Recall the last time you had a conversation with someone pouring their heart out to you seeking answers to their life, wanting to know why it is we are here? Do you know how to go deeper with them? Maybe for someone here you’re asking those very questions yourself. How are we at handling those conversations? Sometimes I’ve been asked about what is it like to follow Jesus? Sometimes I’m asked How does being a Christian make sense? How does following Jesus point me to a better world Given the mess our current world is in? Why should Jesus matter for me? Ave you experienced that as well? It is encouraging to come across someone looking for answers. Seeking the truth, trying to make sense of the spiritual reality of life. In his book “Beyond Belief” Hugh Mackay says that globally, religion is on the rise. Hugh himself is not a Christian, he makes this observation.
“in the very countries where the most vigorous attempts have been made to stamp our religion – Russia under Stalin, India under Nehru and China under Mao Zedong - there has been a massive subsequent upswing in religious interest and observance.”[1]
This is where we come face to face with the unstoppable gospel today. It is a gospel we take away with us where ever we go. A gospel that isn’t just a message of hope. Our gospel is an introduction to Jesus himself, who is able to transform lives, forgive sins. This is where we find ourselves this morning in Acts 13 s we read in verse 1-2 of Acts 13
1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 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."
After Peter’s miraculous escape from prison Acts now puts the spot light on what occurs through Paul’s missionary journey’s. We find the gospel is taken away with us where ever we go. Here Saul & Barnabas return to Antioch from Jerusalem. Barnabas we recall is the one when Saul was confronted with Jesus on that dusty Damascus Road and how Saul’s blindness and healing & baptism by Ananias are a testimony to the transforming grace of Jesus. Barnabas brings Saul to Jerusalem showing the apostles the genuineness of his belief in Christ. Barnabas again turns up alongside Saul meeting with the saints at Antioch looking to God for direction. Notice how they fast & pray, they put a priority on prayer as they seek to know God’s will. They were seeking God for direction
as the Holy Spirit speaks to those assembled with the message
they set apart Saul & Barnabas to proclaim the Good News about Jesus. The hands of those assembled placed upon them prayed for they’re sent. It is like the words of the great commission are being re-echoed from Matthew 28:18ff Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Saul & Barnabas begin a missionary journey that takes them to Cyprus & Pisidian Antioch & Iconium before their returning to Antioch via Syria. The gospel moves beyond the fringe now we go into the heartland of the Gentiles sharing the Good News.
The question is what is it we have been most recently praying for? What took the premier place of our last prayer? Do we pray that we would look more and more like Jesus. Are we learning how to look more and more to Jesus? Have we been praying for courage to know how to speak about Jesus and the Good News with a neighbor or a family member?
Praying for one another, do we pray for the encouragement of one another, as we step through our daily lives? If you had only one or two words to sum up what you’ve been praying the most about, what would that be? How we go at our relationships with other people gives us an accurate read on our relationship with God. We have such an expansive gospel that is Good News and a light of salvation that reaches into the darkest and meanest places of our lives with forgiveness and mercy
Jesus transforms lives; like the church at Antioch is part of what we pray about each day for our part in sharing the gospel? As we continue to see the power of the Gospel, where Jesus overcomes even the most determined opposition with grace, we soon see Paul & Barnabas sail onto Cyprus making their way to the heart of the island to Paphos, a port town. Sergius Paulos was the Roman proconsul who ruled Cyprus
He had standing in the Roman Empire. In Paphos we come across a Jewish sorcerer called Bar-Jesus or Elymas, and Elymas had the ear of the proconsul. He would have been consulted in some of the important decisions the proconsul made. The Proconsul was a man who was interested in spiritual things he was seeking his answer however from the wrong sources. Sergius Paulus the Proconsul is so taken by the reports he hears about Paul & Barnabas he sends for them a meeting that will display the power of the resurrected Jesus to bind those who stand in the way of the gospel. As we read in verse 7-8
The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.
What transpires is pretty clear, this man who called himself Bar-Jesus
(his name literally means “son of Jesus”) is a man who is anything but a follower of Christ Jesus. Elymas the sorcerer tries to regain his influence with the proconsul. We are reminded that opposition is real, and we are our need is to be able to see God is there right in the middle of the heat of our struggle. Opposition comes how do we find our feet planted in seeing Jesus as enough when it does? Because of his opposition Paul ends up speaking to him this way.
10 "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun."
We don’t ordinarily see God intervene in this way in response to direct opposition. Paul prays for God to show mightily his power to intervene in the course of history and time the reason why Paul can do this we find out in verse 9
- Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said,
This is all a work of God’s doing not Paul. We all call this an extraordinary event. There is alsosomething else here we normally skip over. It is a significant step in the story of Acts itself in verse 9 at the start Saul is now called Paul as he remains being called that through the rest of Acts, and you might be wondering if Paul has all of sudden got himself a new name?
Paul starts using is his Roman name, Saul is his Jewish name. Here in the story of the church, the name change to Paul, is also the shift of the gospel being brought directly to the Gentiles. It is as if Luke’s clueing us up on what’s to follow the gospel goes out directly to all nations, the Good News about Jesus is for everyone to hear. Jesus calls us to go deeper and to be willing to open up our lives with the truth of how God is at work in us. We are to be looking to Jesus to continue that work of changing us, humbling us, helping us to speak about the ways in which Jesus is changing us to become more like him. We continue to see the purpose of God to reach beyond the fringe proclaiming his grace, love and forgiveness. It is where we step into that bigger story of someone’s life and Acts calls on us to rejoice in every evidence of God’s grace at work in the conversations I’m having with people. As we see we don’t often know where that conversation will lead to. The question is as we drill down into today’s passage do we seek to be a growing community? We are called to pray for one another and for our community and to pray for growth in our personal walk with Jesus. We can pray for our conversations as we go about our ordinary life and keep pointing to Jesus and be strengthened by him.
Let’s pray…
David Hassan @ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 14/5/17
[1] Mackay, Hugh Beyond Belief. NSW Australia: Macmillan 2016 p3,4