September 24, 2024
While Jesus preached a message of peace, New Testament Christians at times encountered difficult issues among fellow believers. With honesty, Luke describes a “sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas about personnel issues for their next journey that led to the breakup of their missionary team.
Both Paul and Barnabas agreed on the goal of visiting the new churches from their last journey to see how they were progressing. Barnabas wanted to take his cousin John Mark (Col. 4:10), but Paul disagreed because John Mark had abandoned them on the first missionary journey when the team left for Pamphylia.
Luke notes that Mark’s abandonment of the team led to a division and addition to the teams. Barnabas took Mark to the island of Cyprus — Barnabas’ homeland. Paul chose Silas based upon the recommendation of the local church. They joined together in a discipleship mission, strengthening the churches in Syria and the coastal city of Cilicia. While the breakup of Paul and Barnabas was regretful, it resulted in two teams preaching and starting churches.
Paul and Silas traveled to the cities of Derbe and Lystra and encountered a disciple named Timothy. Timothy’s mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. Luke doesn’t give the name or religious affiliation of Timothy’s father, but because Timothy’s name means “honoring God,” we may assume that his father was a God-fearer. Believers in Lystra and Iconium held Timothy in high esteem. While Paul rejected circumcision as a requirement for salvation, he circumcised Timothy because the Jews knew that his father was a Gentile.
Paul, Silas and Timothy traveled throughout the region sharing the unanimous decision of the council meeting in Acts 15:25–29. As a result of the joint decision, the churches were strengthened in the faith and the churches grew numerically. Although Luke does not describe the ethnicity of the new believers joining the church, one can surmise the growth occurred among the Gentiles.
Paul and his companions traveled through Galatia, but the Spirit did not direct them to preach the gospel in the Roman province of Asia. The team purposed to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus forbade them to travel in this region. We do not know who planted churches in Bithynia, but the Apostle Peter included Bithynia among the Christians he addressed in his first letter. The team traveled from town to town, directed by the Spirit.
The missions team traveled to the city of Troas — a city with the envied status of being a Roman colony as well as an important seaport. In Troas, Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man pleading, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!” Because of the vision, the group concluded that God called them to preach the gospel there. One additional team member was likely added, which we see from the use of the word “we.” The unnamed new member of the team was Luke — the author of the Book of Acts.
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This lesson was written by Mark Rathel, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in DeFuniak Springs, Fla., and originally published by The Baptist Paper. This study is based on the Explore the Bible curriculum from Lifeway Christian Resources.
