May God be with us and help us
to conclude our meditation in the 15th chapter of the Acts
of the Apostles and commencing at verse 30 down to the end.
And previous to verse 30 we consider the situation where there had
been a delegation sent from Antioch to Jerusalem to determine the
truth of the law and the truth of the gospel really, and they
centered it around the act of circumcision, which had been
so necessary from Abraham's day and had been kept very diligently
by the Jewish people. But now under the gospel, there
was this discussion as to whether it was needful or not. And so
they'd come to Jerusalem to reach a conclusion. And they did reach
a conclusion. And as we considered two weeks
ago, what the conclusion was, for it seemed good to the Holy
Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these
necessary things that you abstain from, meats offered to idols
and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication
from which if you keep yourselves, ye shall do well, fare ye well."
So, when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch. And when they came to Antioch,
and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered
the epistle, the letter, which had been written here in Jerusalem,
had been given to the disciples, Paul and Barnabas, and they brought
it with them to Antioch, and therefore they gathered together
a multitude of people who were concerned, really concerned to
hear what the decision was. It wasn't any light thing, any
trivial thing, they were really concerned about it. And so when
it was read, they read it together for when they were dismissed
they came to Antioch and when they had gathered the multitude
together they delivered the epistle which when they had read they
rejoiced for the consolation or for the exhortation which
this letter, this epistle had brought to them. And we might
to try and place ourselves in the situation that these people
were in. Remember, they'd been under the
law, under the ceremonial law, with so many things that they
had to do and to keep very accurately. They were not allowed to deviate
one iota. They were to keep to those things
very, very carefully. And it had been a great burden.
And it had been a great yoke to them. And of course, the problem
was that try as they would, They weren't able in fact to carry
everything out as completely and as accurately and perhaps
as fervently as the ceremonial law dictated to them. So now
they read this epistle and it was really a time of rejoicing
because they saw then the freedom which was to be found in Christ. Think of those words, and if
the Lord shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And there was therefore a wonderful
freedom in Christ, which no doubt this epistle, this letter encompassed
and was delivered to them. And that's why they wonderfully
rejoiced together. And they rejoiced for the consolation
for this exhortation. Well, we can imagine coming out
of the joy that filled their hearts to realise that discussion
they'd had and they'd come to conclusion and it had been confirmed
by this synod as it were that had met in Jerusalem. Well today
we can rejoice in the Gospel, the glorious Gospel of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. In essence how simple it is today
if we can compare the truth of the Gospel, the requirement to
repent and to believe the gospel, whereas in the Old Testament
dispensations there were all those rights and laws to keep. You remember how they very easily
became unclean, they had to wash, they had to wait, they weren't
able to rejoin the assembly until there had been a period of sanctification. So we see then the great difference
there was between the Old Testament dispensation and that which the
gospel brought in. And so there was indeed rejoicing
here amongst the people. And Judas and Silas, being prophets
also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words and
confirmed them. You see they really gave them
perhaps a greater understanding of the truths that this letter
or epistle had been brought to them. And so they were blessed
to be able to speak to the people. And after they had tarried there
a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto
the apostles. Notwithstanding, it pleased Silas
to abide there still. So we see that Judas departed,
and Silas still continued there. And Paul also, and Barnabas,
they continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the
Lord with many others also. It must have been a time of great
blessing to this community with these who had been called by
God to declare the truth, to preach everlasting gospel, and
they continued there, and that was their great object, to proclaim
the truth of God, preaching the word of God with many others
also. It was good news. It was the
good news of the gospel. And so what a wonderful occasion
it was, having been shown the great truth of the gospel. And
then we come to this further section, and some days after,
may have been many days, we're not told how many days it was,
Paul said to Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren
in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see
how they do. Now, it's a good picture we have
here, really. Here was Paul and Barnabas, they
preached the word, they'd been at Antioch in Pisidia, And they
travelled down, all the way down, and then back to Jerusalem, and
now they come back to Antioch, not Antioch, in Pisidia, and
they've been blessed indeed. And so they wanted to see how
their preaching had prospered. They weren't content just to
let it alone. They wanted to come and see whether
it had prospered. And so they said, let us go again
and visit our brethren in every city, where we have preached
the word of the Lord and see how they do. They were concerned
about the health of the church of God. And it's good for us
today if we're concerned about the health of the church of God,
how they do. They'd heard the gospel, but
they'd believed it. They'd appeared to believe it.
Did they believe it? Was there a change? Was it beneficial? Were they exalting the Lord in
their testimony and in their worship and in their lives? And
so the apostle was concerned to go and to hear what had occurred
and whether they were continuing in the word of the Lord. Well,
Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was
Mar. Now you see on the surface we
would think there was nothing wrong with that. It was a good
thing to do. But Paul, he didn't agree. And
Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from
them, from Pamphylia. and went not with them to the
work. You see, this John Mark had left
them. As we read earlier in the 13th
chapter of this same book, the Acts of the Apostles, and in
the 13th chapter, and we read, I think it's in verse 13, now
when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga
in Pamphylia, and John, that's John Mark, departed from them,
returning to Jerusalem. And clearly, Paul hadn't been
very impressed with that attitude, how he'd left them and gone away
from them. And therefore, no doubt, Paul
thought, well, here's a man that had departed from them. Why should
he come now with them? He might depart again. And so
that was the view that the apostle Paul had. And this produced a
contention between them. And the contention was so sharp
between them that they departed asunder, one from the other.
And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed on to Cyprus. and Paul
chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto
the grace of God. And he went through Syria and
Cilicia confirming the churches. Now, we know that John Mark was
a good man and the Lord permitted this division to occur. So we
might think it worked out for the benefit of the gospel. because
Barnabas and Mark, they went to Cyprus. You remember that's
where Barnabas came from. He was a Cypriot. He went to
his homeland and Paul took Silas. Interestingly enough, as we read,
Silas had remained behind. He hadn't joined Judah. He remained
behind, so he was available. and Paul took him and he went
to Silesia. And again we remember that Paul
of course was of Tarsus, a place in Silesia. So both these brethren,
Paul and Barnabas, as it were they went to their homelands
to declare the great and glorious truth of God. And God was with
them both and God blessed them both. So we cannot condone any
contention. We should always desire to walk
in love and unity and there was a contention and there was a
departing one from another but we realised the Lord brought
good out of these things and blessed the preaching of the
gospel. So as we live today we need to
be careful that there aren't those things which cause contention
because it's not really good to have contention, it means
that someone is not really willing to take the lowest place, or
perhaps both of them were not willing to take the lowest place.
And although we might think that Paul had made a right decision
because John had departed, well, we don't know the details. And
perhaps Paul didn't really know the details. He may have assumed
that John Mark had gone away. He may not have known all the
actual detail and the information, but he'd come to a conclusion.
And because he'd gone away, he didn't want him to go with them.
And so we have these examples, really, in the Acts of the Apostles
to instruct us today in the way that we should walk and we should
be concerned not to have any contention one with another,
but we should desire to live together in love and unity. And it would also seem here that
really there was a bit of a, we might think, a party spirit
because Barnabas had gone to his homeland and so had Paul. It seemed they wanted to go to
these two places and perhaps Paul didn't want to go to Cyprus
and perhaps, we don't know, but perhaps it was that Barnabas
didn't want to go to Cilicia. Anyway, we have this account
just to instruct us and to teach us and to bring it before our
eyes so that it might be a blessing to us. So may God bless these
accounts in the Acts of the Apostles for our spiritual good and for
our guidance and direction in the day and age in which we live.