Acts 13:1-12 | Centered, Sent, Struck

In a world that’s changing faster every day. AI is taking over the virtual world, and invading our lives in the real world more and more. People are thinking of ever more clever ways of hurting and swindling each other. What would astonish you these days? Have we become so familiar with the incredible that we are no longer moved by it? Our passage today gives us the opportunity to be moved again. We will see that when the church makes space for God at the center, He sends us out to others who will be struck by His word.

God Moves at the Center

The church in Antioch has become a dynamic, powerful group of people. There are prophets speaking with authority for God to the gathering. There are teachers, instructing the people how to walk in obedience to Jesus according to the scriptures. And it’s a diverse group of people. They come from Jerusalem, North and East Africa, and Southern Turkey. They are commoners, scholars, and politicians. But with all of these dynamic, interesting people, they have made space for the Holy Spirit.

Luke says that they are gathered to worship the Lord and fast. Why does the church gather for worship? Sometimes we’ve grown so familiar with something we forget just how special it is. The church takes one morning a week to gather specifically to sing God’s praises, listen to His word, to give to His work, and partake together in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? And why do we fast? Maybe that’s less familiar to some of us, and we don’t do it because we don’t understand it. Let’s see if we can understand both in a fresh way through this passage.

Why do we gather for worship? Because it is good for me to set aside my priorities, my cares, my worry, my doubt, and my self-importance, my effort, my striving, my labor, and remind my mind and heart that my life comes from God, my redemption comes from Jesus Christ, and my sanctification comes from the Holy Spirit. And we fast for the same reasons. I remind my body and my soul that my life comes from God. I do not live by bread alone by by every word that comes from the mouth of God. When I fast, I am making space for God to fill me. He is truly satisfying and I’m resetting my appetite for Him.

We get off balance all week, acting and reacting, dealing with the swift and varied changes of our world. I need to re-center myself in God. When we do that together, it makes space for God to work among us. He will meet us in that place of rest and speak to us. He may say, “set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” The church had God at the center of their life together and when the right time came, He moved.

Do we make space for God in our gatherings? When was the last time we collectively heard the Holy Spirit speak to us in our gathering? Maybe last Sunday in the discussion and prayer time? What might He be calling you to do in partnership with a brother or sister from our church?

God Moves Out From the Center

Once we have accepted the invitation into God’s presence, don’t be surprised if you hear Him say, “Go!” He seems to always be sending people out. He is a God on mission. He is always sending people out in His name to spread His kingdom. Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, the Apostles. Now, Barnabas and Saul. They knew the calling. Saul was to bring the gospel to the Gentile nations. Now the Holy Spirit is giving him the green light. They sail immediately to Cyprus.

On the west coast of Cyprus, they meet two men. The first one we are introduced to is

Acts 13:6 (ESV)

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.

Probably not the best way to be introduced in the Bible. Bar-Jesus means “son of Jesus”, but no relation to our Jesus. Jesus was a pretty common name. Verse 8 tells us Bar-Jesus’ name is Elymas, which means “magician”. He used tricks to make people think he was wise. He is deceiving people for personal gain. He claims to be a prophet of God, but he is

Acts 13:10 (ESV)

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?

Sergius Paulus has bought in to Elymas’ deceptions and made him an advisor of sorts. But he is a contrast to Elymas Bar-Jesus. Sergius Paulus’ name means “little servant”. He is marked by humility, he has true intelligence, and he is ready to hear the word of God from Barnabas and Saul.

Acts 13:7 (ESV)

Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

When Elymas opposed them and tried to turn Sergius Paulus away from the faith, Luke tells us that

Acts 13:9 (ESV)

But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

and the Lord blinds him. And as a result,

Acts 13:12 (ESV)

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

There’s so much happening here.

1. There’s a lot going on with names. Elymas is not a true son of Jesus, for one thing. But as it turns out, Saul had a nickname. Luke waited until this moment to tell us. Saul’s Hebrew name is connected to his identity as a Pharisee. Now his name will be remembered in association with the first Gentile convert in His ministry. The name he shares with this Roman governor is Paul, which means “little”. God seems to always be changing people’s names.

Today, people are changing their own names left and right. But the fact is, our identity is not something we choose for ourselves. It is centered in God. The book of Revelation tells us that for anyone who is faithful to Jesus Christ, God will reveal to us one day a special name He has for each of us. Some people get that revealed to them in this life, like Abram, whose name God changes to Abraham. Or Jacob to Israel, or Simon to Peter. Or in this case, Saul to Paul. And ironically, rather than becoming a point of pride, “I converted a Roman governor so now I share his name,” all that pride is taken away by the humility in the name itself. He will forever be “little”.

This leads us to the second thing that is happening in this passage,

2. There is no coincidence that the punishment the Lord picks for Elymas is blindness. And that he picks Paul to bring it about. Paul had also been blinded by Jesus. And it led him to the humility of surrender to Jesus as Lord. Sometimes those who think they can see are the most blind. God may punish them in some way to give them true sight. We don’t know if Elymas repented in his humiliation, only that his blindness was temporary, which sounds hopeful. But Elymas led many people astray on a crooked path away from God, and he will experience those consequences for himself. Now he is being led by others through the darkness. This is just another example of the conflict between the kingdom of God coming through the community on mission with Jesus and the rulers of this world. Nothing new, and we’ll see it again. But what’s different here is how it ends.

But before we see the ending, let’s just realize what has happened here. God has sent out these two Christians into places they had never been. It’s dangerous, it’s unknown, and it’s a mixed reception. But if you center your life in God, you can expect He’ll do the same with you. He will send you into the lives of others. It is not safe, it is filled with unknowns, and you will have a mixed reception. But you’ll be on mission with Jesus.

God Centers Us with His Word

3. The final movement of the passage is that this striking judgment on Elymas leads to the Roman ruler believing in Jesus.

Acts 13:12 (ESV)

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

He is won over. The word here for “astonished” is literally, “struck by”. Elymas was struck by the word of the Lord, but what Sergius Paulus finds really striking was not the miracle itself. He is struck in a different way by the teaching of the Lord. The real Jesus showed up. He’s the One who always said that His miracles were really just there to lead people to believe His word. His most powerful work is His teaching. The power of a magician is to make things appear with a word from His mouth, “Abra Kadabra” (a derivative of the Hebrew for “I create with my words”). It is the illusion of the power to create life. Jesus said this was exactly the power God the Father had given Him.

John 5:24 (ESV)

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Jesus’ words have the same power and authority as the words God used to create life in the beginning. Now that we have fallen into death because of our sin, it is the word of Jesus that gives life to anyone who believes that God has sent Him as our Savior.

Sergius Paulus had seen the power of Rome. The Roman Empire conquered, humiliated and killed their enemies. Jesus taught that God loves His enemies and He demonstrated it when He prayed for His executioners from the cross. Sergius Paulus had seen the power of Elymas Bar-Jesus, who deceived with illusions of magical power and earthly wisdom. Jesus embodied grace and truth and taught that power is demonstrated through love. The teaching of the Lord is astonishing. Does it still astonish you?

God puts His word at the center of all His work. If we want Him to work in our lives, it will happen in these three ways. We make space for Him at the center of our life through worship and fasting. We are sent out by Him into the lives of others. He centers us on His word.

(Transition to Communion)

Have we become so familiar with God, Jesus, the teachings of His word, that we are no longer astonished by Him? Have we crowded Him out of our attention and affections? Have we lost our appetite for Him? When we gather for worship, do we create space with the expectation that He may speak to us and send us out into the lives of others? Let me astonish you with His teaching once again.

The gospel is that God has loved His enemies in Jesus Christ. He has sent Him into our lives when we were sons of the devil, enemies of righteousness, full of deceit and wickedness, and He has spoken words of eternal life. Then He provided eternal life for all who would believe in Him through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.

Communion

Questions for Discussion

What are some astonishing developments in our world right now? What are some developments that were astonishing at first but have become familiar to us?

What are ways we make space for God at the center of our worship gatherings? How could we get better at listening to the Holy Spirit as a church?

What are the benefits of fasting for the believer in Jesus?

What do we learn about God in this passage?

The church, directed by the Holy Spirit, sends some people to new and distant places and people with the gospel. What about the rest of us? To whom has God sent you out?

What do we learn from the mission of Barnabas and Paul?

What do you think astonished Sergius Paulus about the teaching of the Lord? What was the last teaching of Jesus you found astonishing or striking?

How will you respond to this passage this week?

Who is someone you can share this passage with this week?