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| Acts 13:13 Leaders and Quitters |
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The world is full of both leaders and quitters. Leaders recognize that promotion comes from the Lord even if there are those promoted past them. They willingly accept the role that God has for them as they follow Jesus and continue His point of need ministry no matter what vocation they are in. Quitters return to where they started, but they do not have to stay there. The ones who get up and allow their failures to propel them to their God prepared destiny will walk in it and one day become a respected leader deemed very useful.
The church sent out its first missionary team on the very first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-3). The team consisted of Barnabas, Paul and John Mark. They took the good news of Jesus Christ to Cyprus (Acts 13:4-12) and are now heading to Antioch in Pisidia.
Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,
(Acts 13:13 ESV)
As we inspect this verse of Scripture closely, we see that Luke is designating through his writing a change in leadership roles. Up to this point in Luke’s writing, Barnabas is mentioned above Paul in lists of names (Acts 13:1-2). Now Luke is mentioning Paul first and says “Paul and his companions” indicating that Paul was now leading the missionary journey instead of Barnabas. In God’s time, Paul was placed in the position of leadership that God had for him. He was patient to learn and be mentored in ministry until it was God’s time.
Notice Barnabas’ reaction to Paul’s promotion. He did not complain. He accepted it and kept going on the mission of taking the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Taking second place in leadership was fine with Barnabas because his primary desire in life was for God’s work to get done through the message of Christ being proclaimed and the point of need ministry of Jesus continuing through faithful followers.
There are lessons to learn from these two leaders. Like Barnabas, we are to recognize that promotion comes from the Lord. We are to lovingly accept the promotions of others. Like Paul, we are to learn and be patient allowing others to mentor us as we prove ourselves faithful and until God places us in the position of leadership that He has for us in His timing.
Beloved, don’t be discouraged at the advancement of others even if you feel you are being bypassed. Promotion comes from the Lord. Keep yourself from complaining and becoming bitter through praying and knowing that Jesus is forming you and shaping you. Rest assured that in His due time, He will place you in the position He has for you and others will see His hand of work in your life. Learn and be patient. Allow others to mentor you. Prove yourself faithful. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Make yourself available for service while continuing the point of need ministry of Jesus and allow Him to do the rest.
Paul and Barnabas were leaders. John Mark was a quitter. Luke does not give the reason for Mark’s departure from this missionary journey, but given that it is included in the same verse of this leadership change, it could have been that very reason since Mark and Barnabas were cousins. He may not have agreed with the change and was too immature in the faith to be able to recognize God’s hand in it.
Although some may favor this explanation of Mark’s quitting, we at the same time must realize that it could have been caused by other reasons. We know that Mark’s mother’s house was used for meetings by the church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) and that He was around that center of faith activity. Perhaps because of this, he had doubts about sharing the Gospel with the gentiles. Perhaps at this young stage in his life, he was better at starting things than he was at finishing things. Perhaps the journey was too rough and he was afraid. Perhaps he was home sick and wanted his mother. For whatever reason we know that Mark quit and went home.
Before we are tempted to be too hard on Mark, we must know that he did not stay a quitter. Although Paul refused to take him on his second missionary journey (Acts 15:38), when Mark re-emerged 20 years later, he was a different man. He was no longer a quitter. He had picked himself up and moved forward as a Christ follower. By the grace of God the man who was a quitter became the writer of a Gospel and the man who Paul asked to come to him near the end of his ministry declaring “he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11 ESV).
Beloved, if you have been a quitter and returned to where you started it doesn’t mean that God is through with you. He desires to use you and will take your failures and use them to mold and shape you into what He has for you to accomplish. Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t take to heart the criticism and rejection of others because of what you have done. Pick yourself up and become a different person. Allow your failure to propel you forward into the destiny that God has already prepared for you to walk in by His grace. The best is yet to come in your life!
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