Shake the dust off your feet
Dawn Sermons in Acts • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture passage: Acts 13:44-52
44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.
Hallelujah. Today’s Scripture passage is Acts 13:44-52, which shows us Paul and Barnabas’s successful but short ministry in the city of Pisidian Antioch.
Last week we looked at Paul’s sermon at the synagogue in that city. And at the end of that sermon, the people begged for the same things to be explained the following week. And this morning, we’re going to look at what happens the next week.
And we’re going to see the events that lead to Paul and Barnabas shaking the dust off their feet and walking away.
Sometimes, we struggle to walk away from people we’re trying to evangelize. We keep reaching out. We keep treating them to meals or take them out for coffee. Or we invite them for church retreats even when they don’t show up for the rest of the year. And if there seems to be no progress, we decide to stop inviting them, and we feel guilty about it.
Through this message, I hope we can see that it’s okay to shake the dust off our feet and walk away.
#1. The Jews reject the Word of God
#1. The Jews reject the Word of God
44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.
Paul and Barnabas show up the next Sabbath day, it says that almost the whole city gathered to hear, not the words of Paul, not the wisdom of Barnabas, but to hear the word of the Lord. It had become evident to them that this Word was not the word of men, but the very Word of God.
Pisidian Antioch was full of Gentiles, so most of the crowd would have been gentile. But the Jews saw this and they became filled with jealousy.
Why jealousy? Because Paul is sharing their God with the gentiles. In their mind, the God of Israel was only supposed to be for them. Israel was the chosen nation, the segulah treasure of God. But now the gentiles are starting to worship their God. So the Jews were losing their special status.
And so they start contradicting Paul. The ESV says that they were reviling him. The word “reviling” is blaspemeo, which means to blaspheme. But the word “him” isn’t there in the original Greek. So it says they were blaspheming. Blaspheming against who? Against their very own God.
So Paul and Barnabas take notice of these Jews, and speak directly to them.
46 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.
When God called Abraham, He told Abraham that in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Genesis 12:3. From the very beginning, God blessed Abraham so that all the multitude of the earth would be blessed. The children of Abraham were to be as priests to the whole world, showing the nations what it’s like to be the blessed people of God, and through them, the world will be blessed by God.
But somewhere along the way, the Jews came to believe they were chosen by God because they were better than the other nations. And rather than showing the glory of God to the gentiles, they looked down on them and called them unclean and unworthy. They forgot the plan.
So what does Paul say to them? “You have thrust aside the Word of God.”
And he quotes the book of Isaiah to show them precisely what they’ve thrust aside.
47 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.’ ”
That’s Isaiah 42:6. Paul shows them the Word of God. And there are two responses. The Gentiles receive it. The Jews reject it.
#2. The Gentiles receive the Word of God.
#2. The Gentiles receive the Word of God.
48 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. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
The Gentiles do three things. They rejoice, they glorify the Word of God, and they spread the Word of God throughout the region.
Compare their response to that of the Jews. The Jews became jealous; the Gentiles rejoiced. The Jews blasphemed God’s Word; the Gentiles glorified it. The Jews tried to stop it from spreading; the Gentiles spread it all over.
Why did this happen? Why did the Gentiles believe? The explanation is in verse 48: “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Do you see that? They were appointed to eternal life, so they believed the Word of God. When were they appointed? In the spur of the moment? No. It was from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4.
So God’s plan is never thwarted. It’s always been plan A.
And those whom God has chosen will recognize His voice.
16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
If you’re an art critic, and you go to see a great work of art, like Claude Monet or Vincent van Gogh and you say “That’s a lousy piece of art,” you’ve got it all wrong. Monet isn’t on trial. Van Gogh isn’t on trial. They’ve already been established as excellent pieces of art. The one who is on trial is you. If you say it’s bad art, you reveal yourself as a bad judge of art.
The Jews in this passage tried to judge the Word of God, but they ended up judging themselves as unworthy of eternal life. On the other hand, the gentiles heard the voice of their shepherd and rejoiced. And they spread the Word of God throughout the whole region.
So what do the Jews do? They can’t fight with Paul and Barnabas using logic or sound reasoning. So they play dirty.
#3. Paul and Barnabas move on to the next place.
#3. Paul and Barnabas move on to the next place.
50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
They stir up the influential people in the city, people of high standing, to persecute Paul and Barnabas and drive them out.
Most people reject the Gospel not because of sound reason. There’s always some personal agenda that drives them to reject what the Bible says. Whether its because they’re more comfortable living their same old lives, or because they’re too in love with their sinful ways, or they have too much to lose if they follow Christ. There’s almost always a personal reason for rejecting the Gospel.
This means that it’s really not up to us to strongarm people into faith or to argue them into the ground.
Our effort is part of the equation, but it’s never the deciding factor. It is ultimately God who decides.
If we remove God’s soveriegn choice from the equation, it means that our success at evangelism depends on us, our skills and our efforts. Then the eternal destiny of others depends on whether we were good enough. That makes it almost impossible to walk away, and even if we do, it places a huge burden of guilt around our necks.
But God is sovereign over evangelism. It is He who decides, and He has already decided. This is why Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 10:14 that if someone refuses to receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave. And that’s what Paul and Barnabas do as they’re driven out of Pisidia Antioch.
51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Sometimes when we try to evangelize others, we put in all our effort into one person. But if that person remains stubborn, if their heart is hardened, then it’s better to shake the dust off your feet and move on. This doesn’t mean we judge who is chosen or not chosen by God. It only means that we need to recognize our role and God’s role in the mission to evangelize.
So what’s our role? Our role is to explain the Gospel clearly to others. And God’s role is to accomplish His purpose through the Word. God Himself testifies to this.
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
When the Word of God is shared, there will be two responses. The person’s heart will either be hardened or softened. But it’s always according to God’s will.
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
So let us remember our mission. And when we evangelize, please believe that God’s Word will always accomplish the purposes of God. Whether it’s to harden people in judgement, or to soften them in grace. And if it’s the former, we can shake the dust off our feet and move on without feeling guilty about it. God is sovereign over evangelism. Amen?
