Thorburn-Sutherland's River Pastoral Charge

Your Word, O God, comes to us in the translation of ancient scripture. Send your Holy Spirit to open our minds with understanding and our hearts with wisdom in the name of Jesus Christ, your Living Word.  Amen.

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve been on our journey through the book of Acts, in fact I checked, and we left off on the 20th of November as the Advent Season began on the 27th and then after that were the Christmas and New Year’s services. But now it’s time to pick up the traces and start our trek once again. This portion of the Bible written by the physician Luke can help us learn a lot from God’s word and can help us see one of God’s promises in the Old Testament come to life in the birth of Jesus.

So first, let’s do a quick refresher on where we were on that Sunday back in November. We had left the Apostle Paul and his fellow missionary, Barnabas, in the town of Antioch which was located in modern day Turkey. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, they had been on the island of Cyprus, bringing the gospel message to the people who lived there. After gaining many converts, including the governor of the island, the Holy Spirit then directed them to go to Antioch.

Upon their arrival, Paul and Barnabas had gone to the local synagogue and were invited by the leaders to tell the people what they had to say about Jesus as being the promised Messiah for mankind. This was a decision those rulers were soon to regret, for as the Apostle Luke, the author of the book of Acts, writes, “As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.” (Acts 13:42-43) Thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit many of the congregation in the synagogue that day came to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

And this leads us to today’s lesson from that same thirteenth chapter of Acts which opened with these words of Luke, “The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.”  The crowds, and the converts, were building up and more and more people were learning about Jesus and salvation.

And that’s when the rulers of the synagogue started regretting these words of theirs from the sabbath before, “After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, ‘Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.’” (Acts 13:15) And their regrets resulted in fits of jealousy, Luke tells us, “But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.”

And isn’t that human nature, we often hate to see anyone else succeeding. What’s interesting in the case of those Jewish leaders is that it wasn’t the message that Paul was preaching which bothered them, rather it was the fact that so many people were coming to the synagogue to hear him. Here Paul was proclaiming that this carpenter from Nazareth, Jesus Christ, was the Son of God and the Messiah for Israel, but that’s not what filled them with envy, rather it was the size of the crowds and their reaction to his message that was bothering them. No doubt, just like today, they had trouble getting people out to worship on the Sabbath, and here were these strangers who came into town out of the blue and the place was packed! Those Jewish leaders could feel their influence slipping away and they feared obscurity. They feared irrelevance. They feared becoming yesterday’s news.

So, instead of listening to what the disciples were saying to find out for themselves what all the fuss was about, they became jealous and allowed the green-eyed monster to take over. As a matter of interest, that expression, “green-eyed monster”, was coined by Shakespeare in his play Othello. He wrote these words, “‘O beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.’”

And so, “when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.” But their threats and slander didn’t deter Paul, he replied, “‘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.’” Since they weren’t going to have a change of heart and accept Jesus as the Messiah for Israel then Paul was going to bring the message to the rest of the world, being the Gentiles. What a change of character for the man who once said of himself, “(I am) of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6) What a change God can make in a person’s heart, if only we would allow him to do so!

After telling those Jewish leaders that he was going to bring the message of salvation to the Gentiles, Paul then continued on to quote from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Isaiah 49:6) These were the same words which Simeon said in the Temple in Jerusalem when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus in to dedicate him to the Lord.

Simeon was an old man who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. The day that Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple he took the baby Jesus in his arms and said, “‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.’” (Luke 2:29-32) From the beginning of time it has been God’s plan that forgiveness of sin and life eternal be offered to all mankind through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus.

And in Antioch that day, this was the reaction of the crowds to those words of Paul, “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. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.” In those lines lie these nine words, “and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” From these words of Paul come the doctrine of predestination which states that God, prior to his creation of the world, predestined some people to receive salvation, while the rest would be left to continue in their sins.

And despite the best efforts of the synagogue rulers to thwart Paul and Barnabas, Luke tells us that “And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.” So, in a last-ditch effort we’re told that “But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.” But this didn’t discourage Paul and Barnabas, they had completed their work in Antioch and so moved on to the town of Iconium, also located in modern day Turkey.

But before departing Luke says, “…they shook the dust from their feet against them.” This is what Jesus had told the disciples to do when he had sent them out on a missionary journey to the towns and villages of Israel, he said, “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.” (Matthew 10:14) So, instead of getting jealous and striking back, Paul and Barnabas trusted that the Lord had a plan for them and the believers in Antioch, and they went their way to another city. And they went with their joy intact! They didn’t allow jealousy to settle in. They simply trusted the Lord to continue his work there.

And that’s the lesson for us today, to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. To trust is to have faith in God, but it’s even more than that. It means to put your stock in God. To believe with full confidence in the Lord and his resources. You lean on him, believe in him, and live for his glory. Before you put your hands to a task, ask God for guidance, for strength, and for success. Place all your plans, pursuits, goals, dreams, and hopes for the new year at his feet and request his blessing before you even begin. Trust that he will bring you where you need to be.

Let us Pray:

Heavenly Father, may we surrender all our fears and anxieties to you completely. Lord, we believe that you are sovereign over absolutely everything, all is in your merciful hands. Help us to trust you more and to pray for your guidance in all our endeavors. We believe that you alone make all things new. Steady our trust in you so that it never wavers, no matter what trials we face on this earth. Amen.