A Work in Our Days
Preached by Ben Bechtel
August 16, 2020
Scripture Reading
Acts 13:1-52
1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 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.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 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. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 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? 11 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. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” 16 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:
“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. 19 And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23 Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28 And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’
34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
35 Therefore he says also in another psalm,
“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, 37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. 40 Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
41 “‘Look, you scoffers,
be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”
42 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. 43 And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
We have all heard the expression sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. I think we all intuitively knew, even from a young age that this expression is false and doesn’t square with our experience. Words have the power to deeply affect us, to change our lives for better or for worse. Some of us can still remember both the words of affirmation and encouragement that we received from a parent, mentor, or friend right alongside of the words of slander, hatred, and dismissal. We still remember these words because words have the tremendous power to shape us.
Some variation of the phrase “the word of God” occurs eight times in this chapter. This phrase here in chapter 13 is used to refer to the message of good news about Jesus, what we call the gospel. The phrase “word of God” can sound very religious to our ears, even to those of us who are Christians, and it can conjure images in our minds of rigid religiosity. However, as we will see, the word of God refers to God’s revelation of himself in Jesus, who doesn’t stand aloof bashing us unlovingly with commandments, but who draws near to his world to rescue us. Before we go any further, let’s stop and ask Jesus that he would draw near to us this morning and that we would experience his transforming presence.
PRAY
In this chapter, Paul and Barnabas, who are commissioned as missionaries from the church of Antioch, preach the gospel to many people and receive many different responses. Side note: there were something like sixteen different cities in the region called Antioch at that time. Antioch Pisidia is different from the Antioch from which Paul and Barnabas were sent.
If the word of God in the gospel is such a highlighted theme in this chapter and since the majority of this passage is a sermon proclaiming the gospel, we should spend some time talking about the word that is preached by Paul to this synagogue in Antioch Pisidia.
1. The Word
If we were to summarize the message of Paul’s sermon in one sentence I think it would go something like this: the resurrection of Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to David and is good news for the world. The resurrection is the main point of this sermon, to be sure, but not the resurrection in a vacuum. Paul recites the history of Israel from Abraham to David in order to show that Jesus Christ is the promised king who fulfills all of God’s ancient promises to his people, particularly that there would be a king on the throne of David forever. The Jewish people were actively looking for the promised king who would conquer their enemies, bring them salvation from their sin, and reign over them as their king forever.
This is precisely why in verse 35 Paul quotes Psalm 16:10, which was originally a Psalm of David. David eventually died and his body was corrupted in the grave. He was not the king that Israel was looking for to bring them God’s promised salvation. However, Paul argues that Psalm 16:10 is about Jesus, God’s holy king who will never see corruption because he was not in the grave long enough. As a resurrected king, Jesus now reigns never to die again. This is summarized most succinctly in verse 32-33:
32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’
This citation may seem strange to you. Is Paul saying that Jesus did not really become God’s son until his resurrection? The language of son is kingly language in the Old Testament, denoting the special relationship between God and his chosen ruler. This goes the whole way back to Genesis where Adam is created as God’s son to rule over creation under God (Luke 3:38).
Paul is claiming here that the resurrection of Jesus did nothing to alter Jesus’ divine identity. Rather, he is saying that the resurrection, along with the ascension of Christ into heaven, was like Jesus’ coronation ceremony as the Messiah. He had done the work of dying for the sins of his people and now raised from the dead in power he sits at the throne of the universe as king. And this is all in fulfillment of what God promised to his people 2,000 years prior. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises of salvation that go back to Abraham, even to Adam and Eve in the garden. He is the one Israel looked for and the world longs for.
And by God’s grace, Jesus invites us all into this story to live under his rule as the promised king (verses 38-39):
38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
This is good news. Look at what Jesus’ kingship means for us. It means forgiveness of sins and justification. Now that word “freed” used twice in verse 39 is the same word translated “justify” or “to declare righteous” in the letters of Paul. Justification is a Bible term that we can throw around a lot in church and not understand what it means. This text gives us a great, succinct explanation of what it means.
Let’s try to think of the good old days, when restaurants and coffee shops were filled with people with no fear of a global pandemic. One thing I have missed most is being able to walk to down to Little Amps coffeeshop a few blocks from my house and have a cup of coffee with someone. Now if you and I are getting coffee at Little Amps and I get to the counter and place my order and then realize I don’t have my wallet there’s going to be a problem. The barista behind the counter could just say to you and I, “don’t worry about it, I forgive you for the price of your coffee.” The reality is though, someone is paying for that coffee, for what I have caused since I forget my wallet or I’m not getting that coffee. Either you will pay for it or the store will eat the cost of it. Forgiveness is costly.
In his sacrificial death, Jesus ate the cost of our sin and rebellion against God. He took the consequences of death upon himself for our sin. And in doing this, he now extends to his people forgiveness of the sin we have committed against him. This in and of itself is remarkable. However, this is only one side of the coin. The truth of justification is even better. Jesus doesn’t just settle our debt and forgive our sins. He just doesn’t just bring us out of the red to break even. No, he fills our account with his righteousness, his obedience to God for us. This is like the barista at Little Amps giving me a gift card to the shop that never runs out after eating the cost of my cup of coffee.
This is what the resurrection shows us. Jesus not only pays for our sin in his death, but as the righteous one he offers us his own righteous life (Rom. 4:25)! You see, God doesn’t just count us as morally neutral, like Adam in the garden of Eden and drive us back to the law to try again. He doesn’t just bring us back to the starting line to try again. The law cannot bring about true righteousness! In Christ, because of what he has done, God sees us as totally and completely righteous. He counts us as those who have done everything necessary for salvation because Christ has done this work and credits it to us! Praise God!
We receive these benefits of the gospel by virtue of our relationship to Christ as King. Notice in verses 38-39 we have forgiveness “through this man” and justification “by him.” We receive these benefits as subjects in his kingdom under his rule. If a king wins a battle, that victory extends to all those who are represented by that king. In the same way, everyone who trusts in Christ by faith has a relationship to him as king by which we receive forgiveness and justification. This means our salvation and our entire lives are not primarily about the benefits of living in the kingdom but about the King.
As Christians we have a tendency to view the benefits of the gospel, like forgiveness and justification, as more important than the person of Jesus, who is himself the gospel. We focus on these things we receive rather than the one through whom these good things come. We act as if the lifetime supply gift card to Little Amps is better than the one who gave it to us, as if we could have it without our relationship to him. When we talk about salvation we often talk about going to heaven and not hell when we die but less frequently do we talk about the beauty of who Jesus is and what he has done to save us. This would be like talking about what we love about our marriages in terms of only what our spouse does for us or gives to us, rather than the glory of who they are. Now, the benefits of being united to Christ are not to be separated from his person, no more than we can separate our spouse from what they do for us. But often times it is easy to be more consumed with what he gives us, rather than who he is and what he is doing among us as his people. Our salvation is all about Jesus!
Notice here before we move on, the eyewitness testimony to the resurrection that is attested here. This message of a resurrected man may strike you this morning as illogical, impossible, and ahistorical. You may think Luke, the author of Acts, just wrote down these made up stories about a resurrection which the early church used to carry on their movement even after their savior Jesus was dead in the grave. However, notice what Luke records in verse 31:
31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
Paul says clearly that those who told him about the resurrection are the very same ones who saw Jesus raised from the dead in the flesh. They were eyewitness testimonies. This account of the resurrection we read in Acts 13 reported by Luke comes directly from eyewitness testimony. The resurrection of Jesus is not a fabricated ruse nor is it a mystical reality that took place in the hearts of Jesus’ followers. The apostles claimed that Jesus rose from the dead bodily and in historical and that this event has implications for all of history.
2. The Responses
In summary, Paul proclaims that the resurrection of Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to David and is good news for the world. Now the question is, what ought we to do as readers of this sermon? How did Paul call his hearers to respond to this message of salvation in the resurrected king? Look at verses 40-41:
40 Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
41 “‘Look, you scoffers,
be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”
This is a stern warning to not ignore the words that Paul is preaching. This warning comes from Habakkuk 1:5 and in its original context it was a warning for the people of Israel to repent before the empire Babylon came to overthrow them as a punishment for their sin. The work that God was doing in the days of Habakkuk was a work of judgment if they did not repent. However, the work which God did in Paul’s day was to raise Jesus from the dead for the salvation of the world. And so in our day, even this morning, Jesus reigns as the resurrected king who is drawing people into his kingdom. Paul is urging us to get caught up into the big story of what God has done in Jesus and is doing by his Spirit in our day to bring about salvation.
Notice in this chapter, there are varied responses to the preaching of the gospel. The proconsul Sergius and the Gentiles believe in the gospel while the magician and the Jewish leaders reject it vehemently. What was it that caused these different responses to the gospel among them? There were obviously different reasons why the Jewish leaders and the magician rejected and opposed the word of God on the surface, but ultimately, they both rejected the gospel because they were too caught up with their own lives to see the bigger picture of what God was doing in Jesus. The Jews were jealous because so many Gentiles were being included into this new people of God and the magician fought against the proconsul receiving the gospel because he was in fear of losing his job as the court magician if this man accepted the gospel.
(FCF) Like these groups, we all get caught up with our own stories and lose sight of what God is doing in our own day. Since March many of us have only gotten more busy, more tired, more stressed, more anxious, and more angry. Some of us have worked tirelessly to make contingency plans only to have restrictions change and our work feels increasingly futile, working three times as hard and seeing no fruit from our labors. Some of us are looking at the ashes of our 5-year financial goals blown to bits on the ground. Others have had to play the roles full-time teacher and full-time mother and you are exhausted. Still others are anxious and have to make decisions about sending kids back to school or themselves going back to work and they just want to do what is good for their family. Still others of us have been feeding on social media and the news and we have found ourselves unable to shake anger at what is going in our nation.
Friends, for all of us here this morning, God offers you a better story than what you are living right now. He offers you himself in the person of Jesus, the resurrected Savior. (BI) Jesus wants to lift us up out of our own stories and see him, the one sitting on the throne, who as our risen king is taking all of our stories of struggle and making them into something beautiful. He continues to do things in our own day that we would not believe if told. So, let’s look with the eyes of faith and see our Savior who understands our struggles and worries and sin and invites us into the bigger and better story of his kingdom.
And you may be here this morning and say, “I hear you Ben, but that seems impossible. How do I get my eyes up off of my circumstances when they are thrust upon me at the outset of everyday?” There are many answers to that question, but a great place to start is Christian community. In life together, you have an ability to redirect my gaze to see Jesus and what he is up to that I don’t have on my own. Community group story.
3. The Outcomes
When we do get outside of ourselves and are able to see what the risen Jesus is doing in our day, look at what results (verses 48-49; 52):
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region… 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
When we truly grasp the good news of Jesus and how our life circumstances are ultimately a part of that story four things result: worship, witness, joy, and an experience of the presence of God. This community who grasps the glory of Jesus and what he has done for them worships, witnesses, rejoices, and experiences the presence of God among them. Who doesn’t want that? Is your life characterized by these four things? Is our church characterized by these four things? In order for that to happen, we have to look in faith above purely what we have going on and see the work Jesus is doing in us and around us. We need an encounter with Jesus.
So, what we are going to do now, is we are going to sing two songs that reflect upon the good news of Jesus. As we sing, I pray that our eyes would continue to be lifted to heaven, where Jesus is seated, that we would know and experience the reality of being forgiven and justified in him, and that would fill us with such worship, such joy, and such an experience of his presence that we can’t help but leave here changed. Don’t underestimate what God can do among us when we see the reality and beauty of who Jesus is.
