Scripture
And the believers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Observation
Many Jews and converts to Judaism follow Paul and Barnabas, so that the following Sabbath just about the whole city turns out to hear them. But some of the Jewish leaders start opposing their message.
Paul and Barnabas boldly declare that since the Jews have rejected them, they will now go to the Gentiles. The Gentiles rejoice that Paul will now focus his attention on them, and many become believers.
The Jews incite a mob and have Paul and Barnabas run out of town.
Application
This passage ends with Paul and Barnabas, having been ejected from the city, shake the dust from their feet and move on to Iconium. Then it says, “The believers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”
This is not to mean that the believers were filled with joy because Paul and Barnabas were gone. I think that what it is saying is that the gospel and the church are bigger than even the greatest of leaders and preachers.
The church in Antioch continued to prosper because the people had the Holy Spirit. The Lord is the one who leads and directs the people of God. We have leaders who set directions and give encouragement, but when every believer knows they are filled with the Holy Spirit, then when leaders are taken away, it makes little or no difference to what God can do in and through the church.
The New Testament makes it clear that it is the Lord who appoints His leaders- apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Leaders are essential to God’s purposes, and we ignore them at our peril.
In the end, we must recognise the gifts of leaders, but not be dependent on them above our dependence on the Lord.
Prayer
Thank you Lord for bringing order into the church, your community of faith. Thank you for pastors and other leaders. Thank you also that even when individual leaders move on, you do not leave us without direction. Amen.
