The Acts of the Apostles 52

Subtitle: The Gospel Spreads from Antioch

We apologize that the audio for this sermon is not available.

Acts 13:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 20, 2023.

As we share the Gospel with people, we will have a variety of responses.  Some will be disinterested.  Others will show interest and may or may not believe.  However, some will not be content to ignore believers.  They may actively work against the Gospel, or even persecute us.

Of course, we cannot control how people are going to respond, and we shouldn't want to do so. Yet, we can make sure that we are a person that is filled with the Holy Spirit and led by God in sharing the Gospel.  This takes time spent in prayer, fasting and seeking God for direction.

Let's look at our passage.

Consecrated to the Lord's ministry (v. 1-4a)

Verse 2 states that there are a group of prophet-teachers who "ministered" unto the Lord at a particular time in Antioch.  The word "ministered" here is also used of priests who serve in the temple.  It can basically point to the things that we do in order to serve the purposes of Jesus.  However, this is more specific than all of the things they could be doing like preaching, and witnessing.  It appears that they are intentionally gathered in prayer and worship of God, perhaps seeking His will regarding something.

The five men who are listed here would not be all of those in Antioch who were prophet-teachers, but they may have represented the ones that were considered the most mature in the Lord.

The Apostle Barnabas is listed first.  When he was first introduced in Acts 4:36, we saw that he was originally from the Island of Cyprus. 

Then, we have Simeon called "Niger."  Niger is Latin for the word black.  It seems most likely that he is of African descent.  Some connect this Simeon with the Simon from Cyrene who was forced to help carry the cross of Jesus (Matthew 27:32).  The name is the same, just a different spelling. 

The third man listed is Lucius of Cyrene.  Nothing else is said of him. 

Fourthly, we have a man named Manaen who was raised with Herod the Tetrarch.  Herod the Tetrarch was the one who married his half-brother's wife, which was condemned by John the Baptist.  He eventually had John's head cut-off to satisfy the anger of his wife.  He also is the Herod that Pilate sent Jesus to during his interrogation of him. 

I would just insert that there is a world of difference between these men who were raised as boys together.  One was an immoral ruler who executed a righteous prophet, and the other (Manaen) is a Jew who has put his faith in Jesus, is filled with the Holy Spirit and is used as a prophet-teacher within the church of Antioch.  You never know where people's choices will take them, whether because of their raising, or regardless of it.

Lastly, Saul of Tarsus is listed.  I believe Luke has listed him last on purpose because this chapter is a pivotal point  in the book of Acts.  From here on, we will see Saul become known as Paul, and the emphasis will become more and more about what God did through the Apostle Paul.

This is quite a list of men who were in the church at Antioch.  God will always be faithful to bring to a church others bearing gifts from Him to help them grow spiritually and in numbers.  Yet, these men grew in the Lord somewhere.  Thus, many in Antioch, who benefitted from the Lord's Spirit in these men, would also be gifted by God to serve His Church.

It is not clear if only these five are praying, or if they are meeting as a church.  Regardless, they are praying, fasting, and seeking God.  In this environment, a word from the Holy Spirit is given.  It is not said who shares this word, but I would guess it is not Barnabas and Saul, since the word is about them.

The Holy Spirit mentions that God is calling Barnabas and Saul to a particular work.  We do know that Saul was told at his conversion that he would "bear My Name[Jesus]" before kings, gentiles, and the children of Israel.  In short, they will become apostolic missionaries.

You will not find the word "missionaries" in the New Testament, but you do find the word mission.  For our purposes, I would describe a missionary as someone who purposefully goes into other cultural areas in order to start and to establish new groups of believers in Jesus.

Of course, we are all called to share the Gospel with others, but the Church had not developed the mentality, at that point, of purposefully going into new areas in order to start churches.   It is the Holy Spirit, God Himself, that stirs up this concept within the church at Antioch.  Whether you are called to share the Gospel generally wherever you are, or God specifically calls you to go to certain places, we should remember that everything we do is to be unto the Lord, for Him.  We should all be filled with God's Spirit and being a witness of Jesus to the world around us.  This should be a matter of prayer for all of us.

The Spirit tells the group to "separate" Barnabas and Saul for the work.  God had a holy work for them that was unique compared to the rest of the group.  Thus, they were to be set apart, consecrated, for this particular work.  All of us have a holy calling on our life as servants of the Lord.  Yet, God has a specific calling upon these two that is going to take them out of the group and into the Gentile lands beyond.  Thus, we do see a distinction in the New Testament between those who lived holy lives and witnessed to the world around them where they were at, and those whom God sent on the road in order to expand the extent of those who had heard about Jesus.

Those who are staying put are to help in the sending of those who are going out.  In a sense, this church in Antioch would be giving them to the work of the Lord.  This is a spiritual sacrifice, but also a spiritual offering.  Thus, the calling of people to ministry has a personal aspect to it, and yet, it also has a group aspect to it.  Churches need to hear from the Spirit and come alongside those that the Spirit is calling into missions, whether to cultural groups within America, or around the world.  This is primarily spiritual.  We pray for them; we fast for them, and we even lay hands upon them as we pray.  This pictures the church participating in the commissioning of these men.  Yet, it is also material.  They will need supplies, and funds to be on the road.  The calling is of God, but it is fulfilled by Barnabas, Saul, and the Antioch church stepping forth and exercising their faith in the leadership of Jesus.

The Gospel goes to the island of Cyprus (v. 4-12)

After praying for Barnabas and Saul, they help to see them off on this missionary journey.  It will become the first official missionary journey, and is often called Paul's First Missionary Journey.  You may want to pull up a map.  Antioch is 20 miles inland on a river, so they travel down to the Mediterranean Sea to a town called Seleucia.  From there, they sail to Cyprus, landing at a coastal town called Salamis.  These men contain a precious message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it has now reached Cyprus.

Why did they go to Cyprus?  It was close, that is for sure, but so were other places.  Barnabas is from Cyprus, and so he may have wanted to share with his homeland.  Regardless, Luke depicts throughout the book of the Acts of the Apostles that the Holy Spirit is really the one who is leading this spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  How we need people who are responding to the leadership of the Holy Spirit rather than worrying about who is the leader and who gets to make the decisions about what is done.

Verse 5 tells us that they go to the synagogues of Salamis and preach to the Jews there.  This becomes the pattern of Barnabas and Saul.  Wherever they go, they make sure the Jews have heard the Gospel first.  This is not about prejudice and racism.  Rather, it has to do with the fact that they were the most interested in the coming of Messiah.  The Gentiles had been cast off, and God had created Israel to be His witnesses to the nations.  Thus, the Jews, who knew the Word of God (but not Messiah), would be given the knowledge that Messiah had come, and was not calling them to take the Gospel of Messiah to the Gentiles.  Paul refers to this in Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."

We might also note that some synagogues had God-fearing gentiles who were connected to them.  Thus, this is a wise place to start.  They would simply look for believers in Yahweh in an area and then work from there.

The wording in the beginning of verse 6 can be interpreted to mean that they traveled across the island in order to reach the town of Paphos.  However, it can also mean that they traveled around the whole island preaching in the synagogues and telling people about Jesus.  Eventually, they made it to the other side of the island at the administrative headquarters for the island, Paphos.  I think this is the most likely.  Luke doesn't get into the specifics of the response in these towns.  Rather, he wants to hone in on a particular confrontation that happens in Paphos.  Acts is a book of the highlights of the highlights, if you will.  The focus moves quickly to this one place.

It is in Paphos that Barnabas and Saul run into a Jewish false-prophet who also practices sorcery named Bar-Jesus.  This is a patronym, with the name of Elymas being given later.  Of course, his name is quite ironic.  Barnabas and Saul are spiritual sons of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Elymas is really a son of the devil.  But, more on that in a bit.

The word used for sorcery here is the same that was used with Simon of Samaria in Acts 8:9.  It is not the "pharmakeia" term of the book of Revelation.  That word focuses on potions that the occultist would create to do their dark arts.  This is the word that refers to the knowledge and rituals that an occultist would do in order to obtain information from the spirits, which we know to be evil spirits.  Thus, this Jewish man is a complete apostate to the Jewish faith, much less someone who will be interested in the fact that Messiah has come. 

He has used his occult arts to weasel his way into the confidence of the proconsul of Cyprus, an administrative position given by Rome.  His name is Sergius Paulus.  Though Sergius Paulus is an intelligent man, he still doesn't know any better than to have an occultist as one of his advisors.  This is the intelligence of a natural man who is willing to get help from any source as long as it "works."

Sergius has clearly heard about these new comers to Cyprus.  He sends for Barnabas and Saul to explain what they are doing probably for two reasons.  As the proconsul, he needs to keep a close eye on anyone going around the island teaching anything new.  He cannot afford for any uprising to jeopardize his position.  Yet, he does seem to be personally interested in hearing what they have to say.

Luke tells us that Elymas "withstood" them in order to keep Sergius from believing.  You had better believe that those spirits Elymas consulted did not like Saul and Barnabas being there.  However, Elymas recognizes a threat to his gravy train as well.  He continues to argue against what Barnabas and Saul state.  This reminds me of 2 Timothy 3:8 where it tells us, "Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these [speaking of false-teachers] also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;..."

Whether Sergius understood it or not, a spiritual battle for his soul was taking place in front of him.  At this point Saul, full of the Holy Spirit, rebukes Elymas.  Notice the wording used.  Elymas was a man full of deceit and fraud.  Though some are able to connect with real spirits through the occult arts, these spirits themselves are deceitful and frauds.  The Bible warns against turning to any spirit, but the Spirit of God, for advice or power.  Those who follow deceitful spirits have already deceived themselves and so become frauds and deceits to all they connect with.  Elymas is clearly leaching off of the power and position of Sergius Paulus.  He is enriching himself through a deceitful practice.

He is also called a son of the devil.  Elymas knows that he is rejecting the One True God of Israel, Yahweh.  His is following his true spiritual father, the devil.  He is also called an enemy of all righteousness.  What Saul and Barnabas are doing is the essence of righteousness.  They are ambassadors of God's Anointed Savior of the world.  They come bearing peace terms for every man, woman, boy and girl in the world from the God of heaven.  Elymas is trying to protect his gig.

Saul also calls him out for perverting the straight ways of the Lord.  Perhaps, Elymas had used his knowledge of the Scriptures to speak against what Saul and Barnabas said.  Of course, he was twisting those Scriptures to say what he wanted, just like the devil did with Christ in the wilderness temptations.

At this point, Saul tells Elymas that he will be blind for a time.  Immediately, a darkness came upon Elymas and he could not see.  I don't believe that Saul just made this up.  I think the Spirit of God reminded Saul of how he too had resisted the Gospel, and God had struck him blind temporarily.  It is not likely that this occultist who has rejected the Scriptures would now believe in Jesus, but it would be the grace of God regardless.  He is not struck dead.  Instead, he is only temporarily blinded.  I doubt that he ever showed his face again in the proconsul's presence.

This act of God's power completely convinces Sergius.  He becomes a believer in this Jesus that they talked about.  Yet, he is astonished at the teaching of the Lord as well.

Luke does not mention how long they stay, or how many become believers, but the favor of the proconsul would go a long way to helping the Gospel put down roots in Cyprus.  Today, Cyprus is about 75% Christian with most being Greek Orthodox.

We will have to deal with all kinds of people in sharing the Gospel.  Such spectacular displays of power by God are usually seen when the Gospel goes into new areas.  They don't always continue because spectacular displays of power do not make great believers, as is witnessed by the generation that was brought out of Egypt by the Lord Jesus and Moses.  Saul's response isn't the normal in Acts or throughout history.  Yet, he was led by the Holy Spirit.

This is what is important for us today.  We can be too focused on praying for God to reduplicate certain powerful works of the past.  Let us pray for healings, for awakenings, and works of power.  However, let us have an ear that is tuned to hearing the Holy Spirit and being led by Him.  This will enable us to be faithful to the Lord Jesus in our generation.  Let's serve the Lord by sharing the Gospel, regardless of how people respond.  May God fill us with boldness to share the truth in the face of those who resist and stand against the Gospel of the Lord Jesus!

The Acts of the Apostles 51

Subtitle: Struck Down by God

Acts 12:20-25.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 13, 2023.

We are going to talk about the judgment of God today.  Judgment is not only about negative things.  It essentially speaks of a decision.  In a courtroom setting, a judge, or jury, will render a decision regarding what actually happened, and what will set it right.  Biblically speaking, we are to give the decision of God, Who is perfect righteousness and not a respecter of people.  He is not swayed by the rich and the powerful, but neither does He automatically give all decisions to poor people.  He renders a decision of truth and righteousness. 

Of course, not all judgments are between two parties.  God makes decisions regarding each of us as individuals.  He works in our lives to offer us a love of the truth.  Our decisions in response to His decisions will bring forth His next decision.

God's decisions can also differ in their permanence.  Some are quick and permanent such as Herod Agrippa's death in our passage today.  Other decisions are slower and less permanent, leaving greater room for repentance (God trying to get my attention), but in the end, they all lead to a permanent and final decision from God, one way or another.

Some struggle with cases where it seems that God allows evil to continue without judgment, and others struggle with situations in which it seems that God does not protect the righteous.  You may have noticed that I used the word "seems" in those sentences.  We don't know all of God's decisions, nor all of what God is doing.  Yet, we can be confident, as the Word of God reveals, that it is God's decision to work for the good of those who love Him and believe on Jesus, and that it is His decision to work for the destruction of those who refuse His mercy.

Only God is able to make decisions that affect the whole sea of humanity in a righteous way.  He deals with us as individuals, but He also deals with us as a part of a group (even many different groups).  Even with Artificial Intelligence, we will not be able to duplicate the wisdom of God.  So, let's not even try to build an AI god that we can bow down to in worship and receive decisions for all of humanity.  What do you think?  Is that a good plan as we go forward?  I think so.

We have already tried artificial gods.  What is the devil and his cohorts, but artificial gods, pretend gods.

In the end, the wicked will not go unpunished, and the righteous will receive the reward of God Himself.  Twice in Isaiah, as he comforts Israel with God's planned mercy, they are warned that there is no peace for the wicked.  In other words, it doesn't matter whether you are in Israel or the Church.  God will not give His peace to the wicked.  So, those who build wicked empires under the umbrella of either cannot claim the promises of God for mercy.  If they want those, they will need to repent of their wickedness and follow Jesus.  To the wicked, God will give no peace, but to the righteous, the repentant, He has peace like a river!

Let's look at our passage.

Herod Agrippa steps over the line (v. 20-23)

If you are trying to figure out where "the line" is, whether as a kid with your parents, an employee with a boss, or a person with God, we can always find the line by continuing to push forward.  You will find the line, but it will be after you have crossed it, after it is too late to help you (at least in that moment).  The repercussions of finding the line of God's grace are devastating, destructive, and often permanent.

Herod Agrippa I came on the scene of Israel relatively quickly from a standpoint of ruling.  Between 38 and 41 AD, he went from ruling over a small area around a city near Damascus to ruling over all of the territories that had been known as Israel.  Since the death of Herod the Great circa 1 BC, Israel had been broken up into at least four different kingdoms, sometimes ruled by Herod's offspring, and sometimes ruled by Roman appointed governors.  Thus, it had been 40 plus years since there was one king over all of Israel.

This caused many of the people to think that God was restoring the kingdom to them.  It helped that Herod Agrippa was very favorable towards the temple, its priests, the annual feasts, and he even would read The Law of Moses (Torah) during the feasts. It also helped that he had begun to deal with the apostles of Jesus.  This would make him a "Defender of the Faith." 

The Christians knew that they were mistaken.  God was not yet restoring the Kingdom.  The leaders of Israel would have to repent and believe on Jesus before "Times of Refreshing" could come from the Lord.

In his arrogance, Herod steps over the line and God removes him quickly (i.e., within three years, so much for the restored kingdom and the Defender of the Faith).  Israel would never again have a king ruling over all Israel.

Our story starts out by mentioning a tiff between Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon, two cities north of Israel on the coast in what we would call Lebanon today.  We are not told why Agrippa is angry with them.  However, it affects their ability to obtain food, which mainly came from areas within Israel at that time.  Herod had clearly cut them off, and the city leaders are trying to get back into Herod's good graces so that they can have food again.  The first century Jewish historian Josephus tells us that Agrippa had been holding games in honor of Caesar.  During this time, the leaders of Tyre and Sidon talk Blastus, a personal aid to Herod, into helping them get back into his graces.  They put on a festival to celebrate people who are taking vows for the sake of Herod Agrippa's safety (how ironic).

We should notice that we keep running into people trying to curry favor with a higher power: Herod with Caesar, the leaders of Tyre and Sidon with Herod, and later we will see that there are also flatterers of Herod involved.   In this case, the festival is doing something religious to curry favor with a man.  This is a terrible motivation that would never be acceptable to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us that those who swear before God, making oaths to Him, should not do that at all.  Rather, we should simply let our "‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’"  Vows fit in this category of oaths that people make before God.  Yet, we should note that we cannot control how God blesses.  You should be very wary of the idea of vowing to refrain from something or to do something, while asking God to honor it by giving another person safety.  Yes, we can pray for people, but that is far different than making public vows for the safety of a powerful figure.  There was nothing honorable or godly about what they are doing.

We should do what we can to glorify and to honor God, and how He blesses will be up to Him.  Some groups do this with the concept of indulgences.  They teach that you can give money or do certain acts that will help a loved one be released from "purgatory" sooner.    There are other groups that do the same thing with baptisms.  You can be baptized on behalf of someone who died long ago as an unbeliever.  God doesn't work that way.  We can pray and minister to people while they are alive, but once they have died there is nothing more we can do for them.

So, when you pray for people, you are asking God for grace in their life.  You may even be quite specific about the way in which you want God to help them.  Yet, we are always praying that God's will be done.  It is up to Him in the end.  We can't control it, or manipulate it by great spiritual feats of fasting etc.

In this case, the people of Tyre and Sidon are Gentile pagans.  They do not understand the way of the God of Israel, and their religious vows are before pagan deities.  Do they really care about Herod's safety?  They do so only so much as it turns into food for their cities.

Luke tells us that Agrippa addressed the people from his throne in his royal apparel.  His speech affects the people so much that they keep shouting out that this is the voice of a god and not a man.

We have some extra details from Josephus in his Antiquities.  Apparently, the robe of Herod was made entirely of silver in some kind of textured weave.  As he sat on his throne and addressed them, the morning light shown through to where he sat and shimmered of this silver clothing.  The crowd was actually put off by the display in shock at what they were seeing, almost horrified.  However, some flatterers of Herod began shouting out that he was more than a man.  Crowds can be easy to manipulate if you move at just the right time.  A couple of shouts here and there can get the pausing crowd to join in.  So, the crowd comes out of its shock and joins in declaring Herod a god.  Besides, won't he surely be pleased enough to give us food now?

Herod was clearly a master at the art of "shock and awe."  You flash your great power to intimidate the people.  "Look what I am driving."  "Look how much my suit costs."  "Look how many people are in my entourage."  "Look how hard it would be to get near me without dying."

The flash of power is an age-old technique that is used when the powerful are on the road, or when you come into their domain.  They always have opulent, impressive palaces.  This even happens in the United States of America.  We may not have kings and nobles, but we do have impressive palaces in the capitol cities of our States, and several palaces in Washington D.C.  These granite, domed tributes to power say to everyone who comes near, you are tiny people and we are amazing demi-gods.  Of course, they have these palaces at the expense of the people.

People currying favor from those flashing great power has always been a problem. Christians should be immune to this because of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  However, we have many of our own religious palaces throughout the world, and many Christians are stuck in systems of currying favor with the powerful.  May God help us to wake up and repent!

We are told that Agrippa is "immediately" "struck" by an angel of the Lord.  It doesn't appear that the angel manifests, but rather operates from the spirit realm.  Josephus basically agrees with this.  He tells us that powerful stomach pains come upon Agrippa and he is taken from the place.  Over the course of the next five days, he endures torturous pains and finally dies.  This may seem to contradict Luke, but it doesn't actually.  Luke says that he is immediately struck by the angel, but then "he was eaten by worms and died."  Notice that being eaten by worms does not happen in a moment.  It is a process.  This is not a true contradiction, only further information.

We are also told that this happens because Herod did not give glory to God.  If everyone who didn't give glory to God had this happen, there would not be very many people on this planet.  This is a particular decision of the Lord.  We really need to be humble as we analyze and talk about the decisions of God.  You will never build a decision grid that help you know exactly what God will choose.  Some who appear to do worse things than Herod are not immediately struck, and others who appear to do less may be struck.  We can become stuck in the quagmire of trying to figure out the why and why not of God.  In this area, we simply need to trust Him and have a healthy Fear of the Lord in His ability to judge.

Now there are two problems here.  The willingness of powerful people to accept the adulations of the desperate people, and the willingness of people to idolize those in power.  There is very little looking to God, and very much looking to powerful people in our Republic.  Who should we blame more?  In Herod's case, he probably has more blame because of his knowledge of the Scriptures of God.  The people of Tyre and Sidon in general are not aware.  What about our Republic?  Are those in power more to blame or are we the people more to blame?  I would say that we are equally guilty because of the witness of God's Word throughout our States.

Give honor to whom honor is due, but there is a line between properly honoring people and giving them honor that should only be given to God.  I know; I know.  No one is bowing down and genuflecting to these people yet.  But, God knows our hearts.  There are far more people giving far more lip service to God than you may realize.  Our true devotion often goes to powerful people, even in the Church.  We must stop looking to governmental servants as if they are the gods that we must appease in order to obtain their good graces.  Rather, we must put our trust in God.

Jesus warned us in Luke 6:26, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets."  We need to be far more careful in our activity, whether as a person in authority, or people who are under that authority.

God is able to judge quickly, but even the long-lived are judged.  Don't be deceived.  God is not mocked.  In innumerable ways, there were decisions in the life of the long-lived, wicked person.  You may never have seen them, but they were there.  They then stand before Jesus.  He isn't impressed with all that they were.  God did make a decision, and it is a warning to us all.  Don't think that because you live long that God is saying that you are okay.  In fact, not everyone who dies young does so because God is judging them as wicked.  Sometimes the righteous are removed early in life to spare them from wicked things that are coming.

So, how do I know that I am good with Jesus?  You get on your face before Him and you pray through until His Spirit gives you the confidence that you have truly repented.  You know because you are in a day to day relationship with Him through the Spirit of God.

The Church continues in ministry (v. 24-25)

Well, so much for the restored kingdom, at least in those days.  We know that the kingdom of Israel will be restored at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  He will sit on his father David's throne ruling over Israel and the earth.

Luke now turns from such a gruesome scene to God's work among the believers, a much more wholesome affair.

We are told that the Word of God grew and multiplied, even as the words of Herod Agrippa came to an end.  God's Word is powerful because it comes from Him.  It is the power of God for salvation to those who believe its testimony about Jesus.

Yet, the Word of God does not spread itself.  God calls all believers to be part of His Gospel spreading work.  There are still a few people out there who need to hear God's Words of Life.  We must look for every opportunity to share.  As we do so, some will believe and be saved.  Where the word grows, the Church grows.  However, where the Word dies on the vine, the Church shrivels in true, spiritual power.

The problem is that we can't just take a Bible and memorize all the words to get spiritual power.  Paul said that, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."  The words of the Bible were given by the Spirit of God.  They are spiritual words, and natural-minded people cannot perceive them properly.

We must never lose sight of this.  These are not just the words of men talking about natural things.

This is part of the problem in Christian academia.  We treat the Bible like it is just the words of men.  Yes, they give lip-service to God's involvement.  Yet, in so many ways, they give the greatest weight to the human element behind it.

I have seen this in Christian groups that wrestle with how to get our Republic back on track politically.  You can be talking about Jesus and someone will complain about it.  "Why are we talking about Jesus?"  Of course, the right answer is that we will not get this Republic back on track by ignoring him.  Yet, they will inevitably say something like this.  "I'm a Christian too, but what we really need to do is get more money in the hands of this political group and vote in more Christians into this office or that."  These are the times that try men's souls, and no amount of claiming you are a Christian can make you think like someone whose faith and hope is in Jesus!

It is good to notice that Luke breaks up the delivering of relief funds to Jerusalem by Barnabas and Saul with the activity of Herod.  At the end of chapter 11, the money is gathered and sent.  At the end of chapter 12, we are told that Barnabas and Saul finish their ministry and return to Antioch with John Mark.   In other words, all the while Herod is doing his thing, the Church is still doing its thing.  They didn't wait for Herod to be removed and then ministered.  The Church keeps marching forward with Jesus.

How many powerful men have tried to stop the Church, Jesus, and the Bible.  They are dead now and buried in the dirt.  But, the Church of Christ marches on.  It doesn't stop.  Their attempts always fail whether they are eaten by worms or not.

Lest we be too proud, let us remember that there is no peace for the wicked.  Regardless of Christ's promises to the Church (I will never leave you; the gates of hell will not prevail against it), if you have a wicked kingdom built up in the Church or in a church, beware!  It will not work.  God will eventually bring judgment down upon your wicked kingdom and destroy it, while the true Church of God marches on.  The Church of the Spirit of God, and not the Church of the flesh, of the letter, of the tradition and trappings of the flesh, will triumph in the end.  There is no peace for the rest.

Let go of all that stuff that you are clinging to saying, "My great name...my great heritage...my great family name..."  If you can get your family name on the altar and let it burn down to ashes to the glory of God, then you be ready to move forward with God.  This doesn't mean that God wants to take your family name away.  It just means that we too easily become too stuck in things.  We become too proud of things in the natural.  We lose sight that it has always been by the Spirit and not by a family name, or even a national name.

So, Barnabas and Saul finished their ministry.  This was definitely a compassionate ministry to the physical need of the Jerusalem Church.  Yet, I am sure they also spiritually ministered to them by telling testimonies of what God was doing among the Gentiles in Antioch.  Physical ministry and spiritual ministry go hand in hand.  We should not ignore physical ministry because the spiritual is more important. 

There is a history in the United States where some people grew indignant that Christians would feed people, but expect them to hear a sermon to receive the food.  Some churches even began to think it was a sign of high morality to feed people and no longer share the gospel.  They would only share the gospel if a person asked them to do so.  Do you know who has that policy today?  Communist China does.  You will get in trouble if you share the Gospel with people unasked.  We may look down on the communists, but some people in the Church of America have had the same policy for nearly a century.

Of course, when would you ever have to choose between sharing the gospel and giving people food.  We should do both.

Believers must keep their eyes upon Jesus and the work that He has given us to do.  If we are always looking at the wicked, questioning why God doesn't deal with them immediately, then we will be sidetracked and weak.

I believe that the prayer in Acts 4 is quite instructive here.  After their release from jail and being threatened by the Sanhedrin, they prayed, "Lord, look on their threats, and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."  They weren't praying for worms to eat the intestines of their tormenters.  They were praying for boldness and the attendant power of God to minister in the face of those threats.  May God help His Church today to quit worrying about the wicked and start praying for boldness to minister in the face of the wicked for His glory, and His glory alone!

Struck Down God audio

The Acts of the Apostles 40

Subtitle: Saul Goes Back to Jerusalem

Note: After this sermon we will be taking a break from the Acts of the Apostles.  This series will pick up again on May 21, 2023.

Acts 9:26-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 19, 2023.

Did you ever have to go back to a place where you really didn't want to go?  Sometimes God takes us back to face a few things that we would rather not face.  Sometimes there are things that we should go back and face, but it's to late.  If people are gone, or have died, or the opportunity has passed, then we may have to simply go forward while facing them internally and in different external forms.

Last week, Saul had to slip out of Damascus at night because there were some Judeans who were plotting to kill him.  This leads to him going back to Jerusalem.

Let's look at our passage.

The Jerusalem church is cautious

Luke does not tell us exactly what leads Saul to go to Jerusalem.  I believe that he is being led by the Holy Spirit, which is a theme throughout this book, as well as the whole Bible.

According to Galatians 1:15-21, this is happening about three years after Saul's amazing conversion outside of Damascus.  The people in Jerusalem would know that something odd happened to Saul, since he never came back with prisoners.  Also, the rumors would have also been circulating that he had become a Christian.

When Saul arrives in Jerusalem, he finds that the Jerusalem is very cautious.  We are told that he "tried to join the disciples..."  This term is most likely talking about the general believers that still remained in Jerusalem following the persecution led by Saul earlier.  At this point, the term "apostle" and the phrase "The Twelve" was being used of those closest ones who walked with Jesus. 

These Twelve were unique because they bore the responsibility to establish what Jesus taught in a faithful manner that people could trust.  It is interesting that Jesus did not write any of his teachings down, neither did he baptize any of those who followed him.  It was the 12 disciples who became apostles who baptized followers in the name of Jesus, and who laid out the teachings of Christ.  Jesus did this on purpose.  God can do everything without us, but He doesn't want to do that. 

You were designed to work with God and have Him work through you.  This is an important point because, if we were designed that way, we will have trouble living life without Him.  I like to use a catamaran as an illustration.  These small boats with a big sail are functional because they have a large counter-balance that hangs off to one side.  They can cut through the surf at amazing speeds because they are light and generally stable.  However, if you take off that counter-balance, you will find it very difficult to do much sailing at all.  Your sail will be "bowing" to every little wind that comes along.  This is us without the stabilizing presence of God within our soul.  You may look like you are sailing to a world that has redefined what it means to sail, but the truth is that you are unable to accomplish that for which you were created.

We do not know how Saul's conversion affected the persecution.  Did it end, or continue?

Saul would naturally not have any Christian contacts of his own, since he had been dragging them to jail, but he may have been given some names from the believers in Damascus.  Yet, he finds the church skittish of him in general.  They do not believe that he could have truly been saved.  Their fear of what Saul had done in the past made it harder for them to believe the miracle that Christ had done in Saul's heart.

It is easy in our experience as the American Church to accuse these early believers of being judgmental and even unchristian.  However, if your life and the life of your loved ones was on the line, you might think differently yourself.

The Jerusalem church, like any other persecuted churches down through history, would have developed careful ways.  Though we should be willing to die for Jesus, we are not told that we should try and make that happen.  I talked about these matters in my sermon series entitled, "Lessons from the Underground Church."  When the lives of your loved ones are on the line, you do church differently.  Many people today are walking out through miles of jungle to a secret meeting place so that they can honor God and worship Him with other believers, as His Word commands.

Which brings up an American issue.  If you need church to look a certain way, or be a certain way, in order to participate, then you are in a bad position.  You really need to take hold of that attitude and square it away with Jesus.  Take that attitude out, throw it on the ground, and stomp on it.  Get on your face before God and say, "God, change my heart!" 

We have lived in a blessed land, and yes, praise God for it!  Yet, we know that the most blessed people throughout history have spent that blessing mostly on their fleshly desires.  They squandered it.  If God took out blessings away, would you even be a Christian?  If even a small amount of blessing is removed, we are often unable to take it. 

Be very wary of this attitude building in your heart.  Some might complain that the Bible doesn't say we have to walk out into the jungle in order to be saved, and faithful to God.  No, it doesn't.  However, those are the kinds of things that faithful believers do.  We will want to obey the command of our lord to worship God together, but they don't want to see their loved ones killed.  So, they choose not to meet at their house and not to worship loudly.  This is the response of faith to the Words of Christ.  Don't play a game like the hypothetical questioning person above.  Take up your cross, and follow Jesus.  These are the words of our Lord Jesus.

Thus, there is a true need for caution in persecuted, underground churches.  This is the testimony of the Church down through the ages.  The "authorities" will use the conversion process in order to infiltrate the group and spy out who all is involved.  Many a time, a  person has lied saying that they believed in Jesus, but they were only worming themselves into the group.  William Tyndale was ratted out this way, and later put to death for daring to translate the Bible into English. 

Just as "loose lips sink ships" cautioned the WWI and WWII generations, and "loose tweets sink fleets" cautions the modern era, so Christians were not quick to divulge there meeting places and members.

Of course, Saul could be offended by this, and accuse them of not being Christian.  However, he doesn't do that.  How dare they question whether he is saved or not!  Please note that Saul doesn't need anybody to stroke his ego and tell him that he is a Christian.  He has a relationship with Jesus.  If you have a relationship with the One who went to the cross for everyone, then you will be able to carry a cross for your spiritual brothers and sisters.  Saul knew that he deserved every slammed door that he received.  Many of them had lost loved ones because of him.  He did not deserve a place in their midst.  Instead, you go to your knees and pray for your brothers and sisters that God will heal their hearts and help them to know that you truly have changed.

If you were in that situation, how would you know what to do with a guy like Saul?  The answer is not in building some religious sounding, but actually natural, wisdom.  Persecuted churches must not develop a law that says we never let outsiders in.  And, neither should we build a false principle that says that the church must always accept the people who come to them.  Making protocols, or decrees, like these is really a childish level of being a Christian.  We can remain children and simply follow the human wisdom we think is fit, or we can seek God and hear from Him on the subject. 

Believers in such situations do need to be cautious, but they also need to be taking their caution to the Lord in prayer.  In the context of a regular prayer life, this will become as natural as breathing.  If you remain a spiritual child, then you will make childish decisions.  Saul takes it in stride because he is not a child spiritually.  He has a strong relationship with Jesus.  He doesn't need them to never make a mistake in order to love them and serve them.

The apostles accept Saul

Notice that Saul is accepted by the church in Jerusalem, even though it started out rocky.  God used the mature individuals in the church to recognize that the Spirit of God was working in Saul.  They led the church in embracing him.  So, it actually worked like it was supposed to do, regardless of some bumpiness on the road.

God spreads His gifts.  Just as the two-year old is not put in charge of the security of the house because there is a dad who can do that much better, so it is in God's spiritual house.  God gives elders who have been faithful over a long period of time, and who have learned through many spiritual experiences the ways of God.  They help watch out for the body of believers as protectors, but also as those who have discernment in matters such as this situation with Saul.  Be thankful for the elders that God has placed in your life, and don't be too quick to cast off their wisdom.

Remember, you will not be a child forever.  I remember when I was in my early twenties that my grandparents and my dad all died within three years.  It felt like the roof had been torn off of my life.  I couldn't talk with my dad or grandparents about things I was facing.  It was harsh.  You are exposed to life and you are thinking to yourself, "I'm not ready."  However, God is always with us and fills in what is missing in our lives.

I say that to encourage you to enjoy these years of having mature believers around you.  Soak up what they have learned, and keep growing in the Lord.  The day will come all too quickly where you will need to be the mature one for others.  And, believe me, this isn't as fun as we may think it is.  Maturity means doing the duties while others play.  However, there is a joy in such duties that no amount of play can replace, a joy of relationship with the Lord!

The answer in tough situations like Saul's is for everyone to be focused on relationship with Jesus.  This is why Barnabas steps up.  He has enough maturity to take Saul to see the apostles.

Now Barnabas was introduced in Acts 4:26.  His birth name is Joseph, but the Greek spelling often dropped the "ph" and spelled it Joses.  Barnabas is actually a nickname that the apostles gave to this Joseph because he had sold some of his property to care for widows and the poor in the church.  Barnabas means "son of encouragement."  This is a Hebrew way of saying that Barnabas is a chip off of the old block.  In this case, his mother, father is encouragement. 

True to his nickname, Barnabas "somehow" runs into Saul and takes him to the apostles.  He is not just a wealthy donor.  He is a true worker for the Lord, of which this is just one thing.  I believe that the Holy Spirit is involved in this development.  Saul was running into shut doors, and it may have felt like God was telling him to leave.  However, Saul kept humble and kept waiting.  God eventually brought Barnabas to him.  Don't let yourself become so discourage by obstacles that you forget about God.  He has a reason in letting those obstacles remain.  Wait upon Him for His answer.  God was bringing Saul to Barnabas.  He just needed to stay faithful.

Saul is brought before the apostles and relates his story of conversion.  This leads to him being accepted into the group.  Saul is not under "trial."  However, it is only natural that he should make the case for the reality of his conversion.  It is in Galatians 1:18 that we are told that not all of the apostles were present.  Peter and James the brother of Jesus are the ones he met with.  It also tells us that he stayed with Peter for 15 days.

We are not told that Peter and James make an official pronouncement.  Instead, it just states the reality of his acceptance.  Peter's association with Saul would be enough for the others, particularly those who had come to faith in Jesus through Peter's ministry.

Though we are not told how Peter and James knew to accept Saul, they knew the only way that matters, by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Saul ministers in Jerusalem

Saul very quickly does what he does best.  He begins to speak to his fellow Judeans about Jesus.  This is going to end in an attempt on his life, just as things had ended at Damascus.  We don't want to be judgmental of Saul, but there was something about this man that ticked off his Judean brothers.  I believe it has something to do with the phrase, "he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord."

Is there any other way to represent Jesus, but boldly?  Of course not!  However, this boldness shows that the Holy Spirit was powerfully upon Saul.

It is good for us to pray, "God, I don't want to be a coward.  Help me to be bold!"  There is a bit of coward in all of us, okay so there is a lot of coward in all of us.  We can be really strong as long as we have a group or system around us.  These are the things that we surround ourselves in the natural to make us feel powerful.  Yet, if  you strip those things away from such people, you will find a very scared person at their core.  These things in the natural are like a kind of natural armor we use to protect ourselves instead of leaning upon Jesus Christ.

Pray for Jesus to be the spiritual surgeon who cuts out the cowardice from your heart because we can do bold things, and talk big, but it isn't the true bravery that comes from God.  Even courage and boldness can be perverted from the good that God intends in them.  We can boldly follow the wrong purposes.  So, these virtues need to be purified in prayer before God.  "God, I want to be bold, but for your things, and in the right way!  God, I want to be courageous, but not in sin.  I want to be courageous for You!"  This is the kind of prayer we need to pray.

So, Saul speaks boldly in the name of Jesus for God's purposes, like Stephen did just three years before this.  Notice that he debates with the Hellenists, the same group Stephen had trouble with.  I could let this slip by, but it is significant that Saul disputed with them.  Luke told us during Stephen's story that the Synagogue of Freedmen were from many areas including Cilicia, where Saul's hometown of Tarsus is.  I believe Saul focused on them because he knew them best, and may have counted many of them as friends.  They needed to hear the gospel.  Yet, the dispute becomes very heated.

There is a time to walk away in disputes, like when you are about to lose your cool.  This is a spiritual thing.  We are not told how they do it, but there is an attempt to kill Saul, or at least a plan is started.

This sinful part of natural man is always with us.  They tried defeating his arguments about Jesus first.  When that didn't work, they retreated to simply shutting him down for good. There is nothing wrong with disputing with people in order to show them truth, but a Christian must always keep an attitude of peace about them.  The world resorts to bully tactics.  Today it is shouting people down in public, or cancelling them online.  Though we may not agree with another person,  we should not let rage and anger drive the bus of our actions.

Of course, in Stephen's case, the "authorities" always cloak themselves in a cloak of morality, and the color of law, as an excuse for simple weakness of argument.

Again, God's people should never rely upon the sinful works of the flesh to accomplish the will of God.  Spouting venomously against others online, or in person, using intimidation, or manipulating the group behind another person's back, all of these are wrong and not of the Lord.  It goes without saying that flat out murder is wrong as well.

After this, Saul is sent to Tarsus and there is peace in the region.  This seems to be a decision by the church, "the brethren."  Of course, we have already been told that God's plan is for Saul to minister among the Gentile nations.  However, it was important for Saul to come back to Jerusalem where he had spent his adult life training under Rabbi Gamaliel.  It was important that Jerusalem know that Saul of Tarsus was indeed a Christian, and the same thing is most likely needed at Tarsus, explaining why he goes there next.

We may want the story to be that a person is saved, and all their friends and family are saved too.  That sometimes happens, but is not always the case.  We can be too quick to think that we have done something wrong when people don't respond in faith.  However, remember that the Lord himself was crucified by the people he witnessed to.  Did he fail?  We don't want to use that as an excuse.  We must wrestle through this issue before the Lord in prayer.  Lord God, help me to become better at witnessing for you!

The churches in the region had peace and were edified.  We know that there continued to be difficulties. Perhaps, the persecution wasn't quite as bad.  However, for the believer, peace is never about having no troubles.  Peace is about having the strong assurance that the God of the universe is with you and working all things to your good.  This is the peace that passes all understanding, and internal peace.

Make sure you are focused on being used of God and then trust His leading.  If you are doing this, then you can rest in it.  This is not a resting of inactivity, but an inner attitude that knows you are saved, and God is using you to save others!  Amen.

Saul Goes Back audio

The Acts of the Apostles 24

Subtitle: The Arrest of Stephen

Acts 6:8-15.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 20, 2022.

Stephen is one of the first deacons for the Jerusalem Church.  He helps to care for the widows who have no family and means of care.

Yet, it is clear in our story that Stephen has a passion that goes beyond taking care of widows.  He also wants to let his fellow Judeans know about Jesus the Messiah.

Let’s get into this passage.

Stephen’s ministry is resisted vs. 8-15

Stephen was listed first in Luke’s list of the seven overseers of the ministry to widows.  His name is a Greek name that means “crown.”  This is very appropriate since Stephen surely won a crown as Jesus promised in Revelation 2:10. “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  (NKJV).  At the end of chapter 7, Stephen will gain the title of the first Christian martyr, at least that we know of in the New Testament.

His name is typically vocalized as “Steven” in these United States, but the name would have been sad with an f-sound in the middle, Ste’-fan-os.  It is very common for historical names from the East to be Latinized.  Remember that these are Aramaic/Hebrew speaking people using the Greek language as a vehicle, that is then translated into Latin before moving further West into the English language.  Just a little research online will demonstrate that Eastern history records the names differently than here in the West.

Stephen clearly has a passion for doing more than feeding widows, as I said earlier.  He begins to powerfully minister in Jerusalem, but resistance develops quickly.  No doubt, if he had limited himself to just feeding widows, there would have been little resistance.  Yet, Stephen speaks out publicly about Jesus and this causes a stir.

There are already some descriptions of Stephen before we get to our passage.  We are told in verse 3 that Stephen would fit the description of being a man “of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.”  This is stated again in verse 5, so it is no surprise in verse 8 when it says he is full of faith and power.

Some versions have “grace and power, but that is not a big problem.  The grace of God is not activated except by faith in Him (see Ephesians 2:8,9).  Stephen had both the grace of God and faith in Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit also worked powerfully through Stephen.  We are told that he did great wonders and signs.  None of these signs and wonders are detailed, but the adjective “great” speaks for itself.  Of course, Luke gives us plenty examples of the apostles doing such.  Though Stephen was operating powerfully like the apostles were, there is no mention of him preaching in the temple. 

There is no room for ego in God’s church.  There is no contest for who has the most power of God, not to mention that we would not be the best judges of what is the most powerful work of God.  Would that all God’s people would be operating in great wonders and signs.  Yet, there are seasons in the work of God.  My job is to be so full of the Holy Spirit and faith that He can do through me whatever He wants.

Stephen draws the attention of a particular synagogue.  Jerusalem had many synagogues.  The Synagogue of the Freedmen is most likely a group of Jews who had been Roman slaves, and then had been emancipated, or manumitted.  This happened from time to time, but great number of Jews received freedom from Pompey in the first century BC.

Cyrene is on the coast of North Africa in modern day Libya.  Of course, Alexandria was on the coast of Egypt west of the Nile Delta.  Cilicia was a province in Southeast Turkey, which has the city Tarsus in it.  The Asia here is the province of Asia in Western Turkey on the coast towards Greece.  The cities of Revelation 2 and 3 are in this province.

These men began to dispute with Stephen, no doubt in public.  However, they were unable to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.  Notice that it is not “his wisdom and spirit.”  Stephen clearly spoke by the wisdom of Jesus and with the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is important for believers to rely upon the wisdom of God’s word and the help of His Holy Spirit.  Without these, we are doing the same thing as the world and will have varying results, all natural.

Since they are unable to stand against him publicly, they stir up the people and leaders to arrest him.  In debates, the term ad hominum is used to refer to an attack against or to the person, or human, that you are debating.  It is a common deflection to attack the person when you are unable to disprove their point.  The extreme form of this is to become physical and to use whatever power one can to make a person retreat from their argument.  These men secretly induced some to twist Stephen’s words to be blasphemous against Moses and God (more on this later).  Stephen would have slipped under the radar if they had not brought attention to him, being how the apostle’s ministry was so public and the focus of the elders.

A large group seizes, or arrests, Stephen and take him before the Sanhedrin to lay charges against him.  At this point, we should point out that it is important to know that Stephen most likely does not know where this is all headed.  He is simply being faithful to Jesus and the Gospel.  He just cares about his people and has great faith.

It is interesting that God clearly protects the apostles at this point.  All twelve of them have just been released even though the council wanted to put them to death.  Yet, at the same time, God is going to allow Stephen to be martyred.  We do not always understand why God protects one and not another. We could even ask if those who are allowed to be martyred are more blessed than those who are not.  Regardless, this question really has no solution other than that God’s wisdom is above ours.  He displays His power in some through deliverance, and His power in others through their martyrdom.  They are simply two very different witnesses that are both important.

Stephen is falsely accused of blasphemy.  They say that he is speaking blasphemous words against the holy place and the Law (of Moses).  The main blasphemous statement they hone in on is this, “Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” 

We can recognize parts of the Gospel in both charges.   As the Messiah, Jesus has been given authority over heaven and earth.  Jesus had made it clear that Jerusalem would be completely torn apart by the Romans after his rejection.  To be fair, this is clearly represented as a judgment from God for rejecting His Anointed King.  This is nothing more than almost every prophet in the Old Testament had stated.  Thus, it cannot be blasphemy.  Similarly, Jesus had fulfilled the Law of Moses, and was leading Israel out from under its yoke into the law of the Spirit, of life in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, many of the customs of food, offerings, and sacrifice for sin would no longer be effective.  What is blasphemous about these?  Jeremiah spoke about a day when God would create a New Covenant with Israel (Jeremiah 31).  Stephen was not speaking against any of these things.  He was speaking for God and His Anointed Prophet-King.

The last verse tells us that Stephen looks like an angel before the council.  Some commentators believe that there was something visible upon Stephen, such as a glow.  We do see that angels, and heavenly beings, are sometimes described in terms that emphasize glowing, or bright light.  At the very least, there is a powerful peace and composure upon the countenance of Stephen that could be described as not of this world.  He does not look like a man who is facing excommunication, or even execution.  He has the look of an angel, which most likely infuriated his opponents.

What is my composure and demeanor in the face of the anger and incivility of this world?  How do I respond when people employ under-handed tactics against me, and twist my words?  Stephen was a man full of the grace of God.  He had great faith in Jesus, the Gospel, and that he was doing God’s will.  Like his master, we will not see him lashing out at his accusers and yelling at them.  Instead, we will see him speak the truth in love, though it cost him his life.  Stephen would follow his master in laying down his life in order to wake them up to the great sin they were committing.  May God help us to follow the Holy Spirit with great faith, no matter where it may take us.  He is worthy of every sacrifice that we make in His name!

Arrest audio