Original Meaning

Preaching in Pisidian Antioch (13:13–41)

VERSE 13 RECORDS two interesting changes in the missionary team. (1) Paul seems to have taken the prominent role. Prior to this Barnabas was always mentioned first.1 Now Barnabas is not even mentioned but is included as one of Paul’s “companions.” Hereafter, except in the description of the proceedings of the Jerusalem Council (15:12) and the letter it sent to the churches (15:25), the order is always “Paul and Barnabas.”2 This seems to be Luke’s way of saying that Paul has taken over the leadership slot or at least the place of prominence.

(2) John Mark leaves to return home to Jerusalem. Paul later describes this departure as a desertion (15:38), but we are not told why he leaves. Is he homesick? Has he not planned to be away for so long? Does he find the rigors of travel, especially the prospect of a climb up the mountains to Galatia, too hard on him? Does he resent the fact that his cousin Barnabas is falling into second place? Does he have problems with the bold approach to Gentiles that Paul is developing? We cannot be sure.

From Perga Paul and Barnabas travel inland and northward to the higher altitudes, and they minister in cities of south Galatia. They presumably took the paved Roman highway, the Via Sebaste, from Perga to Antioch.3 Antioch of Pisidia was an important civil and military center of the Romans (v. 14), which lay about 3,600 feet above sea level. The city actually belonged to Galatia, but it was near Pisidia and thus got its name (as there was another Antioch in the same district).

In Galatians 4:13 Paul says that “it was because of an illness that [he] first preached the gospel” in this area. Sir William Ramsay suggests that Paul had caught malaria in the low-lying territory and went to recuperate in the higher altitudes of the north,4 but we cannot be sure about this. One of the wealthiest business families of Antioch was the family of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus, who had been converted (13:5–12). It is not surprising, then, that an expert on the archaeology of the area, S. Mitchell, writes: “We can hardly avoid the conclusion that the proconsul himself had suggested to Paul that he make [Antioch] his next port of call, no doubt providing him with letters of introduction to aid his passage on his stay.”5

As was their custom, Paul and Barnabas go to the local synagogue on the Sabbath, and they are invited to speak (vv. 14–15). We note that Paul addresses both Jews and God-fearers twice, using different designations each time (vv. 16, 26), and that the message is tailored to suit an audience with a background of knowledge about the Old Testament. While he covers some of the same ground in his historical survey of Israel’s history as Stephen, his aim is different. Stephen wanted to demonstrate that the old era with the temple and the law of Moses had given way to the new. Paul’s aim is rather to show how God’s activity in history climaxed in the coming of Jesus. Thus he talks of how God worked with Israel in Egypt (v. 17a), in the Exodus (v. 17b), in the desert wanderings (v. 18), in the conquest of Canaan (v. 20), in the period of the judges (v. 20b), and during the time of Israel’s first two kings, Saul and David (vv. 21–22). From there Paul jumps straight to Jesus the Savior, who came as one of David’s descendants (v. 23). The implication here is that Jesus fulfills Jewish aspirations.

From that point on, Paul argues for the validity of his claim in verse 23 that Jesus is indeed the promised “Savior.” John the Baptist had anticipated his coming (vv. 24–25). Paul’s hearers possibly knew more about John than about Jesus.6 After proclaiming that this message of salvation has been sent to them (v. 26), Paul proceeds to expound on the death of Christ with the characteristic apologetic presented to the Jews in Acts: He was innocent and his death fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (vv. 27–29). Then, as in Peter’s Pentecost sermon, Paul gives an extended exposition of how the resurrection was witnessed by credible people and was in keeping with what the Old Testament said (vv. 30–37).

Following the exposition of the Christ event is an offer of forgiveness (v. 38) and justification (v. 39). Verse 39 contains ideas that are typical of Paul’s letters: belief, justification, and the inability to be justified by the law of Moses. Stott adds to these references some others from elsewhere in the speech: death on the tree (v. 29), sin (v. 38), and grace (v. 43). After pointing out that Paul was addressing Galatians here, Stott observes that these ideas provided the foundation stone to his letter to the Galatians, which he would write a few months later. Stott observes that W. C. Van Unnik felt able to assert that “Luke has no understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith as the center of Pauline thought.”7 Stott, however, shows how this speech contradicts that assertion.8 So we do not need to assume, as some do, that the Paul of Acts could not have written letters like Galatians and Romans.

Paul concludes his message with a quotation from Habbakuk (Hab. 1:5)—a warning of judgment to those who reject God’s offer of salvation (Acts 13:41).

The themes of the displacement of people and God’s choice are keys to Paul’s sermon.9 He speaks of the displacement of the nations and the choice of Israel (v. 19); the displacement of Saul and the choice of David (v. 22); the fact that “all the people of Israel” had to go through the sign of conversion to Judaism, baptism, if they were to avoid displacement (v. 24); the displacement of John by Jesus (v. 25); and the displacement of the Jews and the choice of Jesus (vv. 40–41; cf. vv. 46–48). Paul expresses God’s plan of salvation for the world through the progress of history. Beginning with his salvation at the Exodus, he shows how God systematically kept unfolding his purposes until it reached its climax in the Christ event.

Bridging Contexts

MORE KEYS TO the ministry of encouragement. Acts provides us with a fascinating picture of the way Barnabas served as an encourager to Paul and to Mark. This section gives three common experiences of encouragers. (1) Luke’s reversal in the order of names (mentioning Paul’s before Barnabas’s from verse 13 on15) suggests that Luke wants to show that Paul had become the prominent partner in the team. Here is a common experience of encouragers—they exhibit a willingness to hand over leadership to a junior person, if that is best for the progress of the kingdom.

(2) Once Paul became the prominent partner, Barnabas was simply there while Paul did the preaching and teaching. If, as suggested in our discussion of 4:36, the name Barnabas means “Son of Exhortation,” Barnabas was a good teacher. But good teachers who are encouragers will give the teaching slot to someone who may be a more effective teacher for a particular situation and simply be there as a team member.

(3) Barnabas was also an encourager to Mark, his cousin (Col. 4:10)—a fact that becomes evident when Paul decides not to take Mark along on a later journey, which led in turn to Barnabas’s decision to separate from Paul and travel with Mark (Acts 15:37–39). Mark’s decision to leave the team at Perga (13:13) must have been a source of sorrow for Barnabas. Encouragers face such blows, as some of those for whom they have high hopes fail to live up to their expectations.

The progress of history. In Paul’s message, he showed how God systematically kept unfolding his purposes, beginning with the Exodus, until it reached its climax in the Christ event. Luke-Acts has a strong emphasis on the concept of the history of salvation. It rests on “the basic assumption that God works out salvation within a special history that is also a part of general world history.” In his presentation, “Luke is intent to present the Jesus-event not as just another event in God’s special saving history, but as the event in that history.”16 The hope of the Old Testament is fulfilled through what happened as a result of Jesus’ coming (Acts 2:16). We will show below that the practice of recounting God’s progressive unfolding of his plan for the world in history can be a useful evangelistic methodology even today.

Emphasizing the content of the gospel in evangelism. In my fresh study of Acts for writing this commentary, one of the features that kept coming up is how important the content of the gospel is to evangelism. This is why Luke emphasizes it so often in Acts, as he does here at considerable length (vv. 16–41).17 Christianity is essentially a religion of revelation, and Christians are the people of a book. Thus the content of the gospel and arguing for its validity are important to Christianity.

We see evidence of this in the way Paul argues for the validity and attractiveness of the gospel in his speech in Pisidian Antioch. This speech is a model of persuasive apologetics. The primacy of the content of the gospel to evangelism is also seen in how Luke describes the response to the gospel: The people “gathered to hear the word of the Lord” (v. 44). Those who accepted this word “honored the word of the Lord” (v. 48). “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region” (v. 49). Clearly the word of the Lord, God’s truth revealed to humanity, was a primary aspect of the evangelistic process.

The Gentile converts in Antioch did not view Christianity only as an answer to some earthly personal problems of theirs. If that was their attitude, the expulsion of the missionaries from the city would certainly have taken away their joy. Instead, they viewed Christianity as the truth of God, and they were able to rejoice even after the team left (cf. v. 52). True, when people come to Christ, it may at first be in order to have a need met. But they stay on because they believe that the gospel is the truth. When we realize that this is the heart of the gospel, we have a security that can weather the storms of life. And we can even have joy amidst those storms.

Contemporary Significance

ENCOURAGERS HAND OVER leadership. It must not have been easy for Barnabas to hand leadership over to Paul. Paul was in some ways his trainee. Barnabas was probably physically older than Paul—and certainly older spiritually. He was also probably more distinguished looking, for later the people of Lystra called Barnabas Zeus, the chief Greek god, and Paul Hermes, the spokesman of the god (14:12). Commenting on the exchange of leadership roles Bruce cites the rhymester,

It takes more grace than I can tell

To play the second fiddle well.18

This is a challenge that all leaders will face at some time. We must be willing to hand over our position if that will benefit the kingdom. And if we do so, we must make it easy for our successors. I am thankful to report that I have often seen this happen in Christian circles, where the senior leader stayed on as a fund-raiser or an advisor to the younger person and where the younger leader benefited from the senior person’s experience without being threatened by his or her presence.

In order to let this transition take place smoothly, the senior leader may need to take definite steps in crucifying the flesh. The famous Bible teacher F. B. Meyer (1847–1929) often ministered at D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conference and always drew large crowds to his meetings. Then the younger Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) began to preach there, and his stirring Bible studies began to attract larger audiences than Meyer’s. Meyer confessed to some of his close friends that he was sometimes envious of Morgan. But then he said, “The only way I can conquer my feelings is to pray for him daily, which I do.”19 This was a definite step he took to adopt a kingdom perspective over his loss of prominence in the hands of a younger preacher.

If Paul was the speaker, Barnabas must have listened while he spoke. Many top leaders today, given their busy schedules, might think it a waste of time to be listening to junior people preach. But one of the great privileges and joys of leadership is to just “be there” in order to encourage a younger person, as he or she does what we know we too could do very well. My seminary teacher and mentor, Dr. Robert Coleman, used to say that the glory of the teacher is to sit at the feet of the student and learn from him or her. I had the opportunity of preaching a few times when I was a student in seminary. That was a difficult task because in seminaries sermons are critiqued. Dr. Coleman would say, “I’ll be there in the Amen corner”—and he always was. When I became nervous while preaching, all I had to do was to look in his direction and see his beaming face. That encouraged me to go on preaching with zeal.

Luke reverted to the old order of “Barnabas and Paul” in his report of the proceedings of the Jerusalem Council (15:12) and of the letter that the council sent to the churches (15:25). Barnabas was an esteemed senior leader in Jerusalem, and it was certainly more appropriate for him to take the lead role there rather than Paul. Paul apparently let that happen. In other words, leadership is not an inalienable right to which we cling tenaciously. It is rather a responsibility related to the agenda of the kingdom. That agenda is always more important than our personal prominence and status.

Encouragers are often saddened. In our application of 11:23 we noted that encouragers are easily gladdened. But here we see how the generous spirit of Barnabas received a painful blow when Mark left the team (13:13). Just as encouragers are easily gladdened, they are also often saddened. Some of those we invest in and hope for will not live up to our expectations and achieve the ambitions we have for them. This will bring disappointment and pain because we were genuinely ambitious for these people. It may also result in humiliation since we have taken the risk of backing these persons in public.

To avoid such pain, some leaders play it safe and never get close to people or take the risk of backing them. Sometimes cynicism and suspicion take over, which disqualifies them from the ministry of encouragement. They may avoid pain, but they also avoid having lasting fruit. Paul also experienced much pain and stress because of his deep commitment to people (2 Cor. 11:28–29; Gal. 4:19–20). But he also bore much fruit. We know, of course, that though the pain of Barnabas’s commitment to Mark intensified later (15:37–39), his hopes about him were well founded as he became an even more prominent person in the history of Christianity than Barnabas as the writer of one of the Gospels. The pain of commitment, then, is well worth taking on, for though some do not make it, others do.

Using the unfolding of God’s plan for humanity in evangelism. The unfolding of God’s plan of salvation for humanity has been the basis for the outline of several important works in biblical theology.20 Paul uses the same theme to construct an outline of his evangelistic preaching in Acts. This seems also to be the strategy Jesus used in his heartwarming explanation of the gospel on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:27). I suggest that it is an appropriate method for constructing evangelistic messages today. In his message Paul showed how, through the vicissitudes of human history, God was working out his plan for his creation and that this plan reached its zenith in “the Christ-event.”

Many people fear for the world as they see it heading toward self-destruction, through moral degradation, war, or ecological irresponsibility. Many live in cynicism and despair as savior after savior fails to satisfy the human thirst for an eternally secure solution to the problems of life. The cyclic view of history, characteristic of Hinduism, which has greatly influenced the New Age movement in the West, adds to this sense of despair, for it does not see history headed for a goal or consummation. Paul’s speech, by contrast, clearly shows that the Lord of the universe is not inactive, that he has not abandoned his creation and let it run its own course. Rather, God has acted according to a plan, which has been gradually unfolding. In Christ the desire of the ages is fulfilled. People looking for the meaning of history and thinking that they will have to concede that it is meaningless need not come to that gloomy conclusion. There is hope! The plan of the Creator of the universe is being worked out.

Such a message can bring hope to hopeless people. It can give security to listeners who come to realize that there may indeed be meaning to the puzzle of life. Tracing the hand of God in the history of the human race creates in some people a desire to join in with this most important process in the universe. For this reason, I often use Paul’s approach of explaining the unfolding of God’s program for the world in my evangelistic preaching with predominantly non-Christian audiences (usually beginning with the creation of the world).

I was part of a group that created a popular evangelistic Scripture booklet consisting of Genesis 1–12 and John. In between these two sections of Scripture, we included a brief summary of God’s dealings with the human race between Abraham and Jesus, beginning with the creation of the nation of Israel and leading to the predictions about a coming Messiah by the prophets. It was presented in such a way as to show how God’s purposes were fulfilled in history according to a plan, with Christ as the apex of this plan.

Through its experience in trying to reach unreached tribes with the gospel, the New Tribes Mission has developed a course, Building on Firm Foundations, that uses what they call the “chronological approach” to evangelism and to teaching believers. They offer a nine-volume set, in which two volumes are for evangelism and six are for teaching. Each series starts with the Old Testament and goes to the New Testament.21 This approach may well be a key not only to reaching people in non-Christian countries but also in reaching the “post-Christian” West.

Content-centered evangelism. There are three key factors in today’s world that impede making the content of the gospel central to the evangelistic process. (1) The dominant philosophy of our age, pluralism, has given the idea of truth a severe bashing. Pluralism denies the importance of objective truth. In such an environment apologetics is regarded as inappropriate and even presumptuous. The pluralist says that truth is subjective—something we learn from our experience. There is therefore no absolute truth that comes from objective revelation. Instead of apologetics they propose dialogue—by which they mean an exchange of beliefs and experiences that will result in each one enriching the other.22

(2) We live in a technological and information era that concentrates so much on action and information that there is little time to think about ideas and truth. Sammy Tippit has said, “Perhaps one of the greatest needs of this generation is for thinking men and women. The advent of the computer has brought artificial intelligence into the world. Many Christians have ceased to be thinkers in an age of computers and television.”23 When people want refreshment, they go to something that will keep them active (like outdoor recreation) or that will numb their senses (like television). Preachers have an abundance of computer programs available that have done a lot of the thinking they would usually have done. While these have a place, nothing can replace meditation and hard thinking about truth. It is from such lingering with truth that effective apologetics and proclamation emerge. We should use the marvels of technology to make us efficient in doing things and gathering information so that we will have more time to think.

(3) Many Christian groups are oriented to experience. While this is not wrong and is, in fact, desirable, it must never dethrone truth. Sometimes experiences like healing or being slain in the Spirit can become so prominent that people do not associate the gospel with intelligent and demonstrable arguments. Many are not willing to work hard at studying the background of the audience and tailoring the message of what Christ has done for our salvation in order to be relevant, as Paul did. People fast and pray in order to receive the power of God—and that is vital for evangelism. But so is the power of being equipped with God’s Word, which requires preparation time. For this power we must both pray and study.

In other words, we must exhibit the power of God’s Spirit both in experience and in the world of thought. In this way we will have a balanced gospel that can withstand the dry spells that will surely come, when God’s hand seems withdrawn from us. Christians are not immune to such experiences. Those whose faith is founded on the truth will persevere, knowing that nothing can take away the truthfulness of the gospel. They will have the joy that the Christian disciples in Pisidian Antioch had despite the problems they faced (v. 52). But those whose faith is founded on experience will flounder when they encounter times of darkness. One would hope that at these times such people will stumble on the more secure and unchanging realities of Christianity.

It is not wrong, then, to attract people to Christianity by presenting them an attractive program that ministers to their felt needs. But that is not enough. We must get people to understand the glory of the truth of the gospel—something deeper and more lasting than experience. Then they will have joy in the gospel, a joy that can withstand the mysterious times of darkness in life.

In order to communicate this vision we must know in our own lives the joy of truth. We must take time to feed our minds with the truth and to meditate on it so that it will glow within us. As a result, those to whom we minister will, by observing us, also acquire a respect and appreciation for the truth. They will catch our enthusiasm over it. In the meantime we too will find ourselves refreshed and fed. This will help us remain fresh amidst the debilitating challenges of ministry.24 John Stott has said, “Scripture comes alive in the congregation only if it has come alive in the preacher first. Only if God has spoken to him through the Word which he preaches will they hear the voice of God through his lips.”25

Original Meaning

The Aftermath of Paul’s Sermon (13:42–52)

PAUL AND BARNABAS are invited to speak the next Sabbath as well (v. 42). In the meantime, “many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism” (proseluton) follow them. We can assume that Paul and Barnabas gave themselves to personal ministry with these contacts during the week: They “talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God” (v. 43). The last expression may not mean that they were converted; rather, they had become open to the grace of God working in their hearts, and they were now being urged to continue along that path.

The Jews probably did not expect to see nearly the whole city there on that day (v. 44). Their jealousy is aroused, and they oppose Paul’s next message with abusive talk (v. 45). Paul and Barnabas respond to this by stating what became a feature of their ministry and of Paul’s theology: They preach to the Jews first, but if their response is unworthy of eternal life, they go to the Gentiles (v. 46).10 Paul backs that step from the Scriptures (v. 47). While he would have spoken with confidence on this occasion, this phenomenon of Jewish rejection of the gospel hurts him deeply and inflames his desire to yearn and pray for their salvation (Rom. 9:1–3; 10:1).

In Romans 9–11 Paul uses his great theological skill for a profound exploration of the implications of and reasons for this rejection. In fact, a part of Romans 9–11 is in some ways an exposition of Acts 13:47. The receptivity of the Gentiles was remarkable, considering the fact that the imperial cult (public worship of the emperor) was strong in Antioch. There was a temple of Augustus in the center as the city’s most prominent building, and this cult dominated the city’s daily life and annual calendar.11

The Gentiles receive Paul’s word with gladness (v. 48a). The unusual expression “honored (edoxazon) the word of the Lord,” (v. 48b) probably means “that they gave glory to the Lord for the word that they had heard.”12 After considerable emphasis on the human response to the gospel, both positive and negative, Luke redresses the balance by emphasizing God’s foundational role in salvation: All those who believed “were appointed for eternal life” (v. 48c). “It is never merely a person’s own choice that saves them, it is always God’s love and mercy.”13

The severity of the opposition to the gospel is such that the team has to leave town (vv. 49–50). Despite these problems the new believers are “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (v. 52). As Paul and Barnabas leave the area, they express their verdict on the Jews by shaking the dust off their feet (v. 51). David Williams points out that “strict Jews performed this symbolic action on entering the Holy Land from abroad, lest they be contaminated with the dust of profane places.” Now, by doing it against Jews, Paul and Barnabas “declared them in effect to be no better than the pagans among whom they lived; these Jews were profane and no longer part of the true Israel.”14

Bridging Contexts

MORE KEYS TO the ministry of encouragement. Acts provides us with a fascinating picture of the way Barnabas served as an encourager to Paul and to Mark. This section gives three common experiences of encouragers. (1) Luke’s reversal in the order of names (mentioning Paul’s before Barnabas’s from verse 13 on15) suggests that Luke wants to show that Paul had become the prominent partner in the team. Here is a common experience of encouragers—they exhibit a willingness to hand over leadership to a junior person, if that is best for the progress of the kingdom.

(2) Once Paul became the prominent partner, Barnabas was simply there while Paul did the preaching and teaching. If, as suggested in our discussion of 4:36, the name Barnabas means “Son of Exhortation,” Barnabas was a good teacher. But good teachers who are encouragers will give the teaching slot to someone who may be a more effective teacher for a particular situation and simply be there as a team member.

(3) Barnabas was also an encourager to Mark, his cousin (Col. 4:10)—a fact that becomes evident when Paul decides not to take Mark along on a later journey, which led in turn to Barnabas’s decision to separate from Paul and travel with Mark (Acts 15:37–39). Mark’s decision to leave the team at Perga (13:13) must have been a source of sorrow for Barnabas. Encouragers face such blows, as some of those for whom they have high hopes fail to live up to their expectations.

The progress of history. In Paul’s message, he showed how God systematically kept unfolding his purposes, beginning with the Exodus, until it reached its climax in the Christ event. Luke-Acts has a strong emphasis on the concept of the history of salvation. It rests on “the basic assumption that God works out salvation within a special history that is also a part of general world history.” In his presentation, “Luke is intent to present the Jesus-event not as just another event in God’s special saving history, but as the event in that history.”16 The hope of the Old Testament is fulfilled through what happened as a result of Jesus’ coming (Acts 2:16). We will show below that the practice of recounting God’s progressive unfolding of his plan for the world in history can be a useful evangelistic methodology even today.

Emphasizing the content of the gospel in evangelism. In my fresh study of Acts for writing this commentary, one of the features that kept coming up is how important the content of the gospel is to evangelism. This is why Luke emphasizes it so often in Acts, as he does here at considerable length (vv. 16–41).17 Christianity is essentially a religion of revelation, and Christians are the people of a book. Thus the content of the gospel and arguing for its validity are important to Christianity.

We see evidence of this in the way Paul argues for the validity and attractiveness of the gospel in his speech in Pisidian Antioch. This speech is a model of persuasive apologetics. The primacy of the content of the gospel to evangelism is also seen in how Luke describes the response to the gospel: The people “gathered to hear the word of the Lord” (v. 44). Those who accepted this word “honored the word of the Lord” (v. 48). “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region” (v. 49). Clearly the word of the Lord, God’s truth revealed to humanity, was a primary aspect of the evangelistic process.

The Gentile converts in Antioch did not view Christianity only as an answer to some earthly personal problems of theirs. If that was their attitude, the expulsion of the missionaries from the city would certainly have taken away their joy. Instead, they viewed Christianity as the truth of God, and they were able to rejoice even after the team left (cf. v. 52). True, when people come to Christ, it may at first be in order to have a need met. But they stay on because they believe that the gospel is the truth. When we realize that this is the heart of the gospel, we have a security that can weather the storms of life. And we can even have joy amidst those storms.

Contemporary Significance

ENCOURAGERS HAND OVER leadership. It must not have been easy for Barnabas to hand leadership over to Paul. Paul was in some ways his trainee. Barnabas was probably physically older than Paul—and certainly older spiritually. He was also probably more distinguished looking, for later the people of Lystra called Barnabas Zeus, the chief Greek god, and Paul Hermes, the spokesman of the god (14:12). Commenting on the exchange of leadership roles Bruce cites the rhymester,

It takes more grace than I can tell

To play the second fiddle well.18

This is a challenge that all leaders will face at some time. We must be willing to hand over our position if that will benefit the kingdom. And if we do so, we must make it easy for our successors. I am thankful to report that I have often seen this happen in Christian circles, where the senior leader stayed on as a fund-raiser or an advisor to the younger person and where the younger leader benefited from the senior person’s experience without being threatened by his or her presence.

In order to let this transition take place smoothly, the senior leader may need to take definite steps in crucifying the flesh. The famous Bible teacher F. B. Meyer (1847–1929) often ministered at D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conference and always drew large crowds to his meetings. Then the younger Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) began to preach there, and his stirring Bible studies began to attract larger audiences than Meyer’s. Meyer confessed to some of his close friends that he was sometimes envious of Morgan. But then he said, “The only way I can conquer my feelings is to pray for him daily, which I do.”19 This was a definite step he took to adopt a kingdom perspective over his loss of prominence in the hands of a younger preacher.

If Paul was the speaker, Barnabas must have listened while he spoke. Many top leaders today, given their busy schedules, might think it a waste of time to be listening to junior people preach. But one of the great privileges and joys of leadership is to just “be there” in order to encourage a younger person, as he or she does what we know we too could do very well. My seminary teacher and mentor, Dr. Robert Coleman, used to say that the glory of the teacher is to sit at the feet of the student and learn from him or her. I had the opportunity of preaching a few times when I was a student in seminary. That was a difficult task because in seminaries sermons are critiqued. Dr. Coleman would say, “I’ll be there in the Amen corner”—and he always was. When I became nervous while preaching, all I had to do was to look in his direction and see his beaming face. That encouraged me to go on preaching with zeal.

Luke reverted to the old order of “Barnabas and Paul” in his report of the proceedings of the Jerusalem Council (15:12) and of the letter that the council sent to the churches (15:25). Barnabas was an esteemed senior leader in Jerusalem, and it was certainly more appropriate for him to take the lead role there rather than Paul. Paul apparently let that happen. In other words, leadership is not an inalienable right to which we cling tenaciously. It is rather a responsibility related to the agenda of the kingdom. That agenda is always more important than our personal prominence and status.

Encouragers are often saddened. In our application of 11:23 we noted that encouragers are easily gladdened. But here we see how the generous spirit of Barnabas received a painful blow when Mark left the team (13:13). Just as encouragers are easily gladdened, they are also often saddened. Some of those we invest in and hope for will not live up to our expectations and achieve the ambitions we have for them. This will bring disappointment and pain because we were genuinely ambitious for these people. It may also result in humiliation since we have taken the risk of backing these persons in public.

To avoid such pain, some leaders play it safe and never get close to people or take the risk of backing them. Sometimes cynicism and suspicion take over, which disqualifies them from the ministry of encouragement. They may avoid pain, but they also avoid having lasting fruit. Paul also experienced much pain and stress because of his deep commitment to people (2 Cor. 11:28–29; Gal. 4:19–20). But he also bore much fruit. We know, of course, that though the pain of Barnabas’s commitment to Mark intensified later (15:37–39), his hopes about him were well founded as he became an even more prominent person in the history of Christianity than Barnabas as the writer of one of the Gospels. The pain of commitment, then, is well worth taking on, for though some do not make it, others do.

Using the unfolding of God’s plan for humanity in evangelism. The unfolding of God’s plan of salvation for humanity has been the basis for the outline of several important works in biblical theology.20 Paul uses the same theme to construct an outline of his evangelistic preaching in Acts. This seems also to be the strategy Jesus used in his heartwarming explanation of the gospel on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:27). I suggest that it is an appropriate method for constructing evangelistic messages today. In his message Paul showed how, through the vicissitudes of human history, God was working out his plan for his creation and that this plan reached its zenith in “the Christ-event.”

Many people fear for the world as they see it heading toward self-destruction, through moral degradation, war, or ecological irresponsibility. Many live in cynicism and despair as savior after savior fails to satisfy the human thirst for an eternally secure solution to the problems of life. The cyclic view of history, characteristic of Hinduism, which has greatly influenced the New Age movement in the West, adds to this sense of despair, for it does not see history headed for a goal or consummation. Paul’s speech, by contrast, clearly shows that the Lord of the universe is not inactive, that he has not abandoned his creation and let it run its own course. Rather, God has acted according to a plan, which has been gradually unfolding. In Christ the desire of the ages is fulfilled. People looking for the meaning of history and thinking that they will have to concede that it is meaningless need not come to that gloomy conclusion. There is hope! The plan of the Creator of the universe is being worked out.

Such a message can bring hope to hopeless people. It can give security to listeners who come to realize that there may indeed be meaning to the puzzle of life. Tracing the hand of God in the history of the human race creates in some people a desire to join in with this most important process in the universe. For this reason, I often use Paul’s approach of explaining the unfolding of God’s program for the world in my evangelistic preaching with predominantly non-Christian audiences (usually beginning with the creation of the world).

I was part of a group that created a popular evangelistic Scripture booklet consisting of Genesis 1–12 and John. In between these two sections of Scripture, we included a brief summary of God’s dealings with the human race between Abraham and Jesus, beginning with the creation of the nation of Israel and leading to the predictions about a coming Messiah by the prophets. It was presented in such a way as to show how God’s purposes were fulfilled in history according to a plan, with Christ as the apex of this plan.

Through its experience in trying to reach unreached tribes with the gospel, the New Tribes Mission has developed a course, Building on Firm Foundations, that uses what they call the “chronological approach” to evangelism and to teaching believers. They offer a nine-volume set, in which two volumes are for evangelism and six are for teaching. Each series starts with the Old Testament and goes to the New Testament.21 This approach may well be a key not only to reaching people in non-Christian countries but also in reaching the “post-Christian” West.

Content-centered evangelism. There are three key factors in today’s world that impede making the content of the gospel central to the evangelistic process. (1) The dominant philosophy of our age, pluralism, has given the idea of truth a severe bashing. Pluralism denies the importance of objective truth. In such an environment apologetics is regarded as inappropriate and even presumptuous. The pluralist says that truth is subjective—something we learn from our experience. There is therefore no absolute truth that comes from objective revelation. Instead of apologetics they propose dialogue—by which they mean an exchange of beliefs and experiences that will result in each one enriching the other.22

(2) We live in a technological and information era that concentrates so much on action and information that there is little time to think about ideas and truth. Sammy Tippit has said, “Perhaps one of the greatest needs of this generation is for thinking men and women. The advent of the computer has brought artificial intelligence into the world. Many Christians have ceased to be thinkers in an age of computers and television.”23 When people want refreshment, they go to something that will keep them active (like outdoor recreation) or that will numb their senses (like television). Preachers have an abundance of computer programs available that have done a lot of the thinking they would usually have done. While these have a place, nothing can replace meditation and hard thinking about truth. It is from such lingering with truth that effective apologetics and proclamation emerge. We should use the marvels of technology to make us efficient in doing things and gathering information so that we will have more time to think.

(3) Many Christian groups are oriented to experience. While this is not wrong and is, in fact, desirable, it must never dethrone truth. Sometimes experiences like healing or being slain in the Spirit can become so prominent that people do not associate the gospel with intelligent and demonstrable arguments. Many are not willing to work hard at studying the background of the audience and tailoring the message of what Christ has done for our salvation in order to be relevant, as Paul did. People fast and pray in order to receive the power of God—and that is vital for evangelism. But so is the power of being equipped with God’s Word, which requires preparation time. For this power we must both pray and study.

In other words, we must exhibit the power of God’s Spirit both in experience and in the world of thought. In this way we will have a balanced gospel that can withstand the dry spells that will surely come, when God’s hand seems withdrawn from us. Christians are not immune to such experiences. Those whose faith is founded on the truth will persevere, knowing that nothing can take away the truthfulness of the gospel. They will have the joy that the Christian disciples in Pisidian Antioch had despite the problems they faced (v. 52). But those whose faith is founded on experience will flounder when they encounter times of darkness. One would hope that at these times such people will stumble on the more secure and unchanging realities of Christianity.

It is not wrong, then, to attract people to Christianity by presenting them an attractive program that ministers to their felt needs. But that is not enough. We must get people to understand the glory of the truth of the gospel—something deeper and more lasting than experience. Then they will have joy in the gospel, a joy that can withstand the mysterious times of darkness in life.

In order to communicate this vision we must know in our own lives the joy of truth. We must take time to feed our minds with the truth and to meditate on it so that it will glow within us. As a result, those to whom we minister will, by observing us, also acquire a respect and appreciation for the truth. They will catch our enthusiasm over it. In the meantime we too will find ourselves refreshed and fed. This will help us remain fresh amidst the debilitating challenges of ministry.24 John Stott has said, “Scripture comes alive in the congregation only if it has come alive in the preacher first. Only if God has spoken to him through the Word which he preaches will they hear the voice of God through his lips.”25