Together

Acts 13:2 While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

I really like it when God tells me what I am supposed to do. My mission becomes clear and I don’t have to worry about bothering anyone else with my stuff. I can do it on my own independently. The only problem is that God wants us to be interdependent. Acts records many occasions like the beginning of chapter 13 in which God spoke through the church together, not a single individual.

Verse 1 most likely makes note of prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch because the Holy Spirit spoke through one of those prophets in verse 2 to commission Barnabas and Saul (better known as Paul). Paul had received this same mission, in a general sense, directly from Jesus much earlier. (See Paul’s recounting of his calling in Acts 26:15-18.) In one sense, he was fulfilling it in part in his work at Antioch where many, both Jewish and Gentile, people were coming to faith in Jesus (Acts 11:21-26). Yet, it was time to take the mission farther and the Holy Spirit let both Paul and Barnabas know this through other Christians at Antioch when the church was gathered together praying and fasting.

This season of isolation we are experiencing because of the coronavirus pandemic will come to an end. We have been able to continue to worship and hear good preaching remotely, but this is not the full Christian experience. Although it has been right to do this social distancing now, when this time is over, let us not think we don’t need to return to gathering together. We might miss a message God has for us.