The Launching Pad at Antioch
Introduction: The Engine Room of the World
We come now to a pivotal moment in the book of Acts, and consequently, in the history of the world. Up to this point, the center of gravity for the Christian faith has been Jerusalem. That is where the Spirit was poured out, where the first sermons were preached, and where the mother church resided. But Jerusalem was the old wine. It was the center of a covenant that was fading away. Now, the gospel, having been rejected by the Jewish establishment, is about to explode into the Gentile world in a new and unprecedented way. And the launching pad for this global mission is not the holy city of Jerusalem, but the bustling, cosmopolitan, and thoroughly pagan city of Antioch.
Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, a crossroads of commerce, culture, and creed. It was a place teeming with every kind of philosophy and idolatry imaginable. And it was here, in this pagan metropolis, that the disciples were first called Christians. It was here that the grace of God established a beachhead, a robust and vibrant church that would become the engine room for world evangelization. This passage is therefore not simply a historical travelogue. It is a divine paradigm. It is the apostolic blueprint for how the kingdom of God advances. The modern church, with its corporate strategies, marketing campaigns, and demographic surveys, needs to pay very close attention. The mission of the church is not born in a boardroom; it is born in the worship room. What we see here is that world-changing mission is the natural, inevitable overflow of a healthy, Spirit-filled, God-centered local church.
The Text
Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
(Acts 13:1-3 LSB)
A Motley Leadership (v. 1)
We begin with the leadership roster of this remarkable church.
"Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul." (Acts 13:1 LSB)
The first thing to notice is the location: "in the church that was there." The Holy Spirit does not speak to a nebulous, invisible, universal church. He speaks to a particular, local assembly of believers. The local church is God's embassy in a foreign land, His designated outpost. This is where the action is. Furthermore, this church is equipped with a plurality of gifted leaders: "prophets and teachers." This is not a one-man show. It is a team of men, recognized for their divine giftings, who are leading the flock. A healthy church is led by a diversity of qualified elders.
But it is the list of names that ought to stop us in our tracks. This is a stunning demonstration of the power of the gospel to create a new humanity. First, you have Barnabas, the "son of encouragement," a Levite from Cyprus, the man who first vouched for Saul in Jerusalem. He is the bridge to the old guard. Then you have "Simeon who was called Niger." Niger is Latin for "black." Here is a black man, an African, in the leadership of this influential church. Next is Lucius of Cyrene, another man from North Africa. The gospel is already demolishing the racial and ethnic barriers that defined the ancient world.
Then comes the most shocking name: "Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch." The word for "brought up with" means he was a foster-brother or a close childhood companion of Herod Antipas. This is the Herod who stole his brother's wife, the Herod who was mesmerized by his stepdaughter's seductive dance, the Herod who, in a drunken stupor, had John the Baptist's head served up on a platter. Manaen grew up in the very heart of that corrupt, murderous, and decadent political machine. And now, by the sheer power of sovereign grace, he is a prophet and teacher in the church of Jesus Christ. The gospel can reach into the darkest corridors of power and pull out trophies of grace.
And finally, there is Saul. The brilliant Pharisee, the zealous persecutor, the man who held the coats at the stoning of Stephen. The chief opponent of the faith is now its chief apostle. What do you see in this list? You see a Jew, a couple of Africans, a man from the highest echelons of political power, and a former terrorist. This is what the church is supposed to look like. It is a new society, a new man, where the dividing walls of hostility have been obliterated by the blood of Christ. This is the kind of community the Holy Spirit delights to use.
The Divine Summons (v. 2)
Verse 2 reveals the context in which the great missionary enterprise was launched.
"And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'" (Acts 13:2 LSB)
Pay very close attention to the first clause: "while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting." The Greek word for ministering is leitourgounton, from which we get our word "liturgy." This refers to their corporate, public worship. They were gathered together, leading the church in the worship of God. Their focus was vertical. They were not in a strategy meeting trying to figure out how to "reach their community." They were ministering to the Lord. And it is precisely in that context of God-centered worship that the Spirit speaks. The Great Commission is not fulfilled by churches that are obsessed with themselves, their growth, or their programs. The Great Commission is fulfilled by churches that are obsessed with the glory of the triune God. Mission is the overflow of adoration.
Their worship was also marked by fasting. This was not a casual, perfunctory service. They were earnest. They were serious. Fasting is a bodily exclamation point. It is a way of telling God that your desire for Him and His will is greater than your desire for daily bread. It is a weapon of war against the flesh and a tool for sharpening spiritual focus. It says, "We mean business with You."
And into this environment of worship and fasting, the Holy Spirit speaks. The director of missions is the third person of the Trinity. The work is His initiative. He does not ask for volunteers; He issues a command. "Set apart for Me..." The mission belongs to God. The missionaries belong to God. We are merely stewards. This is a divine conscription. Notice also that the Spirit says, "...for the work to which I have called them." The call was already on their lives. God calls individuals sovereignly. But He commissions them and sends them out publicly through the local church. The Spirit's command here is to the church leadership, telling them to recognize and ratify the call He has already placed on these two men.
The Solemn Commission (v. 3)
The church's response to this divine directive is immediate and obedient.
"Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." (Acts 13:3 LSB)
Their response to the Spirit's word is more worship. They double down on the fasting and prayer. This is a weighty moment. They are about to send their two most prominent leaders, Barnabas and Saul, into hostile territory. This is not a task to be undertaken lightly. So they consecrate the men and the mission to God through intensified prayer and fasting.
Then comes the crucial act: "they laid their hands on them." The laying on of hands is not a magical rite that imparts some spiritual superpower. It is a formal, public act of identification and commissioning. By laying their hands on Barnabas and Saul, the other leaders of the Antioch church were saying, "These men go as our representatives. They go with our authority, our blessing, and our full support. We are one with them in this work. Their successes will be our successes, and their trials will be our trials." This is the local church taking responsibility for its missionaries. It is the proper, biblical way to send men out to plant churches and preach the gospel.
And finally, "they sent them away." This is perhaps the most challenging part of the text. The church at Antioch gave up its best. They did not hoard their talent. They did not say, "We can't spare Barnabas, he's our senior pastor! We can't let Saul go, he's our best teacher!" A healthy church is not a reservoir; it is a river. A healthy church is not measured by its seating capacity, but by its sending capacity. They understood that their primary purpose was not to build a comfortable mega-church in Antioch, but to be a launching pad for the gospel to go to the ends of the earth. Their love for the lost in distant lands was greater than their desire for comfort and stability at home. This is the heart of a missional church.
Conclusion: Recovering the Antioch Pattern
This short passage provides a timeless and essential pattern for the mission of the church. It is a pattern that we have largely forgotten, to our great detriment. True, world-altering mission begins with a healthy local church, where the Word is faithfully taught by a plurality of gifted men and where the gospel creates a new, unified humanity from the wreckage of the world's divisions.
This mission is not born from human ingenuity but is revealed by the Holy Spirit in the context of God-centered, earnest worship. It is a vertical orientation that produces a horizontal explosion. The mission is initiated by God, directed by God, and for the glory of God.
And this mission is carried out through the formal commissioning of the local church, which takes ownership of its missionaries, identifies with them, and sends them out with its blessing and authority. It is a church that holds its best men with an open hand, willing to give them up for the sake of the kingdom.
If we want to see the world turned upside down again, we must stop looking for new methods and return to the apostolic pattern. It begins not by looking out at the world, but by looking up to God. It begins when the people of God gather to minister to the Lord. When we get that right, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit will once again speak into our midst and say, "Set apart for Me..." And when He does, we must have the faith and courage of the church at Antioch to obey.