acts 13:13-13:52

john mark bails

13. Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

evidentally this isn't a good breakup - there isn't any comment here, but there is in acts 15:36-40

36. After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are."
37. Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also.
38. But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
39. And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.
40. But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.

why did john mark split?

we don't have any idea - luke doesn't dig into the issue.
he's not done though...there will be some more conflict related to john mark in chapter 15 (though the story ultimately ends well).

paul preaches in pisidian antioch

synagogue service:

14. But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
15. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, "Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it."

pisidian antioch?

there were a lot of antiochs.
this is the antioch in pisidia, part of south central turkey.

paul enters the town and heads for the synagogue to talk to the jews and believing gentiles.

word of exhortation?:

basically a sermon; this was usually given with the reading of scripture...
in this case, paul/barnabus are asked if they have anything to share.
(not sure if that was normal, or if it was due to paul/barnabus' education, etc...

torah and prophets:

at a service, the reading would normally include both torah (law) and the prophets.
note that the historical books are considered part of the prophets...
paul's sermon follows that same outline.

paul's sermon:

paul stands up...motions that he's gonna speak, and delivers a sermon rather like the other sermons you've heard so far in acts (he's talking to people who believe the old testament).
paul sets the backdrop for messiah (v17-22)

16. Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:
17. "The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.
18. "For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness.
19. "When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance--all of which took about four hundred and fifty years.
20. "After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
21. "Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
22. "After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, `I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.'

paul covers the abraham - david...and quickly transitions to jesus.
he has now mentioned the two major prophecies to israel ...

progress of redemption people might recognize what paul has done so far.
1. promise to abraham (paul reminds them indirectly that god choose israel...[to be a blessing to the earth])
2. promise to david (paul reminds them indirectly of the promises to david [that he would rule forever])

1. Jesus is the descendent of David (v23)

jesus is the messiah (appeal to immediate history) (v23 - 31)

23. "From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,
24. after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
25. "And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, `What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'
26. "Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.
27. "For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.
28. "And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.
29. "When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.
30. "But God raised Him from the dead;
31. and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.

1. jesus is a descendent of david (v23)
2. john (whom he seems to assume they've heard of) predicted christ (v24,25)

paul seems to be referring to prophecy they may be familiar with.
he definitely assumes they are familiar with john...and thus his prophecy.

3. jesus history...murdered by evil men, raised by god, appeared to his witnesses.

jesus is the messiah (argument from prophecy) (v32 - 41)

32. "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers,
33. that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, `YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.'
34. "As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: `I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.'
35. "Therefore He also says in another Psalm, `YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.'
36. "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;
37. but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.
38. "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
39. and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.
40. "Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:
41. `BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.' "

1. psalm 2 - "you are my son; today i have begotten you"

jews understood many of the 'royal' psalms to refer to david but also more fully to messiah his descendent.
peter also quoted acts 2 in acts 4, heb 1 and 5 quote this verse of ps 2.

paul asserts that jesus' resurrection fulfills this moment of glorification.

2. paul quotes isaiah 55:3 - "i will give you the holy and sure blessings of david"

this is a little tricky to follow...
bock summarizes says that paul makes "the point that the resurrection was the means by which god distributed the promised blessings that were given to david for the people".

i follow it as paul referencing that the promises to israel are centered around the promises to david and messiah. in other words, god's people should be looking to receive their blessing through messiah, david's descendent, and seeing what is prophecied of david.

3. paul quotes ps 16:10 - "you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay"

we encoutered this from peter in acts 2...
this is another royal psalm...we've already seen it applied by peter as fulfilled by the resurrection of christ. paul follows the same argument.

4. jesus provides 'forgiveness of sins'

he doesn't specifically reference any verses for this, but the removal of sin was a huge piece of god's plans for his people (ezekiel, jer, isaiah, etc)

5. paul warns his listeners not to ignore god...(v40,41)

paul reminds his listeners that not responding to god's plans means judgement (per the prophets)
he then also quotes hab 1:5, in which god tells habbakkuk that he will be doing somethign unexpected (with babylon). paul seems to quote it to remind his audience that god will often do things unexpected (yet prophesied)....we talked about this a few weeks ago (god catches his people by surprise).

the gentiles respond to the gospel, the jews persecute paul (v42-52)

42. As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath.
43. Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.
44. The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord.
45. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.
46. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.
47. "For so the Lord has commanded us, `I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.' "
48. When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
49. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.
50. But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
51. But they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.
52. And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

1. the crowd goes wild!

2. the jews get jealous and contradict paul

3. paul/barnabus turn to the gentiles

quoting isaiah 49:6 about god's servant (n.t. interprets as christ, see luke 2:32)
interestingly, paul is stating that he (as part of the church) is part of christ's ministry.

4. the jews have them kicked out

5. paul and barnabus ditch...and stay joyful.

your family will fail you

acts has quite a few heroes...
it also has quite a few failures.

1. failure exists

even in the church failure exists.
your friends will let you down, your elders will let you down...everyone will fail you at least a little.

2. we should have enough expectation of it that we are able to handle t.

don't expect otherwise.
you should be prepared to handle other people's sin and failure with kindness and grace.

remember the good news of the gospel

we've read quite a number of sermons about christ in acts.
we've discussed the nature of the gospel each time

reality of sin and judgement,
and the offer of salvation through repentence/faith in christ, the

a few reminders for us:

1. we believers were once dead in our sin
2. we were purchased by the death of jesus christ because of his love
3. our lives are not our own; we are now part of christ's body.
4. knowing that christ wants the gospel to spread, we should proclaim him faithfull.

i don't want to take this to far, but i do want to have us acknowledge the personal signficance of our salvation when it occurs.

giving and receiving rejection

intro:

not everything about this sermon and situation applies:

we don't have a synagogue to preach in...
our audience probably hasn't already bought into the truth of the old testament, and won't understand a mass of prophecy with a single reference to a verse in isaiah.
but there are definitely some applicable things here

it is notable that many do respond to the gospel

i want to mostly talk about the negative reaction...but first we need to acknowledge that there were many who did respond to the gospel.
matt 9:37,38

the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. therefore beseech the lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

the gentiles, the outsiders, those the least a part of god's people are the ones who most readily take to the message of christ.

1. the gospel was rejected by the jews in antioch.

paul started with the synagogue; the jews were "filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by paul."

2. rejection of god's communication to man is biblically normal.

the prophets were rejected

many old testament prophets were rejected (isaiah's call even includes a bit where god tells him "judah won't listen to you"; jeremiah, ezekiel, and most of the rest had the same experience of rejection.
even moses, who lead israel out of egypt, wasn't immune. they tried to stone him.

christ was rejected, and even says "narrow is the way and few are they that find it. but broad is the way that leads to destruction." (matt 7:14)
paul's sermon references the prophecy that christ would be rejected...

3. rejection of god's communication to man means no eternal life.

paul's response to the jews contradictions to the gospel is to say that they "judge themselves unworthy of eternal life"
they are responsible for their choices of rejection and will be bear the consequences.

that is a really big deal...uncomfortably large stakes.

4. paul and barnabus rejected the rejectors

they took their ball and went home (shook the dust off their feet and moved on)
there are actually two rejections here:

- first of the jews (we're going to the gentiles)
- second of the town (skake the dust, we're going to the next place.

please note that they did not seek to placate their enemies, nor did they seek to quiet down to remain in the community.

what should we do?

- expect rejection

- look for those who don't reject the gospel

- be willing to shake the dust off your feet and move on

i do believe that there is a time to be patient with someone.
but there is also a time to walk away and to stop proclaiming the gospel to someone who doesn't want it.

- do not feel that it is up to you to save someone.
- do feel obligated to spread the gospel effectively; look for those who respond to it.

why is this hard?

i think its because we feel responsible.
please don't. remember that people make their own choices; you can't do that for them.

you can pray for people, you can share the gospel with them, and you can love them.
but try to spend those efforts on groups who respond to it.