The Good News - Pastor Tom Loghry
Paul moves on to the next stop on his missionary journey and faces both acceptance and more opposition to the gospel message.
Transcript:
Acts 13: 13 through 15. From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.
If in 1775 someone said to you, "The British are coming", your first thought would have been the redcoats. If someone said the "British are coming" in 1964, you might have thought they were talking about the Beatles tour. And if I said the British are coming today, who knows, maybe the Great British Baking Show is doing a special in the US, bringing a delicious tide of scones, crumpets, and tarts upon our shores. It all depends on the context, what is the background, what is the backstory -- we need to know what has happened to properly understand what is being said here and now.
Paul is aware of that reality as he and Barnabas continue on their mission. They got on this journey by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit guided Philip on the road south to encounter the Ethiopian eunuch, and that's worth mentioning 'cause last week I made it sound like he transported there, the Holy Spirit guided him on that road, and then he was transported away, just as the Holy Spirit guided Philip, the Holy Spirit has now guided the Antioch Church to send out Paul and Barnabas on this mission to preach the Gospel. Last week we saw how they went to the island of Cyprus and preached in the synagogues there, before being invited to share their message with the proconsul, otherwise known as a governor, of Cyprus Sergius Paulus. After hearing their message and seeing how the Jewish sorcerer Bar Jesus who opposed Paul and Barnabas was struck blind, the governor believed. Imagine that, one Governor, Pontius Pilate crucifies Jesus, another governor, Sergius Paulus believes in Jesus-- it's an astounding conversion. And it sets the stage for Paul's continued ministry among the Gentiles as they depart Cyprus.
And so we continue on in chapter 13, and we look first at verses 13 through 15, and we see here that Paul and his companions depart from Cyprus, from Paphos to sail to Perga in Pamphylia. And just to kind of orient yourself as to kind of the direction that they're taking, I showed you this map earlier. Again, spoil, it has kind of spoiler alerts 'cause it jumps ahead. But we're at stage three and four here. So they're at Paphos here on Cyprus. They're sailing to Perga in the province of Pamphylia, and they're going to be going up to Antioch, Pisidian Antioch.
Now we might ask, why is that? Why are they going to Pisidian Antioch? And just to kind of orient you a little bit more, if you're wondering how that looks on a modern map, that's where Pisidian Antioch is kind of towards, it's in the interior of modern day Turkey. Well, the first reason why they might want to go to the city is it's a, a major city, a major Roman city estimated to have possibly up to a hundred thousand population, maybe not in the immediate city but at least in the, that immediate area. It is a Roman colony, so there was about, between 5,000, 6,000 Roman colonists who had settled the area, making it an influential outpost for the empire.
And when you look at the site, in fact, it was settled on Seven Hills, which if you know anything about Rome, Roman is infamous for being on Seven Hills. So it was almost like a mini, a Roman miniature. And so in that way it was a, kind of a hub for spreading out influence across Asia Minor.
And there's a little picture of a street there that you can see of, you can actually go visit the site today and you can visit its ruins. So there's a reason to think that they might have wanted to visit this city because it's large, it's influential.
Also very interesting is that there's a possible connection here with the family of Sergius Paulus. Now, this isn't mentioned in the text. But we pick up on this based on archeological research in the area of Pisidian Antioch. I meant to actually include this earlier, so just this is another sign of, that this is a very Roman city. They had a temple there to Augustus, so very, very, very Roman city. So by getting back to the story with Sergius Paulus here, they found inscriptions there indicating the presence of the Sergi Pauli family. You can see the word kind of Pauli right there. And also there's an inscription that was written there indicating that perhaps even Sergius Paulus's son lived in Pisidian Antioch, you can see it says Sergio Paulo Filio, son. So this is speculative, but it would kind of make sense that perhaps after converting Sergius Paulus, he says, Hey, you should really go to Pasidian Antioch. I've got family there, it'll be a good opportunity. I'd, I'd love for you to share with my family. And it's an influential city.
So it kind of seems like the stars have kind of aligned here for them to head in this direction. And, I'm sure we can be assured that, that Paul and Barnabas were also seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It was opening the way for them to make this journey in that direction, and so they head in that direction.
But getting there is, is not an easy journey. Once you land at Perga, to get up to Pisidian Antioch, it's going to be a journey of about 156 miles possibly. It would take minimally a six day journey. And the road that they would've taken most likely would've been a road known as the Via Sebeste. And you can actually look this up on YouTube, you can find kind of some interesting shots of that, that road. And you can see it goes right through the mountains, very mountainous territory. This wasn't an easy journey, but it was made easier by the fact that they had a Roman Road.
So they're going to these great lengths to get up to Pisidian Antioch in order to continue to share the good news of Christ. And as we saw in Cyprus, what they do is they go first to the synagogue. Now, as we've kind of, were, considered last week, there's a real practical reason to do this. Reason being is you have a ready audience. People who will give you a hearing, who can understand what you're talking about when you're saying that Jesus is the Savior, Jesus is the Messiah, and we're gonna see that play out all the more as, as we move forward in this passage.
Now, the opportunity for Paul and Barnabas to share appears on the Sabbath. And it's interesting 'cause it seems as though it is just like they came in to the synagogue and sat down and all of a sudden they had this opening. Now it's possible that just by seeing these visitors, perhaps there was something about their dress that indicated that they were kind of scholarly, they, they were, and so maybe they were just given a welcome invitation to share, but it's also possible that they showed up a little bit earlier and had some conversations with the Jewish leaders there. And so this, they were given this opportunity to share 'cause they were important guests, men from, who had spent time in the Holy Land in Israel.
And we know that Paul is very well educated and so they would've been interested in hearing what he had to say. And so Paul does take that opportunity. We continue in verse 16, it says, standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power. He led them out of that country; for about 40 years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance.
So we're gonna kind of work our way bit by bit through his message here. So very often in the synagogue setting, it was traditional for teachers to just sit and speak. In this case though, Paul stands, and this may have been partly due to his context, because in the kind of Greek context, when a rhetorician is going to give a speech, he stands and very often even gives a hand motion. And we see Paul do that here. Very interesting. Gives, gives a little hand gesture there. Now the audience that Paul is speaking to here is not just Jewish people. He's speaking to Jews, but he's also talking to non-Jewish people, gentiles, who are seeking the God of Israel. And so in speaking to them, he recounts the story of Israel, the story of the exodus of how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, the Canaanite conquest of how God settled them in the Promised Land.
And what we we notice here, if you pay close attention to what Paul is saying, is God is the primary actor. God is the one who chose the people of Israel. He's the one who made them prosper. He's the one who led them out. Who endured their conduct in the wilderness when they were a rebellious and sinful people. He's the one who overthrew the nations that opposed them. He's the one who gave them the land. And all this takes place over the course of around 450 years, as we'll see in verse 20, which is just kind of a round number. Now the interesting thing here in the course that Paul's taking is it very much parallels the approach that Peter takes in Acts two when he gives his speech and Steven when he's speaking to the Sanhedrin in Acts seven. As we'll see here, Paul is going to focus on David, the person of David, and this is something that Peter turns his attention to as, as well.
So continuing on in verse 20, says, all this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled 40 years. After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do. From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.
Now, Paul is moving at breathtaking speed here through the history of Israel. He, he moves into the period of Samuel and the, and the judges. Israel originally didn't have a king. The reason being is, was that God was supposed to be their king. And, but in response to their complaints, they said, we want a king, we want a king, he gave them Saul. Now, Saul did not turn out to be a faithful king. In the end, he was disobedient to God's commands, and so God rejected Saul and chose David because David was a man after God's own heart. Now Paul says here that, that from this man's descendants, David, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus as he promised. Now what Paul is assuming here in his audience is that they have this anticipation that a son of David would emerge to bring the promises of God to fruition for Israel. Doesn't state it explicit here, but, explicitly here, but he assumes it. Now, when we go to the Old Testament, we see that promise that was given.
In Second Samuel seven, we'll start in the second half of verse 11, 11 B to verse 13 says, the Lord declares to you, David, that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I'll establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I'll establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Now there's kind of a now and not yet aspect of this promise that God gives because we see that a son of David, Solomon does arise and he does build a temple for God but his throne does not last forever.
And so there's an immediate fulfillment, but there's also an ultimate fulfillment that is left wanting and has filled the people of Israel with anticipation, not only because of this ,but because of the words of prophecy that followed thereafter. So we go to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 11, and this whole chapter is worth reading, I'm not going to read the whole chapter, I just wanted to select a couple verses to kind of just draw this direct line of connection to the line of David. It says in verse one, A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots, a branch will bear fruit. And then you get down to verse 10, it says, in that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him and his resting place will be glorious. Now, in the day that Isaiah's writing, there is this desire for a king that would arrive, that would truly be in keeping with the pattern of David, the kings that followed after David were mostly disappointing. This promised King to come though would actually bear forth fruit. And what's really interesting here, I want you to tuck this away, in verse 10, notice it's not just for Israel. You'll stand as a banner for the peoples, the nations, we're looking beyond Israel now, and that his resting place will be glorious.
If we look to the book of Ezekiel, we find this prophecy given of how David would shepherd the people of God. Now, of course, David does die, so we're looking for one who is a type of David. In Ezekiel 34:22-24 it says, I'll save my flock and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another, another. I'll place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I, the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be Prince among them. I the Lord have spoken. So God is saying that David is going to arise to shepherd his people. And the, and that term Shepherd is very much interchangeable with King, so there's a royal anticipation here. What's interesting though is that if you just go a few verses earlier, God Indicates that he himself is going to be the one that shepherds Israel. We look at verses 15 and 16 in Ezekiel 34. God says, I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I'll search for the lost and bring back the strays. I'll bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I'll destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. And so you have this sense of that God is going to be ruling directly here. And so as we are thinking about the person of Jesus, we can see how if, if you're a Jew and you have all these prophecies in the back of your mind of how Jesus is going to come to fulfill the picture given in the law and the prophets, because Jesus is one who is of the line of David and he is in fact the Son of God, God incarnate. And so, in the one and same person, we can say that he is David shepherding the flock, we can also say that he's God shepherding the flock.
So Paul is saying that that savior that you have been looking for from the line of David, that savior is Jesus. He's born of the line and lineage of David. He, he's the one who fulfills the prophecy. And continuing on in verse 24, he says, before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. As John was completing his work, he said: who do you suppose I am? I'm not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming after me whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that they read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
So John the, Paul moves on now to speaking about John the Baptist. John the Baptist may have been someone known to his Jewish audience and to these gentile seekers. As we move forward in the narrative of acts, we learn that the disciples of John the Baptist do travel around, they go beyond the borders of Israel, and he may have been a figure admired by them. What Paul testifies to here is that, so you, he says, basically, you might admire John, but notice here what John himself says about Jesus, that he's unworthy to untie his sandals. Now you might think that, well, that's kind of a weird thing to say. Untie his sandals. Why? Why? Why would he say that? The reason is, is what John is basically saying is that he's unworthy even to be a servant, a slave of Jesus, because that was the task that was very often given to servants in a household. The master would arrive back home, his feet are all dirty 'cause he's been walking along dirt roads. The servant would untie his shoes and then wash his feet. John is saying of himself, I'm not worthy to even do that. That's how great Jesus is.
Now, what Paul goes on to say in verses 26 and 28 is that the fact that Jesus is rejected by the Jewish leaders, in fact, verifies that he is the one that the prophet spoke of because the prophets foretold that he was to be rejected by his own people. And what's so striking about that, and he comments on this, is that the Jewish leaders do this even though they read the prophets every Sabbath, they should have anticipated this. And yet they themselves in rejecting their savior are fulfilling the scriptures themselves. They couldn't find anything against Jesus. He was an innocent man. And yet they decide to crucify him, to seek that Pilate would sentence him to death. Now, just as one example, I mean, we could look at other places in the Old Testament, but it's always good to have kind of these passages that you bookmark to, if people ask, well, how does Jesus fulfill the Old Testament take? Come to Isaiah 53, verses three through five. It says he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
So what Paul is saying here is that you've got all these prophecies in the background. Shouldn't you have kind of begun to connect the dots here that Jesus is the one that Isaiah is speaking about here? So Jesus has been killed. He's been put to death on the cross, but he has been resurrected. He's, he's been raised from the dead. God raised him from the dead. And we see here that very much this testimony of the gospel rides on the wave of Jesus' resurrection. If Jesus is not raised, there's no good news to speak about, but it's on the basis of his resurrection and the encounter that the disciples had with him that they go forth and share this testimony.
It wasn't, it wasn't that the disciples had a vision that said, you know, I, Jesus died, but I had this vision that he was actually alive and everything was okay. No, they said, I ate with him. I touched the scars in his hand, the hole in his side, he's alive. And in light of that testimony, they were willing to put their lives on the line to say that this was so. And as you know, Paul doesn't pick up on this here, but you can just think about the position that Paul really has here to speak about all this, because he was one who previously persecuted these Christians. He could tell them, I know they're serious about what they're saying because I was trying to jail them. I was trying to kill them until I encountered Jesus Christ myself on the road to Damascus. And so it's on the basis of this resurrection testimony that they're going forth now with this good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Again, if there is no resurrection, there is no good news. And Paul riffs on this reality in 1 Corinthians 15, either Jesus is alive and salvation is available to all, or he is dead and it is all farce and we are without hope.
Now as Paul goes on to show Jesus' resurrection is no innovation. It's, it's nothing like, okay, we, we couldn't have seen that coming. It's another piece in the puzzle that identifies Jesus as the promised Messiah. Continuing on in verse 32, as we tell you the good news: what God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: you are my son; today I have become your father. God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, I'll give you the holy and true blessings promised to David. So it is also stated elsewhere: you'll not let your holy one see decay. Now, when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell, fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
Now, this is really I, I think kind of the heart of Paul's message here. We see in verse 32, in verse 33, 3, he says, we tell you the good news, what God promised our ancestors, ancestors, he's fulfilled for us, their children by raising up Jesus. That's the gospel right there. God has fulfilled his promise by raising up Jesus from the dead. We see that he has brought the salvation that was foretold. Now, what Paul then does here is he all makes allusions to the Psalms. He quotes from Psalm two in Psalm two, verse seven, where it says, I, I will proclaim the Lord's decree: he said to me, you are my son; today I have become your father.
What Paul is saying here is that when Jesus was raised from the dead, it was revealed that he was in fact the Son of God. He's not saying that Jesus became the son of God at that point. We know that elsewhere before Jesus is raised from the dead, that he is identified as the son of God at his baptism, on the Mount of Transfiguration, so this is no development here, but it becomes clear as day when Jesus is raised from the dead. Okay, he's the son of God because they crucified him for blasphemy, because it seemed as though he was indicating that. So if he was wrong for saying that he was the son of God, he should have stayed dead. But if he was in fact the son of God, then we would expect that he would be raised from the dead. And so his resurrection reveals that he is who he says he is and he is raised in such a way that he is no longer subject to death. He does not face decay. You know, one person dies, the body decays away, and Paul says that Jesus is this revelation of the fact that God is going to give to us the holy and sure blessings promised to David. Now, what he is referencing here is Isaiah 55 3, where it says, give ear and come to me, listen that you may live. I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. And we think about the promises given to David. What we're talking about here is in fact a new covenant. And this covenant includes a lot of things. It includes the resurrection that we see revealed in Christ, but it includes much more than that.
But the resurrection is the token sign of this, of this new covenant that has been established by Christ's death and his new life and his resurrection.
Now moving on into verses 35 through 37. Paul points out that Psalm 16 verses nine through 10 indicates as much. He quotes this verse, it says, therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body will also rest secure because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. Now Paul is referencing this psalm in order to make a point, that this passage cannot be speaking about David because David died and his body did decay and he's still dead.
Not the case with Jesus though. So the only way in which we can see this Psalm truly fulfilled is if we have a son of David who overcomes death. Who's not defeated by death. And so Paul concludes verse 38. He says, therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through whom, through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you are not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I'm going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.
So again, in Jesus, what we have ushered in is a new covenant, a new covenant in which the forgiveness of sins is made available. Something that couldn't be obtained under the law of Moses. Paul, Paul says in verse 39, A justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Now again, this is no novelty. This is something that is anticipated by the prophets. In Jeremiah 31 verses 31 through 34, it says, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I'll make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It'll not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was husband to them, declares the Lord. That's the Mosaic covenant. This is the covenant I'll make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I'll put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I'll be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
That's the gospel message right there. The gospel message anticipated hundreds of years before, realized in Jesus Christ. And then utilizing Habakkuk one five, which is a prophecy regarding the Babylonian conquest, the punishment that was to come. Paul utilizes that verse to just offer a warning to his audience here saying, you need to listen to what I'm saying here. I know this seems wondrous that God actually has done this in Jesus Christ, but it's the truth, and so you should believe.
Now picking up in verse 42, we learn about the response that followed. As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.
So Paul and Barnabas initially share with the people, and they're interested enough to have them come back the following Sabbath to share. And in between that time and that next Sabbath, it appears they had more conversations with the people explaining to them how Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah.
And they encouraged the, those living in Pisidian Antioch to continue on in that grace. Now, when you get to the following Sabbath and it says that almost the whole city was there. Now again, this is a very large city. So are we to believe that literally the whole city, almost the whole city is there? Maybe not exactly. That's okay. It's hyperbole. The point is, is that we can assume that it was max capacity in the synagogue, that it was overflowing. It appeared at least that the whole city was there, and we can be assured that it was probably more people than had ever been at that synagogue ever before.
And it was enough that it in fact made the Jews jealous, because they were beginning to understand here that Paul was in fact welcoming these people whom they had never seen before. These people who had been worshiping, you saw that temple I showed before, the temple of a, of Caesar Augustus. They'd been worshiping the emperor, the dead emperor at that point, but they considered him a God. They'd be worshiping all these other false gods. But now Paul is saying that they might be brought in, that they brought, might be brought to God but not under the terms of the law. Not by circumcision, not by following the dietary laws. And so they become jealous and, but Paul and Barnabas, they see this, they hear this, they're having none of it. They are Jews themselves, but they know it's foolishness to resist God's plan and purpose in the interest of maintaining exclusive Jewish privilege.
Continuing on, verse 46, it says, then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: we had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.
So we see Paul and Barnabas take a very bold stance here. You can imagine that, I mean, like all of us, we wanna be on friendly terms with, with people, especially their fellow, their fellow Jews. But they have to be utterly clear here that in rejecting Jesus, they're in fact rejecting the salvation that God had promised to them. And they're saying, what you're doing here effectively is you're saying you don't judge yourself worthy of eternal life. And so because of that, we're going to now turn to the Gentiles. It made sense that they would go to the Jews first. They needed to go to the Jews first because these promises were first made to the Jewish people, but they weren't just for the Jewish people. They were in fact for the whole world, and so they turned to the Gentiles.
Now again, this is not a novelty. God's intent has always been to sweep his arm of redemption across the whole world, and it takes us back to Isaiah. We look at Isaiah 49 verses five through six says, and now the Lord says-- He who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I'm honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength-- he says: it's too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I'll also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
That's, that's the verse that Paul's quoting there. He's saying that God's intent all along has been to reach the ends of the earth. Explicitly that the people, namely, you know, we have Jesus, the Pinnacle light, but we are sent forth as the light of the world also, and we would bring forth this light to the ends of the earth so that the Gentiles, all people may turn to God.
Now, as you might imagine, the Gentiles are, are glad for this. They're very grateful for this, and so they honor the word of the Lord. They respond positively, and it says, all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
And just kind of as a sidebar here, in thinking about that phrase, all who were appointed for eternal life believed. It's important to remember here that belief is not our initiative. Apart from God's work of regeneration in our, in our hearts, we will remain cold to the message. It's not based on human persuasion, though God works through persuasion. It's based upon the work of the Holy Spirit turning our hearts to God. And so what the evangelists are invited to here is into a mysterious miracle of how some are drawn to Christ and others turn their back to him. And what we see here is that in fact the work spreads throughout the region from here. Again, this is kind of a strategic hub and it reminds us that Paul did not go everywhere.
We can't give direct credit to Paul at, for every single Christian that emerged in Asia Minor. It's not all about Paul. In fact, what it's about is the work of the Holy Spirit who is employing all Christians. And I think that's an important reminder to us. Sometimes we get so fixated on big personalities, have influential people, and we say, well, if we, we just need those people and they'll be the ones that turn people to Christ. Kind of the, the big story that you miss here is that in fact, it wasn't Paul who did all the work here. It was the people that he turned to Christ and then they went forth and it just grew and grew and grew. But while the many of the Gentiles and some of the Jews are responding positively, that's not the case for all.
A conspiracy emerges to get Paul and Barnabas kicked outta the region. So we wrap up in verses 50 through 52, it says, but the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. It's very interesting here. It appears that the Jewish leaders had some friends in high places. Notice that it was the God-fearing women of high standing, the leading men of the city, who ultimately affected Paul and Barnabas's expulsion from the city.
These people that had been seeking the God of Israel joined along with these Jewish leaders in turning out Paul and Barnabas. Now you might think, well, why would they do that? Why wouldn't they wanna also believe the gospel? We can think for reasons of human pride. You can imagine some of, some of them may have had to undergone circumcision. Some of them been, had been living according to the Jewish law, and so now they see all these other people being brought in who didn't have to enter into the faith at such great cost. They're like, I don't want these people here. And so they're persuaded by the Jewish leaders and they, they kick 'em out. And as a result, we see that Paul and Barnabas shake the dust off their feet as a warning to them.
Now, you might think, well, what? What's that business all about? Well, we have a specific instance of instruction along these lines offered by Jesus in Matthew 10, 14 through 15, to his disciples. He says, if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. And in, in those specific cases, he says, truly I tell you, it'll be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. Now, in that context, when a Jew was leaving Gentile lands, obviously he would've walked through the gentile lands. He's got the, the dust of Gentile lands on his feet. As they're going back to the Holy Land, they would kick the dust off because the Gentile dust was unclean. So what Paul and Barnabas are doing here is saying. Is that you in fact are the unclean ones here. You are the ones who are in fact standing apart from God.
And so they're done working with them and, and that's an important reminder to us. I think sometimes that some, there does come a point. And we don't know the complete story. Sometimes people that initially reject Jesus, think about someone like Paul, are later turned to Christ. But there is a point where we can sometimes say, that's enough. We've given the message, maybe they've rejected it. We're going to move on. And so that's what they do here. And we see that even though that, this has been kind of a mixed bag, they've seen some people reject Jesus. They got kicked out. They've also seen many people turn to Christ. Despite the mixed bag, they are filled with joy, and that's really the Christian life. The Christian life is kind of a mixed bag at points that's, we're living it out, but it's overcome by the joy of salvation that we have in Christ, and that comes to us by the Holy Spirit. Says that they're filled with joy and filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the substance of the Christian life.
When we say that Jesus is the Savior of the world, we have a context, a backstory to situate that proclamation. The Promised Messiah has come, the promised king of the line and lineage of David-- and as always, as Paul made really clear, this is God's doing. It's not our own doing. God was always faithful to the children of Abraham, even when they opposed God, and his hand was with them; he has fulfilled his word by sending us his Son. By his death and resurrection, Jesus is revealed to be the Son of God, the Messiah, that in him God's covenant of forgiveness and new life has arrived, something that the old Mosaic Covenant couldn't secure. And in keeping what the prophets foretold, that this Messiah would not just be for Israel, but for the people of all nations, so we see now Jesus inviting all people to himself. This gospel is good news, not just for the Jew, it's for all people. It's all the more good news for us who are not Jewish. Because in Jesus, we see that we are not abandoned, we are not forsaken, that we too are loved by God.
True and full salvation, that's what we, what we mean when we say that the Messiah has come and is coming again. We mean that Jesus lacks nothing, he's not counting on us to do the last 10% or any percent of our redemption- his salvation is a gift, he is the one who ransoms us. He ransoms us at a price that we ourselves would not, could not pay ourselves. His salvation is a transformation that washes over us, because we could never make ourselves clean. We could never heal our own disease. Christ is our cure.
People have many ideas in their head when they hear the name of Jesus. In the manner of Paul, we have the opportunity to help people understand who he truly is- the promised Messiah. Now, sometimes it'll take more time than what we saw in the space of that speech that he gave there to help people understand who he is. But it's important for us to do that work. Now, in the end, some will reject him, but those appointed for salvation will accept him. Whatever the response, our joy is secure in Christ. It's not based on the response, it's not based on the circumstances. Our course is held steady by the Holy Spirit who fills us and guides us in the way of God's perfect plan to proclaim this good news to the ends of the earth. Let's pray.
Dear Father, we thank you for this reminder of your faithfulness to your promises.
I thank you, father, of how we see here the substance of the good news, that while we had turned our back on you, you did not turn your back on us. That you were faithful to Israel and that in fact, father, you are faithful to the whole world and that we have seen this because you have sent your son Jesus Christ for our salvation.
Father, we thank you that in him we have the forgiveness that we could find nowhere else. Father, we thank you that in Him we have the hope that we could not find it anywhere else and that just as he is raised from the dead, so too we will be raised from the dead. Father, we pray that like Paul and Barnabas that we would engage in sharing this good news with others. Father, help us not to be thinking that, oh, we've gotta be exactly like Paul to be someone who could do something like this. Help us remember all the people that, that went out from there and share the good news with our neighbors. Help us to be like them father, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)