Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 7

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"A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 7 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Good morning. If you got your Bible, go ahead and turn to Acts 13.
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Acts 13. Before we begin, I'd like to say thank you to everybody
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who prayed for Brittany. She— her hemoglobin level got down pretty low and
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she had to get a couple units of blood. She's here today doing better,
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but this was, um, last week, Thursday I believe it was.
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So thanks for praying for her and checking in with us. Greatly appreciate
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that and thankful for your prayers. Today, the challenges of the church that
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the church will always face. We'll look at Acts chapters 13 through 15.
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If you remember last week, we finished in Acts chapter 12. That's where Herod puts
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James to death and then attempts to put Peter to death, but Peter's released,
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makes it to Mary's house, and after Peter's released from Mary's house,
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the Bible says that he goes elsewhere preaching. And really That's where Luke concludes
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the work of Peter as it relates to the book of Acts. Acts 12
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really serves as kind of an intermission or an interlude on what was taking place
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at the end of Acts 11, and Acts 13 is— we'll pick up where we
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left off. So at the end of Acts 11, if you remember, Barnabas was sent
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by the church in Jerusalem to the church at Antioch where all of these Greeks
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and Jews and the Hellenists were there, and this church was booming
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and growing. He called for Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus went
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with him to Antioch. They were there for a whole year. Acts 11:26
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says it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called what?
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They were first called Christians in Antioch. So that's the church in Acts 11:19,
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really down through 26. Agabus talks about a famine that's going to take
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place, the interlude of chapter 12, and then there are the events of chapter 13.
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So what we'll do this morning is look at the challenges, and there are various
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ones that the church faced in Acts chapters 13 through 15
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and that we will always face. As long as we're God's people and as long
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as we're the church. And the first challenge is stewarding congregational gifts.
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If you're in Acts 13, I'm going to read verses 1 through 3.
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It says, now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas
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and Simeon who was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene,
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Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
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And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
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set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called
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them. And then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they
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sent them off. So first things first, the church at Antioch— we know this
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church— they resume center stage. The gospel began at
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Jerusalem, but the church at Antioch will be responsible at least for sending
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missionaries out that will populate the world with the gospel message. And you know what
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kind of church this is because you read about it in Acts 11:19-26
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and all of the amazing things Luke tells us about this church. And that
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they have going on. When you start in Acts 13, we first
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learned there was in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, and then there
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are various people. Just based on this idea of them having prophets and
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teachers, what do we know about this church? The fact that they had prophets
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and teachers, what does this tell us about this church just on the surface right
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away? They were knowledgeable. A church that was
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knowledgeable had a lot of teaching. God makes
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a distinction between prophets and teachers for sure, both instructing in the Word.
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This also was a church being equipped for the ministry of the saints.
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So Ephesians 4:11-16 says that God,
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when Jesus ascended back to heaven, he gave gifts to men. And some of those
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gifts are apostles and prophets, pastors that teach, and evangelists.
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Ephesians 4:11-16. And this church had all of that. Think about Romans 12:6
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and 1 Corinthians 12:10. That talks about what Darryl mentioned,
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the work of prophets and instructing them to teach. And they have
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5 different individuals who do this. Now, the Bible doesn't make a distinguish—
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a distinction here between who did the preaching and who did the prophesying,
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but it seems like there was a mix among this group. And just notice this
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group and what we know about them. There's Barnabas. What do you know about him?
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He's the son of what? Encouragement.
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Acts chapter 4 and verse 36. So Barnabas is an encourager.
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There's Simeon, who was also called Niger, and Some commentators
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believe that he— this word Niger means like black or dark,
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and so maybe he's from southern Africa. Some say northern Africa.
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Lucius of Cyrene, no doubt he's from northern Africa.
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This is the same place of Simon of Cyrene in Mark 15.
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If you flip to the back of your Bible— we're not going to do this
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this morning because this is about challenges and not geography— but you can see
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Cyrene, it's in northern Africa, and that's where Lucius is from. He he might
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be a part of that group in Acts 11:20 that went from Cyrene and
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brought the gospel to Antioch in the initial stages. And then there's who
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else? Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch. Who is
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Herod? Herod the Tetrarch from Luke 3:1.
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Herod, the one that Jesus stood before in Luke 23 when Pilate said,
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go down to Herod and see what he's about. This man Manaen,
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who's a prophet and a teacher, was— this Greek word means brought up together.
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It could mean that he was adopted into the same family as Herod,
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but clearly their lives went in completely different directions because
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he's a preacher in the church. And then the last preacher that's mentioned is who?
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Saul. Saul's a relatively new convert at this point, but he had
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been a member of the church in Antioch for at least a year according to
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Acts 11:26. He's a new convert, but we
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know Paul's background. He's trained in Judaism, a Pharisee
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of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, knew Greco-Roman culture pretty
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well, knew the Hebrew Bible like the back of his hand, And here's the makeup
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of this congregation. These are the individuals that are there.
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And what stands out to you about this list of names? What stands out to
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you about these individuals in this church? What stands
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out to you about this listing of preachers or prophets and teachers in the church
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at Antioch? What's unique about them? They're diverse.
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Yes, Joey, that's what you're going to say. Yeah, they're diverse. Now they're diverse
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in several different ways. They're diverse in background and where they're from, But also,
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it seems they're diverse in ability and what they're able to do. And then
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the text says they were already serving and teaching. This word for serving,
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it's a word that kind of is used for priests in the Old Testament that
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are serving on tables. And then they were fasting. Look at verse 2. Your translation
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probably has something like this: while they were worshiping and fasting, worshiping the Lord and
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fasting, or as they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit
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said. I think that's remarkable because the church at Antioch is
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going to be the first congregation that's responsible for sending out missionaries.
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Now missionaries had already been sent out, Acts chapter 8, but they have been pushed
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out through persecution. This is the first congregationally organized effort
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to say, let's send out missionaries. And I think it's interesting that the Holy Spirit
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chose a congregation that the Bible says while they were fasting
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and serving the Lord, while they were worshiping and serving the Lord. What does that
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tell you? God gives the work to the people who are already what?
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Already working. Matthew 25:21, Jesus says in the judgment
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it'll go this way. God will say, well done, good and faithful
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servant. You've been faithful over a few things. Come in and I'll make you ruler
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over many things. You've already been serving.
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God gives this church the opportunity because they've already been doing that. And then
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verse 3 makes this clear that this is going to be mission work. After their
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fasting, they prayed and laid hands on them, and then they sent them out.
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All right, so first challenge in Acts 13 is the challenge
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of stewarding congregational gifts. Show of
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hands in this room if you've been a part of a congregation that's—
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I'm going to say a smaller congregation. Somebody says, what's small? Let's say under 100
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members, 100 members and under. Show of hands if you've been a member of a
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congregation of that size. Great. Nothing wrong with that.
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Bigger congregations or smaller, God uses and needs both.
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They both do unique things. Here's what I want to know from those who've experienced
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that. What are the challenges of serving God in a smaller
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congregation? What are some of the unique challenges that congregations with under 100,
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under 50, under 30— what are, what are their challenges?
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What do you sometimes face? Those willing to serve.
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Yes. Resources. Not enough money.
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What else? Sometimes a preacher has to do
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the preaching, the singing, and the prayer. Thank God we don't have— sometimes the preacher
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has to do the preaching, the singing, and the praying. Garnett, you said not enough
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people. Yeah, so those are some of the challenges. And you think about resources
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and talent and ability and a pool to select elders from. But I think sometimes
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we focus primarily on that. Hey, small congregations, they've got big challenges.
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But according to this passage, larger congregations— a congregation
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with 5 preachers has challenges of its own. There's different challenges.
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There's blessings associated with both, but there's also challenges. And here are some of
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them. Well, we'll pause before we get to the solutions. Some of the challenges
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that larger congregations have is making sure we can find a place for everybody to
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serve. Like, will there be enough work? Sometimes you come
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into a larger congregation and people think to themselves, well,
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everybody here is already doing it. All the work's already taken
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care of. There's nothing for me to do. Or maybe thinking to ourselves, we've got
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enough workers. We've got enough people doing stuff. Hey, everything's already taken
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care of. We already have all the bases covered. This congregation in Antioch
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had to steward the gifting that God had given them. They have 5 different preachers
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with various gifts. What does Jesus teach about talent and
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ability in Luke 12:48? To whom much is given,
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what? Much is required. And so larger
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congregations have challenges of their own. And how do you overcome the
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challenge of stewarding congregational gifts regardless of size? Here's what
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we've got to do. Here's at least some of the things. We've got to learn
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what people can do. Romans 12:3-8 talks about the various
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talents and gifts that other individuals have been given in the congregation.
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And here Paul says, what I want you to make sure is that everybody
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uses the gifts according to the grace that's been given them. One of the ways
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we overcome this challenge is learn what people can do. Also, never think you
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have enough workers. In Matthew 9:37, Jesus says,
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you should pray that the Lord would send forth laborers into the harvest.
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For the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
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That's always true. Jesus had 12 disciples. He had hundreds,
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sometimes thousands following him, and we should never think we
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have enough workers. We've got to diversify the servants. You might
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start putting the same people in the same positions to always do the same work,
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but in 1 Corinthians 12:22-24, Paul says,
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no, we need to esteem the parts of the body that are less
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honorable in the eyes of some, and we overcome the challenge of stewarding congregational
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gifts by diversifying the servants. And then make sure we're busy and
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we're already working. This church was already working and already busy, and so
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God honored them. And then we need to send and to save. Who do they
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send out? Paul and
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Barnabas. Yeah, look at verse 2. The Holy Spirit makes this decision for them,
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says, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work that I
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gave them to do. So if you're a congregation of great resources and means,
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You gotta send and save, meaning you've gotta sometimes release
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some of your best servants to bless the church at large. And then you've gotta
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keep some people back also to do the work. And this is a challenge,
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having the courage to do this and say, well, we still have Manaen,
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we still have Simon, we still have Lucius. Let Barnabas and Saul do
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the work that God has given them to do. And God does this and he
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honors them. A few more of these challenges or ways to overcome these, and then
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we'll move on to the second one. Avoid getting comfortable.
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This church could have gotten comfortable. How was Antioch doing at this point? Pretty good.
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They're growing. They're called Christians. They've got their 5 preachers.
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And one of the ways you overcome the challenge of stewarding congregational gifts is
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avoid getting comfortable. Avoid saying, hey, we've got the preaching covered, we've got the teaching
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covered, we've got the gifts, we're just rocking and rolling, everything's going well.
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This church had to be challenged. The Holy Spirit intervenes and says,
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Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work I've given them to do. They could
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have been thinking, we're already taking care of business, we've already done all of our
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work, and we need to be thinking about that. What else does God want us
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to do? There are some— you can call these routine congregational
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things we're going to do. We're going to worship God, Bible class on Wednesday,
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VBS, camp. But are there some of these Acts 13 works where God says,
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all right, time to rise up and go out and do something you've never done
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before? Avoid getting comfortable. Kill envy and ego.
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Can 5 preachers work together in the same congregation?
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Somebody said, yeah, they did it in Antioch, right? The more talent you have,
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you know what's going to destroy that? Envy and ego.
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If you think about your— if you watch sports, the best dynasties,
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your favorite sports teams, there are several things that kill that.
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Age and ability, yes, but typically they're going to do a documentary on
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this team in 10 or 15 years. You get to peek behind the curtain and
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you know what happened? Somebody says, I wasn't getting the ball enough. Well, they were
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paying him all the money, and he was in all the commercials, and they said,
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you know, Shaq said this when Kobe died in the helicopter accident. He said,
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we could have won 10 more championships if we just didn't fight about who was
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the best. And I wonder how many congregational, for lack of
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better words, championships, mountains we can win and climb for God when we don't care
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who gets the credit as long as God gets the glory. But when a congregation's
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succeeding, stewarding the congregational talent, one of the challenges is, Don't worry
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about, well, we all made brownies. They ate all hers. Nobody ate mine.
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They never picked my lasagna. They never put my food out first. We can start
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fighting over, she always gets to teach that Bible class. He always gets to,
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and pride and envy. Proverbs 14:30 says, a sound heart
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is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones.
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And these preachers, they had to do this and do it without destroying themselves.
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Remember, you're going with God. The Holy Spirit sent out Barnabas
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and Paul. And to that degree, they were going to be successful as long
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as they went with God. Remember the parable of the talents, and then be
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willing to go wherever he sends. The first challenge in Acts 13 for this great
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congregation was to steward their congregational gifts wisely.
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When you look around the Cumberland Trace Church of Christ, you might be thinking,
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we're a blessed and talented and gifted congregation. I would echo
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that and say, amen. And to whom much is given, what?
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Much is required. How many song leaders do we have? How many people do we
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have that can teach Bible classes and do lessons, that have artistic gift— gifting,
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and individuals that can work in the AV room and that can lead prayer and
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that can cook? To whom much is given, much is
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required. The church at Antioch had all these great things. It's a
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blessing, but it's also a challenge, and they had to steward it properly.
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All right, any questions or comments on this before we move on?
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All right, great. Second challenge in Acts 13 is the challenge of the
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opposition of false teachers. So Acts 13:4-12,
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Paul and Barnabas are going to do what the Holy Spirit sent them to do,
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which is to go out and preach the gospel. And verse 4 says
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they were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went down to Seleucia. That would
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be, if you're looking at a map, it's just west of Antioch of Syria where
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they were. And then from there they sailed to Cyprus. What's interesting about Cyprus
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in relation to Paul and Barnabas? What's interesting about Cyprus?
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Yes, Miss Kim, Acts 4:36-37 says that's where Barnabas
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is from. So, they lead out, they go west, they go to Cyprus.
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This is Barnabas' hometown according to Acts 4:36-37,
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and they get busy preaching the gospel. I'm not going to read all of it,
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or try not to, but look at Acts 13:4-5. So, being sent out
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by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed
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to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the Word of God in the
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synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. That's John Mark.
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Later in the New Testament, we find out that this is Barnabas' cousin,
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Colossians 4:14. But there's 3 preachers.
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There's John Mark, at least he's an assistant, a helper, and there's Paul,
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and there's Barnabas. They get to Cyprus. They go to synagogues first.
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Why? Yeah, Levi says those who know the
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Scriptures, religious people are already there. This would be a great place to start.
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They cover the whole island with the gospel. They start preaching the gospel everywhere,
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and they face both interest and opposition. There's a man
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In Acts 13:6, we're told his name is Bar-Jesus.
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Later we'll be told his name is also Elymas in verse 8.
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But in verse 6, they find a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet
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named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus,
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a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought
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to hear the word of God. So you've got this magician and then you've got
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the proconsul, and his response in verse 7 is
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he's intelligent and he wants to hear the word of God. But in verse 8,
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Elymas the magician, for that's the meaning of his name, he was seeking
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to turn the proconsul away from the faith. So, there's interest and opposition.
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The magician reminds you of who already in the book of Acts?
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Acts chapter 8, Simon the— he became
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a Christian, Acts 8:12-13. He was interested.
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Elymas, not so much. And so, he starts trying to get in the way of
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this Bible study, and as a result, Paul will say some things to him in
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Acts 13. 9 through 11. There's the rebuke. If you look at verse 9,
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but Saul, who was called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him
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and said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all
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deceit and villainy, will you stop making crooked the straight
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paths of the Lord? Why does Paul rebuke him like this?
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Paul doesn't do this to everybody. Why does Paul do it here?
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He's trying to intercept the word. He's in the way, aren't he? Yep, that's right.
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What else? His motives aren't pure.
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He doesn't want to learn the truth. He's actually in the way. Verse 11 says
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that Paul, by the Holy Spirit's power, strikes him with blindness
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and he's unable to see the sun for a time. What's ironic about Elymas,
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a magician and a sorcerer, being struck blind?
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There's at least 3 levels of irony here. Level number 1,
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he's a magician that's supposed to have power and he can't even cure
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his own what? Blindness. This is kind of like the Pharaoh's
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magicians in Exodus 10:21-29. Moses says, I'm going
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to strike the land with darkness. Nobody will be able to see anywhere they're going.
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And Paul strikes him with blindness. Layer of irony number 1 is you're a magician,
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you can't see where you're going. But layer of irony number 2 is it
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wasn't too long before this that Saul of Tarsus was struck blind in Acts chapter
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9 and verse 9. You'll be blind until Ananias comes and the scale
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falls from his eyes. But then layer of irony number
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3 is now his physical condition is parallel to his spiritual condition.
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He was already blind spiritually, and Paul says, you'll be blind
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and you won't see the sun for a season because you got in the way
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of the preaching of the gospel. The result in verse 12 is the proconsul believed
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when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the
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Lord. Okay, so the first challenge in the book of Acts chapter 13:1-3,
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stewarding talent, great congregation. But the second one is,
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Opposition by false teachers, and we see that here with Elymas
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the sorcerer. Okay, what is a false prophet? It's a compound word
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in Greek, pseudoprophetes, false or lying prophet. What's a false
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teacher or false prophet? How would you describe one? How would you describe somebody
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if you say this person is a false teacher? Interestingly enough,
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this is the only time this word appears in the book of Acts, and it
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doesn't occur a lot in the New Testament. It does occur in places like 1
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John 4:1, 2 Peter 2:1. But when you
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think about that term, that designation, this person is a false prophet
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or a false teacher, what do you think about? How would you make that description
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or distinction? What's a false teacher or false prophet?
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Not teaching the truth.
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Teaching something that's not scriptural. That's a part of it. That's involved.
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That's some of the components. What else?
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Antichrist. John in 1 John says these individuals are the
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antichrist that he's talking about, people that
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1 John 4:2-3, they deny that Jesus came in the flesh. Joey, in this case,
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he's teaching things that are actually turning people away from the faith as well.
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And I think that's important. Joey says he's teaching things that turn people away from
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the faith. In the Bible, everybody that teaches something
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that's false isn't a capital F false teacher. They might
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be mistaken, they might be misled, but in the Bible, a false teacher,
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it involves intent. It involves a person that's purposefully trying
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to pervert the word and turn people away. And so just because
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a person teaches something that's inaccurate, they may be wrong and they may
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be teaching something false, but the Holy Spirit wouldn't say you're a false teacher
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antagonistically. But if you do what Elimeas does here, then you
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are. What makes this a challenge for the church? False teachers.
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How are false teachers a challenge that the church will always
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face? What's challenging about it or their presence?
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And it's difficult to counteract that sometimes.
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Yeah, they're using Scripture. They're using the Bible. What does the devil
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do when he tempts Jesus? He quotes what? He quotes Scripture. He quotes
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Psalm 91. He says, it's written, and Jesus has to double down and say,
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hey, it's written again. So sometimes false prophets or false teachers,
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they quote Scripture. What else makes it challenging?
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Roger. You've got to counter that
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as well as teach those that aren't involved in the false teaching. So it creates
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more work. All right. So Roger, and we'll talk about this in a minute,
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it creates more work. You've got to deal with the false teachers and at the
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same time you've got to keep focusing on the people that need to hear the
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truth. There was a hand. Oh, Denver. The example of Apollos,
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he wasn't teaching the truth, but he called it his own.
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That's a great point. So Denver mentions Apollos in Acts 18.
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24 through 28. He didn't know the truth, but he wasn't a false teacher.
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He was mistaken. When Priscilla and Aquila take him aside, they teach him
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the Word of God more accurately, and he gets on board. So, learning who's
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a false teacher from somebody who's simply mistaken. Here are some of the ones I
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thought about that make it challenging. There are many of them. 1 John 4:1
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says that there are many false prophets that have gone out into the world.
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That was in the first century in 1 John 4:1. Do you think that number
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has increased or decreased? Christianity is like 60 years old when
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John writes that. It's been 2,000 years. John says there are many false
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prophets that have gone out into the world. And think about today. You know where
21:55
most people get their theology from today?
21:58
TikTok and YouTube. This dude had a Bible. He put
22:02
a bunch of verses up there, said some Greek and Hebrew stuff. He says the
22:05
world's ending tomorrow. I went and bought all this water and toilet paper. People do
22:08
it. They're many. That's what happens. So that's one
22:12
challenge. Another thing, they will be with us and many will follow them.
22:16
Look at 2 Peter 2. Hold your hand in Acts 13 really
22:19
quickly and go to 2 Peter 2 and notice how Peter describes the
22:23
fact that there are— they will be with us and the fact that many will
22:27
follow them. 2 Peter 2, starting in verse 1,
22:30
Peter writes, but false prophets also arose
22:33
among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
22:36
Who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master
22:41
who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many
22:44
will follow their sensuality. So that's the many. And because of them,
22:48
the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you
22:51
with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is
22:55
not asleep. So there'll be many of them. They'll lead people astray, and all sorts
22:59
of people will go in their direction. Another challenge is they make things seem easier
23:03
than God. False teachers often say, hey, this is the
23:07
easier path than God. It's the broad way. It's the easy way.
23:10
Jesus says the way that leads to life is narrow, and then he
23:14
says it's straight. That doesn't mean the direction of it is straight, though that's probably
23:18
true too. He means straight like straitjacket, like it's constricted,
23:22
it's challenging. And false teachers, they make the way broad and easy,
23:26
and everybody wants easy. Everybody wants
23:29
comfortable. And when you tell people they can have the blessings and the joys of
23:33
heaven Without the challenges and the hardships of discipleship,
23:37
most people go that way. And so, this is a challenge we're always going to
23:40
face. And they confuse people with their doctrine. As long as this is
23:43
out there, a lot of people say, forget Christianity. You can't figure out who's teaching
23:46
the truth and who's teaching what. And so, we have to do some sifting.
23:50
And then they misrepresent God. In Jeremiah 23:21,
23:54
God says, I haven't sent these prophets, and yet they've run. I haven't spoken
23:57
to them, and yet they prophesy. False teachers misrepresent God. They say
24:01
God has said when God hasn't, and this is what Paul and Barnabas have
24:05
to face. And I think this is why Barnabas and Paul give the harsh response
24:09
to Elymas. And you'll find Jesus doing this too. When people have genuine questions
24:13
and they're just trying to find the truth and they're trying to learn, the Holy
24:17
Spirit, through the example of Jesus and the preachers in the New Testament,
24:20
never deal with people in that manner harshly. In fact, in Matthew
24:24
12, Jesus is quoting a prophecy from Isaiah And he says, a smoldering
24:28
wick I will not quench. I wouldn't put out somebody's fire who is genuinely
24:32
trying and searching. But when you find people like the Pharisees in
24:36
the Gospels and Elymas and a few others here in the New Testament purposefully trying
24:40
to lead people astray, those people, they get the harsh Jesus.
24:44
And there's a reason for that. So how do we overcome this? We've already mentioned
24:48
some of this, but know and preach the truth. Ephesians 4:15
24:52
says, speaking the truth in love, If we know and preach the truth,
24:55
we can combat false teaching. Here's what happens sometimes. A false
24:58
idea comes up, you know what people start doing? Spending all their time studying the
25:02
error. I'm going to buy 50 books on this. No, you probably shouldn't do that.
25:05
You should just spend 50 hours with this. Don't spend all your time studying
25:10
the error. Don't study all the questions. Study the answers.
25:13
If you want to combat false teaching, you've got to study and know the truth.
25:17
Don't watch their 50 YouTube videos. If somebody says, hey, this is how the
25:21
world's going to end, just go to your Bible and say, let me look up
25:24
all the passages on end times. If somebody says, hey, this is what you have
25:26
to do to be saved, and for $6.99 after you watch 23 videos,
25:30
I'm going to show you the way to salvation, just start looking up all the
25:34
passages. That's all you've got to do. You can use the internet to do that
25:37
too. List all the Bible passages that mention salvation, but know and preach the truth.
25:40
That's how you combat false doctrine. We sometimes go the other way, and we spend
25:44
all of our time investing in error instead of in truth. Call out error when
25:48
it's taught, and that's what Paul and Barnabas do. Look at Acts 13:10.
25:52
He says, you son of the devil, you enemy of all unrighteousness,
25:56
full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making
25:59
crooked the straight paths of the Lord? Sometimes people
26:04
get in, like, heated religious discussions, and there are some people that love to call
26:07
names and love to rebuke and publicly expose and embarrass,
26:11
and the Bible doesn't encourage Christians to always do that. But there
26:15
are occasions to call out the error for what it is, and I
26:19
think here's one example of that. Ephesians 5:11, Paul says, have no fellowship with
26:23
the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead I want you to expose it. Don't forget
26:28
to focus on the seekers. And this is what Roger mentioned, and I think it's
26:31
important. You can get so focused on all the people that are teaching false doctrine
26:34
that you forget about who? The people that
26:38
are seeking the truth and the people that need it. Respond in keeping with the
26:42
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives Paul this response in Acts 13:9. And then
26:46
hold out hope even for the false teacher. How do you know Paul held out
26:49
hope for even Elymas to change his ways? What in
26:53
this text suggests that Paul even had potential hope for Elymas to change his
26:57
ways? How long is Elymas going to be blind? What does the
27:01
text say? For a time, for a season. Why not for life? Why not just
27:05
blind him for life? Here's what we want to do. We really want to teach
27:07
Sergius Paulus. You're in the way right now. You'll be blind, not able to see
27:11
for a season. Once Sergius obeys the gospel, and he does in verse 12,
27:15
then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred. He was astonished
27:19
at the teaching of the Lord. Maybe when Elymas' eyes are opened again physically,
27:23
they will be spiritually as well. Simon the sorcerer did it. It could happen to
27:27
him. Hold out hope even for false teachers that they can change.
27:30
He's not blind forever, and most people aren't— are not either. They don't have
27:33
to be. They can change. A challenge the church is always going to face is
27:37
the challenge of false teaching, and Acts 13:4-12 teaches us how
27:41
to rise up against it and combat it. All right, Acts 13:13-52 and
27:46
into chapter 14, verse 7 through verse 7. We're not going to read it all.
27:49
I'm going to read down through verse 16, though, and then explain what happens,
27:53
and we'll talk about the unique challenge of opposition from religious
27:57
people. Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos,
28:00
and they came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned
28:04
to Jerusalem. There's a lot of conversation about why John Mark left. We're not going
28:07
to talk about it. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell us why he left. It'll come
28:11
up later in Acts 15. You can surmise and guess he was homesick
28:15
or he was afraid or— the Bible doesn't tell us. But here's what we know
28:18
in verse 14. But they went on from Perga and they came to Antioch in
28:22
Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and they sat down.
28:26
After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the ruler of the synagogue sent
28:29
a message to them saying, Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement
28:33
for the people, say it. So Paul stood up, motioning with his hands,
28:37
and he said, men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.
28:40
And then he launches into this sermon. So Paul and Barnabas,
28:43
they go to the synagogue. This is their custom, and they get to preach the
28:47
gospel in Antioch of Pisidia. When they get there, there's this synagogue.
28:50
Synagogues in the ancient world weren't like modern churches. You shouldn't imagine the apostles
28:55
in the book of Acts going into synagogues and basically hijacking people's
28:59
church services, bumping the preacher out of the way and saying, well, we're taking over
29:02
now. We're going to preach the gospel. Synagogues were more like community centers,
29:06
town hall meetings, and different people after the reading and after the prayers
29:10
were allowed to get up and say their piece. That's what Jesus does when he's
29:13
12 years old in Luke chapter 4. He gets up, reads the scroll
29:17
Isaiah, and says, hey, this is fulfilled in your ears. After the prayer and after
29:21
the reading, they look at Barnabas and Paul and say, if you've got any word
29:24
of encouragement to say to the people, say it. They get up and they preach.
29:28
Acts 13:17 down through 41,
29:31
Paul preaches a lengthy sermon. Not going to read it or go into the details
29:35
except to say it's very similar to the sermon of Stephen in
29:38
Acts chapter 7. By the way, when Stephen preached that sermon right
29:43
before he died, guess who was standing there holding people's coats? Saul of Tarsus.
29:47
It seems like Paul was at least taking notes or making some mental notes.
29:50
Read Acts 7 and Acts 13. They're almost the exact same sermon verbatim.
29:55
All right, what's the response to the preaching? Look at Acts 13,
29:59
read the verses and tell me. In verse 42, what's the initial
30:03
response to this sermon from Paul? Come again.
30:07
Yeah, look at verse 42. The people begged that what?
30:13
In 42, they begged for what?
30:17
Yeah, but more than that, they don't just beg for more preaching. They beg that
30:21
these things might be told to them the next Sabbath. You know, that's never happened
30:24
to me before. Come back next week and preach this same sermon. Just do the
30:27
same thing. They want Paul to preach these same words. You come back next
30:31
Sabbath, we'll be here at the synagogue, and we want you to preach this same
30:34
sermon. Verse 43, after the meeting of the synagogue
30:38
broke up, many devout Jews and converts of Judaism followed Paul and
30:42
Barnabas as they spoke with them, and they urged them to continue in the grace
30:45
of God. So, so far their efforts are good until you get to verse 45.
30:49
But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to
30:52
contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. So, certain Jews step
30:56
up. They are not a fan of what Paul and Barnabas are doing. And as
30:59
a result of this, Paul basically tells them, look, the gospel came to you first.
31:02
Romans 1:16, the gospel was first to the Jew and then also to the Greek.
31:06
But since you don't want it, we're going to go to who? The Gentiles.
31:10
What do they do with their clothes in verse 51?
31:14
Shake the dust out of their clothes. Where did they get that from? And what
31:17
does that mean? When you're teaching somebody, and in the Bible, Paul's going to do
31:18
this in Corinth, Corinth in Acts 18. What is this
31:22
shaking the dust off of your clothes? Where did they get that from?
31:30
Yeah, in Matthew 10:14, Jesus sent the disciples
31:34
out on the limited commission and he says, hey, when you go into a city,
31:37
if they receive you, receive them, but if they don't, shake even the dust out
31:41
of your clothes and off of your feet as a testimony against them and say,
31:44
the dust of this town clings to you. It's actually a judgment statement
31:48
saying, you're going to be destroyed and we don't even want your dirt on us,
31:51
and they go the other way. And so, but then the Gentiles hear this and
31:55
they're glad. All right, so what are some of the challenges and the opposition from
31:58
religious people? All right, let's take a survey.
32:01
Show of hands of everybody in this room that has a friend,
32:05
a family member, or somebody they love and care about that they disagree
32:09
with deeply on religious matters. Just show of hands. Great.
32:14
The reason why I want to do that is because I've got a follow-up question,
32:16
but based on what you just said and what we all admitted is we love
32:19
people with whom we disagree with on religious things deeply, and we
32:23
love and care about them. So, as you think through this, be thinking about those
32:26
people. Don't be harsh and unkind, but be thinking about those people, and then I
32:31
want to ask this question: why is it that sometimes Christianity's greatest
32:35
opposition or some of the hardest people to teach are people that are already religious?
32:39
When we started, I said, why did they go to the synagogue? Y'all said,
32:42
well, yeah, the synagogue, the religious people are there. They knew the Bible. They were
32:45
great. They were religious people. They get to the synagogue. Guess who's mad?
32:49
The religious people. So, my question is, why is the greatest
32:52
challenge for Christians in evangelism often among people who are already
32:57
religious? And I don't want to call on anybody, but I might call on you
32:59
because you just said you know people that are religious, right? And that sometimes
33:04
we struggle to teach them. Why do you think it's a great challenge to teach
33:06
people that are already religious, and why does our greatest opposition come
33:10
from that direction? Whether they're under the umbrella of Christendom and believe
33:14
in Jesus Christ or world religions or somebody— something else, why is that often
33:18
the greatest opposition and challenge? We think we've already got it figured out,
33:22
and to go against what we think we've figured out doesn't seem right. If you
33:25
think you already have the truth— by the way, everybody thinks they already have
33:28
the truth. Most logical people wouldn't be practicing what
33:32
they're practicing if they didn't believe it was what? If it was— they didn't believe
33:36
it was true or right. So when you think, hey, I know I'm convicted,
33:38
guess what they're thinking? Me too. They're doing what
33:42
they think is right. So that's exactly right. People that think— and this is every
33:46
religious person of any stripe— we already got the truth. When Paul and Barnabas come
33:50
there, like, man, we told y'all to get up and say something. We didn't want
33:53
new religion. We already got the truth. We got the law and the prophets.
33:56
We didn't need new information. You think you already have the truth. What else makes
33:59
it a challenge? I think it's false teachers are still very
34:03
much— yeah, they've been led astray by someone
34:06
who is not teaching the truth. So false teachers have a foothold
34:11
and they influence. Jesus said this about the Pharisees in Matthew 23. He said,
34:14
hey, these people are blind guides. They'll mislead you down the wrong way. They say
34:18
but they don't practice. So false teachers, people think they already have the truth.
34:21
What else? Religious people, the challenge,
34:25
the opposition we often face. What, what's tied to that?
34:30
Stacy? So sometimes there's the implication. So, okay, I'm lost and I can fix this
34:34
if you're right, but if I'm lost and wrong, then what
34:38
about all these other people in this long line? Yeah, sometimes we do that,
34:41
and there's ways to talk through that and respond to it, but that's at least
34:45
one of the challenges. Joey?
34:54
That's right. If you think you have the truth,
34:58
everybody that disagrees with you has what? The error,
35:01
the mistaken ideas. And so that's a part of it. Another thing is zeal.
35:05
Like, we can think, I'm zealous about this, I'm passionate, so I must
35:09
be right. And I think all of that is what they faced throughout the book
35:12
of Acts. So how do you overcome it quickly? Know the Bible well. 2 Timothy
35:16
2:15 says, study to show yourself approved unto God, Paul goes in,
35:20
he preaches the Bible to them, and he's quoting from 1
35:24
Samuel, he's quoting from the Psalms, he's quoting from the book of Habakkuk.
35:27
He knows the Bible so well that he's able to make a dent into
35:31
what they think, and they really, if they're honest, can't argue against it.
35:34
And sometimes we need to know what we believe a little bit
35:38
better and not just think, well, I don't know the answer to that,
35:41
but I know you're wrong. Well, we need to know the Bible well.
35:44
Another thing is look for the listeners. In this group, there were people that were
35:48
honestly listening. And there always will be people like that, even religious
35:52
individuals. Remember that some will hear and obey. Isaiah 55:10-11,
35:56
God says, my word won't return to me void. Know when
35:59
to shake the dust off. When do you do this? Shake the dust off of
36:02
your feet. That should say Acts 13:51. When should you shake the dust off
36:06
your feet? Like, when do you know it's time for me to stop with this
36:08
person and go another direction? Like, what are some telltale signs?
36:12
I'm gonna give you one. If they say, leave me,
36:15
what? Start shaking and start leaving.
36:18
Okay, if they say, don't talk to me about religion anymore, guess what you should
36:22
do? Stop talking to them about religion, at least for now. They don't want you
36:25
to. Go talk to somebody else. When they kick Paul and them out of town,
36:28
Paul and company never say, no, but we just got to. Hey, if you don't
36:31
want us, we'll go. In Mark 5, Jesus heals the demon-possessed man in the region
36:35
of the Gadarenes, and they say, hey, can you get out of town? Jesus says,
36:38
okay. He gets on his boat and he leaves. You got to know when to
36:41
do this. You got to know your limitations, and this is challenging, especially when
36:45
we love people. And then keep encouraging the saved. And that's what they do at
36:48
the end of Acts 13. They keep encouraging these individuals to
36:52
continue in the grace of God. Well, that's Acts 13:43. They urge them
36:55
to continue in the grace of God. And this really goes down through chapter 14
36:59
and verse 7. When they get to Iconium, same thing happens.
37:03
They're persecuted for preaching the truth, and they have to rise up and face this
37:06
challenge. So, we won't cover that territory twice. All right, next challenge,
37:10
the challenge of preacheritis. Acts 14:8,
37:14
really down through 18, is this challenge. I'm just going to read the
37:18
first 8 through 12. Look at Acts 14:8 through 12.
37:22
Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who couldn't use his feet. He was
37:25
crippled from birth, and he had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul,
37:28
looking intently at him, seeing that he had faith to be made well,
37:32
said in a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. He sprang
37:35
up and began walking. And when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they lifted
37:39
up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, the gods have come down to us
37:43
in the likeness of man. Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes,
37:46
because he was the chief speaker. All right, so they get to Lystra,
37:50
and they're going to be in this area of Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium doing work.
37:54
And one of the challenges the church is always going to face is the challenge
37:57
of preacheritis. And here's what happens. Paul heals a man. What does this remind you
38:00
of? This man's here crippled. Paul heals him. Who else did something
38:03
like this? Peter in Acts 3. Paul is
38:06
being asserted as the new Peter. He preaches his sermon, he heals
38:10
a man, and they heal this guy. The people at Lystra attempt to worship him
38:14
and Barnabas. They even give them names according to their gods. They call them Zeus
38:18
and Hermes. Paul's the chief speaker. Paul and Barnabas correct
38:21
them. What Paul does in short in Acts 14:14-17 is
38:26
they come out begging, Stop doing this, man. We're just like you.
38:29
There's a God in heaven who's actually given us the power to do what we're
38:32
able to do. Whatever you do, don't worship us.
38:35
And last, the people still struggle with this. Verse 18 says,
38:39
even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to
38:43
them. I think this is interesting. This section begins with Paul doing a miracle on
38:46
a man, but even the miraculous can't cure this disease of preacheritis. People still have
38:51
it. They couldn't get this out of people's system, wanting to worship them as preachers.
38:54
So, here's a question, and we've got 5 minutes, but we're in a good spot.
38:57
How do you know you have the disease? How do you know you have preacheritis?
39:01
Here's a little mental, spiritual checkup list for you, okay? Here's how you
39:05
know. You don't want to listen to anybody else. Like, this is
39:08
my preacher. This is the only person I want to hear the truth from.
39:11
You might have the disease. Everyone else is compared to
39:15
your favorite. They don't say it like him. He just puts the words together.
39:18
Nobody says it like that. You probably have the disease.
39:21
You follow them more than God. This is what they try to do with Paul
39:24
and Barnabas. They want to follow them, they want to worship them, and Paul won't
39:28
have it. You start ranking them. Preachers aren't servants in your mind. You kind of
39:32
have a list, you know, you start ranking who you think's the best. You might
39:35
have the disease. And then you worship them. And that's
39:39
what happens on this occasion. 1 Corinthians 1:12-13,
39:42
Paul says, some say I'm of Paul and Apollos and Cephas.
39:46
Was Paul baptized for you? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized
39:50
in my name? Preacheritis. Churches are always going to have this challenge.
39:54
How do you overcome it quickly? Acknowledge without allegiance.
39:57
You can say, this person's gifted. I appreciate what they do, but you don't have
40:01
to pledge your allegiance to them. You know why that's always a bad idea?
40:04
Because they might one day start teaching something that's what? Wrong. And if
40:08
you just got the stardust in your eyes because this person is it, if they
40:12
start teaching something wrong, you know where you're headed if you just keep following them?
40:16
You're down the wrong path. Remember, it's God and not man. Paul says,
40:20
I planted, Apollos watered, but God did what?
40:23
God gave the increase. Point people away from you as much
40:27
as you can. When they try this to Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas say,
40:30
no thank you. We don't need this. Don't exchange one idolatry
40:34
for another. They came to get these people out of idolatry, and Paul and Barnabas
40:37
basically say, we're not going to become your new gods. Will not let
40:41
you worship us, and then accept that you just won't change anyone— everybody.
40:45
All right, Acts 15. We've got time to get through Acts 15. Here are the
40:49
last challenges. Overcoming the challenge of legalism. When Paul and
40:52
Barnabas get back to Antioch, they find out— they're telling the church
40:56
all the great things that have happened on their missionary journey that we just started
40:59
about, and some individuals start saying, hey, unless the Gentiles are circumcised,
41:03
they can't be saved. And they start trying to teach them that, hey, you've got
41:06
to keep the Law of Moses. And this is the challenge of legalism. Legalism doesn't
41:10
mean following the rules. Legalism is the challenge of people always trying
41:14
to be stricter than God and adding things in that God never
41:18
put as a part of the original plan. And this is attractive because people always
41:22
will be drawn to it. It sounds spiritual. How do you overcome it?
41:25
What do Barnabas and Paul and the others do? Sound reasoning.
41:29
They say, hey, listen, God hasn't bound the law, we shouldn't bind the law.
41:33
There's a bold defense. They start sending letters in and
41:37
around Antioch that basically say, we're not going to let the Gentiles be bound
41:41
by these strong personalities that are saying they have to be circumcised to be saved.
41:45
There's the spreading of the facts. Here's what the Gentiles really have to do: stop
41:49
worshiping idols, make sure that they're not engaged in sexual immorality,
41:53
and don't eat food that would associate them with idolatry. Emphasize only
41:56
what God does and then trust people to do their part.
42:01
The reason why people are legalistic and bind more than God is
42:04
because they don't trust God and they don't trust people. It's a lack of faith.
42:07
It says God left too much room and I've got to fill in the gaps
42:11
or people are going to run crazy and do their own thing. They don't have
42:14
faith in God or his people. What God said isn't enough, so they've got to
42:18
fill in the lines. You overcome legalism by saying, if there was more to be
42:22
said on this— never say this, and we sometimes do— I wish God said more
42:25
about this. No, you don't, because God's always right, and if there was more
42:28
to be said, he would have said it. Just say, I trust that God said
42:31
enough, and that'll be enough for God and for his people. And so,
42:35
that's how you get rid of legalism. The last one, and this is the last
42:38
slide, is the challenge of disagreement. Paul and Barnabas,
42:41
as you know, they want to go back and check on the churches and see
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how they do, and they have a disagreement about whether or not they should take
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John Mark. They eventually split and go their separate ways,
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and there's been a lot of talk about who was right in this, and who
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was wrong. The challenge of disagreement is this: people
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can go their separate ways and do different things.
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Partnerships can come to an end without people falling out with each other.
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Paul and Barnabas, this alliance of missionary work that they formed
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together by the Holy Spirit, it's the end of it. But they double the work.
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Paul and Silas go in a different direction, and Timothy
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goes with them later, and Barnabas and John Mark go in a different place.
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Sometimes in the church, even with people we love, there will be strong disagreements,
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and sometimes that means we're going to do something separate, but we're going
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to stay on the same mission. And the challenge of disagreement is this: it—
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just because people disagree doesn't mean somebody has to be right and somebody has to
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be wrong. Who was right? Who was wrong with Paul and Barnabas? You're asking the
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wrong question. They both continue to do the work of God. They disagree.
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They're allowed to have their disagreement over whether or not John Mark should go,
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and they double the work. Paul is reconciled to John Mark at the end of
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his life, and I believe it's providential because Paul's about to go into some
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heavily Roman-populated areas, and guess who he has with him? He has
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Timothy, but guess who else he has? Silas. And guess what Silas
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has that Barnabas didn't? Roman citizenship. And so in
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Acts 16, when they're beaten and in prison, he says, hey, we're Roman citizens,
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and he and Silas now have ability that he wouldn't have with Barnabas. Everywhere you
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read about Silas, he's writing. He wrote 1 Peter. He wrote that letter
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in Acts 15 that was sent out to those Gentile churches and probably worked
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as a secretary to help Paul write many of his letters. What we think is
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a disaster in friendship, people might
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have meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And so the challenge
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of disagreement doesn't always mean disruption or falling out. We can
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go our separate ways and still be going in God's way together. All right,
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thanks for a good Bible class. Thanks for your participation. And next week we'll pick
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up in chapter 16.