Brain and Background

So here's two things you might be believing about Christianity this morning.

And they both begin with the letter B.

First one is to do with your brain.

Maybe you're here and you're thinking all the stuff that Christians believe about this man called Jesus

who lived in the first century, who died on a cross, who they claim came back to life.

How can any rationally thinking person believe that kind of stuff?

And the second B is to do with your background.

Maybe you're here and you're thinking the only reason that people become Christians

is because of their upbringing.

The influence of Christian family or friends, the fact that you were brought up in a culture

which is steeped in Christian things and history.

And so had you been raised somehow or somewhere else, then you'd equally likely be a Mormon, a Muslim or an atheist.

Now those two beliefs might ring true for some of us here today.

Or if, in my case, you maybe think of people in your mind, friends and family who you love, who think like that.

Well here's what I want us to do with those two beliefs in mind.

I want us to be introduced to one man who's at the heart of our passage.

And I want to tell you three things about him.

So his name is Sergius Paulus.

Do you see that? Verse 4.

Here's now into the text.

Here's three things we learn about this man.

He lives and he works on the island of Cyprus, which is a good gig if you can get it, I'd imagine.

Second thing, verse 7, he's a pro-consul, which means he's the Roman governor who's got a military background,

who's on the island of Cyprus to protect and uphold the interests of Rome,

which means he's got absolutely no Jewish heritage.

He's not got a scooby about God.

And because he's had zero exposure, he's got absolutely no interest in the things of Jesus.

This man is completely in the dark.

And number 3, verse 7, Luke just drops it in.

He's an intelligent man.

I take it you don't get this kind of gig at this kind of senior level if you're not.

This passage today is going to end with this man deciding to become a follower of Jesus.

So you imagine if he's here today, he's standing on the stage and you're putting those two beliefs to him.

You're a Christian simply because of your background.

You're a Christian because you've disengaged brain.

Sergius Paulus, if he was here today, and it's been a good day yesterday for the Italians, hasn't it?

Here's Sergius Paulus.

He'd be having absolutely none of that.

Absolutely none of it.

And here's what I love about the book of Acts.

All the way through, Luke's helped us see how, and you get it at 1224, he's helped us see how the word of God has gone forth.

And thousands have responded to that.

It's the message of Jesus has gone forth.

He's gone corporate.

Okay?

But equally, now and again, Luke hits the brakes and he slows the pace of the narrative right down.

And he focuses in, right in on the one.

He goes individual.

And I take it both matter to the risen Jesus.

Both matter to this God at the heart of the Bible.

The corporate, the thousands, the millions.

Vumpf!

The one.

It's almost as if God, who of course has loved and known about and called Sergius Paulus to himself before the foundation of the world.

It's almost as if right here, he's saying, Sergius Paulus, now's your time, boy.

Now's your time for you to hear and respond about the news about my son Jesus.

Right in this moment in history.

And like a moth to a flame, Sergius Paulus can't fly anywhere else but towards the light.

Okay?

Bam.

Can't fly anywhere else but towards the light.

And here's what I want us to do.

If you're a Christian here today, I want us to stop and to savor exactly what this tells us about our God.

And allow the thirst of your soul to be so wonderfully quenched as God's Holy Spirit brings to mind this truth.

That however you're feeling here today, however tired you are here today, whether physically, emotionally, mentally,

whoever you are here today, if your trust is in this Jesus, this is exactly what God the Father did to you.

He chose you.

He knew you.

He loved you.

He went after you.

He sent his son to die for you.

His son redeemed you.

His son won you at the cross.

His son took you to himself as he rose again.

And from the Father and the Son goes the Spirit to apply that work to your heart.

So the minute you became a Christian, this is what kicked in.

And this is who you are.

The words of that Stuart Townend song that we sometimes sing here,

Loved before the dawn of time, chosen by my maker, hidden in my saviour.

I am his and he is mine, cherished for eternity.

This is the kind of God we have.

This is what we're going to see, the God who goes after his people to win them.

And this is just Sirius Paulus having his moment in the sun.

Do you know how God does it?

He starts by stirring up a church who are up for playing their part in the bigger mission.

Verse 25 of chapter 12.

Come with me.

Our boys Barnabas and Saul are back on the scene.

They've delivered the money that the church in Antioch, if you remember that,

that happened a couple of chapters ago,

that the money that the church in Antioch wanted to give to their brothers and sisters back in Jerusalem

because of the famine and because they knew that they were going to have a really hard time because of that famine.

What did they do?

They sent back some money.

So Paul and Barnabas are back in Antioch having travelled to Jerusalem and delivered that money.

Now, look what Luke tells us about the church here.

It's a diverse church in the text.

Do you see?

Just look at the five people who are mentioned on the leadership team of this church.

I think that's probably just the easiest way to understand the reference to prophets and teachers.

Look at the five guys around the leadership team.

And again, just notice the range of them, the international feel of this church in Antioch.

Right?

You've got Barnabas, who is a Levite from Cyprus.

This is going to be a big part of the narrative here.

Cyprus is where Barnabas is from.

And where is the gospel going to go next?

It's going to go to Cyprus.

So you can imagine Barnabas at this point amazed at what God would want to be doing in his home turf.

Right?

You've got Barnabas, you've got Saul, you've got the Pharisee from Tarsus, you've got Simeon and Lucius, who I think to understand are both African.

Right?

Simeon's called Niger, which just means black.

I take it Luke just helping his first readers differentiate this Simeon from another Simeon who must have been in the church in Antioch.

And you've got Lucius from what I think is modern day Libya.

And then I find this one fascinating.

And if you haven't noticed this before, come and see it.

We get this lad called Mannion.

I think that's how you would say his name.

Mannion.

Now notice what Luke drops in the text about who this guy is.

See, a few verses earlier, Herod Agrippa had been struck down by God for trying to be God.

Well, Mannion, I think, is most probably that Herod's foster brother.

Now that's why I call a diverse five.

From all sorts of places with all sorts of backgrounds, it's like the beginning of some kind of joke, isn't it?

What do a Levite, a Pharisee, two men from Africa, and a member of Herod's family have in common?

Except it isn't a joke, is it?

It's a description of this church in Antioch.

Answer, Jesus of Nazareth.

That's what they've got in common.

I don't imagine they have an awful lot else in common.

But that thing they have in common, and it's done more than draw them together as mates,

is bound them together as brothers in Jesus Christ.

It's a wonderful testimony to what Jesus has done.

Now, here's a wee exercise.

I'm not going to do it, but if I were to get people here this morning to put up their hands

and to shout out the place where they were born,

it would be such a powerful example of this precise point.

We're from all over the place, and yet here in this room, what do we have in common?

Jesus of Nazareth.

Here is a diverse church, and let's never grow tired of celebrating our diversity,

because this is what Jesus has done.

God the Father has drawn us together in Jesus' Son.

The principalities, the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places are supposed to look on at this

and say, how on earth has this God done this?

How has he done what no other culture in the world can do?

He's brought us together as family.

This is a diverse church.

It's a beautiful church.

And it's the expectant church.

Do you see that?

Let's just move on.

What are they doing?

Verse 2.

They are worshipping and fasting.

Fasting is something that Christians often do, meaning they just stop eating for a while to devote themselves to prayer.

I've done it a number of times in my life.

I just found it a really powerful thing to do.

And I take it this is the fruit, this worshipping and fasting.

This is the fruit of what Barnabas and Saul have decided to devote themselves to back at verse 26 of chapter 12.

Just have a wee look.

Verse 26 of chapter 12.

What did they give themselves to in this church?

They gave themselves to teaching.

Unleashing God's word in the lives of his people.

Seeing God through his Holy Spirit.

Transform his people's lives.

Make them more like Christ.

How does he do it?

He does it through his words as his spirit takes it and moulds us more into the likeness of Jesus.

And here's a simple point.

Theology should always lead to doxology.

Always, right?

Truth about God should always lead to worship.

In the words of Jen Wilkin, who's in her brilliant little book, Woman of the Word,

subtext, how to study the Bible with both our hearts and our minds.

She just simply says this, and I love this.

The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.

These people aren't going through the religious motions.

Here is an expectant church.

And this is a sending church.

For it's while they are worshipping and fasting.

Do you see in the text that the Holy Spirit speaks and says,

Set aside Paul and Barnabas for the wider work to which I've called them.

Now I take it however the Holy Spirit said that, and we don't know exactly how it happened.

Whatever he said, it made complete sense to the church.

In other words, the church here weren't passive.

The Spirit spoke.

And the church acted.

Because you notice how Luke makes it crystal clear that it's the church who laid their hands on Paul and Barnabas

and sent them off to Cyprus.

And I take it that's just laying on of hands.

I take it that just means, do you know what?

We're in this with you too.

We're sending you out.

Now moving to the other question, how does God the Holy Spirit speak today?

Absolutely.

How?

Through God's living word.

We have to understand in this unique time, we have now what they did not have then.

We have the completed Bible.

The person of the Spirit speaks as we listen to God's voice here.

And as he stirs us up in response, as he moves us to action, and I take it as we step out in obedience

and as we pray and discern with one another, is this the Lord's will?

I'll give you an example of it.

My friend Andy Prime, years ago, he was mulling on the words of Romans 10.

Couldn't get over them.

Read this in your own time.

Paul's prayer there for taking the gospel to new places.

He says, how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

It's Romans 10.

You can read it.

And he goes home to his wife, Sarah, and he says, Sarah, listen, I've been reading this

and I can't get it out of my mind.

And Sarah says, listen, why don't you go and walk around the streets of Grace Mount

and take what you've been listening to and just see what God does?

And so he goes and he starts looking at all the houses, all the people,

and thinking about all the brokenness, thinking about all the pain,

thinking about all the people who are heading for a lost eternity,

facing God's judgment because they just have not responded to the message of Jesus

because they've rejected him.

And through the words, God, the Holy Spirit just broke his heart.

And in that moment, he traces it back to the very start of what is now Grace Mount Community Church,

where the guy who was here last week is a member of.

And so Andy starts bringing others in.

Is this right?

Do you think this is right?

How might we do it?

The Spirit speaks through the Word.

We want to hear God's voice.

We want to hear about the Spirit.

We get ourselves into the text.

What is God saying?

And so the church, do you see how they send off Paul and Barnabas?

Now, don't miss who these two dudes are.

This is Paul and this is Barnabas.

This is two of their most experienced leaders.

These are the two teachers.

This is Barney.

Do you remember his nickname?

That is his nickname.

His name is Joseph.

This is Barney.

This is the encourager.

This is the guy who you want to hang out with.

Who just makes you feel great.

Who tells you to keep on going with the Lord.

Can we not just keep him?

Can we not just keep him?

And this is Paul.

This is the man who's a trained Pharisee.

This is a man who knows his, for want of a better word, who knows his Bible.

Can we not just keep him?

The guy who's going to the Gentiles.

Imagine how well things would go if we kept these two.

But this church is sending church.

I mean, this is the ultimate tag team match.

Is it not Paul and Barnabas?

But this church are up for giving away.

Do you notice a few weeks ago what they are up for giving away?

Money.

And this week, what are they up for giving away?

People.

Why?

Because they've bought into the bigger mission.

Now two things I've been challenged by, and I'll chuck these out and see if they hit.

Two things I've been challenged by is would expectant be the word that captures our mood currently as a congregation?

Are we praying big things?

Are we giving God the glory when things happen?

You know, I think it was wonderful.

We made a call as a staff team a few weeks ago to give God the praise that Burrow Me Your SU group has opened up again, that opportunity.

It's closed for so, so long.

Just didn't know.

No way in.

What's going to happen?

God, just open the door.

Just give him the praise.

Do we pray big things?

Do we pray, God, would you do the things that we cannot do?

Do we say, I think this is how I was challenged.

Do we say, Lord, lead us?

How often we make our plans and then we lay them at the Lord's feet as if to say, Lord, could you just bless them?

Right?

Like some kind of divine expenses sheet.

I just need you to kind of sign off at the bottom here and just bless what we're trying to do.

It's the challenge here, isn't it, to do it the other way around.

Lord, would you lead us out of a worship, a heart that wants to worship, a heart that overflows with love for him.

Lord, would you lead us?

So expectancy, it's the second thing, and this is the confession of a city center pastor who's coming up for a decade here.

Do you know what?

For years I used to loathe, I used to loathe the turnover of people in this place.

Right?

People would come for a season and you'd get to know them, you'd invest in them, you'd have high hopes for them, you'd have their future planned out.

But a few years later, what they'd be off, job, uni, moving, house, getting involved in another church.

I used to find it so, so difficult operating like some kind of golem with a dog calling, my precious, you know.

I just convicted, what an idiot.

What an idiot.

And the Lord used this church in Antioch to challenge my thinking.

Because these folks weren't interested in building brand Antioch.

And nor should we be interested in building brand Brunsfield.

Like we're kind of pitching on a version of Spiritual Dragon's Den or something.

You know, this is not about us and what we can attract people to.

This is about a kingdom mindset that says, train, love, invest.

What's the word?

Send.

Train, love, invest.

Send.

And I think we should be greatly encouraged, if you've been in the church for a while,

the amount of people who have gone on and done wonderful things.

Not just mission parts of the world, not just things in Edinburgh, but just being a good church member of another church.

Just being an employee who is glorifying Jesus through what they do.

And you guys have played a part in that.

Train, love, invest.

Send.

And of course, don't miss this.

Who are we reflecting in that?

We're reflecting our Heavenly Father.

Who out of an overflow of His love, sent His Son to save us.

To ransom us.

To rescue us.

To die for us on the cross.

To save us.

And as almost the Father sends the Son and says,

the purpose of this, ultimately, is that I want you to delight in the Son, like I delight in my Son.

And I want an overflow of that love for Him.

To transform you and cause you to go with the message of Him.

And in turn, do you see how that conquering King of love at the end of Matthew's Gospel,

He has all authority and He's the one who's with us always.

He calls us to go.

As He's sending, is right at the heart of who our triune God is.

Here is a church up for playing its part in the bigger mission.

And from there we meet a man who's up for investigating the biggest news.

Because where do Paul and Barnabas go?

Do you see it?

Verse 4.

Where do they go?

In obedience.

They go to Cyprus.

And after they've preached at the synagogue in Cyprus,

they head to Paphos.

Which you can kind of see it on the map there.

It's at the other end of the island.

And in typical Acts fashion, there's opposition and there's hunger.

And those two things will always be there, I take it,

as the Gospel goes forth.

Opposition and hunger.

And the opposition comes from this man called Bar Jesus.

Do you see him in the text?

Do you see him?

Bar Jesus.

And there's great irony in that name.

Because Bar means son of,

and Jesus means Jesus, right?

Son of Jesus.

And he's anything but.

And I think that's why Luke tells you his local name,

Elemas.

To try to bring out the irony here.

He's a Jewish sorcerer.

Do you see in the text?

He's a false prophet.

And he's an attendant to Sergius Paulus.

And I've been wrestling with this guy this week.

He's kind of like a spiritual advisor to Sergius Paulus.

He's kind of like Jafar in Aladdin.

He's kind of that kind of deal.

Okay?

And he meets Paul and Barnabas.

And he hates their message.

He hates it with a passion.

And what's happened?

And I love this.

Get this.

What's happened is that Bar Jesus

has opposed the message.

He's gone back to work.

And he's told Sergius Paulus

about the deluded men

peddling a ridiculous message

who he's just met in the marketplace.

And instead of joining in the laugh,

Sergius Paulus is intrigued.

I love it.

So in control is this God.

So sovereign is he.

So determined is he to get to Sergius Paulus

that he's used the Jesus hater

as the matchmaker.

Right?

Sergius Paulus meets Paul and Barnabas.

As I was just encouraging this morning

that the opposition

was the very thing that God used

to open the door for opportunity.

Now never underestimate what God can do

and might be doing

through your whispers of witness.

Right?

In every season of your life.

In the high points

when things are good,

witnessing to Jesus.

In the low points

when life is just really hard.

And we're slogging it out

trying to be faithful to Jesus.

In every season of life.

As mundane and as boring

and as insignificant

as you think your witness is.

You have no idea.

We have no idea

whose ears around the office

might be picking it up.

We have no idea

whose eyes on the school run

might be drawn to you.

Love it.

There's this woman in our prayer group

for our primary school.

She's just called Anna.

She's just known in the community

as the woman who smiles.

The amount of conversations

that have come from Anna.

Anna, why do you smile?

Why are you happy?

Because you know Jesus.

No idea the whispers

of your witness.

You've no idea

whose heart

in your student halls

God might be working in

to respond to who he is

through the whispers

of your witness.

And that's encouraging.

You see verse 7.

Sergius Paulus

who I'd imagine

having had the most

twisted version of the gospel

as bar Jesus lays it back to him.

Sergius Paulus

what does he want to do?

He wants to hear

the word of God.

I want to hear it.

See what God's doing?

He's just working in his heart.

Just stirring up his heart.

Maybe that's you here today.

Maybe you're here

and you just want to hear it.

Best place to do it

read the accounts

of Jesus for yourself.

You can pick some up

I think

on the desk at the back.

Just read the accounts

of Jesus.

Read it to someone else.

Listen I'm game

if you are.

Right?

I love doing it.

Who is this man Jesus?

Bar Jesus tries to stop it.

Do you notice?

And God strikes Bar Jesus

for his deceit and trickery.

He's unable to see.

Okay verse 11.

Paul makes it clear

why this is happening.

Will you never

verse 10 sorry.

Will you never stop

perverting the right ways

of the Lord?

The Lord is against you.

What happens?

Mist and darkness

comes over him

and he starts groping about.

Now who does that

remind you of?

Reminds you of Paul

doesn't it?

A few chapters earlier.

This is exactly

what happened to him

which I think

might suggest

we don't know

what happened

to this man afterwards

but it might suggest

that there's a loving

opportunity for Bar Jesus

to change his ways

and turn to the Lord.

To do everything

that his name suggests

he should be doing.

And similar to what

we saw last week

you see here

God just removes

the barrier.

He just removes

the barrier

because nothing

is going to stop

this good

and gracious

and loving God

getting to

Sergius Paulus.

And notice what

sealed the deal

verse 12

Sergius Paulus

is not so much

amazed by the scene.

What's he gripped by?

He's gripped by the teaching

about the Lord.

And so

verse 24

of chapter 12

the word of God

continued

to spread

and flourish.

Jerusalem,

Judea,

Samaria,

the ends of the earth

and here it is

on this little island

of Cyprus.

And just as we close

I want you to take

one take you

to a conversation

that happened

on the 746 train

from Edinburgh

to Glasgow

at the train

of end of last week.

I think I said that right.

My friend John

gets on

and being a smart man

he gets a table seat

and he sits down

and he starts

reading his Bible

and the woman

opposite him

after a little while

notices that he's

reading Psalm 132.

And she asks him

son what are you reading?

So John talks to her

about the psalm

that he's on

and she says

you know what

I've never really had

any time

for any of that.

but another voice

pipes up

and this time

it's not from

the table sheet here

it's not from

the table sheet there

as I understand

it from John

it was from

the one

around the back

and she's been

doing

what everyone

does on trains

they've been

listening in

to the conversation

and another voice

pipes up

and she's been

listening in

and she's provoked

by this lady's refusal

and she says

you know what

I've never read

the Bible before

I've always

fancied it

but the problem

is I just

wouldn't know

where to start

wouldn't know

what to do

so John

hands her a book

and his number

and he says

let's get together

and read it together

and that was

ten days or so ago

right so that's

hot off the press

I've got no idea

how it ended up

but I think it makes

the exact point

the same as what

Luke is telling us

in this passage

with Sergius Paulus

to be a Christian

is to disengage

your brain

to be a Christian

you're a Christian

because of your

Christian background

I take it this lady

on the train

I take it that

Sergius Paulus

would say

no

no the gospel

Luke is saying

is simple enough

for anyone to understand

the gospel is deep enough

and glorious enough

for everyone to be

swimming in

for the rest of their lives

and realise you've not

even scratched the surface

and the gospel is available

for anyone to respond to

and place their faith

in this Jesus

and this God

is the message

about the crucified

risen and crucified

and risen Jesus

goes forth

to see how this God

nothing will stop him

get in the way

of his determination

to win his people

for himself

and that's the glory

of this chapter

I think

that this is who

this God is

mortal

UD inferred

and qui

neither

the Sin

or the

he

who

is

is

his