May 11, 2014
Hymn 329 – A little lamb went straying
Prayer
We are in the middle of the parable of the prodigal son. We have been seeing that he was on a downhill journey, just getting worse and worse. We left off last time when he was in want. He had wasted all the money that his father had given him and had nothing. He had had friends while he was rich, but once he had spent all, they left him. Then, there was a famine which left him in want.
Luke 15:15 – 17
The son joined himself to a pig farmer. When I was young, there was a pig farm in walking distance from my house. Every once in a while, my dad, my brother, and I would go and visit it. It was terrible: there was mud, flies, and the smell was awful. The son in our parable was sent into the fields to feed the pigs. This was as low as a Jew could go. While he was feeding the pigs, he realized that he was going hungry, but the pigs weren’t. He was so jealous of the pigs that he almost wanted to eat what he was feeding them. Nobody would give him any food. While he was rich, he was probably paying for others’ food; but once he was poor, nobody would give to him.
The son has basically hit the bottom. He said, “I perish.” Do you think he planned this downhill journey? No. I recently came across this poem:
Sin will take you farther than you want to go / Slowly but surely take control / Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay / Sin will cost you more than you want to pay.
The journey started in the father’s house and it just got worse, and worse, and worse, until it ended with him perishing with hunger in the pig pen. Next time, Lord willing, we will look at the nice part of the parable.
Acts 13:1-13
At this point in the book of Acts, we’ve gone through a lot. We’ve had the coming of the Holy Spirit, the conversion of the Jews, the Samaritans, and the Gentiles, and persecution. We even have an assembly that isn’t in Jerusalem. The brethren were quite diverse there in Antioch: some were possibly black; others were connected with Herod; and, of course, there was Saul, who was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. God had done an amazing work, and His people no longer had a Jewish centre. Both Jews and Gentiles are included in His kingdom. Those that had faith and a knowledge of salvation in the new assembly were even made prophets and teachers, though they came from different backgrounds.
Chapter 13 starts out with five brethren from Antioch ministering to the Lord. It reminds us of the women in the gospels who ministered to the Lord from their substance. This ministering must have been something like worship or thanks. Some of these men were of those “outsiders” that God had brought into the body of Christ; now they were able to minister to Him. Though they ministered to the Lord, they themselves fasted. Fasting, it is said, adds intensity to prayer.
These men ministered to the Lord, but the fact that they fasted allowed the Holy Spirit to speak to them. He picked Barnabas and Saul out for a special work. It almost takes the rest of the book of Acts to tell about Paul’s work! Have you ever been exercised about your own work? Paul and Barnabas were called to be labouring brothers, and our Lord spoke of giving “every man his work.” Each one of us has a job to do. The Lord gives us each talents and pounds; talents are abilities, and pounds are opportunities. Maybe we don’t have many talents, but we all have opportunities to use the ones that we do have.
The rest of the brethren identified and showed their fellowship with Paul and Barnabas’ mission by laying hands on them. They were sent out knowing that they had the fellowship of the Antioch assembly. It was the Holy Ghost that gave the direction for them to go, and the assembly that sent them out. Labouring brethren among us have always been identified with one of the assemblies. They were responsible to the Lord and to that assembly for what they did.
Now, the Holy Spirit didn’t necessarily speak audibly to these men. He could have just laid this burden on each one of their five hearts. It’s a blessing when a hymn or passage is on more than one person’s heart in a meeting; it helps confirm the Spirit’s leading. These men could go forth knowing that this work was the Lord’s will, not just their own.
So starts Paul’s first missionary journey. As he went about he used a tactic that we don’t use much today: he preached in the Jewish synagogues. His testimony would have been very powerful, but would have stirred up a hornet’s nest, because he brought them the true word of God. That true word of God is still our authority today.
Hymn 332 - Christ the Saviour of sinners came
Prayer