WEEK 7 What A Long Strange Trip It s Been Acts 13-16 What a long strange trip it s been o Being a Christian can be a strange experience Full of twists and turns, and ups and downs Complete with unexpected events and unpredictable outcomes It doesn t come with a road map 1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of 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. 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Acts 13 1-3 ESV o The calling of God doesn t come with directions They were called, but were given no specifics: Where, how long, to whom Similar to the call of Abraham (Genesis 12:1) They were set apart for the work of God They were sent to do the will of God - Were they effective? - Did they accomplish their calling? - Will you? And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. Acts 13:49 ESV When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples Acts 14:21 ESV So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. Acts 16:5 ESV Their calling was effective - The Holy Spirit was active and moving - But how did it happen? - Through a series of strange and unexpected events 2018 Momentum A Ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX
An unexpected confrontation 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 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. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. Acts 13:4-7 ESV o Bar-Jesus An apostate Jew A false prophet A magician An advisor to the Roman proconsul - He was providing false advice - He was dispensing demonic counsel - He was refuting the gospel - He was misleading the governor 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, You 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? 11 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. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Acts 13:8-12 ESV God proved Paul to be a true prophet But it required a confrontation with falsehood Your calling require confrontation - Like lights in the darkness that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Philippians 2:15 ESV Clarification through rejection o Paul and Barnabas travel to Antioch in Syria o They would take their message to the Jews in the synagogue 13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. Acts 13:13-14 ESV 2018 Momentum A Ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX
o The Jews would reject their message o They turned against Paul and Barnabas o So Paul and Barnabas turned their attention to the Gentiles 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. 48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. Acts 13:46-49 ESV o They were receiving clarity of calling o They were getting directions on the fly o God doesn t always who us everything up front o He gives us just enough light to take the next step of faith An unexpected response 8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. Acts 14:8 ESV o We ve seen this before Acts 3:1-10 In Peter s case, the people responded with wonder and amazement The Jews responded by throwing Peter into jail o Paul and Barnabas encountered something altogether different 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men! 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. Acts 14:11-13 ESV o A case of mistaken identity and misplaced worship 15 Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. Acts 14:15 ESV Following your calling can be misinterpreted by others Keep their attention focused on God The gospel is always the main point o From hurling accolades to throwing stones 2018 Momentum A Ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX
19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. Acts 14:19 ESV The Jews followed Paul everywhere They were out to destroy he and his message But Paul had grown accustomed to the fact that calling comes with conflict Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 1 Corinthians 11:24-28 ESV Paul was a protected by God But that didn t mean he was immune to pain and suffering 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Acts 14:20-22 ESV God had not abandoned Paul God was actually preparing him God was fulfilling the promise Jesus had made to him But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. Acts 9:15-16 ESV Called to protect the gospel 27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they remained no little time with the disciples. Acts 14:27-28 ESV o Paul and Barnabas were following their calling o They were making an impact o But they would also face opposition o And it all had to do with the integrity of the gospel 2018 Momentum A Ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX
15 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. Acts 15:1-2 ESV o You cannot be saved! Salvation is the crux of it all If you get this wrong, your calling doesn t really matter In fact, you have NO CALLING o Fast-forward to chapter 16 A question is raised It is the most important question any person can ever ask 30 Then he brought them outside and asked, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 They replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. Acts 16:30-31 ESV Paul s answer is simple and straightforward: BELIEVE - But what does that even mean? - Believe in what? - Paul and Barnabas would not tolerate any other gospel - The Jews were offering Jesus + something - For Paul and Barnabas it was Jesus + nothing - By grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! 2018 Momentum A Ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, TX
HOMEWORK WEEK 8: THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD Acts 17-20 Read through Acts 17-20, looking for any and all verses, words or phrases that jump out at you. Consider what events or circumstances are significant in these chapters. Use the space below to record your thoughts: Go back and read Acts 15:22-35. How did Paul get to know Silas and what does this passage tell us about him? Now read Acts 15:36-41. How did Silas end up on Paul s missionary team? Back in chapter 16, we saw Timothy join Paul s missionary team. Look back at verses 1-5 and write down what they tell you about Timothy. 2018 Momentum A Ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, Texas
Read the following verses and describe what they tell us about Paul s evangelistic strategy: Acts 17:1-3 Acts 17:10-13 Acts 17:16-17 Why do you think Paul made it a habit to make the local Jewish synagogue his first stop in every town he went to? Read Paul s address to the people of Athens found in Acts 17:31. What are the key points that Paul is trying to make to these unbelieving Greek s? What techniques can we glean from Paul s methodology that we might use in sharing the gospel in our day? Read 1 Peter 2:11-12 and 1 Peter 3:13-17. What does Peter teach us in these verses and how do you see this lived out by Paul as he ministered among the Gentiles? Read Acts 20:26-32. This is Paul s address to the elders of the church in the city of Ephesus, but what can we learn from what he has to say to them? Take some time to read the attached article, called, The Missionary Challenge of Paul s Life by John Piper. 2018 Momentum A Ministry of Christ Chapel Bible Church, Fort Worth, Texas
The Missionary Challenge of Paul s Life. By John Piper I would like to direct your attention to the word of God in Paul's missionary letter to the Romans (15:7-24). And within this text you may want to alert yourself as we read to three things: the model, the mission and the miracle of Paul's life as a missionary. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Again, it says, And again, For this reason, I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name. Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples. And again, Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him. May the God of hope fill you with great joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclainming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully
proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written: Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand. This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Romans 15:7-24 1. The Model of Paul's Missionary Life First let's notice the model for Paul's life as a missionary. His model was the mission of Christ described in verses 8 and 9. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. The Son of God became a Jewish servant to the Jewish people in order to confirm God's promises made to the Jewish patriarch Abraham. And that has been a great offense to the world. But since one of the promises made to Abraham was, "By you shall all the families of the earth shall be blessed," (Genesis 12:3), therefore, Paul goes on to say in verse 9 that the ultimate purpose of Christ's mission to the Jews was "that the Gentiles (or nations) might glorify God for his mercy." Paul considers this ultimate purpose so crucial that he engages in a kind of exegetical overkill by citing four proof texts from the Old Testament to prove that God's purpose is to be glorified among all the gentiles or peoples. In verse 9 he quotes Psalm 18:50 "I will praise you among the Gentiles." In verse 10 he quotes Deuteronomy 32:43 "Rejoice, O Gentiles with his people." In verse 11 he quotes Psalm 117:1 "Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples." Here the parallel between "Gentiles" (GOIM) and "peoples" (ha'umim) shows that nations or tribes or families are in view not just individual non-jews. (Note the similar parallel in the next verse between "Gentiles" and "nations" (`amim). And in verse 12 he quotes Isaiah 11:10 "The root of Jessie will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."
So, what is clear from this piling up of proof texts is that Paul wanted to say: the mission of Jesus Christ was to reach all the nations, all the peoples--for the glory of God. It is not a merely Jewish phenomenon. God aims to be glorified for his mercy from all the peoples. That is why his Son ransomed men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). So, Christ is the model of Paul's life as a missionary. He simply picks up where Jesus left off to the Jew first, but ultimately to the Gentiles, that all the peoples might glorify God for his mercy. 2. The Mission of Paul's Life as a Missionary. Paul was so gripped by the purpose of Christ to get glory for God from all the nations that it was the passion of his life to always be on the frontiers moving out to those nations. You can see this in three amazing statements in this text. 2.1 One is the statement in verse 20 "I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named." Paul's life was dominated by a great ambition. Is yours? Do you just drift from day to day trying to get assignments done with no coherent driving vision of your future? Paul was driven with godly ambition. You see it in the second amazing statement: 2.2 Verse 24: "I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain." To Spain? How did he even know there was such a place as Spain? without TV or radio or National Geographic or jets! My guess is that every time he got on a boat he asked the seasoned sailors, "How far west have you been? What are the people like? How long does it take to get there? What supplies would I need? Are they religious?" And the sailors told him about the end of the world Spain. And his ambition drove him westward for the glory of God. 2.3 But what about all the unbelievers still in Judea and Samaria and Syria and Asia and Macedonia and Achaia? That leads to the third amazing statement at the end of verse 19 "So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ." This is astounding! From Jerusalem in southern Palestine to the land that connects northern Greece and northern Italy Paul has preached in such a way that he can say, "I'm finished. My work is done." Verse 23: "There is no more place for me to work in these regions." My missionary task is complete. In less than 25 years the work of frontier missions in the entire eastern Mediterranean was finished. O, of course, there were thousands yet to be won to Christ in that area. But it is not the job of frontier missions to win everybody to Christ. That is not the Great Commission, and that is not the task of frontier missions. It is the task of domestic ministries, the job of indigenous churches. The danger facing every mission agency is that it might penetrate an unreached people and then simply work there for 25 or 50 years and call it missions because it is church work in another culture. But I want to plead with you this morning to consider for your life the ambition
of the Apostle Paul. Could it be that there are many among you (or perhaps seven: The Bethel Seven) whom God is calling to pick up where Paul left off and make it your aim and your passion to go where the gospel has not yet taken root? In 1906 James Fraser was studying engineering at Imperial College in London. Later he became a legend as "Fraser of Lisuland" because of his frontier evangelism and church planting in the Yunnan Provence of China. The turning point of his life was in college when he read a twopenny pamphlet with these two sentences, If our Master returned today to find millions of people un-evangelized, and looked, as of course He would look, to us for an explanation, I cannot imagine what explanation we should have to give. Of one thing I am certain that most of the excuses we are accustomed to make with such good conscience now, we shall be wholly ashamed of then. He was never able to escape the power of these sentences. And God gave him a holy ambition. A few years ago, when I had to preach my first missions sermon at Bethlehem I took the yellow pages of the Minneapolis and St. Paul phone books and counted the number of churches in the Twin Cities. There are more churches in the Twin Cities than there are North American Protestant missionaries to the 1.9 billion people that make up 10,000 Muslim, Hindu, Chinese, and Buddhist unreached people groups. Let me say that again: there are 1.9 billion people in 10,000 unreached people groups served by about 700 North American Protestant missionaries. But there are more CHURCHES in the Twin Cities than that. I could only think of one explanation for this state of affairs: disobedience. What would we say to the Master who commanded us 2000 years ago to make disciples of those l0,000 peoples? It was a personal crisis for me like it was for Fraser. And I told my congregation that I would have to resign and engage more directly on the frontiers unless I could be convinced that by my staying on as pastor of Bethlehem more could be done for the cause of frontier missions than if I were to go myself. How else could I stay in a place where there were 800 churches evangelizing just two million people, and these already reached by any mission standard? Frankly I don't think the crisis is over in my life. And I hope it isn't over in yours. God intends for there to be missionaries like Paul whose passion even at the end of his life is not retirement but Spain! God is calling some of you to look at your homeland and say with the apostle Paul, "I have no room for work in these regions." 3. The Miracle of Paul's Missionary Life. If you say that, and live that for the next forty years, it will be a miracle. What I mean is that there is nothing in you by nature that would give you the perseverance to abandon wealth and comfort and family and security and the at-homeness of your own culture for forty years to live out the gospel in a hard place with no applause. It is not in you. It is a miracle a supernatural gift of God. Just like it was for Paul.
This is the meaning of verse 18. He says of his missionary work, "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me..." In 1 Corinthians 15:10 he says, "I worked harder than all of them yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." In 2 Corinthians 3:5 he says, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God." In other words, Paul's missionary labor was not his own; it was God's labor. His missionary life was a miracle, a supernatural gift of God. It was as though Paul had died and Christ had taken over his ministry. If you think you have it in you to be a frontier missionary, you are disqualified. The only people who will bear fruit for God are people who know they can't. "I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do NOTHING" (John 15:5). I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20) If you were to ask Paul, "Well, if it is Christ that accomplishes everything in your missionary life and gets all the glory, what do you do?" he would answer, "I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I trust his sovereign grace to conquer the greed and fear and vanity of my heart. I trust his sovereign grace to give me hope when I am depressed and friendship when I am lonely and spiritual power in the face of satanic forces and words of truth and wisdom when I need to preach. I trust his sovereign grace to give me love when I am hated and peace when I am surrounded by turmoil and perseverance when I feel like quitting and want to go home. And I trust him to give me just enough health and protection to do the work he called me to do, as long as he has called me to do it, and just enough sickness and danger to keep me deep and earnest and real in my prayers. When you step out in faith like this on the way to the frontiers, it is not you who step but Jesus Christ. And forty years from now when you write your last missionary letter you will know exactly why Paul said, "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me--to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringgod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. By John Piper. Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringgod.org