Antioch Series Part 1: The Divine Slingshot

In Matthew chapter 9, it says that Jesus was moved with compassion as he saw the demonic harassment and oppression over the masses. The greek word literally means a gut-wrenching sorrow or sickness to his stomach as he looked out over the nations who were “like sheep without a shepherd.” His divine heart of love for the world could not stomach the oppression, affliction, injustice, disease, over the very ones he created in his own image for his own pleasure to display his own glory. He calls his disciples together and says,

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out [ekballo] laborers into his harvest." – Matthew 9:37-38

The solution to the ache in the heart of Jesus was laborers. The problem was that there were no laborers that had yet been swept up into that torrent of compassion that was in the heart of Jesus and had gained the kind of authority in the place of prayer to be effective. So he calls his disciples together and gives them a divine prescription. He tells them to contend earnestly in prayer together until, like a slingshot, laborers start getting hurled out [ekballo] into the nations to carry his divine heart with apostolic power.

Jesus knew that 3 things would happen when they gather together.

1. They would see his worth (worship)

2. They would feel his heart (prayer)

3. They would be baptized with power for the assignment (prophetic)

Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. (Matthew 10:1) You can be sure Jesus wanted the disciples to connect this kind of authority to the command to earnest corporate prayer.

Communities of corporate prayer and worship become the slingshot for laborers. The kinds of laborers needed for the harvest in the nations are born, nurtured, and sent from worship and prayer communities. Jesus has zeal that these laborers would reproduce this culture in every city and nation to which they are sent. (Mark 14:9, Malachi 1:11)

The majority of your New Testament can be traced to a House of Prayer in a city called Antioch. Many have never even heard of this prophetic community that could arguably compete with Jerusalem in terms of its implications for New Testament Christianity and lasting impact on the Church in the earth.

A little history…

In Acts chapter 1, Jesus stands on the Mount of Olives just before he ascends into heaven and gives the command to tarry in Jerusalem in prayer and worship until something happens. He points them back to the divine prescription of Mathew 9 that would, He promised, unleash an outpouring of the Spirit which would clothe them with power and thrust them out to declare his name and commandments in every nation.

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."… But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."-  Acts 1:4-8

The outpouring at Pentecost was empowerment for an impossible task that Jesus had mandated the apostles with. One small community led by a group of fishermen, tax collectors, rebels, and prostitutes would touch the entire earth with power. 

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. - Acts 2:1-2

Overnight the church in Jerusalem explodes from a few hundred to a few thousand. Luke records this season of revival in Acts 3-5. Numbers began to be added daily to them, and unprecedented signs and wonders were being done at the hands of the Apostles. It is clear by Acts chapter 6 that they are just trying to manage and administrate this revival. All the while the “to the ends of the earth” mandate, which was the purpose of this outpouring of the Spirit, has come to rest on the back shelf of the prophetic words of the Apostles.

Then something transitions in Acts 7-8.

About a decade into the movement in Jerusalem, the “second-tier” leaders are moving in such power and authority that it stirs up resistance resulting in the arrest and murder of Stephen. This event marks the beginning of what the Bible calls a season of great persecution for the church under the leadership of an up and coming young Jewish leader named Saul. The church is scattered throughout the region, on the run, and Acts chapter 8 picks up with one of the apostles, Phillip, who escapes to Samaria and others who are scattered “traveled as far as Phonecia and Cyprus and Antioch” (Acts 11:19-20)

When these “no-names” arrive in Antioch they decide to preach the gospel to whoever will listen. They figure that if they are going to be persecuted and scattered from their homes because of Jesus and the gospel, they might as well earn it!

But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. - Acts 11:20-21

All of a sudden something happens, the hand of the Lord backs their simple obedience with signs, wonders, and miraculous power so that overnight they have a great number who believed. Up to this point, they had only heard stories from decades earlier when Peter first preached on the day of Pentecost. Now they too are experiencing a Pentecost of their own! They are so taken off guard by this move of the Spirit that they sent word to Jerusalem asking for help.  

Meanwhile…

…something strange and marvelous had happened to that zealous young Jewish man leading the persecution against the church. He had a life-altering encounter with the man Jesus Christ and a word spoken over his life about his purpose and destiny (Acts 9:1-19). Over the next decade, Paul searches for how in the world he is going to fulfill this newfound calling and assignment to “carry [the name of Jesus] before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).

He retreats to the wilderness of Arabia to unlearn everything that he had been taught sitting at the feet of Gamaliel and by spending three years sitting at the feet of another teacher, who would “guide him into all truth” and “search the deep things of God…revealing the things freely given to us”. Paul later writes of this season, “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ”. (Gal 1:11-12)

Eager to launch his new ministry and declare everything he had received by revelation in the wilderness, he goes up to Jerusalem from Arabia hoping to receive the endorsement of the Apostles and get a seat at the table with leaders of this new movement. Maybe they would be able to vouch for him? Maybe they could send out a letter endorsing his ministry? Maybe they would even let him join their inner circle (Acts 9:26). Paul imagines this could be his big break and can’t stop dreaming of all the possibilities ahead of him.

His visit, however, does not go as planned. He spends a few weeks with Peter but no one else wants to associate with him because they are afraid of him. No doubt some of them had suffered personally at the hand of Paul himself, if not under the orders Paul had given a few years earlier. James the brother of Jesus finally agrees to grab a quick coffee with him.

We don’t know what was discussed in the Jerusalem Starbucks between them, but after that meeting, all of Paul’s hopes for strategic networking with the major leaders of his day are replaced with the stark reality that no one knows what to make of him or his prophetic word that the Gentiles will be included in the kingdom. To make matters worse, he gets into a spat with the Hellenists and stirs up trouble for the church in the city to which it says the brothers kindly, “brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.”

He leaves his first visit to Jerusalem without receiving the “right hand of fellowship” from the Apostles, with death threats on his life, no big break, no endorsement, and asked by the brothers to just “go home.” He says of this moment, “I was still unknown” to the churches of Judea and later he writes with a sting of pain but also great confidence that he is  “an apostle--not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” (Gal 1:1)

Unbeknownst to Paul, this visit proves to be more strategic and fruitful than he could have ever realized at the moment. Although the apostles had all but snubbed him, and all the believers in the city were afraid of him, one man saw something in this young anointed leader that was intriguing and pulled him aside. He wanted to hear the whole story from beginning to end, listening intently to every word Paul had to say. His eyes glistened with excitement when he heard the vision on the road to Damascus. His face showed empathy and concern when Paul described being chased out of Damascus by Jewish zealots. His tone gave no hint of skepticism or cynicism when Paul spoke about the things he encountered by the Spirit over 3 years in the desert of Arabia. 

This man is generous and much loved; he is known for his gentle manner and encouraging words. Years earlier, Luke, the writer of the Book of Acts, introduces him as a wealthy man who was so happy to be a part of what God was doing and so sincere in his desire to serve that he sold a field that belonged to him and laid all the proceeds at the Apostle’s feet. This man’s name is Barnabas. 

Paul sails home to Tarsus. His hopes for an apostolic ministry are shattered. He has no endorsement from major Christian leaders. He has no network to pull from. He has no idea how this word he heard from Jesus himself would become an assignment he could actually walk out. Paul arrives in Tarsus to try to pick up the pieces of his shattered life.

In Tarsus, Paul’s family is of a strict Jewish order. They are wealthy, prominent landowners, and strictly conservative. No doubt they had already heard about their son’s “psychotic episode” and his subsequent abandonment of the Jewish faith, his future, his career, and his family. It is safe to say that by this time they have already publicly denounced him as an unbelieving gentile who is unworthy to even sit and dine at their table. He has shamed the family name. To make matters worse, some scholars believe that Paul was married prior to his encounter on the road to Damascus and that his wife, upon hearing of his conversion, left him and returned to Tarsus where she would be taken care of by his family.

Everyone in his hometown knows what has happened. As he lands in Tarsus, he makes his way up to the house that was so familiar to him from his childhood to beg his father for permission to stay on the property. His family can’t hide their embarrassment that he is back home. His estranged wife doesn’t want to hear the story of how he met Jesus; she just wants Paul to stop this crazy talk. She just wants her old husband back. He has to eat with the other servants of the house.

The world seems to be crashing down on Paul. Deep questions arise in his heart about whether he had heard Jesus rightly. If he had obeyed, why is everything seemingly going wrong? Why, at every turn,  is he getting farther and farther away from his calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles? Should he just quit and settle in to being a tent-maker in Tarsus? At least he knows he is good at that. Here in Tarsus, the pain of promises delayed turns into questions of whether the promises were even real in the first place. Here in Tarsus, Paul is sitting on a history-shaping, earth-shattering, apostolic calling while he stretches the next goatskin over another tent frame to sell just to make enough money to live on. Hope deferred has made his heart sick, and he is ready to throw in the towel on his calling. He remembers his excitement on his way up to Jerusalem to meet with the Apostles and scoffs at his once “big dreams”. Now it is time to get on with real life.

There is only one problem with this plan. He has seen Jesus. 

Back in Antioch…

The report comes to Jerusalem from the revival in Antioch. Gentiles are receiving the gospel, numbers are being added daily, power, signs and wonders, and who is leading it? Just a group of ones that were scattered from the persecution. Peter reads the letter out loud to the leadership team and as he finishes, he looks up and surveys the room. Finally with a twinge of hesitancy he asks, “Anyone want to go Antioch?” Everyone has a perplexed look on their faces as the silence grows thick. Peter, looking for any hint of willingness in the eyes of his leaders, sees one man in the corner with a smile from ear to ear.

“I’d be happy to go if I could serve in any way,” the unmistakable gentle voice comes from the corner. 

So they send Barnabas to Antioch. (Acts 11:22) 

When Barnabas arrives, he sees what is happening in this amazing church. This group of refugees are praying and worshipping day and night, fasting, preaching the gospel with power signs and wonders, embracing people from all different ethnicities, and have an unusual prophetic spirit operating in their midst. He is so excited to see this move of God. It reminds him of the revival he got saved in over a decade earlier. He encourages these inexperienced leaders to keep going, keep pressing in, keep hosting the presence! He isn’t there to take over; he is there to be a father to this budding new movement. Soon Barnabas begins to wonder what the Lord may be up to in this new outpouring. Why here in Antioch? Why with these scattered, unseasoned leaders? All of a sudden it dawned on him. It is so obvious that at first, he can’t believe he didn’t see it earlier. All the elements are there.

God was building a slingshot. 

What Barnabas did next changed the course of human history.

So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. - Acts 11:25-26

He had believed in Paul ever since he met him years earlier in Jerusalem. It pained his heart when the brothers sent him off to Tarsus. He knew this young man had a history-shaping calling on his life, but he needed to be put into the slingshot of Mathew 9 until he got an assignment. 

Antioch was the place.

Barnabas went and retrieved the broken man from Tarsus and brought him to the family in Antioch that embraces him with open arms. It says for a year Paul, Barnabas, and the church of Antioch met together contending in prayer, fasting, worship, saturating themselves in the word, and warring with the prophetic promises.

While they were worshiping 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 

One day in the prayer meeting, while they were worshiping the Lord, the Holy Spirit broke in and took over the meeting. It was time for an ekballo. It was time to hurl forth laborers into the harvest field. Jesus had formed the kind of laborers he desired to send in Antioch and was ready to clothe them with power from on high. 

Saul and Barnabas

Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and commissioned them with that divine commission that Jesus first uttered to those in the upper room years earlier, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that he has commanded you. And behold, he is with you always, to the end of the age”. Then they sent them off…being sent out by the Holy Spirit.

This commissioning wasn’t born in strategic meetings about how to reach the nations, it was born in earnest corporate prayer. It was nurtured in a community that hosted the presence of God in worship. They did not despise the prophetic spirit but eagerly awaited the in-breaking of a “now” word that they could pray through into completion. They were the slingshot that God used to launch Paul into his apostolic ministry by which the nations today are still receiving. The expansion of Christianity across the Roman world, majority of your new testament, and the understanding that the Gentile nations are being grafted into the promises of God can all be traced back to the moment when Barnabas went to Tarsus, picked Saul up out of his despair, believed for him when he could barely believe for himself, and placed him in the divine slingshot….Antioch.