Sending It

Acts 15:22-23

Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren:

Well, that latter time is now. Only two books were sent out at first although it may feel like more. But you might wonder how come the whole New Testament seems to be so out of order. Sometime later the church leaders would go 'this is too much.' They would dump all the letters together in a pile; these were then sent out with some others who at the time had not been going through quite so much. Such was done at an early church council meeting consisting of a select few elders and church officials. Some of you really ought to be careful with things like that. See, it is made clear to us that this division of the letters to be sent out was by the elders and apostles. Nor was such a decision confirmed by them only but also by the whole of the early church. When the Word came with power, it also had many witnesses. So, of these we can be certain of the historical order and authenticity of the record. So thorough of a job did Paul and the early apostles do that the text says it pleased them all. Now I know we should seek to please God rather than men in Acts 5:29. But should not our good works also make many proud. If it cannot, at the very least some should be pleased with what we have done in the Lord's name. So, it may seem like we are going through the text very slowly. The matters of timing are best left up to God. As well these should; for so these was his to control anyway. Now, Paul and Barnabas are again being sent to Antioch for a whole church purpose. See, where God has you might seem very small right now. But when it is in his hands, he can make that thing great. Paul might have thought he was merely journaling his thoughts after some rough times of ministry. Yet these ended up being encouragement for those in like situations. But they also became food upon which the early church grew. Look with me now at this.

And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.

Here, spreading the gospel is almost like going fishing. You throw out a line with a hook on the end. All the fish sees is a bobbing lure and with it the promise of food. Then you slowly reel it in. Before you know it, you have a whole supper. But instead of dinner awaits a new church full of amazed Jewish and Gentile believers alike. See, maybe this is why some of you have such a difficult time understanding the writings of Paul. Primarily, I see three reasons. The first one is his sense of humor: his ability to see Christ in just about every situation. The second one is his tone shifts based on to whom he is speaking. Some of you might have thought yourselves very highly educated until you met Paul. See, God speaks to everyone whether bond, free, rich, poor, religious, or irreverent alike. Tell me, what good is the gospel if I cannot share it with you in a way that you understand. If I came with this theologian or that, all of you would shut me down. You would close the book and leave the room entirely for one reason or another.

But rather, I come with a thus saith the Lord in hand and some common sense in the other. Now we will watch him work this thing. Then again, some of you could not care less what the theologians say. That is good, because we are not here to discuss them, but rather the Lord. Which brings me to my final point that Paul teaches some strong and at times difficult doctrine. This is why we need the Spirit of God to see what he really means. If I just looked at the epistles by themselves, they would sound about as dry as the Lord's dusty scrolls in the temples. But I look at them through the history book of Acts; now they really seem to come alive as if for the first time. I know what you are wondering. And no, I do not specialize in teaching whatever it is called in seminary class. In fact, we are about as far away from seminary as we can get. We are even now looking at the brethren in "Antioch and Syria and Cilicia." For this cause, the letters were written, sent, and caused to go out. I suppose you will just have to content yourself with a thus saith the Lord.