Paul’s third missionary journey (around 52–57 A.D.) followed the same route as his second. Reading Acts makes it difficult to see that another journey has begun. The Second Missionary Journey ends with Paul in Corinth. In Acts 18:18., it is recorded that:

Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined.  But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem, greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples(Acts 18:18-23).

Trip to Jerusalem

After a short initial visit to Ephesus, where Paul left his colleagues, Priscilla and Aquila, Paul returned to Jerusalem, presumably to explain what he’d been doing to those at the center of the apostolic Church. In this report, we can see that Paul did not conceive of himself as a Lone Ranger or as establishing a new religion, but instead, he is part of a more significant movement of the apostles through the early church. Acts do not tell us precisely what Paul said or did In Jerusalem other than to greet the church, but he likely gave some description of his ministry in Asia Minor and Greece. Having reported to the mother church, Paul returned to Antioch, where he began his First and Second Missionary Journeys. This indicates that Paul probably considered Antioch his “Home Base.” The Third Missionary Journey begins with his departure from Antioch after Paul spends time with his home church.

Contemporary pastors often feel they can’t return to the church where their ministry began. Among pastors, it is common to “Jesus is saying that “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, among his own people, and his own house” (Mark 4:6). Paul did not feel this way. Having reported to the church in Jerusalem, he now went home to report what he’d been doing to the church where he grew up as a Christian leader, from which he was sent out to be a missionary to the Gentile world. Not everyone in Jerusalem appreciated Paul or his ministry. Still, he continued to serve the greater Christian movement and abide by the decisions and leadership of the other apostles and the Church as a whole. This reiterates a lesson: not everyone will appreciate a ministry, but that lack of appreciation does not render the ministry a failure.

Apollos, the Spirit, and Speaking in Tongues

Like the Second Missionary Journey, Paul began by visiting the congregations he founded in Asia Minor; traveling through Galatia and Phrygia, he eventually reached the port city of Ephesus, where he had earlier strengthened the church. He had promised the Ephesians he would return (and Paul kept his word). Paul stayed in Ephesus for a long time. While Paul was traveling, Apollos, another disciple who would become a great leader in the early church, arrived at Ephesus (Acts 18:27). Apollos was only aware of John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance (v. 25). He did not know about the new life in the Holy Spirit that believers in Christ experienced. Pricilla and Aquilla invited him to their home, and it was there that Apollos learned about the Holy Spirit (v. 26). Here we see the fruit of Paul’s ministry: Even when he is not present, his followers are capable of expanding the faith and raising up new leaders.

Apollos is an important person in the New Testament. Some scholars believe that he is the author of the book of Hebrews. He was an Alexandrian Jew trained in Greek rhetoric and was very learned. Even though he did not know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Apollos knew about the life and ministry of Jesus and could teach accurately. (v. 25). Apparently, Paul and Apollos did not know one another at the time. As Paul left Corinth, Apollo was making a journey there. When he examined the disciples who had come to Christ through the ministry of Apollos, he found out that they did not know about the Holy Spirit. Paul then laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and prophesied as a sign of their new life in Christ (19:1-7).

This particular passage is important for contemporary Christians who have questions about the charismatic movement. It’s evident from the text that the early church conceived a difference between repentance from sins, or turning away from the past, and receiving the Holy Spirit, the power to live the new life in Christ. Pentecostals often use this passage to indicate that speaking in tongues is a necessary sign that the Holy Spirit has been received. Interestingly, in the New Testament, there are situations in which speaking in tongues is a sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:6-11). Still, there are others where it is simply recorded that the believers received the Spirit.

First Corinthians teaches that God gives different gifts to different people (1 Cor 12:8-11). According to Paul, some believers are given the gift of tongues, but others are given various gifts. Thus, Paul teaches that “There are varieties of gift, but the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:4).  In other words, God gives different gifts to different people through the Holy Spirit. In this vein, Paul asks in 1 Cor 12:30, “Do all speak in tongues?” This would indicate that not everyone spoke in tongues, even in the first-century church. I have seen evidence of the gifts of the spirit, including the gift of speaking in tongues. However, not all the people who believe to have been filled with the Holy Spirit and had powerful ministries have spoken in tongues. Nevertheless, a fair reading of the New Testament indicates that it was a common phenomenon in Pauline congregations. In Ephesus, when he arrives, he teaches about the gifts of the Spirit, and people receive the Spirit of God (Acts 19:1-7).

Paul’s Powerful Preaching

Eventually, Paul arrived in Ephesus. Paul’s pattern of ministry in emphasis was similar to that in other places. He went into the synagogue and spoke about the gospel of Christ (v. 8). When opposition arose, Paul left the synagogue and began teaching elsewhere. During this period, Paul performed miraculous acts of healing and deliverance. Many people gave up the magic arts and became Christians (vv. 11-22). Then, after building up the Ephesian church, Paul traveled again through Macedonia and Achaia, strengthening the believers.

During this period Paul decided that the time might be coming when he should leave Ephesus and go back to Jerusalem after traveling through Macedonia and Greece again. He also intended to go to Rome. To prepare for his journey, he sent Timothy and another disciple ahead to Macedonia to make arrangements for his trip while he stayed in Ephesus (vv. 21-22). It is obvious that even amid one of his greatest successes, Paul’s mind was on the continuing ministry of the gospel and sharing it as far as he might be able to do so. It’s also evident that he felt that he needed to visit Jerusalem, perhaps as a matter of missionary compassion, giving them a gift, or perhaps as a way of seeking advice and counsel from the Jerusalem church.

At this point, an event occurred that hastened Paul’s departure from Ephesus. One of the earliest characteristics of the early church was the proclamation that the gods of Greece and Rome, and the images of those gods often sold to individuals, was a pagan practice that Christianity superseded. Naturally, those in the business of fashioning and selling statues of the Greek gods would not be excited about this message. Making statues of the Greek goddess Artemis was a profitable business. Demetrius, who was in this business, gathered together the city’s artisans and convinced them that Paul was bad for business (vv. 23-26). A riot and sued. The hatred against Paul was so great that the church and others played with him not to go out in public. In the end, the matter was brought before the city clerk. The city clerk decided that the matter should be decided in a court of law and quieted the riot. His reason for doing so was probably to prevent the Roman authorities from learning that there had been a riot in Ephesus and its leadership had been unable to calm it. In any case, shortly after that, Paul left the city.

Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was long, perhaps even longer than his ministry in court. Paul finally developed an emphasis at the church that would become one of the great centers of the early Christian faith. In a way, Paul’s ministry was the climax of his career. He had developed a strategy that enabled him to build churches throughout Asia, Minor, and Greece. The strategy could build leaders who could carry on the ministry beyond his presence.

Paul’s experiences are relevant today. It would be nice if everyone appreciated the ministry of a pastor or disciple-maker. Unfortunately, that’s usually not the case. Typically, there’s opposition, and sometimes that opposition is significant enough that the time comes to move on. This does not mean that the ministry was a failure. Even though Paul had to leave a city on more than one occasion, his ministry thrived. It’s good to remember that the final benefits of our ministry may not be seen during this time. We are there to experience the appreciation of others. It may be that it will be some time before the full benefits of our ministry are known.

Revisiting and Revisiting

Eventually, Paul left for Macedonia. As was his custom, he traveled through the area, visiting the churches he had planted on his second missionary journey (20:1). Eventually, there was a threat to his life, so he went back to Asia, mainly through Macedonia, instead of sailing by a more direct route (v. 2). Once again, he did not travel alone, but other disciples of Christ accompanied him (vv.4-6). He visited the churches in Philippi and Troas during this visit (vv. 5-6). At Troas, an event occurs, and Luke gives that importance. Paul was preaching in the upper room of a house. As pastors sometimes do, he kept on talking until well after midnight. In the upstairs window, a young man named Eutychus was sitting, and he fell asleep during the sermon. Eventually, he fell out of the window from the third story of the house and was picked up as dead. Perhaps feeling ashamed about the length of his sermon, Paul took the young man in his arms and healed him (vv. 7-12).

An Emotional Farewell

There is no passage in Paul’s missionary journeys more touching than his final meeting with the Ephesian elders. I have preached this text on more than one occasion in my ministry. It never ceases to move me. By this time, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. He knows that in Jerusalem, not everyone will accept him and that he will face opposition. He suspects that his return to Jerusalem may be the beginning of the end of his ministry. Nevertheless, he goes.

Along the way, he visits the Ephesian church leaders, with which he has had a profound and intimate relationship (v. 17), one last time. Today, Ephesus is an empty city filled with fascinating Greek and Roman ruins, including the ruins of a great library. In Paul’s day, it was one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire and a center of Christianity during the first few centuries. How it happened shows the Ephesian church’s esteem and love for the missionary. Paul met his friends at Assos and sailed south to Miletus, beyond Ephesus. Paul sent a message to the church elders to meet him there, which they did (vv. 13-17). When they arrived, Paul spoke to them from the heart:

You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears amid severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. Now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen there. I only know that the Holy Spirit warns me in every city that prison and hardships are facing me.  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus gave me— testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you, for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.  Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. People will arise and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them, even from your own number.  So be on your guard! Remember that I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears for three years.

Now I commit you to God and the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all sanctified people. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.  You know that these hands of mine have supplied my needs and companions.  In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:18-35).

I have reprinted the speech because each word and phrase speaks of Paul’s love for this church and its leaders. Too often, we think it’s sufficient to preach the word of God to our congregations. There is no substitute for preaching the word clearly and consistently with the apostolic witness. However, there is great truth to the proverb that people won’t listen to what you say until they know you care about them. Paul’s effectiveness as a missionary was built upon more than his great intellect, his clear understanding of the gospel, his practical experience in ministry, and the other fine qualities he possessed. In addition to all these qualities, Paul possessed a love for the people he was serving. This is the chief and most important characteristic of those who would make disciples and care for the flock of God.

Copyright, 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All RIghts Reserved

Paul’s Second Missionary Journey illustrates the truth that outstanding achievements sometimes have troublesome beginnings. Acts 15 tells the story of the council in Jerusalem, where the early church decided that Gentile believers didn’t need to become Jews to become Christians. In response to the complaints of what are sometimes called the Judaizers, the church sent a letter designed to build unity in the church, concluding:

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things (Acts 15:28-29).

The Jerusalem church then sent a circular letter to all the churches, giving them their wisdom and the council’s decision.

Paul and Barnabas were at the Jerusalem meeting where the decision was made. They received the thanks of the apostles for the work that they had done and returned to Antioch. Sometime later, Paul suggested they retrace their steps on the first missionary journey to see how the new churches were doing. Paul wanted to follow up to be sure that the churches had received the letter, accepted its contents, and were moving forward peacefully. We know this to be true. In Acts, Luke records the following concerning the mission:

As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So, the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers (Acts 16:4-5).

However, before they left for their mission, a problem arose. During the First Missionary Journey, it appears that John Mark became homesick and returned to Jerusalem early. Paul did not want to take him on this second trip, fearing that he would again desert them. Barnabas, truly the “Son of Encouragement,” felt differently, and there was an argument. In the end, Barnabas took John Mark with him and returned to Cyprus, where he was well-known, and Paul took Silas, a firm believer, to visit the churches in Syria.

Contemporary Christians sometimes consider the early church perfect, without the imperfections we see in the congregations around us. Over and over again, the Acts of the Apostles reveal that this is not true. There were disagreements and personality conflicts in the early church. I’m almost certain that Paul was sometimes difficult to get along with. We can’t expect our churches to be any different.

The passage also reveals that, although the church’s unity is essential, there are times when individuals in conflict or groups in conflict simply need to separate and go their separate ways. This is not a division in the church but a division of responsibility and ministry designed to keep peace. It makes little or no sense to force disagreeing persons and congregations to remain together when the only result is dysfunction, disagreement, debate, and spiritual deterioration on all sides. People should go their separate ways, forgive and forget, and wait for reconciliation. We know there was a reconciliation between Paul and John Mark, for he is with Paul near the end of his ministry.

Timothy Joins the Mission

When they reached Derby, Paul and Silas gained a new helper. Timothy joined the group. His mother was a Jewish, but his father was a Greek. He would be comfortable in both Greek and Jewish culture. He had never been circumcised. To avoid conflict with the Jews, Paul circumcised Timothy and invited him to come along on his mission. This is an important event in the history of the church. Eventually, Timothy will become Paul’s most trusted assistant. In addition, two of the letters in the New Testament are written by Paul to Timothy. Tradition holds that Timothy became a bishop and leader in the early church until his death. Although Paul would not be John Mark’s primary mentor, he was Timothy’s.

Power of a Dream

As with the first missionary journey, this trip was not without problems. Eventually, Paul traveled beyond Galatia and the boundaries of the First Missionary Journey, intending to probe more deeply into Asia. However, when the group tried to turn to the east, they encountered difficulties, which the Bible describes as the Spirit of Jesus preventing them from going further east into Bythinia (16:6-10). Finally, they arrived at Troas, where Paul had a vision or dream in the night. He saw a man from Macedonia asking them to cross over into their territory (v. 9). Therefore, Paul and his companions arranged to go into Macedonia. As a result of this turn of events, Paul’s ministry took him into Europe instead of further into Asia, and the Christianization of Europe had begun. When I preach on this, I sometimes say, “We wouldn’t be here today if Paul hadn’t had that night vision at Troas.”

This is probably a good illustration of the principle that our failures and missteps are sometimes a way for God to take us to where he wanted us to be all along. When a ministry or program does not work out, contemporary Christians and pastors sometimes feel like failures. We think that we have not accomplished the “Will of God.” This is not necessarily true. The opposition and failure we are now experiencing may be the prelude to success.

More Help in Philippi

We know Luke joined Paul around this time because, in Acts 16:11, Luke begins to use the first person plural “we” to describe the mission. Once again, this is an event of great importance. Luke is the author of two New Testament books, the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Without him, we would know substantially less about Jesus and Paul than we know. Educated as a doctor, he writes in excellent Greek, and his books are exceptionally well organized. He begins his two-volume works,  Luke and Acts, letting the readers know he has researched his subject and is speaking as a witness and researcher (Luke 1:1-4). Like Timothy, Luke continued to minister to Christians beyond the lifetime of Paul. He represents that second generation that continued to share the gospel after the original apostolic witnesses died.

Eventually, the group arrived at Philippi. In Philippi, they met a woman named Lydia, described as God-fearing who dealt in purple cloth. Since purple cloth was worn only by the elite and on Paul’s day, this would make Lydia a significant person. She invited Paul and the group to come and stay at her home, which must’ve been relatively large to accommodate travelers and their luggage.

Paul’s friendship with Lydia illustrates another critical point about evangelism and one that has been mentioned before in these blogs. When Jesus sent out the apostles on their initial training journey, he sent them two by two. He also asked them to look for people of peace:

When you enter a house, say, “Peace to this house.” If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:5-7).

Lydia and her husband were people of peace. This chance meeting led her household to become believers and be baptized (Acts 16:15).

Eventually, Paul and Silas faced opposition and were imprisoned in Philippi. Instead of looking for a means of escape, it appears that when an earthquake occurred, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and ministering to the other prisoners! (16:28-27). When the quake came, Paul and Silas were in a position to escape, an event that would’ve meant the execution of their jailer. Instead of rushing to freedom, they stayed. As a result, the jailer and his whole household came to believe in Jesus and became part of the Philippian church (16:31-34). Once again, this event is described as one of great joy (v. 35).

Opposition in Thessalonica

By the time Paul reached Thessalonica, his strategy was to reach the population of the Greeks, and Asia was well-developed, as was the predictable response of some who heard the message. Thus, it is recorded:

As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said.  Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. But other Jews were jealous, so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city (Acts 17:2-5).

Expecting human nature to change is a temptation. Falling into this temptation is a constant invitation to delusion and disappointment. The fact is, we can’t expect everyone to agree with us about anything. Anytime someone attempts to change anything for the better, there is and will be opposition. The question is not how to avoid opposition. The question is how to anticipate and deal with it.

Noble Bereans—the Power of the Word

Every pastor loves to preach on Acts 17:10–15. When Paul gets to Berea, he finds the Bereans more inclined to listen to his testimony. They even examine the script daily to decide for themselves whether what Paul is saying is true (v. 11). Many people believed, and Paul did not experience the kind of opposition he experienced in Thessalonica (v. 12). However, no good thing lasts forever The people of Thessalonica found out about Paul’s success in Berea. So they sent people to Berea to cause trouble (v. 13). The result was that Paul had to go to Athens, where he ministered by himself (vv. 14-15).

The Challenges of Ministering to Intellectuals

When Paul arrived in Athens, he waited for Timothy and the others to catch up with him (v. 16). Nevertheless, Paul was not the sort of person to sit around and do nothing. He followed his strategy. He often went to the synagogue and spoke to Jews and the God Fearers among the Gentiles who worshiped there (Acts 17:16-14). He even began ministering in the public marketplace. There, Paul had the opportunity to speak to the intellectual elite of the Roman world. It is most interesting to see how Paul changes his strategy to accommodate his different situation.

To begin with, Paul finds a point of commonality between the Athenians and his gospel. There were statues of many gods standing around the area where Paul debated with the philosophers. Now, these philosophers probably didn’t believe in any of the gods. To find a point of common belief, he pointed out that they had a statue of an “unknown God” (17:23). This is important. The Greek philosophers were well aware that the many Greek gods were mythological. On the other hand, both Plato and Aristotle believed that there was some kind of a God. Paul begins his argument by pointing to this unknown God, this God for whom the philosophers were looking, and saying that God was the god of Israel, who became flesh in Jesus Christ.

Many people today do not believe in the god or religion of their childhood. This is true of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other world religions. Nevertheless, many of these people are in their hearts searching for the unknown God. Paul’s strategy is as good as when he first used it. We just have to accommodate the change in our civilization from the civilization of ancient Greece.

Paul goes on to describe this God:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Instead, he gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man, he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. “For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.” Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent, for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:24-31).

I have quoted this passage at length for a reason. It has been popular in the 20^th century to denigrate what is called natural theology. That is to say, it has become unpopular to defend biblical faith based on philosophical arguments that defend the existence of an abstract God. It’s worth noting that that’s precisely what Paul begins by doing. He starts by describing a God that would’ve been readily acceptable to the people of his day. After describing this philosophical God, Paul ends by explaining how this God became incarnate in Jesus Christ and was raised from the dead. In other words, Paul moves from a philosophical argument to biblical faith.

A Rich but Eventually Troubled Church

From Athens, Paul moves to Corinth. In Corinth, he meets two refugees, Priscilla and Aquiles, who had left Rome because of the persecution by the emperor Claudius. Once again, Paul begins by finding a person of peace with whom he could stay and administer. He follows the instructions Jesus gave the disciples when he sent them out. Even before the others arrive, he preaches the gospel in the synagogue. Once his traveling companions joined him, he devoted himself exclusively to preaching and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

Once again, opposition arose. One can imagine that during the conflict, Paul became discouraged. Therefore, one night, the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city” (Acts 189-10). Once again, it is natural to be discouraged when conflict arises. It is good to remember that conflict can be one way God accomplishes his purpose.

In Corinth, Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of the Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. This man, the synagogue leader, and his household believed in Christ. Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, and the gospel message prospered (v. 11). Once again, this indicates that Paul was following the original instructions of Jesus to stay in one place until the time came to move on. This allowed Paul to build a relatively strong church that could end your conflict before he went on with the rest of his journey.

Conclusion

When we read about Paul’s second missionary journey, we see evidence that he understood Jesus’ teachings. He was even aware of some of the specific ways Jesus had trained the original 12 disciples to be his apostles. He seems to follow the same pattern that Jesus said for ministry. He does not travel alone. He usually travels with others. The only time he is alone is when circumstances demand it.

Paul begins his ministry by reaching out to the Jews of any given community. He preaches in the synagogues until he is no longer able. When he can no longer do so, he leaves and begins a congregation outside the synagogue. The structure of the gospel he is preaching is relatively simple. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah of Israel. In Jesus, God acted to restore the human race to fellowship with God. When this fellowship is established, the Holy Spirit is present in a unique way, and new Christians experience joy.

Finally, during the Second Missionary Journey, we see Paul constantly looking for persons of peace, first Lydia, and then Priscilla and Aquila, Titus Justus, Crispus, and others. Paul is under no illusions that he can do the job alone or even together with his missionary partners. He needs people in the local community who fit in with the local community to help him reach as many people as possible. People of peace do not just become Christians. They frequently become apostles themselves, sharing the gospel in a way impossible for an outsider.

Copyright, G. Christopher Scruggs 2024, All Rights Reserved

Sometime in the Spring, around 44 A.D., The church members in Antioch in modern Syria decided to commission Saul of Tarsus and Barnabas of Cyprus to be missionaries, sharing the gospel in the surrounding area. They laid hands on both men and ordained them to be “apostles” or “sent ones” from the Antiochian church. Acts 13 describes the event as follows:

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. 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.” Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13:1-3).

It would be hard to overestimate the importance of this decision. Born of prayer, worship, study, and fasting, the church and Antioch felt that the Holy Spirit was speaking to them, asking them to send their two most potent leaders elsewhere. It’s hard to imagine a contemporary church making such a decision! Nevertheless, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, the church in Antioch made this brave decision. That decision has changed the course of human history nearly as much as the incarnation of Christ. Because of that decision, the Christian church spread rapidly during the First Century and continued its growth until it became the established religion of the Roman Empire. The entire story took just about 300 years.

From Antioch, Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark began a missionary journey (Acts 13:4 – 52, 14:1 – 25). The group traveled to Seleucia and then sailed to Salamis, the principal city and seaport of the island of Cyprus. Paul would make longer missionary journeys in the future. This particular journey was vital because it was the first. The group traveled in the southeast portion of today’s modern Turkey. At its furthest extent, the journey reached nearly the center of modern Turkey.

The Strategy

There are many reasons to be interested in that first missionary journey. Not the least of which is that it was the beginning of an experiment, and it was successful enough that there were other missionary journeys in the future. Paul and Barnabas, who would not always travel together, developed a methodology of mission that served them well for the rest of their missionary careers. There are several aspects of that particular method that deserve to be noted:

• First, the journey was primarily to small cities in a geographic area with which the entire church was familiar. They didn’t immediately send Paul and Barnes to the end of the Earth. They sent them to a region relatively close by culture, proximity, and other factors that would assist in the mission’s success.
• Second, Paul and Barnabas traveled as a group. John Mark was sent with them. We don’t know, but others might have come along for all or part of the journey. In any case, the principle of mutual support was evident even during the first century.
• Third, Cyprus is mentioned as the final destination of the journey. Barnabas was from Cyprus. Historians believe he was a fairly prominent person in Cyprus. He had connections in Cyprus. Cyprus is important for several reasons and is geographically essential in the region. Finally, because Cyprus is close to Israel, there was a sizeable Jewish population in the first century, and today, there is a large Jewish population. In other words, some people might understand what Paul and Barnabas were trying to say. Even today, it is a center of business, diplomacy, and other activities. It was a wise choice for a final stop on the first journey.

The strategy that guided the Antiochian church and Paul and Barnabas in the early first century continues to be vital to us today. Most of us are called to share the gospel where we are or in areas reasonably close to our homes. Most of us need some kind of help as we share the gospel. We need to be part of a team. Finally, most of us have a circle of influence or friendships that impact our ability to share the gospel. Sometimes, this is called our “circle of influence.”

Learning by Doing

During the First Missionary Journey, it became apparent that Christian missionaries would face opposition from time to time. In Paphos, they were confronted with the Jewish sorcerer, an essential associate of the Roman proconsul, Sergius, Paules. Paul relied on the Holy Spirit to overcome the opposition (13:6-12). The last time that the apostle Paul would face opposition, intellectual and physical, and sharing the gospel around the Mediterranean basin.

In Antioch, we learn an essential element of how Paul shared the gospel. It is recorded that on the sabbath day, Paul went down, and after reading the law and the Prophets, he explained the gospel to them. He did so by recounting the story of the liberation of Israel from Egypt and the foundation of the Dynasty of King David. He ends by identifying Jesus as the true heir of King David, and he eliminates any confusion concerning the role of John the Baptist, of whom the residents may have heard:

Of this man’s offspring, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.  Before he came, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John finished his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me, one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ (13:23-25).

The messianic promise given to the people of Israel by the profits has been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth (v. 23).

In speaking to the people of obsidian Antioch, Paul also developed the habit of sharing the gospel in its simplest and most basic form:

Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses (13:38-39).

Here is the center of the gospel in its most basic form: through Jesus, human sin can be forgiven, and the guilt and shame humans feel because we cannot keep the moral law in its entirety are forgiven.

The Jewish response to this proclamation of the good news of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus foreshadowed problems that would arise in nearly every city First Century missionaries visited. The local Jewish population could not accept the idea that there was a way to fellowship with God that did not involve obeying the law.

So it is that at Pisidian Antioch, Paul uttered these famous words:

Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (13:46-47).

In the future, the gospel would not be for the Jewish people alone but for Gentiles and Jews. It’s important to note that Paul is not rejecting the Jewish people. He is simply saying that if Jewish people cannot accept the gospel, it must be preached to the Gentiles as well.

By the time Paul and Barnabas reached Iconium, the basic strategy they would follow for the rest of Paul’s career had been established: the gospel would be preached both to Jews and to Gentiles (parentheses one). Even though there was opposition, Paul and Barnabas continued to preach, and their message was confirmed by the same kinds of signs and wonders that characterize the ministry of Jesus. The result of their ministry was not complete success. Many people continued to reject the gospel.

Paul concluded his first apostolic journey by visiting Lystra and Derby. In Lystra, he encountered one of the most challenging temptations of any Christian leader: the people thought he was a God (14:11-13). Paul immediately rejected the thought that he or Barnabas were anything but ordinary human beings:

We are also only human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.In the past, he let all nations go their way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy (14:15-17).

Notice the emphasis on the kindness and mercy of God to pagans as well as believers.

Conclusion

There are important lessons to be learned from Paul’s First Missionary Journey, not the least: important things are often invisible when they occur. I doubt if many important people, Jewish, Roman, or otherwise, took much notice of a little band proclaiming a gospel at the fringes of the Roman Empire. Most of those who heard of their missionary journey probably discounted it. Nevertheless, it is one of the most critical events in human history. This should give ordinary Christians hope as they go about their daily lives. Just because a good deed is invisible does not mean that it’s not important or does not have eternal significance. Every act of love does have eternal significance.

When thinking about Paul’s first missionary journey, it is essential to remember that you have to start somewhere. I have a tendency not to start a project unless I convince myself that it’s very, very important and bound to be very, very successful. This is a big mistake. Sometimes, you must start small, experience opposition, and perfect your message before accomplishing your desired goals. Every lawyer has a first case. Every preacher has a first sermon. Every writer has a first book. Every entrepreneur has a first business. They are often not the last or the most successful, but they have the distinction of being the first.

Third, every Christian mission needs a strategy—an overall goal, such as preaching to Jews and Gentiles—and tactics, such as going to synagogues first. This principle may seem difficult to translate into ordinary Christian discipleship. However, I think it’s an important principle. A strategy might be, “I would like to reach out in my neighborhood.” The tactic might be, “I will invite my friends for dinner. Maybe we can get into a discussion about Christ.” Hopefully, readers will get the idea. To us, it may seem evident that Paul needed to begin by preaching and synagogues, but I’m not sure it was that obvious to first-century people. A reasonable mini-wise observer might have said, “Don’t do that, Paul. If you do, you’ll cause a big fight and have a lot of trouble.”

This leads to a final observation: No good project can be accomplished without encountering some kind of opposition. People will say, “It’s too expensive.” People will say, “We don’t have the time.” People will say, “We don’t have the contacts.” People will give a lot of reasons why good projects shouldn’t begin. I have a good friend in ministry and mentor who, in a time of conflict about a new project, advised me, “Chris, only count the yes votes.” It was good advice.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

 

For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10)

One of my past meditations from Bonheoffer had to do with work. In his book, No Rusty Swords, he talks about work: “God has called each one of us to do his work in his time.” [1] In his later years, Bonhoeffer realized the importance of lay ministry and the ministry of the people of God in the world. In commenting on this passage, Charles Ringma comments:

We are not simply to be guardians of the good things that God has done in the past, nor are we only those who pray for what may happen in the future. We need to be intimately involved in the issues of our time. Different members of the Christian church will identify these issues differently. However we arrange our priorities for our world, we must include caring for God’s creation, encouraging good government, sharing the Gospel, and proclaiming justice and righteousness. [2]

This passage contains some profound and essential teachings. First, Christians cannot just worship on Sunday, study our Bibles, and pray about the problems of our world. We must work on making the world a better place as the Kingdom of God enters the world through believers’ lives. Second, we cannot wait for complete agreement among Christians before we act. Different believers will see the world differently. Finally, we must all share our faith and speak out for justice and righteousness, public and private. We must all care for God’s creation. We must all work for better government and lives for those around us.

We must all tend to the garden that God has given us, whether large or small, significant or insignificant.  The Bible begins with the human race in a garden we call “Eden.” Some Christians speak of Eden as if it was a place where there was no need to work. Genesis tells us something about this garden:

 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28).

Genesis 2 puts it this way, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15). It would seem that work was not a curse—it is our resentment that is the curse of sin. Work was a part of God’s intention for the human race.

When I was a lawyer, I hardly ever worked in our yard. I was also at the office or trying to make up for it with the family. As a seminary student, I had no time. Then we moved to Brownsville, Tennessee and our first church. Surrounded by farmers and gardeners on every side (and with plenty of guidance, advice, and good counsel at hand, for which I am thankful), I planted a garden in the backyard of the manse and later on in our home. When we moved to Memphis, my training in Brownsville allowed me to do most of the landscaping. Based on all this, I can tell my readers one unavoidable truth: Gardening, even in paradise, is hard work, especially on a hot, muggy summer day in the American Southwest.

We human beings were made for work. We were made for the work of making the world a better place. We were made to till the garden of God’s good creation. We were made to expend the energy, strength, and brains that God has given us in the precise way we can best do that. We were made and remade in Christ “for the good works God prepared for us beforehand to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day happens to be one of my favorite holidays. This is the weekend we celebrate the working people of America. Labor Day reminds us of all the endless generations of farmers who built a nation of plenty out of the wilderness. Labor Day reminds us of those who opened the West, built the transcontinental railways, created the most significant manufacturing nation in the world, and made our nation the “Arsenal of Democracy” at a time of great danger to freedom. Labor Day reminds us of those who, even today, work and sweat so that we might live in peace and plenty.

Those of us who have jobs we call “White Collar” need to approach Labor Day with humility. Interestingly, Jesus does not seem to have wanted to enter history either as a religious professional or as a “teacher of the law,” the two careers I have embraced. He speaks ill of them both from time to time. He was content to be born and trained as a carpenter. Jesus was a laborer, and his life, death, and resurrection sanctified all laborers and all honest labor. It is quite likely that God never intended any of us, of whatever abilities, to escape manual labor completely.

The New Monastics

For several weeks, I’ve been meditating on what Benedictine monasticism offers modern people. I’ve mentioned Leslie Newbiggin’s summary of the monastic life as a daily and weekly cycle of study, prayer, and manual work. [3] I hope to be able to write more about the importance of work. We live in a time when pendants proclaim that one day, artificial intelligence, robots, and a host of labor. Saving devices will render most people unemployed. I think that’s a terrible thing to contemplate. I like to say that the economy doesn’t exist to make a few people very rich and many idle. The economy exists to make wholesome work available to the maximum number of people.

Even if we could eliminate work as an unnecessary part of human life, it would not be a blessing. It would be a tragedy and a curse. One need not look any further than the very wealthy or privileged children to understand that work is essential for developing character, physical and emotional health, and a sense of well-being and self-worth.

The monastic division of the day into prayer, study, and work was not simply an accommodation to the necessity of providing for the community’s needs. Of course, it did provide for the needs of the community. Work provides for a person’s and their family’s needs by participating in the greater economy of the community as a whole. Work is a part of that web of relationships by which we, human beings, use our natural talents and abilities and participate in the society of which we are a part. Work is not a curse—it is a blessing.

In her excellent book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today, Joan Chittester gives a sustained teaching about the rule, including the rule as it pertains to work. [4] She points out two misconceptions that every human being, including contemplatives, must live with. The first is exemplified by workaholics, who sacrifice everything: family, friendships, and even a relationship with God for work, money, status, and success. The second is exemplified by those who see work as a hindrance to enjoying the “higher things in life,” such as time to think, study, recreation, or whatever a person considers more important than work. In religious people, this can be regarded as “pseudo-contemplation.” Some people make work their God. When we do this, most of us don’t explain it to ourselves that way, but it’s true. We’ve decided that work is the most essential thing in our lives.

On the other hand, some people believe work hinders some greater good, even a spiritual good. These people are pseudo-contemplative or pseudo-religious. They seek pleasure and recreation to avoid work. In my life, I have known highly religious people who shortchanged their employers on the theory that it was more important to do “God’s work.” This is a great mistake. Our work, the work we do daily to make a living, is God’s work. As Chittester puts it,

Laziness and irresponsibility are forms of injustice and thievery. They take from the people of the earth. We were not put on the earth to be cared for. We were put on earth to care for it. [5]

Between the two extremes of workaholism and false spirituality, many of us devalue or overestimate work. Part of the Christian life is achieving a balance between over and undervaluing work.

In concluding her chapter, Chittester summarizes a Benedictine view of work as follows:

• Work is my gift to the world.
• Work is the way I am saved from total self-centeredness.
• Work gives me a place in God’s economy of salvation.
• Work in the Benedictine vision is to build community.
• Work leads to self-fulfillment as we use our gifts and abilities.
• Work has its own asceticism (discipline).
• Work finally is a way in which we live in poverty and solidarity with the poor. [6]

This last may seem a bit difficult to understand. If we think that part of what we earn is to be given away for the service of God and other people, then, in a sense, we achieve a kind of poverty, a kind of solidarity with the poor.

Conclusion

Perhaps it is true that the human race is reaching a point where many people will be able to live lives of constant leisure while others provide for them. Possibly, those others will be artificial intelligence or robots. Somehow, I doubt that’s going to be the case. Even if it were to be possible, however, it’s a bad idea. We were meant to worship God. We were meant to be in a relationship with God. We were meant for prayer, spiritual reading, and study. We were also meant to put what we know and feel into practice daily as we work and till the garden into which we have been placed.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, No Rusty Swords (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1977). This book is a collection of Bonhoeffer’s writings on various subjects.

[2] Charles Ringma, Seize the Day with Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Colorado Springs, CO: Pinion Press, 2000), reading for August 25.

[3] Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1995), 13.

[4] Joan Chittester, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1990), Chapter 7.

[5] Id, at 87.

[6] Id, at 92-93.