Lechem Panim #177 “Paul At Pisidian Antioch” (Acts 13:13-43) Pastor Cameron Ury

Hello and welcome to Lechem Panim!  You will remember from our passage last week in Acts chapter 13 that Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark have been sharing the Gospel on the island of Cyprus. And from there it says in…

Acts 13:13 (ESV)— 13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 

John Mark Leaves— Now Luke doesn’t go into further detail at this point about why John Mark left them. But we come to see later that John Mark seems to have had a yellow streak in him. When they arrive and John Mark gets a glimpse into the interior of Asia Minor and sees all the paganism and all the danger that lay ahead, he decides to turn back. You will remember that his mother was a prominent member of the Church in Jerusalem; and that is where and to whom he turns back to. He runs home to momma. And we will find out later that Paul was very unhappy about it. He implicitly accuses John Mark of lacking courage and commitment and refuses to take him along on another missionary journey (see 15:37-38). And he and Barnabas have a very heated argument over this and end up separating because of it; Barnabas going one way and Paul another. Now Paul was wrong on this issue. God hadn’t thrown John Mark away because of one failure. And neither does He reject us when we fail. God gives John Mark another chance. And Paul later comes to realize this and is man enough to admit that he was wrong. When we come to Paul's later letters, we find that he actually grew to respect John Mark a lot (Colossians 4:10) and came to understand how much he needed Mark to be involved in his ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). In fact, he writes in…

2 Timothy 4:11 (ESV)— 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

A 2nd Chance— And so we will see that God always gives us a second chance. And we need to be careful not to write people off for their mistakes. We need to allow them the opportunity to grow out of them; to change in our eyes. And that can be hard to do; but it is often our encouragement (not our judgment) that can most help them to do that. Now at this point John Mark leaves and Paul and Barnabas (and those with them) head for the interior of Asia Minor, as it says they set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And then it says…

Acts 13:14 (ESV)— 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.

Antioch of Pisidia— Now [Antioch of Pisidia was a different city from Antioch of Syria, where {they had been ministering before and where} there was already a flourishing church (11:26). This Antioch, in the region of Pisidia, was a hub of good roads and trade, with a large Jewish population.]

The Synagogue First— And that is who they try to reach first. As we talked about before, whenever Paul and Barnabas would go to a new city to share the Gospel of Christ, they would start first in the synagogue. And that was very strategic for a number of reasons. First and foremost, those who attended synagogue believed in the Jewish God and studied the Hebrew Scriptures; the Old Testament. And so Paul and Barnabas remain heavily attached to the synagogues because they wanted to show the Jewish people that Christianity was not some new religious cult. No, Christianity is a fulfillment of Judaism. The Old Testament, almost on every page, points to the hope of a Redeemer (a Messiah) who would come to atone for the sins of the world. 

A Wrong View of Messiah— Now tragically, we know that many of the Jews they witnessed to did not accept the fact that Jesus is the Messiah because they had very different expectations as to who the Messiah would be. They thought that the Messiah would be a great military king who would overthrow and deliver them from Rome. They did not recognize what Old Testament passages like Isaiah 53 were talking about when they talked about the Messiah as a suffering servant; a servant-king whose primary goal was not to defeat physical kingdoms (at least at first) but rather the sin that rules in the hearts of people, which is what causes enslavement and oppression to begin with. Would He judge the nations and the world? Yes, but that will happen when He returns in the future. 

A Typical Synagogue Service— And so Paul and Barnabas come to the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch on the Sabbath. And in a few moments we will hear one of Paul’s first sermons; and it is one of his best. Now I don’t actually want to offer to much commentary on our passage today because Paul’s message is so clear, it doesn’t warrant too much explanation. But there are a few things I’ll add as we move through the text; things that will help to augment our understanding just a little bit. And the first of these things has to do with what a synagogue service would look like in the 1st century world. The way that we structure our services today is founded on these synagogues; and so there are a lot of similarities. The first thing they would do in service would be that they would recite the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4); and that was something the Jewish people actually did several times throughout the day. Next, certain prayers would be spoken; and then there would be a reading from the law (the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy). Then there would be a reading from the Prophets with the intention of helping to illustrate the law, and then finally there would come the sermon. Now the synagogue leaders would decide who would lead the service and give the sermon; and that person would change from week to week. But there was also another custom; and this one is the key custom for understanding our passage today, as it was another reason that Paul and Barnabas implemented the strategy that they did. And that was that synagogue leaders would customarily invite visiting rabbis to speak. And this was great because pretty much everywhere they went, Paul and Barnabas were visitors; and so they could always go into a synagogue knowing that there was probably going to be an open door to share the Gospel. Now that door did not always remain open once they started speaking about Jesus as the Messiah; sometimes the door would quickly slam shut in their faces, and they would not be invited invited back. Sometimes they were even thrown out of town. But nevertheless, they took advantage of the opportunities they had and trusted God with the results, not allowing the rejection of some to discourage them. And so now they have reached that key part of the service. And it says in…

Acts 13:15 (ESV)— 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.”

“any word of encouragement”— Now I will say this about that word “encouragement”, which jumped out at me in a special way as I was preparing for this message; because of some of the issues the people in my own church are facing, but also what people in general have been facing this past year and a half; because (as you know) it has been difficult. But when I came across that word “encouragement”, I thought about the audience Paul and Barnabas were preaching to. This was a crowd that was living under constant threat; constant persecution. This was a crowd that wondered (like we do at times) where God was in the midst of all that they were facing. And so note what the synagogue leaders ask Paul and Barnabas for. They don’t ask for just any message; no, they ask for it says “any word of encouragement”. Here was a crowd that needed a word of encouragement. And Paul is about to give them the greatest Word of encouragement they could ever hope for; the encouragement of the Word made flesh; the Messiah having come in the person of Jesus Christ to bring forgiveness and redemption from sin. And he begins with what he knew would be a point of agreement with them, emphasizing God’s covenant with Israel; because all Jews were proud to be God’s chosen people; and the Good News Paul was preparing to share was that that covenant had been fulfilled in Jesus. So that was the appropriate place to begin. And so it says in…

Acts 13:16-30 (ESV)— 16 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. {Apparently there were some visitors there, probably Gentiles, as they are distinguished from the “Men of Israel”.} 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. {Now what is Paul doing? Well, he’s beginning to do the same thing that Stephen did before the Sanhedrin. He begins recounting their history as a nation. And he continues, saying…} 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. {And so we see that he is beginning to present the person of Jesus Christ to them. And he says…} 24 Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. {Now these people had apparently heard of John the Baptist and were familiar with his ministry. And so Paul builds on what they already know and continues…} 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. {Now he is getting to the heart of the message. Listen to him. He says…} 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. {And so Paul’s recounting the history, saying that all of this was in fulfillment of prophecy. These people in Pisidian Antioch had been reading the prophets, but did not yet understand what they were reading or to whom the prophets ultimately pointed: and that was Jesus. He continues…} 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, 

The Central Message— And you know, that is what was at the core (the center) of every New Testament sermon; the resurrection of Jesus and how it is His death and resurrection that makes it possible for us to receive from God the free gift of salvation offered through belief and faith in Jesus. Simon Peter had preached this; now Paul preaches this. And that is the message that remains central in and throughout the book of Acts (and really all of the New Testament). Now Paul continues, saying…

Acts 13:31-39 (ESV)— 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.’ {And it is important to note that this verse is not referencing the birth of Christ, but the resurrection of Christ. This word “begotten” is not referring to the virgin birth of Jesus, but to His being raised from the dead.} 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.’ {Notice how Paul enlarges upon the resurrection…} 35 Therefore he says also in another psalm,“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’ {Same thing Peter had said on the day of Pentecost.} 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 {(and here is where Paul begins to pin them down and ask for a decision; to believe in the Lord Jesus)}, 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 {(and these were Gentiles)} followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

A Personal Decision— Now what Paul was saying was that anyone can experience forgiveness of sins and freedom from both its guilt and its power over our lives in and through faith in Jesus Christ. But it is not something that is forced upon us; it is a gift that is offered to us. And it is only ours if we come to the point of making a decision to receive Christ and place our faith and trust in Him for salvation. Now not everyone who came to Church that day was saved; and not everyone who comes to Church nowadays is saved. No, we have to make a decision. And so where are you today? Have you received that forgiveness? Do you have washing over you every day the peace of knowing that you are right with God? If not, place your faith in Jesus today and you will also will have eternal life. Amen.