ACTS | God’s Sovereign Mission Through His Church | Acts 13:1-12

Let's now turn to the reading of God's Word. You remain standing, and we're going to be turning to Acts. Chapter Three.

We're going to be looking at verses one through 12 this morning, 13. I'm sorry. I think I said three. My wife whispered, 13. So thank you. 13 verses, one through 12 before we read, let's go to Lord in prayer, Father, we thank you that you are not silent, but that you speak to us, and I pray that you will help us now to open up our mouths like baby birds, ready to receive your word, hungering and thirsting for it. Feed us. We pray. Open up our blind eyes and stop our deaf ears. Soften our hardened hearts that we might see Christ high and lifted up that we might hear that he was crucified for sinners like us, but lives and reigns and is coming again to judge the living and the dead.

Lord help us to be able to set distractions aside, that we might have a singular focus on what you will say to us today, be merciful to your people in Jesus's name, we pray amen.

Acts, chapter 13, verses one through 12.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas Simeon, who was called Niger Lucius of Cyrene manaen, a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch and Saul, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them.

When they had gone through the whole island, as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named bar Jesus, which means son of Jesus.

He was with the Proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the Word of God. But elimus, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the Proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You are the son of the devil. You enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy. Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately, mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the pro Council believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. He who has ears, let him hear the Word of God. You may be seated.

Don't be worried. I have my computer. I couldn't get the printer to work for some reason this morning. But I didn't want people to think that what's next fog machines is that's not what's happening, not yet, no, but I'll be using my computer.

So if you remember, as we looked last week, James, one of the apostles, had been killed by Herod. But we also considered too how James actually has a better deliverance than Peter, because James gets to go home, he gets to stop wrestling with his sin and this world and the devil, Peter is jailed. But Peter, with the help of an angel, pretty much, does it all. They just walk out of the prison.

Herod God strikes down in judgment, and the text ends with the Word of God increasing and multiplying. And the lesson there is, if you fight against Christ, you won't win. You will never win. But in Christ, you will always win. And that's really the theme, not only of acts, but also the men who are studying the book of Revelation.

That's the theme of Revelation.

Christ wins, and we see that theme again here in this text.

As we turn to chapter 13, we don't just see the church in Antioch focusing on itself and its own growth and its own development. There's.

A real missional focus there.

There's a deep sense within the church is that it can't just stay here. It has to go out. We have to take this forward. We must reach the nations. We must proclaim Christ.

This is still our calling as a church, as God's people.

This is as we read, part of the Great Commission, and this is what Jesus told us to do back in Acts chapter one, to be His witnesses.

We are to be witnesses, not just to one another and to share things of Christ with one another, but to continue to go out to share it with all.

We're to be liberal. Did that get your attention? I thought it would.

We're to be liberal that is plentiful and bountiful in our message of redemption, stop holding it to yourselves. Give it out. Be free with it. Copious amounts of Christ must be coming from us. More Christ, not only for me, but for you, and we have to be sharing it, giving it out and sharing it, but as the church, as we step out and as you step out in faith to be His witnesses, you will be opposed.

You think the devil wants the message of Christ to go forward through you, absolutely not.

You think the world wants to hear this message. They don't leave me alone. I just want to eat, drink and be merry. We want to amuse ourselves, to death to live how I want to live. And do you think your own flesh is just longing to become uncomfortable and sacrifice me, time and vacation money that the gospel might go forward.

It doesn't. There are threats from the church, not only from without, as we saw in Herod, but again, from within, a people who are unwilling to stand up in the church to proclaim the truth of Christ and to defend it from threats is a threat to the church. We can be our own threat to the church. Ourselves, our flesh.

We're prone to be passive, to have peace at all costs.

We can just want to choose civility.

Howard County, Maryland, where my wife grew up. Bumper stickers everywhere, Choose Civility.

Just can't we just all get along.

But this text as we come reminds us that we are in spiritual warfare. We indeed are weak. We indeed are helpless. But as Martin Luther wrote, did we, in our own strength confide our striving would be losing were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing, does ask who that may be, Christ, Jesus. It is He. This text, not only then, not only reminds us of our calling, of our weakness, but also that as you go and you step out in faith, God is with you, and his purposes cannot and will not fail, Jesus is marching his gospel forward to the ends of the world. His truth is going forward, and it cannot be stopped. But he brings us with him and calls us to be part of the gospel going forward.

Now let's look into our text here. Luke takes us back to the church in Antioch. We took a little break from the church in Antioch, which has grown greatly. It's become very influential. It's become the mission hub of the first century church. It's larger and more resourced than the church in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem, in many ways, is fading out of its importance, in the sense that Antioch of the mission hub is growing and increasing there, and Luke begins by describing the leadership of the church at Antioch. We have Barnabas Simon called Niger, an African most likely Lucius of Cyrene manean, who had been brought up with Herod and Saul. And here we have five different men, all very different men, different backgrounds, different cultures, different upbringings, but they are all united again, under one spirit, under one flag that is Christian. Remember in Antioch, that's the place where they were first called Christians.

Is no longer Jew or Gentile or this or that. What unites us here is not our upbringing, but Christ.

And what's also is interesting in the church at Antioch too, that the apostles aren't thinking, Well, you know, who can minister best in the church in Antioch is antiochians. It's a redeemed people from all over here who are teaching the church in Antioch the grace of God and the whole church is not idle.

They aren't just passively receiving teaching. They are busy. They are busy worshiping, and worshiping is the central thing we have been made to do, and part of that worship, we see that they are praying. If you've been tracking through the book of Acts with us, we often see this is when God is pleased to work, when his people are on their knees, humbly praying, God works. And we see that again in our text, the people have gathered together. They are worshiping. They are in prayer.

Guess what happens? God's working. Should we be surprised at that? No, we should expect that when God's people come together and pray, he works, they're also fasting. You know, think about the question that that comes to you right after the service is over, what am I going to eat? What's for lunch?

Where are we going to you know, what are we going to have? You know, fasting can help remind us that as much as we long for bread and we long for food, we need to remember that man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Rather than saying, How can I get more food, or when's my next meal, fasting can help remind us, how can I get more Christ? As much as my body is aching and longing and grumbling for my next meal, I need that Christ. I need more Christ. I need to feed it more of the spiritual realities that I find in in the Scripture.

Psalm 19 reminds us it's to be desired more than much fine gold, it's sweeter than honey, and if I have an opportunity to have a pile of much fine gold or just the word of God. Well, which one sounds better? And if we're honest, I'd rather have some much, much fine gold than the Word of God. But here this is reminding us the importance of God's Word. We need it. We need to long for it. Love it more than much fine gold, more than food and fasting. Can help us do that.

Out of this worship as they're worshiping, the Spirit speaks, and the Spirit tells them, set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work for which I've called them, the church recognizes this call. Note that it's not just Saul and Barnabas that just say, Hey, I think we want to do this thing. The church recognizes this call, and they recognize it by laying hands on them and sending them off to their work. Now, where are they going? They actually don't know yet. They aren't told. They're just trusting God that we're called to do this mission. We're called to go. We don't know yet where, but the spirits called us and we're going to go. And so they continue to pray about direction, where we're going to go.

I also want you to notice too, that Antioch is going to send out their best, right? They have men that are ministering among them, but you have Saul and Barnabas, the son of encouragement. And if you're a church, don't you kind of want to be a little stingy with those guys and be like, you know, why don't you maybe send that other guy that who was in like, Herod's court. We don't really know much about him. Wouldn't he be better to send and just get him out there? No, they're sending Saul, one of the best theologians of all time, in Barnabas, the son of encouragement. And what I love about that in the church of Antioch is that they haven't made those men the centrality of the church, Paul or Saul. We'll get to the name change here in a minute, but you can go, because the church isn't about you. It's about Christ. We're not afraid if we lose our Minister, the Minister goes, or the minister goes to another mission, because it isn't about us. It's about Christ, and the Lord will provide. And the Lord certainly does provide there for the church in Antioch.

And he sends Saul out this Hebrew of Hebrews to the Gentiles. And the whole church is active in the work of missions. The whole church isn't go. The whole church of Antioch isn't just emptied out and they all go, but they're all involved in the work of missions through prayer and financial support and encouragement. Paul and Barnabas couldn't go unless the church was supporting them. They go there. Everyone is involved, and even our own church.

Church you, whether you know it or not, we are involved in Mission works in our Presbyterian. At our presbytery meeting this coming Friday, we're going to hear reports about mission works that our church, along with other churches in our presbytery, are supporting. There's a church that's popped up in Madisonville, Louisiana, our church is helping financially support them. Also in St Augustine, just on the east side. And then this coming meeting, there's a petition for a church up in Lake City, Florida, and we're part of that your giving is contributing to helping these mission works be able to sprout up and grow that the gospel might go forward. You might not be there in St Augustine or Louisiana, but you're part of it. In your prayers. The whole church is involved in the work of missions now, as Paul and Barnabas are sent by the Holy Spirit to Cyprus, they get there. What do they do?

They preach, right?

They are proclaiming the Word of God. It's central. The word is the means of the mission. And even in these, these first, these 12 verses, you see in verse five, they're preaching.

Verse seven, Sergius Paulus wants to hear the Word of God.

Verse 12. It ends with him being astonished at the Word of God.

The Word of God is what must be shared.

The Word of God is central. It is the power of God, the salvation. God's mission doesn't advance by personalities, by music or marketing, it is by the word of God, through His Spirit.

And whenever God the gospel, is seeking to advance and make progress, well, what's going to happen? There's going to be opposition, and that's what we see happen as well. Saul and Barnabas are proclaiming the Word of God in Cyprus, and they come upon a man named bar Jesus, which literally means the son of Jesus.

And he's a counterfeit savior, a false prophet. He's with the pro Council, Sergius Paulus. The Pro council would have been like a governor of the area, a high ruler. So the guy who's in charge of the area wants to hear from Saul and Barnabas.

Now bar Jesus or Luke will call him Elymas. He panics because he his role is under threat of being taken away, and like Herod, these Christians are a threat to him and his power. So in verse eight, we're told that he opposes them. He seeks to turn the pro Council away from the faith. Elimus is very crafty. And why I always say that? Because I think it's actually very interesting, if you just take a moment to think about how he's described to us as bar Jesus, he actually doesn't get rid of the name of Jesus. He embraces it. Here is a man who has a Jewish background, but he's embraced the name of Jesus. I'm a son of Jesus. And if someone comes up to you and says, Hey, I'm a son of Jesus, well, you say, well, that's great. So am I? We must be friends. We must be, we must, you know, be, get it, get along and have everything in common.

It's very crafty. What he's doing here, he he takes the name of Jesus. He uses the name of Jesus, but his message is not about the true Jesus of Scripture. His message is actually more of entertainment and mysticism. He was a magician. He was a sorcerer. And back in those days, he, you know, try to talk to spirits and forecast the future and and very interesting things. People would love that. It would tickle, tickle their their fancy, well, I want to know what's going on the future. I can talk to my dead old aunt. I would love that. Let's do that in the name of Jesus. Of course, it's very powerful, reinventing, recreating Jesus, not getting rid of Jesus. But you know what?

I think in many ways, the church in our day has done that too, hasn't it?

You know, we come into a church, and when you leave a church, what might often be said is like, you know, I really like that story The guy told, or I really liked the music, or, you know, I left and I felt really good about it. And what's happening in the church is entertainment and moralism, and it's become somewhat of the magic of our day. It wows, it excites and it feels spiritual, but is powerless to save it's a fake Jesus made in our own image. Our flesh prefers a Jesus that we want to hear more about. You know, we're good people, and you know he.

Hear some steps just have help better relationships and a better attitude in life. And many messages that you might hear are simply moralistic, theistic and deistic, but not about Christ.

That is not Jesus, and this isn't Jesus, because Jesus came to save sinners, of whom we are.

The foremost Jesus is the one who says that we were dead in our sins and our trespasses. But I've come to redeem you. I've come to love you like Ruth, like Boaz. It comes and he sweeps her, and we see everything in scriptures pointing us to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, who dies for our sins, who rises for us that we might be in Christ and one day is coming again to bring us home. We need the Jesus of the Scripture, not one that is just made up, not things that just use Jesus. Name Paul Washer, I was listening to a sermon by him, and he was talking about the Jehovah's Witnesses. And he said, No, that the Jehovah's false witnesses.

We're the Jehovah's Witnesses, and that's true. We worship the true and living God. We are the true witnesses because we need to proclaim what we find in God's word, not what we want God to be like, or who want Jesus to be like. We need to know the true Jesus of the Word of God.

And even Luke here will intentionally avoid calling him the bar Jesus any longer. And he that's how i He refers to him as a Lima Luke's not even going to say bar Jesus anymore. It says that Elymas over there, that sorcerer, and verse nine, but Saul, who was called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You are the son of the devil. You enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy. Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord.

And what he says is, you're not a son of Jesus. He says you're actually a son of the devil.

You're an enemy of righteousness. You deceive, you're wicked, and you make crooked straight paths. And this is a call back to Isaiah, chapter 40, and also the what John the Baptist used when John the Baptist told people to turn away from crookedness to the straight ways of Christ, but elimus is calling people away from Christ to crooked ways.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

Now, what Paul says, if you read it, that's kind of harsh, right?

Paul, I mean, I don't know if I would say that maybe, like, can't you find some common ground first?

But note here, it tells us that Saul is filled with the Holy Spirit, as he's saying it, he's speaking the truth in love.

Here, Elymas is trying to make himself great. But also here note the change of Saul to Paul.

Why here is Saul then started to call Paul because Paul means small, humble, and you see the disposition elimus Trying to make himself great and God like Christ like But Paul humbling himself small. He's trying to elevate Christ. It's about Christ. It's not about us. He's defending Christ here, Paul, we value all people who are made in the image of God and but we shouldn't tolerate anything that seeks to take away the glory of Christ. If we do that, it's not kindness, it's cowardice, and we need boldness today, not rudeness or vulgarity, but we do need courage. We need to remember that there is a hell, and each day people are drawing closer to it.

We have to love our neighbor enough to say, No, Christ alone.

Christ alone, Christ alone, in verse 11, And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you. Remember, we've looked at the hand of the Lord the power of God, and we've seen this contrast always between the hand of the Lord versus the hand of Herod and the hand of others and the hand of the Lord always triumphs. But here we see again the hand of the Lord in His power. And you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time, and immediately, mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. You know, Jesus made the blind see. But here we see the false Jesus is made blind that judgment falls upon him, this temporarily, this temporary blindness is a picture of the internal reality of his heart.

And all that's all Jesus's miracles were that the physical realities were a picture of what was happening internally. And.

Now he's made to not see, to show them the reality of his heart, that internally he is blind to the things of God.

And he goes and gropes around in darkness, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. And then, in verse 12, then the pro Council believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. The Pro council was not converted by the miracle. It gets his attention, but it's the word of God that pierced through the darkness and makes this pro Council see. And so that's that's how the text ends, that one man is made blind, but the other who actually can see by faith, the true and living God.

God's mission will not fail. No opposition can thwart it, not Herod, not elimus can stop it.

From Jerusalem to Antioch here to Tampa, Jesus is continuing his mission, seeking and saving the lost, and he calls you and me to be part of that mission.

The road will not be always comfortable, but God is with us, and His Spirit empowers powers us, and His word sustains us.

And how will you respond to His calling in your life, not only to believe, but also to be His witnesses. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, put your faith in him. Know that you will meet the true and living God, but also as believers, stir in your heart to remember Christ and open up your mouth to share the truths of God's Word. Let's pray, Father, we thank you for giving us your word, and Lord, we pray that you will give us great faith, sustain us, give us boldness, help us to not grasp the things of this world, to remember that the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life is not from the Father, but it's from the world.

But those things of the world are passing away, along with its desires, Father, I pray that you will help us to look to you, to love what you love, to hate what you hate. Give us a holy boldness to speak the truth.

Be merciful to your people. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.