Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Acts 13:12 

Acts 13:4–12 – The Story of the Church: Living Into This Drama in the 21st Century
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – August 1, 2021 (am)
  

Last week we saw God identify and [send] the first missionaries from a worshiping, fasting, praying church at Antioch. Nick also pointed out that his text and ours today really are one piece. You can see that as v.4 opens with, So, telling us what happened after the church laid their hands on [Barnabas and Saul] and sent them off (3). Luke doesn’t even repeat their names here. He just says: they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus (4).

Still, we’re handling these passages separately because of the importance of each—the actual process of identifying and [sending] within the context of a local church, which Nick, our GO Pastor, handled very nicely last Sunday—and here the first steps, the first stops on the first journey.

And what must that worshiping and [prayer] time have been like, their senses heightened by fasting in anticipation of God’s answer? Did the Holy Spirit speak to them audibly? Or did He just impress it on their hearts silently such that one or another of them had to speak up and say: I believe God wants us to [send] out Barnabas and Saul to carry this gospel message to other places, then others would have to respond: I believe so, too! How did the Holy Spirit speak to them?

We don’t know the answer to that question, but we do know that this must have been an amazing experience! Just like back in c.4 when the place in which they were [praying] was shaken! (4:31) This had to be almost indescribable!

So, what happened next, as their Spirit-initiated [sending] was put into action by their going? And what difference does all this make to us? Three summary statements will help us see.

The Spirit Directs the Missionaries’ Steps – 4-5

Barnabas and Saul (4, cf.2) hit the road, together with John (5), [who] was [also known as] Mark (12:12). Luke mentioned John Mark back in c.12; it was his [mother’s home] in Jerusalem that Peter went to when he was miraculously released from prison. Her name was Mary (12:12). So, it was likely her servant girl Rhoda who left Peter standing on the street to report to the others that their [prayers] had been answered! (12:13-16) Mary was Barnabas’ aunt, since Paul reports (Col.4:10) that John Mark, here, was his cousin.

These three were 4 … sent out by the Holy Spirit, and we see that they went down about fifteen miles (Stott 218) southeast to Seleucia, the nearest seaport, and from there they sailed, continuing on in almost a straight line southeast from Antioch to the island of Cyprus, about 130 miles across the Mediterranean Sea from Seleucia. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. … Barnabas and Saul always went to the Jews first, meeting them in the synagogues to preach that the risen Jesus is the Christ. This was their custom (17:2) and we’ll see that again and again throughout Luke’s account from this point forward.

Now, these people may have also been acquaintances, or friends, of Barnabas since he was a Levite, and a native of Cyprus (4:36). But we should never neglect that their travels were their response to being sent out by the Holy Spirit (4).

The Spirit Empowers the Missionaries’ Work – 6-11

From Salamis, they [went] through the whole island as far as Paphos (6) on the opposite coast, sort of the southwest corner of the island, about ninety miles away. And from the word Luke chooses here (gone through [6]), some suggest that this was a preaching tour [all along the way] (Ramsay in Stott 219).

But Luke only records what happened at Paphos. While they were there, Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark met an odd bird (6), a Jewish magician named Bar-Jesus, which means ‘son of Joshua’ (Marshall 1980 232), or maybe son of salvation (Stott, 219). Now, this word magician (μάγος [6]) is a bit unclear; it has a double meaning. It translates into Latin as magus; the plural, then, would be magi, wise men, which is a special advisor to a ruler, a counselor or honorable gentleman (Toussaint 388). And because of Bar-Jesus’ association with the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus here, this meaning is a genuine possibility. But the other meaning of μάγος is magician, sorcerer, wizard; we saw all this with the so-call Simon Magus back in c.8. And even though it may be hard to process the thought of a Jewish [sorcerer], since that was forbidden in the Law (Deu.18:10-12), because it’s joined with a Greek word here that could be transliterated as pseudo-prophet, false prophet (6), it’s clearly intended to have the latter meaning: sorcerer, magician. This was a bad guy!

But he was associated with an emerging good guy. A proconsul was appointed by the Senate in Rome to govern a district. They were given wide-ranging powers including the role of judge (cf. 19:38). Sergius Paulus and Gallio of Achaia (18:12) are the only two we meet personally in Acts. And it can be helpful to know that they differ from a procurator, a governor, like Pontius Pilate (Mat.27) or Antonius Felix (Act.23-24) or Porcius Festus (Act.24-25). [Procurators] were appointed by the emperor (Toussaint 388) and served as his personal agent.

This proconsul, Sergius Paulus, was described as [an intelligent] man (7), perhaps demonstrated most clearly here by the fact that he summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God (7). The gospel was gaining the attention of the highest levels of regional government! And Holy-Spirit-sent representatives were enabled by Him to answer the call!

But complications were present from the very start of the very first mission! Bar-Jesus, also called Elymas (8)—his name is explained right here, but we really don’t understand the connection—tried to [oppose Barnabas and Saul] and turn the proconsul away from the faith! (8)

9 But Saul, who was [first] called Paul, his Roman name, right here as he entered the Gentile world (Marshall 1980 234) and met up will a proconsul by the same name (Stott 219), filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at [Elymas] 10 and said, “You son of the devil, no more a son of salvation, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy! … Elymas was the enemy of both goodness and truth, an ‘utter impostor and charlatan’ (neb, 1961 edition), guilty of causing ‘perversion’ (diastrephō, 8, 10), instead of ‘conversion’ (epistrephō, e.g. 9:35; 11:21; 14:15) (Stott 220). And it’s not that Paul was just fed up with him, exasperated. He was filled with the Holy Spirit… (9), 10 and he said all this, finishing with the piercing question, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

This was the judgment of God expressed through the voice of His divinely empowered servant, silencing the foolish opposition of a [deceived] man! This was the God of all salvation shutting down this son of the devil in an undeniable demonstration of His sovereign purpose to save and of His irrepressible power to do so!

This sorcerer’s eyes were turned off from the light of the sun (11) even as the proconsul’s heart was being turned on to embrace the light of life! This is God at work by His Spirit dispensing judgment and blessing according to His sovereign will through the work of His servants and toward the achievement of His purpose and plan!

The Spirit Accomplishes the Missionaries’ Results – 12

And that is just what resulted: 12 … the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. And so, Luke records the conversion of the first Gentile with no religious background at all, and he just happened to be a Roman ruler who was being [deceived] by a Jewish sorcerer! This whole scene just drips with irony! The son of salvation (6), by name, is exposed to be a son of the devil (9) who opposes all truth. Meanwhile the one in whose ear he’s supposedly been whispering wisdom, the one who shares a name with the messenger of life, receives salvation as He watches his seer get struck blind!

But all along there is no mistaking that the Holy Spirit is the guiding Agent here, directing the course of these sent ones, empowering their message, and accomplishing the outcomes as they faithfully dispense the teaching of the Lord! (12)

Conclusion

And in the process of this telling, we’re reminded of three things we already know but all too easily forget.

Three Reminders

God still guides our steps today.

In the spreading of the gospel, He not only leads some to foreign lands for a lifetime and others just for short time, He also orders conversations at the office water-cooler, or in line at the grocery store, or over the back fence in the neighborhood. Wherever He leads our steps, we’re on mission with Him! We’re called ones, sent ones, just like Paul and Barnabas and John Mark. We, too, have received the Great Commission from Jesus. And the way Matthew recorded it, we hear Him say: Mat.28:19 [As you go into all the world] make disciples….

And, get this, the very same Holy Spirit Who sent and went with Paul, [sends] and goes with us! Our calling is to share the good news whether we’re on Cyprus or in Antioch or back in Jerusalem or in Warrenville!

God still empowers our work today.

It was not just Peter or Paul who were enabled by God to seize the moment and express the truth. We still have divine appointments today that deserve to be called that not just because we happen to have time and opportunity at the moment to share the truth, but also because we’re given the words by the Holy Spirit, just like Paul was (9-11; cf. Eph.6:19; Col.4:3; 2Th.3:1; see also Mar.13:9-11).

We live in a day when we need to hear this reminder. While we always need to speak with gentleness and respect (1Pe.3:15), there are times when our words also need to be direct and clear, uncompromising, as Paul’s are here. There will always be [sons] of the devil full of deceit and all villainy whispering in the ears of our leaders, trying to [make] crooked the straight paths of the Lord (10).

There will always be some saying Jesus isn’t the only way, that He didn’t really rise from the dead, that we won’t really answer to Him in the end, that He’s not really relevant to us still today.

There will always be some saying that a fertilized human egg isn’t really an image-bearing creature, that God doesn’t really make us only male and female, that it’s really fine to engage intimately according to our own desires and not according to His design.

There will always be some saying prayer is only helpful for social reassurance, that there’s no one really listening on the other end. So, when we pray, we really need to leave room in our wording for everyone to plug in their own deity.

There will always be people all too willing to whisper in the ears of power to achieve their own agenda, but who are nothing more than [enemies] of all righteousness (10). So, we need to be reminded that God still empowers our work today. And He can still speak through His people now like He did through Paul right here. He’s the same God with the same purpose and power!

God still accomplishes our results today.

This is a tough one, but we have to leave the outcome in His hands. Only He can grant life. We know that, but it’s still hard for us to hear in the heat of the battle.

Jean & I used to fight this battle daily. When we lived downtown, we shared the truth regularly. Everyone in our neighborhood who knew us knew what we did and what we believe. But we didn’t see one adult conversion—not one that we know of with confidence—from our community or our local public school where we were so involved. There were many through our church work; some of them are in this room today! But in the hardened soil of downtown Chicago, we spread a lot of seeds that we just never saw take root.

That can be very discouraging. We saw literally scores of people attend our concerts and special church services. We had neighbors and teachers and clerks at local stores calling us for input on personal crises, or asking for our perspective on any number of moral issues, even buying gifts for our newborn children. But no one showed any sort of genuine hunger for the gospel.

So, why didn’t discouragement overcome us? Well, at times it did, actually. But we had to keep reminding ourselves of this point: God accomplishes the results, not us. Salvation belongs to the Lord! (Jon.2:9)

We’re called to share the truth faithfully and winsomely. And at the end of the day our joy must be rooted in the Lord alone, not in the relative success of our witness. That work is God’s responsibility alone. Isaiah learned this in the wake of his vision of the holy and saving God and answering His call. Isa.6:9 [The Lord] said to him, “Go, and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” 11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 12 and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. This is a different context to be sure. Temporary judgment was falling on unfaithful Israel in fulfillment of the promised covenant curses that would come on their unbelief and disobedience. But it’s also one of the clearest texts in Scripture reminding us that salvation and judgment are in the hands of the Lord, and we must trust Him with both.

Two Quick Things

You who’ve trusted Jesus, this is our God! This is His purpose and plan! And His power is sufficient to bring it about, through us, even though we see many people whispering deceit and villainy and [crookedness] in the ears of power these days! We may think we live in the days of Isaiah when ears and eyes and hearts have been divinely shut, but this is still the only way of salvation! Proclaiming it is still our calling! And the power of God is still sufficient to accomplish it!

You who haven’t trusted Jesus, perhaps today is the day! Right here in this brief text we see not only the amazing power of God to save, we also see His amazing power, and His willingness, and therefore His intention, to bring down judgment on all unbelief, on all opposition to His truly good purpose and plan and will. Trust Jesus today!

Let’s now remember His death together in communion, remembering God’s heart and purpose to offer His great salvation, and His power to bring it about.

 ________________________

Resources

Beale, G. K. and D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Acts, by I. Howard Marshall, 513-606. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Beveridge, Henry, ed. Commentary upon the Acts of the apostles, vol. 1, by John Calvin. Translated by Christopher Featherstone.

Bruce, F. F., ed. 1988. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The book of Acts, revised, by F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Acts, by Conrad Gempf, 1066-1114. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Dockery, David S, ed. 1992. New American Commentary. Vol. 26, Acts, by John B. Polhill. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on Acts, 2073-2156, by John B. Polhill. Wheaton: Crossway.

Longman III, Tremper and David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Acts, by Richard N. Longenecker, 665-1102. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Morris, Leon, ed. 1980. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 5 Acts, by I. Howard Marshall. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Stott, John, ed. 1990. The Bible Speaks Today. The Message of Acts, by John Stott. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck, eds. 1983. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Acts, by Stanley D. Toussaint, 349-434. Wheaton: Victor.

NEXT WEEK: Acts 13:13–52, Kipp Soncek