The Start of the Second Missionary Journey

Introduction

I am glad that I did not have social media when I was a kid

everything is done with a filter, here is the me I want everyone to see

this is one of the reasons that I love the bible, it tells the story showing the good and bad of everyone in it

Acts 15:36–16:10 CSB

36 After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers and sisters in every town where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they’re doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take along John who was called Mark. 38 But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus. 40 But Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended by the brothers and sisters to the grace of the Lord. 41 He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek. 2 The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. 6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

PRAY!

Remember that we are reading a historical account of how the church went from the small group of disciples to the explosion of people accepting Christ

not just in Jerusalem, but in Judea, Samaria and the utter most parts of the world

the second missionary journey was from 49-51AD

about 15-18 years after the crucifixion of Jesus

still a lot of people around that would have been witnesses to both the crucifixion and resurrection

about 2 years after the first missionary journey

first missionary journey was from 46-47AD

Our wordly ways will not stop the mission of God. His will will be accomplished, His Spirit will still lead, and the gospel will advance.

the only thing that we have to grow the church and strengthen the disciples is the gospel

The Split

Paul and Barnabas have been together for some time…

When the church spread because of persecution, Barnabas went to Antioch to see what was going on with the Gentiles

Disciples from Jerusalem went to Antioch and people were being saved

from there he went on to Tarsus to get Paul, who had gone there after people in Jerusalem wanted to kill him

Barnabas takes Paul back to Antioch

chapter 13 we know that the Spirit set them aside and the church commissioned them to go on the first missionary journey

they took with them John Mark

Barnabas’ cousin

Colossians 4:10 (CSB)

10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin (concerning whom you have received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him),

many believe that he is the young man that runs away from the Garden of Gethsemane

Mark 14:50–52 (CSB)

50 Then they all deserted him and ran away.

51 Now a certain young man, wearing nothing but a linen cloth, was following him. They caught hold of him,

52 but he left the linen cloth behind and ran away naked.

Mark is not a young man that is ignorant to the dangers of this ministry

yet Paul says, no, absolutely not

not even an, OK, but your in charge of him

Acts 15:36–41 (CSB)

36 After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers and sisters in every town where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they’re doing.”

37 Barnabas wanted to take along John who was called Mark.

38 But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.

40 But Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended by the brothers and sisters to the grace of the Lord.

41 He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

What do we know

Barnabas wanted to take John Mark and Paul did not

why?

We know the family relation between Barnabas and Mark.

we know the type of person that Barnabas is

the encourager

We know that Mark left the group during the first missionary journey after they travelled through Cyprus

this was not see as something of, “he wasn’t having fun”

Deserted = Fallen Away

Paul “insisted” = state forcefully, demand

Barnabas went to Cyprus

where he is from

took his cousin with him

Paul went to his Tarsus and north

he took Silas with him

You will notice a theme with these three separate yet connected stories

v41 - the traveled and strengthened the churches

even in the split of these two great missionaries, God is not limited

I am sure that Satan was excited to see these two fight this out

people joined the faith

churches were started

the small movement in Judea is now spreading to the uttermost parts of the earth

he was looking for any opportunity to get slow this down or halt it all together

can you just hear him whispering in the ears of these men as to why their way was correct

we can even argue today about who was right, but we miss the bigger truth of the passage

God is not limited by sinful man

this has not changed

Satan still does not like when the church is on the move

he will do everything he can to stop it and one of the things he loves to do is sew discord among God’s people

I am not saying that we should celebrate disagreements and fighting in the church

Paul writes to the Corinthians that we are to have a ministry of reconciliation

I am saying that God is not limited by sinful man

that includes you and me

we are not so great that God’s will is dependent on my ability to live in obedience

we do not have a record of what Barnabas did in Cyprus, but I can only imagine that God strengthened those disciples and churches as well through the encourager

just as he did Paul and Silas as they went North through Syria and Cilicia

Timothy Joins the Missionaries

Study the book of Acts in view of Paul’s letters to understand the NT in a greater way

two weeks ago - first missionary journey and the book of Galatians

as we get into chapter 16, we see Timothy join Paul’s ministry

this is the same Timothy that we have letters written to in the NT

Acts 16:1–5 (CSB)

1 Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek.

2 The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him.

3 Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

4 As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.

5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Head north toward his home town and then to the Galatians where they were on their first journey

A couple years might make you forget that they stoned you last time you were there

Timothy joins the team

had a good reputation among the people

believing mother and grandmother (Jewish) and a greek father

he was not circumcised when he was younger because his Dad was Greek

could have chosen to go with his Jewish side when he was older but did not

Paul Circumcises Timothy

this does not seem right… the leaders in Jerusalem just said that you do not have to be circumcised to be saved

Paul was the main one arguing for this

Timothy would have been an insult to the Jewish community

Not being circumcised says that he rejected the Jewish side of his family

The desire is to win them to Christ, not debate them about the law

this removes an argument

God strengthened the church through the heart of Paul and Timothy

it was not the circumcision itself, but the heart to do what needed to be done to grow

the heart of Paul’s ministry is the gospel, that it be shared above all

1 Corinthians 9:22–23 (CSB)

22 To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.

23 Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.

What is our takeaway… The gospel, seeing people saved, should exceed all else in our lives

It is greater than our

comfort - many of us are too comfortable

exactly where Satan wants us

not seeing a real need for God, having no idea what it means to truly pray for our daily bread

so we do not seek comfort then gospel, comfort than sharing our faith, comfort then Jesus

success

I can feel the tension with that statement

“God needs me to be successful so that I can…”

no, go back to the first point if you believe that

God can even use our discord

God can use our sin, our repentance, to reach those around us

I our weakness he is strong

Success is not bad, or sinful

doing your best making a good living are not bad

it is what we do with that success, do we use the blessings that God has allowed us to have

but If we need to be uncomfortable to reach some, be uncomfortable

if we need to be poor to reach some, be poor

Timothy needed to be circumcised to reach the Jewish people in the places they were going

The Macedonian Vision

This part hits me

as many of you know, I like to plan

I was speaking to somebody this week about summer plans

there was something that was still a maybe

I told them it was like a dripping faucet, I do not always hear it, but then all the sudden there is the sound

I have had some people in ministry tell me that planning like that does not leave room for the Holy Spirit

as if the Holy Spirit cannot lead you in the planning like He can in the spontaneous

Acts 16:6–10 (CSB)

6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

7 When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

8 Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas.

9 During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!”

10 After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul had a plan, but his plan was changed

received a vision similar to Peter in chapter 10

don’t call unclean what God called clean

now Paul is prohibited from preaching in Asia, and not allowed to go in Bithynia

how? why?

well, the how, Luke does not tell us

why, we can only assume that God wanted him in Macedonia

Luke joins the team

first of the “we” passages

immediately they head to Macedonia

They were no so stuck on their plans, their way or what they wanted

they did not force the towns the Spirit prevented them to go

when we read Spirit prevented

how did it do that? we do not know, but we see that they did not fight it

“passing by…” v8 means they tried to go in, didn’t work, so they moved on

how many headaches I have could have saved myself by not beating my head on a closed door

How many times do we get so caught up with what we want, what we planned that we are not sensitive to what the Spirit is telling us to do

for some of us, this is hard

some do not plan and God has been trying to tell you, if you would have planned this out, it would have stopped some of the head aches

but they did not know why, only that they were to move on so they did

but once the vision came, they immediately did what they could to get Macedonia

In the vision, they asked for help

they have nothing to offer the people there for help, except the gospel

we have nothing to offer but the gospel

Discussion Questions

What were the guidelines that the Holy Spirit decided not to place further burdens on the believers in Acts 15?

What was the cause of the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas?

Why did Paul choose to circumcise Timothy, despite the Jerusalem Council's decision on the matter?

What does the vision of the Macedonian man signify in the context of Paul's mission?

Why was it important for Paul to strengthen the churches as he traveled north?

In what way does Timothy's mixed heritage play a role in his relation to both the Jewish and Gentile communities?

What can we learn from Paul's response to the closed doors he faced during his journey?