Acts 13:1-3 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger… I. THE TRUE WEALTH OF A CHURCH. There were prophets and teachers at Antioch. Nothing is said about its wealth in money, only about its wealth in men. A religious community may possess splendid buildings, wealthy members; may command amply all the external appliances of worship and work; but unless it has men, it has not strength. Intelligence and enthusiasm, piety and genius, constitute the true forces of the Church. Without these, it is feeble with all its worldly resources; with these, it is mighty in poverty. II. THE CONSECRATION OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES. 1. It was preceded by prayer and fasting. The moderation of the body gives freedom and clearness to the judgment. There is nothing artificial in the true proceedings of spiritual man. The bodily and the spiritual life cannot be both affirmed at the same time. In denying the body we affirm the Spirit. In casting off the weights of sense we rise into the purer air. 2. It was accompanied by laying on of hands. "Order is Heaven's first law," and in the Church "let all things be done decently and in order." The act marks peculiar selection out of the mass of men, and for special and peculiar ends of work. From Antioch in its strength and spiritual prosperity went forth the first missionaries. This is an example. When we are full of thought we long to speak or otherwise give it to the world. When the fire burns within the soul the tongue cannot be mute. In like manner, a vigorous Church will be a missionary Church; the falling off of missionary interest is a symptom that we have less hold upon the truth or have lost the fullness of love from the heart. - J. Parallel Verses KJV: Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. |
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