The First Missionary Journey – part 4
Acts 13:1-12 (9-12)
October 21, 2012
Well I can assure that when I first started looking at Acts 13,
I did not envision that it would take us four weeks
To get through the first twelve verses.
However, I have been really encouraged by the example left for us
By this church in Antioch as to what it means to be a church
With a heart for God and a church that God uses to reach the world.
Thus far we have seen:
1) THE CHURCH (1-2a)
And we saw not only their commitment to the spoken word,
But also their commitment to seek God.
“While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting…”
• I love that this church had no apparent agenda…
• I love that this church had no planned program to fulfill…
This church was just feasting on the word of God, ministering to God,
And seeking the will of God wholeheartedly.
And because they were such a church it does not surprise us
That they heard God’s call to go on mission.
2) THE CATALYST (2)
• They prayed and God answered their prayer.
• They wanted to know what they could give, and God said, “Barnabas and Saul”
God had a mission in mind and as this church sought God, He started it.
3) THE COMMISSIONING (3)
And here we found the obedience of this church.
In missions you really only have three options.
• Go
• Send
• Disobey
And this church sent.
4) THE COMMUNICATION (4-5)
And so after these men had been called and sent
They then went about doing exactly what we would expect.
They “began to proclaim the word of God…”
The gospel is central to missions…
Men cannot be saved without it
And so it is vitally important that their mission encompassed more than
Just humanitarian aid, or random acts of kindness, or cultural instruction.
These men preached the gospel.
5) THE COMPETITION (6-8)
And while we don’t always enjoy moments of opposition,
They were a tremendous indicator.
John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”
Even John wrote in his epistle:
1 John 3:13 “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.”
• The world hates God.
• The world hates righteousness.
• The world lies in the power of the evil one.
And so if we don’t ever face opposition,
Then one can confidently assume that we are not doing our job.
So opposition wasn’t pleasant, but it is a good indicator.
And that is where we left off last week.
This great church on mission now facing opposition
As they seek to preach the gospel and see men saved.
And so let’s see how this church handled such a dilemma.
#6 THE CONFRONTATION
Acts 13:9-11
We already saw last week specifically what was going on.
We met a Jewish false prophet whose Hebrew name was “Bar-Jesus”
And whose Greek name was “Elymas”.
And this man was “seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.”
So this otherwise perfect mission has now hit a snag.
WHAT DO YOU DO IN A MOMENT LIKE THIS?
Well, let me show you what Paul did.
And by the way I hope you pick up on Luke’s humor here.
(9) “But Saul, who was also known as Paul”
I find that humorous and is it seems to be direct response
To the fact that Elymas had two names.
“Bar-Jesus” also known as “Elymas”
And so Luke writes “Saul, who was also known as Paul”
But more than that we love what we see here.
“But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,”
Paul was not avoiding…
Paul was not shrinking down…
Paul wasn’t even just focusing on the proconsul
And trying to ignore the false prophet.
Paul zeroed in on the false prophet.
“and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?”
I’m betting that was just a little bit more direct than Elymas was expecting.
We live in a day of political correctness and general tolerance,
But you don’t even find language that direct on political talk shows.
Paul lays in to this man.
And I guess the first question we would have is
Why Paul was so direct and harsh?
WHY WAS HE?
Because this man was seeking to keep another man lost.
Is there a greater crime?
If you walked upon a man who was holding a pregnant woman down on the sidewalk and just beating the tar out of her, would you politely say, “Excuse me sir, I certainly don’t mean any offense, but if you don’t mind would you stop hurting this woman.”
Harsh crimes deserve harsh rebukes!
No wonder Paul was so harsh.
• It reminds of John the Baptist to the false religious leaders., “You brook of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
• It echoes the tone of Jesus in Matthew 23 when He eight times said, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”
This was an offense of the greatest degree
And it needed to be handled accordingly and so Paul pulls no punches.
And notice how Paul exposes him.
He exposes:
HIS FRAUD
“You who are full of all deceit and fraud”
Paul exposes his chief weapon, and that is deception.
False prophets are masters of deception.
From magic tricks to ear tickling sermons deception is always the plan.
And Paul exposes him for the fraud that he is.
HIS FATHER
“you son of the devil”
I told you last Sunday night that “devil” translates DIABOLOS in the Greek and it means “accuser” or “slanderer”.
And Paul says that Elymas is a chip right off the old block.
He also is a liar and a condemner.
HIS FOE
“you enemy of all righteousness”
Paul exposes what this man is against.
• Elymas didn’t oppose foreigners.
• Elymas didn’t oppose Judaism.
• Elymas didn’t oppose tent makers.
Elymas opposed righteousness.
He hated Paul’s preaching of righteousness,
And he hated Paul asserting that righteousness
Could only be found in Jesus.
HIS FORTITUDE
“will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?”
In other words, not only are you a liar and a condemner and an enemy of righteousness, but you won’t stop unless someone stops you.
Just like the devil who won’t stop until he is bound in the pit for a 1,000 years neither would this man.
And that really reveals why this man, and men like him
Must be adamantly opposed and confronted.
If you ignore them, they won’t stop, they must be opposed.
They must be stopped.
And that is precisely what Paul did.
(11) “Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.”
Hmm…Wonder where Paul thought of that?
(Of course, that is what Jesus did to him)
But the point is that Paul put a stop to him.
And I really want to focus in on this for just a moment this evening.
What Paul did is absolutely necessary,
But don’t assume what Paul did was easy.
Confrontation is one of the most difficult things
A Christian is asked to do in this world.
• It doesn’t matter if it is confronting a non-believer who needs the gospel…
• It doesn’t matter if it is confronting a believer who has fallen into sin…
• Or if, like here, it is confronting an antagonist who needs to be silenced…
Confrontation is a difficult thing to do.
BUT FOR THAT THIS CHURCH HAD ANOTHER ATTRIBUTE
• We already know you need to be one who seeks God. (as this church did)
• We already know you need to be one who submits to God (as goer or sender)
• We already know you need to be committed to the gospel
But let me also remind you
That you must be a man or woman of courage.
Paul said it well when he wrote the second letter to Timothy.
2 Timothy 1:6-8 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”
• Paul was asking Timothy to have courage.
• Paul was asking Timothy to stand against something that was frightening.
• Paul was asking Timothy to do something that made him uncomfortable.
Timothy needed to have courage.
And so really for the past few weeks as I knew this verse was coming,
I’ve been thinking a little about the necessity of courage.
And through this time it has occurred to me:
COURAGE AND FAITH RUN SO CLOSE TOGETHER THAT MANY TIMES IN SCRIPTURE YOU CAN’T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM.
And I wanted to give you several examples of that this evening and just sort of focus you on how important courage is in your Christian walk.
We could back up long before this,
But let me start our journey with Moses.
Deuteronomy 31:1-6 “So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. And he said to them, “I am a hundred and twenty years old today; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’ “It is the LORD your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the LORD has spoken. “The LORD will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. “The LORD will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you. “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”
Now think for just a moment what Moses is asking these people to do.
He is asking them to invade a foreign land and wipe out its inhabitants.
These are the same inhabitants, by the way,
That made their fathers turn and run in fear.
And now Moses is asking them to go in and take that land.
And you notice the two things he said it would require.
One is obviously courage, but closely mingled in is faith.
While he is telling them to be courageous
He is at the same time saying God will not fail you.
That is also why when Moses does hand over the reins to Joshua
He actually says:
Joshua 1:6-7 “Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.”
And that is not the last example by far.
Speed up several years.
David is on his death bed
And he is about to hand over the kingdom to his son Solomon.
1 Kings 2:1-4 “As David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. “Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the LORD may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’”
He is remembering God’s promise to keep his sons on the thrown,
But David knows that one of the things that affects that
Is the faithfulness of his sons.
His sons must keep God’s commandments.
But in order to keep God’s commandments
David knows that Solomon will have to have courage.
So David writes “Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.”
Following God will very seldom ever be the popular choice,
You must have courage.
And one could really blame the downfall of Solomon on a lack of courage.
He gave in to his wives and built temples for pagan gods for all of them.
Move forward again
(and these were really a couple of stories that struck me)
TURN TO: 2 CHRONICLES 15
We are dealing here with King Asa.
Asa would have been Solomon’s great-grandson.
And chapter 14 says Asa did a good thing by removing the foreign altars.
He also trusted God and defeated an Ethiopian army 1 million strong.
And on the heels of that victory God sent word to Asa.
READ 1-7
God tells Asa that there is work still to do and a blessing for doing it,
But in order to do all that God requires it will require courage.
And notice in verse 8 that Asa did it.
I know it reads like a small thing that Asa removed all the idols,
But imagine the backlash if you were president
And ordered the removal of every false god from America.
Skip down:
READ VERSE 16
That is not an easy decision to make, and yet he displayed courage.
TURN TO: 2 CHRONICLES 32
At this point Hezekiah is king in Judah.
(Israel has already been destroyed by Assyria 20 years prior)
But Hezekiah is trying to seek the Lord,
And then something truly difficult happens.
READ 32:1
So the same people who just wiped out the northern kingdom
Have now come for you.
You would think this was a time to panic, but he did not.
READ 32:2-8
And there again we see tremendous courage from Hezekiah
And it is coupled with his faith.
TURN TO: EZRA 10
Ezra is weeping because the returning exiles are taking foreign wives.
READ 10:1-4
Talk about courage required.
You are about to tell men to put away their foreign wives,
You had better get ready for a backlash.
TURN TO: HAGGAI 2
Now I need to give you some background here.
Ezra 3:2-3 “Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. So they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening.”
These exiles are living in this land and literally terrified
Because of the inhabitants of the land.
And one of the things these inhabitants were seeking to do
Was stop the building of the city and the temple.
In fact the inhabitants had already sent a letter to Artaxerxes accusing them of conspiracy and had been given permission to stop the building of the temple with force of arms.
But notice what Haggai says to Joshua and Zerubbabel
READ 2:1-4
• Was it easy to rebuild? No
• Was it frightening? Yes
But if they were going to obey God then courage was required.
It is not easy to serve God in this world,
You must have courage.
And of course we remember the popular stories:
• David and Goliath
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace
• You know of Daniel and the lions den
• You know of Gideon
• You know of Moses
• You know of Esther
The point is you can’t serve God without courage, it is necessary.
Furthermore the absence of courage is condemning.
Revelation 21:8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
I think that is why I love what Paul did here
When faced with Elymas the magician, he displayed courage.
He took the stand that had to be made.
He did not follow fear, he followed faith and courage.
Let me also remind you where your courage comes from.
We actually received a clue here in Acts.
(9) “But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,”
WHERE DID SAUL GET HIS COURAGE?
“the Holy Spirit”
“And you will receive _____________ when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”
Jesus said:
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
We know that Jesus has overcome, we know that He is the victor,
The Holy Spirit testifies to these things in our lives, so have courage.
Paul said:
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
See how Paul’s faith affected his courage.
He knew the truth and he acted upon it.
Now let me bring this back full circle.
We may very well in our lifetime have to face execution
Like so many did in the Old Testament,
But right now our biggest opposition
Is simply the fear to speak and confront falsehood.
That is what Paul did to Elymas.
He confronted him.
We need that kind of courage.
It takes courage to speak God’s word.
Jeremiah 1:17-19 “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. “Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.”
Ezekiel 2:3-7 “Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. “I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ “As for them, whether they listen or not — for they are a rebellious house — they will know that a prophet has been among them. “And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. “But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.”
So can I challenge you to be courageous as well?
Can I ask you to muster up courage and speak what must be spoken?
Courage was required of every man and woman if God in Scripture
It is certainly required of us as well.
And let me show you again why.
#7 THE CONVERT
Acts 13:12
“Then the proconsul believed…”
And, by the way, his salvation
Is really the focal point of these first twelve verses.
What we have to do is backtrack and see why.
Obviously God is the Savior and we don’t want to take anything away
From His sovereign hand to save.
However look back at how all this started.
• A church sought God
• God called some from that church
• The church sent those God called
• Those who were sent were faithful to preach
• And when opposition arose, those who were sent confronted it
The end result was the salvation of this man.
And we are even told here, why this man believed.
“Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.”
Now pay attention to what is said.
We know the man was “amazed at the teaching of the Lord.”
That means this intellectual man who had earlier
(7) “summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God”
Was not disappointed by what he heard.
In short, he wanted to believe.
But something stood in his way.
WHAT WAS IT?
The false prophet Elymas.
However, once that man was removed,
He was then free to believe what he had heard.
DO YOU SEE NOW THE NECESSITY OF COURAGEOUSLY CONFRONTING FALSE DOCTRINE?
The gospel is the power of salvation and must be preached.
But, the deception of the enemy must be silenced as well.
Titus 1:7-11 “For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.”
This is why Paul also wrote to Timothy.
1 Timothy 1:3-7 “As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.”
Paul was asking Titus and Timothy
To do the same thing he had just done here.
If Paul hadn’t challenged Elymas this man may have still been lost.
Courage matters
And that concludes the beginning of this first missionary journey.
Don’t lose sight of the essentials.
• A church that seeks God
• A church that submits to God
• A church that sends out the called
• The called who are faithful to go
• The called who are faithful to preach the gospel
• The called who are faithful to confront opposition
Seeking – Submission – Sending
Going – The Gospel – Courage
These are the attributes that made this church at Antioch
A great missionary church.
I think certainly we are challenged to walk by their example.
