, perhaps many of them, were of the Jewish faith but of the Gentile bloodline. They all came out of the Jewish faith and were formed into a new work for Jesus Christ. In all probability they did not at this time break from the Jewish synagogue, but like the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, continued to attend the Jewish synagogue until they were forced out of the synagogue by those who opposed the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to call to your attention what great results were seen from the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in this city. In an effort today to get a new church organized, it is often necessary for a missionary and sometimes a whole missionary team to come into a city and canvas the area. They may have to start knocking doors “cold-turkey” trying to locate people who would be interested in attending services with a goal of starting a new Missionary Baptist church in the area. Often times this takes many weeks and sometimes several months before regular services can be held with only a handful of people. But Paul and Barnabas went into the city of Antioch, attended services one time at the local Jewish synagogue and had a large number of converts eager to promote the cause of Jesus Christ and salvation by grace. It is, of course, true that Paul and Barnabas furnished the leadership which was needed in getting started, but these new converts were eager and willing to get started. IV. Some things to observe about mission work One thing that is needed for mission work which is pleasing to God is God called missionaries. They must not only be men who are called of God to preach, but they must be men who have been called to do mission work. Another thing that is needed to have God pleasing mission work is church sent missionaries. God called missionaries must be sent out under the authority of a scriptural New Testament church. Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the church at Antioch of Syria. They were not sent out by a mission board, nor a mission society, nor by a convention nor association. Only a New Testament church has authority from God to send out missionaries. Furthermore, in order to have a God pleasing mission work, a true Biblical message is needed. The truth about the how to be saved is needed. The truth about baptism for the saved is needed. The truth about the Lord’s Supper is needed. The truth about what constitutes a New Testament church and what the function of that church is needed. Furthermore it should be noted that one of the main objectives of a Scriptural mission program is to start other churches of like faith and order. The objective of every saved person should be to produce other Christians. The great need today is: (1) God called missionaries, (2) Good doctrinally sound, morally pure churches to sponsor missionaries, and churches which will help to support the missionaries and their work. Conclusion: 1. The preaching of the gospel is a major part of the missionary effort, and, therefore, the the unsaved person should learn that it is vital for him to be saved. 2. After on is saved, he should be baptized, join a good Scriptural church and continue to worship and serve God in it. Do not ever drop out of church work. 3. As a church, we should see how important it is for us to do more and more mission mission work. There are a lot of people who need to be saved. There a lot of cities which do not have true churches. There are a lot of nations which have few if any true churches.