Pastor Peter Metzger

First Lutheran Church

Lake Geneva, WI

January 15, 2017

Acts 13:38-49

“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: “‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’” As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath.  When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.  On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.  When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.  Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.  For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”  When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.  The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.

Take Care to Continue in the Grace of God

Imagine that you are the Apostle Paul. Your life is dedicated to sharing God’s Word with strangers. You go to strange lands and you meet strange people, whom you’ve never met before and with whom you have no pre-existing relationship, and it’s your job to share with them a controversial message.

When you talk about Jesus to the Jews, many of them hate you because they see you as a threat to their religion, as a liberal sectarian who is corrupting God’s Word and stealing faithful people from what they believe to be the one true faith.

When you talk about Jesus to the Gentiles – all those people who don’t have a Jewish background and don’t know anything about the one true God – they laugh at you and blow you off because a God who would have to die to save his people from this debatable concept of sinfulness seems rather foolish.

So wherever you go you are met with mixed results. Some people may listen to you as a courtesy without really believing, but in almost every town and village you find people who are downright hostile to you; some try to kill, and most end up running you out of town.

And then you go to Pisidian Antioch, where Luke tells us that “almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.” What was it about this place that made it so receptive to Paul’s message? What did he say that was so appealing and where did all these people come from?

Well, the answer to all of those questions revolves around the grace of God.

Where did all of these people come from? They came from believers sharing their joy in the grace of God. We heard that when Paul came to Pisidian Antioch there were those who heard what he had to say and were so effected by it that they begged him to come back and to talk again the next week when they would gather for public worship.

But the thing was that they were so excited that they couldn’t wait until the next week to hear what else Paul had to say about the grace of God, they followed him out the door and talked with him all week long. And even when they weren’t talking with Paul, they were talking with each other about what Paul had said and their enthusiasm was contagious. Their friends and neighbors – who hadn’t been there the first time – made sure to come the second time, so that they too could hear what Paul had to say.

So what was it about Paul’s message that caused such a strong reaction? Again, we go back to the grace of God.

Paul preached the gospel to these people. He announced forgiveness of sins to them through Jesus as our Savior. He explained that we don’t have to try to keep God’s commandments perfectly in order to please our righteous God. We don’t have to make any more sacrifices to try to appease the anger of God when we fail to keep his commandments perfectly, because Jesus sacrificed himself once and for all, for the sins of all people – even these residents of Pisidian Antioch who had never heard his name before.

Paul preached the gospel to these people, and explained how the forgiveness that Jesus won for them would become theirs. Not through any outward obedience or ceremonial rites or customs, but simply by faith in Christ. These Greek Christians didn’t have to become circumcised in order to be saved; they didn’t need to stop eating bacon, or dedicate their life to Christ. They could if they wanted to, but their salvation did not come from those things. Their salvation would come simply through the faith that the Holy Spirit worked in their hearts when they heard the Word of God.

These people reacted so strongly because they heard Paul tell them about the grace of God in Christ. So many people came to listen to Paul because they wanted to hear more about God’s forgiving mercy and his undeserved love. They were so excited that once wasn’t enough; they wanted this grace to be a regular part of their lives.

Now, that’s all fine and good for the Christians in Pisidian Antioch who heard the world’s greatest missionary preach a new gospel 2,000 years ago, but what about us? What does this story of the effect of the grace of God mean for you who are stuck listening to me preach the same old gospel week after week?

Well, I want to be clear right off the bat that Acts 13 is not a blueprint for increasing church membership. There is no special program or method hidden in these words to teach us how to fill the pews from week to week and solve whatever woes we may have that could be fixed by more bodies with more energy and resources.

This is a story about the grace of God and, even though the circumstances may be different, it has immediate effect on our lives today, because in many ways we can find similarities between us and both the Jews and the Gentiles living in Pisidian Antioch.

In many ways we are like the established congregation to whom Paul preached when he first arrived in Antioch. Like the Jews, many of us grew up in the Word and we have a generational claim on the Christian faith (i.e. my parents were Christian and my parents’ parents were Christian and my grandparents’ parents were Christian, and so on). Like the Jews, we are the “regulars” in weekly worship; we come to hear God’s Word often. And like the Jews, we have the benefit of having heard the Word before, which means that we might know who Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were. We might know about the Exodus out of Egypt. We might know about King David and the promise of a Savior. So, like the Jews, we have background in the Word that helps us to understand God’s grace even better.

However, because of our familiarity with God’s Word, like the Jews, we face a very real temptation to take God’s grace for granted, to consider it passé or old-hat, something that you’ve known forever and don’t really need to hear that often. To people like us, Paul says, “Take care not to scoff at God’s Word.”[1]

For those of us who have grown up with God’s Word in our lives, it’s easy to think that we have a handle on it. Maybe you memorized the 10 Commandments when you were 12 and you think that that qualifies you to keep them. Maybe you go to church every week and you begin to think that that makes you better than those who don’t. Maybe, because of your familiarity with the Word, you admit that everyone is born sinful but since your birth you’ve pretty much gotten rid of sin from your life, save the occasional outburst of pride or anger, but those are the little sins anyway.

Friends, that’s no different than scoffing at God’s Word. Either you’re scoffing at God’s law, thinking that it’s easy to keep or refusing to see where you’ve broken it, or you’re scoffing at his gospel refusing to admit that you need it because you have your life well in hand already.

To people like us Paul warns not to take the grace of God for granted, because the truth is that in many other ways we are like the Gentiles who lived in Pisidian Antioch.

Like the Gentiles, our hearts are governed by our desire to sin. Like the Gentiles, we yearn to satisfy the cravings of our sinful flesh, and more often than not we give in to those desires. Like the Gentiles, our failure to keep God’s commands puts us on the outside looking in, disqualifies us from heaven and condemns us as unworthy of eternal life.

But precisely because we are like those Gentiles, that means that Paul’s message of God’s grace through Jesus means something to us. Because of our sin, we need salvation and the grace of God tells us that it is ours through Christ. Paul can say to us too, “I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified.”[2]

Not only is the message of salvation meaningful, but the means of salvation is liberating. Just like those Gentiles in Antioch, you and I do not have to conform to any worldly pattern; we don’t have to undergo any ceremonial rite or custom to be saved; we simply have to believe, to take God at his Word and trust that all my many sins are washed away in the blood of Christ.

That’s all that’s necessary for salvation, but that’s not all that’s natural for those who are saved to do. Let’s not forget the response of faith that these Christians in Antioch demonstrated. What did they do after hearing Paul preach about the grace of God in Jesus? They honored the Word, by asking to hear it week after week and by not waiting for the weekend to talk about it more. Not only that, they spread the Word, sharing their personal joy in the salvation that comes from Jesus with their family and their friends, so that they too could know this grace of God in Christ.

Brothers and sisters, honor the Word. Hear it in weekly worship and in daily devotion. Share it and all its blessed grace with family and friends so that they too can join us in our celebration of Jesus’ love and forgiveness. Take care to continue in the grace of God, knowing that it never grows stale, but is new every morning to hearts that believe.

May the God who washed your soul in the blood of his Son and informed you of his grace through the proclamation of his Word fill you with all joy in believing. Amen.

1. Acts 13:40-41 ↑
2. Acts 13:38-39 ↑