All right, so today we're going to hear of Acts 13.
It's not the central chapter in the book of Acts, but it's definitely a central chapter.
So the book of Acts as a whole is Luke's account of how Christ continued to work in the world
through the divine person of the Holy Spirit and through the body of which he is the head,
that is, the church.
So this saga begins in Jerusalem and extends to Judea and to Samaria, but these are still
largely Jewish areas.
Gentile expansion is sporadic at best.
But here, Paul and Barnabas are set apart for that work, which is really good news for
all of us who happen to be Gentiles.
That is not Jewish, those of us who are not Jewish.
So let's read Acts 13, 1 to 12 together.
This is on page 921 in your pew Bibles.
Page 921.
And it reads as follows.
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called
Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Mannaan, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.
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.
Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they
sailed to Cyprus.
When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews,
and they had John to assist them.
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.
He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and
Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
But Elamas the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the
proconsul away from the faith.
But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 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?
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.
Then, the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching
of the Lord.
So last Sunday, we celebrated communion, where we all partook of the body and blood of Christ
as a church.
My prayer is that this church never stops using crunchy bread.
Along with singing together, the collective crunch when we chew the crackers is a reminder
that when we gather, on Sundays especially, we gather as a body.
It's that function of the church that I want to focus on today.
So I want to try something that many of you probably haven't done before.
So in the churches that I was in growing up, sometimes the pastor would ask the congregation
to turn to their neighbor and say something, often the theme of the sermon.
So I will ask the same of you to remind us all that we gather to hear the sermon not just as a lecture,
but as a collective body feeding on the Word of God.
So first step, you have to identify your neighbor.
So it's either someone to your left, to your right, in front, or in back of you.
So first step, identify that neighbor.
Okay?
Sounds like neighbors have been identified.
So I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor.
So three sentences.
I don't want to be a helicopter believer.
Second sentence.
You don't want me to be a helicopter believer.
And third sentence.
Please help me not to be a helicopter believer.
You don't want me to be a helicopter believer.
See?
That wasn't so bad, was it?
So, to explain that, I'm going to need two big points from this text.
First, the church is a community on mission.
Meaning it's a community that has been sent by God into the world.
And it is a community of commission.
Meaning each of us, if we've been united to Christ by faith,
has been sent by God into the world, and he continues to send us.
So that's our first thing.
The nature of the church.
That we've been sent both as individuals and as a community.
Point two.
We're sent not into a world that's full of rainbows and puppies
that are ready to hug us at every turn.
But rather, a world that is hostile to us.
And especially to the one whom we bear witness to.
So the second point is the nature of our Christian task.
So I say these things, obviously, not to scare us, but to encourage us.
Because the resources that the Lord has given us are more than sufficient.
So let's get back to the text.
It begins in Antioch.
The new central office of the church.
Where the disciples were first called Christians.
Verses one to four.
You have the prophets and teachers.
And they're worshiping the Lord and fasting.
Now the first thing to know, which we see in verse one.
Is the diversity and abundance of prophets and teachers in the church.
You have Barnabas, the encourager.
You have Simeon, who's most likely from Africa, as his nickname suggests.
You have Manan, who's a foster brother of Herod the Tetrarch.
He grew up with Herod the Tetrarch.
And this is the same Herod of the Gospels,
who was involved in the deaths of John the Baptist and of Jesus himself.
So Manan grew up with royalty.
But now he's standing with the church, facing bitter opposition.
You have Lucius from a city in northern Africa.
And you have Saul, the former Jewish pharisaical superstar.
Persecutor of Christians turned evangelist.
Think of this as similar to having the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, at one church.
And this makes verse two a little bit more surprising.
Because when the church is ministering to the Lord, probably praying and fasting,
the Holy Spirit speaks.
Now we don't know if this was a voice from above or the still small voice that the believers are hearing.
But however it happened, the message was clear.
Verse two.
Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
So basically, the Holy Spirit says,
your two best teachers, I've got another work for them,
miles away in the middle of the sea.
So not only was this probably a little weird for Paul and Barnabas,
but it must have been tough for the congregation.
When you've got great gifted people in your congregation, you want to keep them.
But this is our first point.
The church is a community on mission.
And what is that mission?
Well, according to Christ, it is to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations.
Note, disciples, not just converts.
The goal is to train up learners in order to send them out into every sphere of human life.
So in that sense, the most important indicator of church growth is spiritual maturity.
And so it's in the following verse that we have an act of the church that shows this kind of maturity.
The word has been spoken in a clear way.
And verse three is the church's response.
It says, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them,
they sent them away.
The church is a place of commission.
Meaning the church is meant to send people out, not just keep people in.
We see this even in the language that Luke uses to describe the twelve disciples.
Throughout the Gospels, they're called disciples because they're learning from Christ in his earthly ministry.
But after Christ dies, is resurrected and ascends, the twelve are then called the apostles.
Because they're those who have been sent.
Emboldened and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Obviously, that doesn't mean that they stop learning.
But there has been a shift in their identity.
You likewise have been sent.
Do you work?
Your workplace is a mission field.
Are you home with kids?
Your children are an essential mission field.
Are you in school?
Students definitely need Jesus.
But you have not been sent alone.
This is big point number one.
You're part of a new community.
The church.
Your local body of believers.
Which brings us back to this main illustration.
That thing that I told you to speak to your neighbor.
I don't want to be a helicopter believer.
What in the world is that?
Well, let's think about a helicopter.
What's distinctive about what a helicopter can do?
It can hover.
One of the main tactical advantages of a helicopter is that it can escape congested areas easily
because it can just take off and land vertically.
When you're stuck in traffic on 95 or 15, like, this is the kind of transportation that you want.
You just want to lift up and roll on out.
But what does that have to do with the church?
Well, some of us want the versatility and the flexibility of a helicopter in our relationships.
If we're in the midst of an especially hairy church conflict, maybe we would just like to lift off and rise above it.
Love is too hard, so maybe we'll just hover for a little bit until things die down.
Maybe you think because you're only here for a few years or a few months, setting roots would be a bad idea.
Maybe you think, ah, it'll be a little too messy for me to get involved in people's lives and then have to leave.
Maybe you think, ah, it'll be a little too messy for me to get involved in people's lives and then have to be a little too messy.
Let's be honest.
Many of us have entertained these thoughts, or perhaps we are entertaining those thoughts right now.
In one way or another, we've acted like helicopters, hovering over the fray out of fear of pain,
or hovering over the joy out of fear of commitment.
Church, I'm here to tell you that this will not work, and it's dangerous to your spiritual health.
In one sense, the church does not need air support.
It needs foot soldiers.
It needs Christians who are willing to guard one another in the trenches.
Especially at a church like Trinity, it's easy to look at the fact that the population of the church is always shifting
and to think that you won't be able to have a meaningful contribution to the community.
But there is no time too short to commit to a local church.
There is no time that no one in the congregation needs encouragement, prayer, a moment of hospitality,
a reminder from scripture, or some other manifestation of the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given you.
So that first sentence, I don't want to be a helicopter believer.
Hovering over the life of the church does not serve my soul well.
You deny yourself the love of your brothers and sisters.
Second one was, you don't want me to be a helicopter believer.
For you to hover above the life of the church is to deny your brothers and sisters your love and your gifts
and the opportunity to grow in the image of Christ with you.
And that last one was, help me not to be a helicopter believer.
We need one another for this to continue to work.
We need to continue to encourage one another to be involved in one another's lives.
To pray for one another, to encourage one another, to continue to challenge one another.
As members of the body of Christ, it is our joyous call to serve and grow with one another.
So, if you are a Christian and you have not made a local church your home,
I commend Trinity to you for membership.
Join a small group.
Talk to the elders more if you're interested.
But keep in mind that if you do join, you're not just joining a group of people.
The church is not just a social club.
The great thing about verse 4 is what it suggests about the purpose and the power of the church.
Verse 3 says that the church sent them off.
The Greek word really suggests that the church let them go.
Because it's clear who's calling the shots in this story.
The Holy Spirit is.
He's the one who sent Paul and Barnabas to Antioch in the first place.
And so he's the one who sent them away.
He's also the one who brought you here.
And he's the one who's given you the gifts that you have.
The church is the place and the group of people that he works through
to shape you into the image of Christ.
And the Holy Spirit is the one who is with us when we face opposition.
Like Paul and Barnabas.
I want to read verses 6 to 12 again.
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.
He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence,
who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
But El-Amas, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name,
opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
But Saul, who was also called Paul,
it's the first time he's called Paul,
every time after this he'll be Paul,
filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked intently at him 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?
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.
And immediately mist and darkness fell upon him.
He went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
Then the proconsul believed.
When he saw what had occurred,
for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
So on the island of Cyprus,
our dynamic duo meets up with Bar Jesus,
a Jewish false prophet,
whose name means son of Jesus.
More on that later.
His compatriot is the actual focus of this story,
proconsul Sergius Paulus.
A few notes on this guy.
He's a smart man, a man of intelligence.
He's politically powerful,
as a proconsul is a governor of a Roman province.
Also, he's primed and ready for the gospel,
as it's clear that the Holy Spirit has done preliminary work,
getting his heart ready.
That's in the second half of verse 7.
The fact that he called for Paul and Barnabas
shows us that Sergius Paulus knows
that there's something different about what these men have to offer.
But Elemas can't have Paul and Barnabas
moving in on his territory.
Chances are this guy has spent a lot of time
building his political influence.
He has Sergius Paulus' ear.
He trusts him in matters of faith.
And now these pesky Christians are getting in the way.
And so, Bar-Jesus seeks to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
So why does Paul get so angry?
There's a legitimate rage in this utterance and in his gaze.
This is not just a benign stare.
Imagine the stare that a mother gives her child
when he's embarrassing her in public.
That stare that says,
if you don't get right,
when we get home...
But Paul doesn't wait.
Paul lets loose an indictment and a sentence,
calling him a son of the devil
and then blinding him.
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?
That sounds a little harsh.
Is Paul overreacting?
To that we have to say no.
Because of verse 9.
This is not Paul's overly emotional response.
This is the judgment of the Holy Spirit.
So how is bar Jesus
actually bar Satan?
What makes this man a son of the devil?
Well, understanding the father-son relationship
of this culture and time is necessary
for us to kind of get the full brunt
of what Paul is saying here.
So now in the 21st century,
we're in a time where you can hypothetically
basically do whatever job that you want to do
if you train for it.
But what we see in Christ's time
and in the time of the apostles
is a culture where as a child,
specifically a male child,
you do what your dad does.
Jesus is referred to as the son of Joseph,
the carpenter.
And according to Mark,
Jesus did a little carpentry himself.
It was customary for a father
to teach his son the trade
when he was about 12 years old.
It was really important
that children get into the family business.
As opposed to, for example,
someone like me who avoids the law like the plague
while my parents are both in law,
a first century Jewish man
would be carrying on his father's business.
And this is the sense in which we see
this same son of the devil language
used by Jesus in John 8.
When he speaks to a crowd
who doesn't believe him,
Jesus says this,
you are of your father the devil
and your will is to do your father's desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning
and has nothing to do with the truth
because there is no truth in him.
So to be someone's child,
this is for men and women,
to be someone's child, biblically,
is to do what they do.
So to be a child of the devil
is to do as he does.
It is to kill.
It is to steal.
It is to deceive.
It is ultimately to destroy.
So insofar as someone acts these things out,
one reveals one's parentage.
So bar Jesus,
in seeking to turn the proconsul
away from the faith,
performs an utterly demonic task,
attempting to keep Sergius Paulus
away from eternal joy and salvation
through the knowledge of Jesus Christ
as his savior.
So why does Paul get so mad
that Elemas makes crooked
the straight paths of the Lord?
If a drug dealer peddles drugs
to your child in front of you,
do you just walk up to him
and ask,
oh, could you kindly not do that?
I imagine there would be some anger.
Paul's anger is the anger
that we should experience
when we see a distortion of the gospel,
the clear good news,
the good news that we were created
for God's glory,
but chose to reject him,
becoming corrupt to our very core
and dead in our trespasses and sins,
worthy of the wrath of God.
But while we were yet his enemies,
God sent his son
in the person of Jesus Christ,
who lived a perfect human life
and died and took the punishment
that was due us as our substitute,
and after dying,
rose on the third day.
The good news
that if we trust Jesus Christ
solely and wholly
for our salvation,
our sins are forgiven,
and he clothes us
with his righteousness,
and he seals us
with his spirit,
through whom he shapes us
into his image.
That is the good news.
Anything substantively different
from that
is a despicable distortion.
Let's take an example
from the gym.
Imagine that for me
to secure my own salvation,
I have to lift
a 500-pound weight.
If we can imagine
the weight in front of me,
it's 500 pounds.
If I can successfully
lift this weight,
I will effectively
defeat my sin
and essentially
win at life.
Unfortunately,
I mean,
do I look like
I'm going to lift
500 pounds?
I do not spend
two hours a day
doing CrossFit.
500 pounds
would destroy
all kinds of muscles
and ligaments
or whatever I engage
in trying to lift
that monstrous weight.
So someone might say,
oh,
you just need
a really good spotter.
You just need somebody
to come alongside you
and just kind of
help you out.
Nobody's going to be able
to help.
That's not going to work.
And that's also
not what Jesus does.
Jesus is not someone
who just comes
alongside you
and kind of gives you
that little extra push
that you need.
We're not just
a little bit sinful
and we just need Jesus
to kind of come in
and shine us up
a little bit.
No, down to our thoughts
and our desires
we've been sullied.
We place our faith
in Christ alone
because it is in his death
and resurrection
that our sins
have been forgiven.
He took them
once and for all
and gave us
a new identity
in him.
We don't need
a spotter.
We need to step aside
and let him take
the weight
on his shoulders.
Whether it's
500 pounds of metal
or the guilt
and power
of my sin,
it's way too much
for me
but it is not
too much
for the Savior.
Anything that
purports to be
the gospel
but does not
revolve around
complete dependence
on the Lord
Jesus Christ,
his life,
his death,
and his resurrection
is a poisonous
distorted lie.
There's another
prominent teaching
that the Lord's
prominent teaching
today that the
Lord's primary
desire for you
is that you
be prosperous,
that you be
healthy,
that you be
wealthy,
that you be
happy,
that by your
words you can
kind of speak
these things
into existence.
This gospel
is toothless.
The true gospel
promises joy
in the midst
of suffering,
strength in the
midst of weakness.
Any power that
you have is not
yours but the
power of Christ
if you are
joined to him
by faith.
Anything less
is garbage.
Yes, that's
strong language,
I know,
but these are
matters of life
and death
and they require
the utmost attention.
And this is the
reason why the
judgment on the
false prophet,
bar Jesus,
is blindness.
You may be
reminded of another
story that
involved Paul
and blindness,
his own.
Do you remember
the story?
Paul,
breathing murder,
is on his way
to Damascus
on a rampage,
persecuting Christians
left and right,
tying them up,
bringing them to
prison,
and in other
cases,
even overseeing
their deaths.
If anyone was a
fervent enemy of
Christianity and
not likely to be
converted,
Paul was that
guy.
But God had a
different plan.
When Paul was on
that road,
the resurrected
Christ appeared
to him,
calling him out
and subsequently
blinding him.
Paul had to find
Ananias,
who nursed him
back to health,
restored his sight,
and had him
baptized so that
he could begin
the most fruitful
Christian ministry
ever.
Then,
a few chapters
later in the
same book,
this same Paul
comes across
a man just as
spiritually blind
as he was,
just as intent
on keeping people
away from Jesus
as he was.
I can't help
but think that
in the background
of this encounter,
Paul is seeing
himself
and recoiling.
Has this ever
happened to you?
Ezekiel 36
describes this
phenomenon.
God promises
in verses 26
and 27,
which we read
earlier,
in salvation
to remove
your heart of
stone and
replace it
with a heart
of flesh.
He promises
to place
his spirit,
his own spirit
inside of you
and to cause
you to walk
in the way
that he would
have you walk.
But a few
verses down
in verse 31,
he describes
how we will
view our
old selves.
He says,
then you will
remember your
evil ways
and your deeds
that were not
good,
and you will
loathe yourselves
for your
iniquities
and your
abominations.
Sometimes we're
especially sensitive
to see others
who are suffering
as we are
or who have
sinned
as we have.
Has your
faith penetrated
you this
deeply?
Has it
shaped your
affections?
Has it
shaped your
emotions?
Do you see
your sin
in the ways
in which you
rebel against
God and
recoil in
loathing?
Does that
then remind
you of the
joy of God's
grace and
his forgiveness?
This is,
I think,
the root of
Paul's anger
and the fruit
of the Holy
Spirit working
in him in
this moment.
He sees
in Bar-Jesus
a little bit
of his
former self,
blind to
the joys
of Christ
and seeking
to bring
others down
into his
own blindness.
So,
the Holy
Spirit,
through Paul,
makes Bar-Jesus'
physical situation
match his
spiritual situation.
But he does
so with
mercy.
Note,
he's just
going to
be blind
for a
time.
This is
not a
final judgment,
but a
warning that
would hopefully
lead to
Elamas'
own repentance.
So,
hearing all
of this,
you might
think,
well,
that's all
well and
good,
but I'm
just an
ordinary
believer.
I'm no
Paul.
I'm not
going to
be going
around blinding
people and
calling people
children of
the devil.
That could
get weird
really
quickly.
Yes,
you're right,
that could
get weird
very quickly.
But this
episode tells
us a lot
about how
a life
infused with
the Holy
Spirit should
look.
There will
be times
where you
will face
opposition and
a firm
rebuke will
be necessary.
Sometimes you
will need to
shut somebody
down.
But,
there also
will be times
where a firm
rebuke is
inappropriate.
Example,
let's say
that a friend
comes to
you and
tells you
that they're
really excited
about a
church.
You,
being the
savvy 21st
century person
that you
are,
go home
and the
first thing
you do,
you check
the website.
But in
looking at
the website,
you notice
a few red
flags.
Maybe
Christ is
just seen
as special
but kind
of one
among many
religious
options.
Maybe it's
a place
where the
Bible is
seen as
fraught with
error and
in need of
revision by
conscientious
believers.
upon finding
these things
out,
do you
find your
friend and
attempt to
call down
fire from
heaven?
Probably
not.
No, you
would engage
your friend
in conversation.
You would
determine what
it is about
that church
that draws
them and
you would
apply the
true gospel
to that
longing.
Sometimes
that's the
way to go.
Sometimes
what I
affectionately
call the
sledgehammer
method is
necessary.
But in
order to
discern which
is appropriate
when, we
must be in
constant prayer
and we
must be in
constant
community
because it
is the
Holy Spirit
that offers
that guidance.
This is why
Luke, in
recounting this
experience of
Paul's, prefaces
it by saying
that Paul is
filled with
the Holy Spirit
in verse
nine when he
does this.
It is
God's
power and
it is in
submitting to
God's
will that
that power
is manifested
in us.
And this
brings us to
the end
of our
passage.
The
joyous
climax.
Verse
12.
Then
the
proconsul
believed
when he
saw what
had occurred
for he
was astonished
at the
teaching
of the
Lord.
Two
things.
First, he
believed
when he
saw.
Here is a
case where
seeing really
does lead to
true believing.
But it's even
deeper than
that.
The
proconsul
seeing is
in direct
contrast to
the false
prophet's
blindness.
This is a
reminder of
the purpose
of this
passage and
of the
book of
Acts as
a whole.
This is
the story
of the
Holy Spirit
opening eyes
and hearts
through the
work of
believers.
A story
that we
as the
church are
a part
of and
that we've
been invited
to take
an active
part of.
Few
things are
more satisfying
than seeing
the light
in a
student's
eyes when
they finally
figure something
out.
That feeling
is multiplied
exponentially
when you
see the
gospel take
root in
someone's
life.
Point two,
the teaching
of the
Lord.
It says
that the
proconsul
believed when
he saw what
had occurred
for he was
astonished at
the teaching
of the
Lord.
That seems
weird.
It didn't
strike me as
a very
didactic
passage,
meaning it's
not like Paul
went through
kind of a
point-by-point
explanation of
the gospel
in this
passage.
What does
he mean by
the teaching
of the
Lord?
I think
this shows
us that
the gospel,
while it is
primarily a
message,
yes,
it is also
a way of
living,
thinking,
and breathing
in the
world.
The
proconsul
was amazed
at the
power that
a believer
in Jesus
Christ and
partaker in
his spirit
has access
to.
The word
is a powerful
thing,
brothers and
sisters.
The church
is a powerful
people,
a people who
have been sent
out on a
mission,
and a people
who have been
sent to
commission.
That is who
you are.
that is who
we are.
Each of us
has a full-time
Christian ministry
because it's
part of our
identity.
My faith and
my relationship
with Christ
are not just
things that I
reckon with on
Sundays or
whenever I have
small group.
These things
ought to extend
to and fill
our thoughts,
our words,
and our actions.
Because in the
world that we
face,
whether it's in
the office,
whether it's at
home,
whether it's in
church,
whether it's
a stop-and-shop,
whether it's
in your car,
whether it's
on your way
to class,
we face an
enemy who
wants nothing
better than to
make us fall
and take us
off of the
straight ways
of the Lord.
But we have
the word of
God in the
scriptures.
We have the
very spirit of
God as a
gift of faith.
And we have
one another.
Father, let's
go out in
power.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Father, before
your son went
to the cross,
he told his
disciples, it
is to your
advantage that I
go away.
For if I do
not go away,
the helper
will not come
to you.
surely this
was as
confusing for
the disciples
as it may
be for us
sometimes.
But Lord, I
pray that you
continue to
remind us and
solidify in
us the fact
that having
the Holy Spirit
inside of us
is even better
than having
Jesus beside
us in this
present life.
May the
believers this
morning come
to a deeper
communion with
you through
your son in
your spirit.
Lord, may the
non-believers
here come to
a saving
knowledge of
you through
repentance and
faith.
Lord, we thank
you and we
praise you.
In the name of
your son, Jesus
Christ, and by
the power of
your Holy Spirit,
we pray.
Amen.
Well, to
respond, we're
going to sing a
song about being
sent forth and
sent out with
the gospel.
So let's
stand and
let's
stand.