WRAPPING UP A MEMORABLE TRIP
ACTS 14:21-28
NASB
21 After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” 23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
24 They passed through Pisidia and came into Pamphylia. 25 When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26 From there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had [a]accomplished. 27 When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and [a]how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they spent [a]a long time with the disciples.
14:26 [a]Lit fulfilled 14:27 [a]Lit that 14:28 [a]Lit not a little
NLT
21 After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, 22 where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God. 23 Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24 Then they traveled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia. 25 They preached the word in Perga, then went down to Attalia.
26 Finally, they returned by ship to Antioch of Syria, where their journey had begun. The believers there had entrusted them to the grace of God to do the work they had now completed. 27 Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported everything God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too. 28 And they stayed there with the believers for a long time.
In the 1940s, virtually everyone in America knew the name Norman Rockwell. The illustrations he drew for the Saturday Evening Post reflected the best of the American spirit during some of the nation’s most trying years. The words “heartwarming” and “nostalgic” come to mind when you see his work. For the May 26, 1945, issue, he released one of his most endearing illustrations: “Homecoming G.I.” In this iconic scene, a soldier wearing faded green army fatigues stands in front of a brick tenement as excited family members and friends pour into the alley to welcome their hero home from the war. Everyone can find themselves somewhere in that painting: The weary returning soldier. The exuberant parents. The elated siblings. The joyous neighbors. The shy girlfriend-in-waiting.
A lot of emotion accompanies the return of a traveler after a long time away from home, especially if that journey involved trials and hardship, conflicts and struggle. Paul and Barnabas had left their homes in Syrian Antioch more than a year earlier to engage in an unusual kind of warfare. They battled supernatural forces on Cyprus and encountered spiritual enemies in the synagogues of Pisidia and Lycaonia. Paul’s brush with death in Lystra may have left him with injuries that would affect him for the rest of his life; each scar would have reminded him and his associates that they had been to battle and would likely face the enemy again. Without a doubt, morale improved for Paul, Barnabas, and their team when their itinerary carried them ever closer to home. Still, they had a long way to go and a great deal to accomplish along the way.
— 14:21-23 —
After surviving the mob attack in Lystra, the team traveled 35 miles east to the city of Derbe, a relatively obscure town that was subsequently lost to history. This little town wasn’t connected to Lystra by the paved Via Sebaste, so the team would have traversed 60 miles of rugged, unpaved road to reach Derbe.[141]
Paul and Barnabas preached there with great success, more than Luke reveals here. We learn later from Acts that a sizable community of believers formed a stable church and eventually supplied Paul with a helper named Gaius (20:4).
After completing their work in Derbe, the men retraced their steps rather than take a direct route through the mountains to Tarsus and then home. Luke doesn’t explain their reasoning; he merely describes their activity on the way back. It appears winter may have been a factor in their decision. If they left home at the beginning of March, nine months of ministry would have put them in Derbe around November. The region is known today for its severe winters and heavy snowfalls, so the men had three options: risk a foolhardy trek through the mountains, spend the winter in Derbe before crossing over, or return the way they came. Of course, this third option presented some dangerous prospects; they would likely encounter the same people who had attempted to kill them earlier. But danger aside, the return route gave them an opportunity to further equip the new believers to survive and thrive on their own.
After completing the tasks of evangelism, preaching and making disciples (14:21), Paul and Barnabas accomplished the three primary objectives in church planting:
1. “Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith” (14:22). Once we evangelize the lost and they believe, we have a duty to equip them for this new life. In this case, the believers continued to meet under difficult circumstances. The hostility shown to Paul and Barnabas would have attached to their disciples. The persecuted Christians needed reassurance. Paul’s stoning and subsequent refusal to quit would have inspired the new believers to persevere. They needed training, which —in the absence of a written New Testament —was reliant upon verbal teaching and memorization as well as personal mentoring.
The new Christians also needed encouragement. Many had been polytheistic Gentiles. The Christian life required a radical departure from their former way of life, including how they maintained relationships with pagan family and friends. Their new beliefs also changed their participation in the community. Learning to be “in the world but not of the world” was a tall order, one that required lots of moral support.
2. “Appoint[ing] elders” (14:23). The practice of selecting elders came from centuries of tradition that went clear back to Israel’s wilderness years, but it became especially prominent as the leadership structure in the Jewish synagogues, which was the immediate background for the establishment of elders in the first churches. These elders were always hand-selected by other mature leaders who were themselves qualified to recognize the necessary traits for leadership. The leaders were to be men of spiritual maturity, strong character, and good reputation in the community, regardless of their age, wealth, experience, power, or position. Paul later established the exact qualifications of elders, most likely as a result of the hard lessons learned in these early years (see Titus 1:5-16).
An elder holds a spiritual office; therefore, he must demonstrate that he lives under the control of the Holy Spirit. His qualities must include continual submission to the Spirit. He must show an example of loving leadership in his own home. He must display a humble and contrite heart that remains keenly sensitive to the presence of sin or any act of pride, stubbornness, or selfishness. He must be willing to confess his own wrongdoing. He must maintain a strong commitment to conform his behavior to the instruction of Scripture and maintain a humble vulnerability before the Lord.
3. “Commend[ing] them to the Lord” (14:23). This is perhaps the most difficult task of a church-planting ministry. After witnessing the birth of new believers, nurturing them from infancy, helping them stand on their own, and training them to lead others —all the while cultivating deep personal relationships —the time must come to leave. The word translated “commended” means “placed before.” Literally, it’s used in the sense of serving food. Greek writers use the term figuratively of teaching when a teacher sets before students a new concept to learn or evaluate. The literal and figurative senses come together when something is entrusted to the care of another, which is the meaning here. The apostles entrusted the people to the care of God.
Of course, Paul and Barnabas formally commended the disciples to God for their own peace of mind and not to signify a spiritual change. Nothing in heaven changed. The Lord didn’t say, “Okay, thanks for getting these churches started. I’ll take it from here.” He had been taking care of these people since before the beginning of time!
— 14:24-26 —
The evangelistic team traveled roughly 90 miles south from Antioch, through the mountain range separating Pisidia from Pamphylia, down the Cestrus valley, and into Perga, where they had originally landed from Cyprus (13:13). They proclaimed the gospel there, as they did everywhere, but they didn’t stay long. Attalia was a busier and more modern port, carrying the bulk of traffic between Ephesus and Syria. A ship carried them back to Seleucia, where they disembarked and walked 14 miles up the Orontes River to arrive home again, roughly eighteen months after leaving.
Luke sums up the mission using two significant terms:
1. “Commended” (paradidōmi [3860]). Here at the end of the mission, they remembered that the church in Syrian Antioch “commended [them] to the grace of God for the work” that they were leaving to do (14:26; see 13:1-4). It’s the same term used of Paul and Barnabas in entrusting the disciples to the Lord.
2. “Accomplished” (plēroō [4137]). Upon their return, they had “accomplished” all the work assigned to them. The term plēroō means “to make full” or “to fulfill.” If the mission dossier were a glass, they filled it to overflowing.
— 14:27-28 —
The church had delegated a responsibility to Paul and Barnabas, equipped them with the necessary provisions, conferred its authority upon them, and sent them out. The missionaries owed the church accountability. They called the congregation together and gave a complete report of all that had occurred (14:27). While all the details interested the church, the bottom-line outcome thrilled them. They had “opened a door of faith” to the Gentiles. This was the first coordinated, organized effort to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to Gentiles where not even a synagogue had existed. The ministry of Paul and Barnabas had shed light into the lives of the darkest pagans, and the Gentiles responded in belief. With the door of faith now open, they hoped to see innumerable Gentiles pour into the church.
Luke states that Paul and Barnabas spent “a long time” with their sending church in Syrian Antioch (14:28). This must have been a span of several months, perhaps the latter weeks of autumn and the winter of AD 48–49. Many scholars believe Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians during this time, just before attending the Council at Jerusalem (15:1-30). Although the theory raises some questions, it makes the best sense of the data we have concerning Paul’s activities.
APPLICATION: ACTS 14:21-28
Heads Up!
When Paul and Barnabas left an area, they gave the newly established assemblies over to the Lord. They, of course, did this for their own peace of mind. By formally giving the people over to God, they consciously acknowledged their own limitations. This habit accomplished something else just as important. It helped the developing Christians look to God rather than men for their support, comfort, encouragement, and wisdom.
I have discovered that developing Christians go through three very definite stages: first, eyes on people; second, eyes on self; and finally, eyes on the Lord.
The first stage, eyes on people, is dangerous. The person who led you to Christ easily becomes your idol, your model. That’s unfortunate. Many a pastor is somebody’s model or idol. In some cases, he’s virtually an object of worship. So, a pastor must remain faithful to help his admirers see that he is just one among a number of people who is being used by God. No one should ever allow others to focus their adoration or worship on any person.
Second, eyes on self is what we might call a Christian adolescence, during which we know just enough to be dangerous. Everything is all about us. We’re impulsive, experimental, self-reliant, propelled through life with a sense of invincibility. As a result, we rely upon our own strength to overcome difficulties.
It’s the minister’s job to move Christians safely along to the third stage, eyes on the Lord. I appreciate the fact that Paul and Barnabas said to these assemblies, in effect, “Ladies and gentlemen, we turn your ministry over to the Lord. You’re accountable to Him. Fix your hope and heart on Him, not on us.” If you are a spiritual leader serving in any kind of Christian ministry, do your very best to keep believers’ affection on Christ and their eyes heavenward.