“An Astonishing Gospel”
Acts 13:4-12
November 18, 2007
Last week, we considered the critical role of the local church in sending out two men, Barnabas and Saul, for the work God had prepared for them. Here, in our passage today, we see reiterated the other absolute essential for Christian mission and ministry, the sending work of the Holy Spirit of God. Let’s read together this morning’s text: Acts 13:4-12.
It was known to the locals as “Happy Isle”; it might have been the rough equivalent of our modern-day Hawaii or the Bahamas, although probably not Fantasy Island. Cyprus had been annexed by Rome some 100 years previous to this time. It became an official province of Rome 25 years earlier, and the governor of the entire island, for Rome, was Sergius Paulus. We’re not told why it was their first destination, though we know from Acts 4 that for Barnabas, going to Cyprus meant going home. But they weren’t going there for vacation or adventure, much as the isle of Cyprus promised both. They were going, sent out by the Holy Spirit, to do His bidding and preach His gospel. For Saul and Barnabas, it was “game on!”
Salamis, their first stop, was a Greek city on the east side of the island, a city of some size, in that there was more than one Jewish synagogue in this city alone. This taking of the gospel “first to the Jews”, that we see reflected here, is one that Paul was to carry out during the entirety of his missionary enterprise; he lays out that strategy in Romans 1:16, where he writes that the gospel is “the power of God to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile”. In every synagogue, there would be God-fearing non-Jews as well as devout Jews; these Gentiles would be good networkers, opening doors to other non-Jews.
After Salamis, they journeyed to the capital city of the province, Paphos, on the west coast, a journey of about 90 miles, where they had an audience with the governor, Sergius Paulus. This is where they receive
I. An Astonishing Invitation - :6-7
This was likely a “command performance”; they likely didn’t seek it out, nor have the opportunity to politely decline. Governors in the employ of Rome liked to know what was going on in their provinces, particularly those kinds of things that might serve to create a disruption to the Pax Romana, and word of these traveling preachers undoubtedly reached Sergius Paulus. But was there more in the mind of Sergius Paulus than merely quelling unrest? The Bible says that he wanted “to hear the Word of God”. Was this for more than civic reasons? Was this out of a desire to find truth? Were his motives somewhat mixed? R.B. Rackham said that, “Among the Roman aristocracy were many who, wearied with skepticism, were asking in all seriousness Pilate’s question, ‘What is truth?’” Here was a man who had a keen mind, and understood the sciences and natural history, according to the Roman historian Pliny, but who sensed a lack of understanding of deep and supernatural things. Rackham continues: “In the Greek world, it was the custom for philosophers, rhetoricians, or religious propagandists, to travel about from city to city and give public orations…when Sergius Paulus heard of Barnabas and Saul, he took them for similar professors, and having an interest in these matters, he summoned them to give a declamation before his court.” What was their teaching? What was their philosophy? What new insights could these traveling teachers provide? At any rate, he summoned them in order to hear what it was they were preaching, but none knew the events that were soon to take place!
II. Non-Astonishing Opposition - :8
Bar-Jesus, Elymas, would have been a natural member of Sergius Paulus’ court. He was in the employ of the Roman governor as something of the “court wizard”. He was a Jew, but one who was far more interested in his own well-being than he was in the glory of God; he was willing to become a pseudo-religious quack in order to make a good buck. It’s possible, given his name, that he was trading on the name of Jesus, to try to make his living as some sort of supposed spiritual descendant of Jesus among people who wouldn’t know any better. Think: what motive would this sorcerer have for trying to distract Sergius Paulus, oppose for all he was worth the conversion of the governor? He’d likely be out of a job if the governor converted; of what use would a sorcerer be to a Christian? We thus label his opposition “non-astonishing”. And so this impostor set out to distract Sergius Paulus, to destroy the work of the gospel as it was proclaimed.
III. Astonishing Boldness - :9-10
A side note first: “Saul, who was also called Paul” – Saul was his Jewish name, the same as the first king of Israel, and thus one he’d worn proudly. But Paul was his Greek name, and the one by which Luke would refer to him in the rest of the book of Acts. This signals the change in mission that the apostle would undergo, taking the gospel directly to Gentiles. Paul was a Roman citizen; he’d travel in the Roman-dominated world and present the gospel to Roman citizens far and wide. This exchange in the court of Sergius Paulus was unprecedented for Paul. He was in new surroundings, as he presented this message directly to a political leader of the Roman world. Again, we see the gradual radiation outward of the gospel message, this time in the sense of Paul going where the gospel had never gone before, to the very courts of a Roman official.
Notice what Paul does: he employs harsh words, in the power of the Spirit! Paul doesn’t pussyfoot around with this shyster Bar-Jesus. He calls him names! And he does so under the influence of the Holy Spirit! Sounds sort of intolerant to me, doesn’t it to you? This doesn’t really play all that well in our day and age, does it? We’re supposed to not only be tolerant, but “nice” and harmless and do our little church thing over in the corner, and not be offensive to anybody. Look, we must speak the truth in love, and we shouldn’t be needlessly offensive or put stumbling-blocks in the way of others that don’t need to be there. It’s so easy for our fleshly selves to get in the way, and the Word reminds us that the anger of man doesn’t accomplish the work of God. But sometimes, we have to tell it like it is. And sometimes, it is what some might deem “ugly”. And the truth will sometimes be offensive in and of itself. This doesn’t give us license to tell everybody off with whom we don’t see eye-to-eye; far from it. But here was a man who was determined to block the work of God, to keep Sergius Paulus from coming to faith, and it was for his own selfish reasons to boot. And Paul called him on it, told him the truth in no uncertain terms, and did so, not in the flesh, but with the power of God.
The real question when it comes to the use of harsh words is the stakes involved. If someone laced the Halloween candy with cyanide, and I knew it, I wouldn’t concern myself with niceties, subtleties, and the finest decorum; I’d scream at the kids about to put the candy in their mouths, and condemn the criminal who’d harm them. And that raises questions:
Is the message of the gospel “our truth”, or is it “the truth”?
Is Jesus the only Way, or isn’t He?
Now, I understand the fears of some, that speaking in such radical terms could lead to extremism and terrorism, and there are contemporary examples of this happening, mainly in Islam, but history records some examples of this among professing Christians (the Crusades). But let’s be clear about this: any attempt to forcibly convert a person to faith in Christ is contrary to the Bible, contrary to the Spirit of Christ, contrary to our mission, and destined to failure. To coerce belief is to not get real heart belief, but rather outward conformity, a legalistic counterfeit. If I could force a person in this world to convert, I wouldn’t do it, nor would any true follower of Jesus, because we understand that faith not freely chosen isn’t faith at all.
But that said, again, the issue is the stakes involved. If Jesus is Who He said He is; if the gospel is the only way whereby we can find peace with God; if this message is true, and not merely one more option among many, then we must contend for that truth, and in this day and age, that’ll make us unpopular in some quarters. Some folks won’t like it when we say the things we must say, and take the stands the Bible compels us to take. So be it; the stakes are eternal.
IV. Astonishing Judgment - :11
To the casual observer, again, the blinding of the sorcerer might seem harsh, but the issue here is the same as in the last point: we are dealing with eternal truth, the eternal destinies of people, the spread of the gospel of Christ, and God’s plan will not be foiled by some impostor with an agenda of self-interest. Besides, the affliction is temporary; it’s “for a time” that Bar-Jesus will be unable to see.
“Bar-Jesus”, by opposing the gospel of Jesus, showed himself to be a son of the devil, not of Christ. Saul had been struck blind by God on the road to Damascus; through his blindness, he found the light of Christ. We don’t know if this ever happened to Bar-Jesus, but it’s certainly possible. Regardless, this demonstration of the power of God was impressive to Sergius Paulus, and no doubt had a hand in
V. An Astonishing Conversion - :12
Paul’s harsh words didn’t turn Sergius Paulus away; rather, he “believed”. Most of us read the word “believed” and assume that Sergius Paulus put saving faith in Christ; some commentators aren’t nearly so certain that this was the case, but rather that the word “believed” there is more akin to “impressed” or something of that nature. They use the fact that nothing is said here of Sergius Paulus’ baptism, and in the book of Acts, most of the time belief is mentioned, it’s tied to baptism. The normal pattern for people who professed faith in Christ was to publicly identify with Him in believer’s baptism; that’s a step that I’d encourage you to take if you’re a follower of Jesus but haven’t publicly, since coming to that faith, identified with Jesus in that way.
Thus, it’s impossible to be certain as to whether Sergius Paulus became a true follower of Christ, but there are other instances where belief is mentioned without any word about baptism (Acts 14:1; 17:34; 19:18), and the fact is that the methodology of Paul changes (as does what Luke calls him) with this incident. While maybe we can’t be absolutely sure, it seems very likely that this Roman official did make a true confession of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is clear evidence, at the very least, that some of his descendants were followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Previously, the household of Cornelius, a Gentile family, had come to faith through Peter’s witness, and the church at Jerusalem had for the most part accepted this fact, but it’s as if they didn’t want to think through the implications of a Gentile family coming to faith through direct witness. Here, Paul takes the gospel message to Sergius Paulus directly; Sergius Paulus hasn’t been in attendance at the Jewish synagogue, isn’t one of the “God-fearing” Gentiles with much previous knowledge of Jewish ways, and yet he believes. This makes Sergius Paulus the first thoroughly-Gentile convert to faith in Christ, a man with no devotion to Jewish religion. And folks, this makes this man, Sergius Paulus, the first in a line that includes most all of us! This incident changes Paul’s thinking some; while he will always go into the Jewish synagogues to take the gospel first to Jews, he now will be willing to share the message of Christ with whomever will listen, be they Gentile or Jew. This is a significant development; in fact, Luke lists it as the most innovative thing that happens during this first missionary journey (Acts 14:27; 15:3).
And remember something about this Sergius Paulus: he was a man of intelligence. He wouldn’t be swayed by some dog-and-pony show, wouldn’t be taken up in something that didn’t hold water. And notice what it was that astonished him: it’s not the miracle of a man being blinded right before his eyes, although to discount the miracle as evidence to confirm the truthfulness of the message would be a mistake. But what astonished him was the “teaching of the Lord”. To this learned man, the Word of God, and the gospel of Christ, made sense—and he believed.
It’s a common idea that Christian faith is for people who’ve checked their minds at the door.
Ted Turner – “Christianity is for losers.”
“Faithless.org” – Where any hint of “faith” is derided for a variety of reasons
Richard Dawkins wrote The God Delusion, Sam Harris wrote The End of Faith, and Chris Hitchens wrote God is Not Great. All of these contemporary books critique faith in Christ as both unreasonable and damaging.
Is Christianity for losers? Are we engaging in an illusion, building our lives and banking our eternities on wishful thinking? Is the whole idea of God, as Dawkins suggests, merely an illusion that vanishes upon close inspection? Can God be proven in a test-tube, spoken of with absolute and utter certainty? The answer you don’t expect to hear in church is nonetheless the true one: no! When it comes right down to it, our faith in God is just that: faith! But here’s the good news from the Bible: that is exactly what is required of us in order to please God: faith. And we should quickly add two things: one, there is not a person under the sun who can get away from the concept of faith. Richard Dawkins and his friends place great faith in the conclusions of modern science, for instance; sorry, but I honestly do not have enough faith to believe that what we see all around us happened as a result of the random accident of unguided evolutionary forces. The very first question which is insuperable for the Darwinist is a simple one: why is there something, instead of nothing?
Two, our faith is not mere blind, wishful thinking; instead, it is faith which rests upon actual historical events depicted in God’s inerrant Word; it is faith which has its reasons, which makes sense as, in the judgment of so many, the best, most rational explanation possible for the world in which we live, and the human condition. In fact, some of the most brilliant people to have ever lived have been followers of Jesus. It was Christian faith that gave rise to modern science, for instance, with men like Bacon, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton being themselves Christian. Despite the rise of Darwinism in modern times, many scientists today follow Christ as well. There is plenty of good apologetic work that has been done in the defense of Christian faith by some of the finest minds in the world, even down to our present day; we need not shrink back from the critics and believe that there is no place for serious thought among followers of Christ.
Do we follow Christ by faith? Absolutely, and unashamedly. But it is faith which rests on solid foundation, and the good news is that no one needs a Ph.D. in order to follow Jesus, nor are Ph.D.s excluded from God’s family. A thinking man like Sergius Paulus put his faith in Christ, astonished at the Word of God accompanied by a clear display of its power. And even today, when we really consider the reality of our sinfulness, and the magnitude of God’s grace, we will find that gospel astonishing.
Table Talk
• Do you find it easy to lose the sense of astonishment that Christ would save sinners like us? If so, why do you think that is?
• What are some things that would help us keep that sense of wonder in our lives?
