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by Sandy Shaw
Acts 13:1-2. These five elders in the Church at Antioch are named. Barnabas - here he is again - he was a man of faith. He was a man who was filled with The Holy Spirit - a man who was always going around encouraging others. This is the man who knew how to give generously. This is the man who took aside Saul of Tarsus and found out that Saul had really met the Risen Lord Jesus Christ - and then introduced him to the Church in Jerusalem, as being real and genuine.
And now, Barnabas is a leader in a growing fellowship. He is an elder, and there is no higher office in the whole world than being an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ.
The second man here among the leadership is Simeon, called Niger. What it really says is Simeon the nigger, who was a black Christian from Africa. At that time this was not a derogatory word.
Then, there was Lucius from Cyrene. Now where did he come from, and how did he arrive in Antioch, and how did he rise to such prominence in the leadership?
We can only speculate, but with a certain degree of accuracy. Do you remember that day when Jesus Christ was carrying His cross, and its weight is too much for the physical Jesus. After a week's teaching, and a night of prayer and arrest and betrayal and denial and trial, Jesus is physically weak, and a man called Simon from Cyrene is forced to carry the cross. Well, you never do anything like that for Jesus without being amply rewarded. We know that Simon and his wife and family became believers. When Simon went home to Northern Africa he must have told about the day he carried the cross for Jesus, and he became a disciple. Soon a Christian Church grew in Northern Africa.
A man called Lucius comes to Christ and travels across the Mediterranean to Antioch, and rises to become one of the elders.
The fourth man we read of is Manean. We know little about this elder, except that he was brought up in a palace. He was raised in the palace of that wicked Herod. We recently read of him in Acts 12.
It doesn't matter where you were raised and brought up. When you meet Jesus, you become a new man - a new person - a new creation. Manean must have seen wickedness at its worst, and heard terrible things.
But when he comes to Jesus, all that is dealt with, and his mind and memories are healed. Manean becomes an elder - a pastor - a bishop - a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ - a man who knew how to worship and praise and fast and pray.
The fifth elder named here is Saul. Barnabas had brought him to Antioch, and this becomes his local church. The very man who had wanted to wipe out Christianity from the face of the earth becomes an elder in this local church.
What a mixture - what a blend of background, colour, class, race, education, upbringing, pedigree. None of these things separate us, when we are in Christ, and only Jesus Christ can bring about this quality and calibre of unity.
Let this picture of united spiritual leadership encourage and inspire you.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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