Acts 13:13-52, "Rejecting or Rejoicing"

In the late 1960’s anti-establishment youth in the U.S. were looking for hope. And God did a big thing. He started drawing young people to Himself by giving them hope in Jesus. Many of these young people were hippies with long hair and home-made clothes. They had taken a lot of drugs, listened to rock music, and many were homeless. The church in California, and spreading east across the U.S. and into Europe as the “Jesus People” movement spread, had a decision to make. Will we embrace this new work God is doing to draw outsiders into the church?

What’s the work God is doing in our day? Are we ready to embrace it? Where might God be working in groups of people outside the church that are seeking hope in the wrong places but could find it in Jesus Christ if we brought them the word of God?

The Good News is For Everyone Who Believes

Paul is at another city called Antioch, in Galatia, in the middle of what is now Turkey. He and Barnabas always start at the local synagogue, but here in Antioch things take a turn. The gospel is for the Jews first because it is the good news that their king has come. Messiah is the promised ruler of Israel who will bless all the nations of the world to fulfill the covenant God made with Abraham.

Paul reminds the Jews in the synagogue of their history, but his focus is the kingdom of David,

Acts 13:22–23 (ESV)

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.’ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

The good news in 13:30-33 is that God fulfilled the promise to the fathers by raising Jesus. Paul says this twice. Because there are two ways to be raised. To be raised up from a bed, or from the dead, is one. The other is when you get a raise at work, or when you rise to a position of power. Paul is using it both ways. He quotes

Psalm 2:7 (ESV)

I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

God has raised Jesus from the dead because He is risen to power as the Son of God.

Let’s pause here to make a note that might help us understand why this text is so applicable today. There is a question for the Jews hearing Paul’s gospel that we need to answer for ourselves today. To whom does the kingdom of God belong?

Psalm 2, which Paul quotes in verse 33, is written by David. God had made a covenant with David. He promised David,

2 Samuel 7:12–14 (ESV)

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

So, God promised that David’s son would be adopted by God as His own son, and God would establish his kingdom forever. So, who’s kingdom is it?

Paul is saying that God has now fulfilled this promise. He has sent Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of David, who is also the Son of God. God’s sign of approval that He is the King and Savior of His people was His resurrection from the dead.

Acts 13:34 (ESV)

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.’

What is the blessing of David? That he would not rot in the grave.

Acts 13:35 (ESV)

Therefore he says also in another psalm,

“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

David rotted in his grave, and Solomon rotted in his grave, but not the Son of David and Son of God named Jesus. That’s good news. The Jews would have rejoiced with this news. God has fulfilled His promise to Israel. They have a king, a savior and shepherd who will overcome their enemies. Now comes the catch.

Acts 13:38–39 (ESV)

Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Forgiveness and freedom. This is good news for “everyone who believes.” Can you rejoice with that? Can you rejoice with freedom being granted to everyone who believes? Even those people that have not done what is right and kept the law of Moses? This is where the good news comes with a warning from Paul.

Acts 13:40–41 (ESV)

Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

“‘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.’ ”

The warning is severe. Scoffers are astounded and perish, or literally, “disappear.” Why would anyone scoff at forgiveness of sins and freedom being granted to everyone who believes in Jesus as the Messiah? Maybe if you thought that the promises of God were only for a select chosen people. Maybe if you don’t think you need forgiveness. Maybe if you think you are already free, the news that you have a king is not good news.

This is where it starts to hit home for us. Our society tells us that we are already free. And that unless your actions don’t hurt anyone else, you don’t really need to be forgiven any sins. We have a society of scoffers.

But that’s “the world out there”. Hopefully you’ve come to church because you recognize your need for God’s power to free you from the sins that would destroy you. But here’s the other danger in Paul’s warning: In Paul’s day, the scoffers were actually devout people. But they were more devoted to their religion than they were to God. They could not follow God when He led in a different direction than the one their religion had given them. He is doing a work in Jesus that many of them won’t believe.

Paul’s sermon tells the Jews in Antioch

Acts 13:27 (ESV)

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.

They read their Bibles, they went to church, and they totally missed the Messiah. And now these people too could miss Him if they didn’t believe.

At first, the people respond well.

Acts 13:42–43 (ESV)

As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

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.

Hold onto that last phrase. Who needs grace from God? What does it mean to continue in the grace of God?

So far, so good. Then something else happens. The “everyone who believes” begin to emerge.

Religious Jealousy Breeds Blasphemy

The next Sabbath, the whole city gathers to hear this good news of the Jewish Messiah who grants forgiveness of sins and freedom from the enemies of your soul. But when the Jews see crowds of Gentiles, those who have not kept the law of Moses, they are filled with jealousy. To whom does the kingdom belong? Can the Jewish Messiah really be for everyone who believes?

Acts 13:45 (ESV)

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

Jealousy leads to blasphemy, the literal translation of “reviling”. What is going on here? In the law of Moses, the Lord had given another warning to His people. If they engaged in idolatry, He would invite other people to come to Him, and this would provoke jealousy in Israel.

Deuteronomy 32:21 (ESV)

They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols.

So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

(Paul, trying to help the Roman church sort out the relationship between Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus, writes more about this in Romans 10:13-21.

Romans 10:16–17 (ESV)

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Romans 10:18 (ESV)

But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Romans 10:19–21 (ESV)

But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”

Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

“I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”

But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Paul is looking back on years of ministry and he sees a pattern. He offered the gospel of Jesus the Messiah to Jews and Gentiles alike. With some exceptions, the Jews more often than not rejected Jesus as their Messiah. And people who weren’t from any one nation in particular, unless you consider us a nation of fools, found the Lord in the gospel of Jesus.

Paul sees it all starting with this very encounter in Antioch of Pisidia we’re reading about today. The Gentiles came to hear the word of the Lord. They were foolish enough that they believed they needed the grace of God. The Jews were filled with jealousy and started to contradict the very gospel they had been so interested to hear a week before. They blaspheme.

Acts 13:46–48 (ESV)

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. 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.’ ”

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.

The Jews reject and the Gentiles rejoice. What happened? How could the Jews of Antioch judge themselves unworthy of eternal life and thrust aside the word of God? If we look again at Deuteronomy 32:21,

Deuteronomy 32:21 (ESV)

They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols.

So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

we see that it began with Israel’s idolatry. What was Israel’s idolatry in this case? It was their religion. It was their pride. It was thinking that the kingdom belongs to those who kept the law of Moses rather than those who continue in the grace of God. If you think God’s favor comes to those who keep His law, you will thrust aside the grace of God for your religion. You can even thrust aside the word of God if it doesn’t fit your religious categories. God may do a work you won’t believe if your religion has become your idol.

I believe many Christians have replaced God with their religion. There are Christians that even thrust aside the word of God if it doesn’t fit their religious categories. They read their Bibles, they go to church, but they miss the work Jesus is doing in our own day. We can be just like the Jews at Antioch. It happened in the late 60’s when hippies and homeless people were appointed by Jesus to eternal life and believed, but they weren’t received by most churches. What people do we see as foolish, but may actually be ready to receive the grace of God? Am I ready to embrace them in the kingdom of God?

Some questions for us to consider:

Am I continuing in the grace of God or am I continuing in religious law-keeping?

A related question comes from the final verse.

Acts 13:52 (ESV)

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Is my discipleship to Jesus filling me with joy and the Holy Spirit?

Can I rejoice when I see God at work in people outside my religious circles?

Are there people I believe can’t receive the kingdom of God because of their foolishness?

Where is God working in the lives of people I know who may be open to His word?

The kingdom of God belongs to anyone foolish enough to believe they need the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Communion

Questions for Discussion

Who are the people you are thankful for during the week of Memorial Day?

Who are some people who were outside religious culture but God worked in their life through the gospel that have influenced your faith?

What do we learn about God in this passage?

What do we learn about the gospel in this passage?

What do we learn about people and ourselves in this passage?

Are there particular promises that stand out to you? How about warnings?

In what ways is the church similar or different from religious Jews of the first century? What can we take away from this?

What are some groups of people around us that might be disconnected from religion, but might be open to the gospel? How can we reach them?

How will you respond to this passage this week?

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