Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

When you talk about the gospel or Jesus or Christianity, how does your version of the story begin?

Do you start with creation?

Do you start with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem?

Do you start with your own life and experience?

This morning we’re going to read about how the earliest Christians shared the message of the gospel when called upon to do it.

This is a continuation of Paul’s first missionary journey, which began at the start of Acts 13.

Let’s read the passage out loud together, and then I’ll aim to explain it afterward.

Scripture Reading

Acts 13:13–52 (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, 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.

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.”

16 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

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.

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.

24 Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

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.

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.

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, 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.’

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.’

35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, “ ‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’ 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, 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 followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace 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.

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.

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.’

”

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.

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.

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.

Main Point

The mission of Christians in the world is the continuation of God’s mission in this world from the beginning - to bring sinners into the kingdom of Jesus Christ by grace through faith.

Message

The Mission Continues (v13-15)

Moving on from Cyprus to Pamphylia and Pisidia

Paul and Barnabas (traveling along with at least John, and maybe also Luke and/or some others) had finished their preaching and teaching mission on the island of Cyprus, and they arrived first in “Perga,” a port city on the southern end of “Pamphylia” (v13).

Luke says almost nothing about their time there, except that “John [Mark] left them and returned to Jerusalem” (v13).

This will become a note to remember later on in the story of Acts.

Then, Paul and Barnabas traveled [by foot? by donkey?] more than 100 miles north, to a city called “Antioch” (v14)… not the Antioch in Syria, but the “Antioch in Pisidia” (v14).

The Mission and Motive

This Antioch was the military and political center of the Galatian province.

It’s possible that Sergius Paulus (the proconsul of Cyprus) had family there.

And there was probably a large Jewish population there.

Any one or all of these reasons may have motivated Paul and Barnabas, since their primary goal was to preach the gospel far and wide… first to the Jew and also to the Greek/Gentile (Rom.

1:16).

And that’s why Paul and Barnabas “went into the synagogue” on “the Sabbath day” (v14).

And, we’re told that “After the reading from the Law and the Prophets [a common way of referring to the Old Testament Scriptures], the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, ‘Brothers [fellow Jews, descendants of Abraham], if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it’” (v15).

Preaching Christ from the Old Testament (v16-37)

Listen to the way a Christian uses the Old Testament to preach the gospel!

God created and established a people

Having been invited to speak, Paul started on common ground.

“Men of Israel and you who fear God” (v16)

The synagogue was mostly Jews, but there were some Gentiles who lived as God-fearers, adopting Jewish culture and especially key aspects of the Mosaic covenant.

v17 “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers [i.e., Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt [despite slavery and oppression, the people of Israel grew great in number], and with uplifted arm he [God] led them out of it.”

This is a quick summary of the books of Genesis and Exodus.

v18 “And for about forty years he [God] put up with them [the rebellious people of Israel] in the wilderness.”

This refers to what is recorded in Deuteronomy 1-2.

The people of Israel refused to enter the Promised Land, and God sent them out into the wilderness to wander around (though God preserved them every step of the way) until every adult Israelite who had been alive that day to disobey was dead.

v19 “And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he [God] gave them their land as an inheritance [that’s the book of Joshua].

20a All this took about 450 years [from Egyptian captivity to conquest of Canaan].”

God raised up a king and then a Savior

Then Paul seems to move toward reminding his audience that God not only established Israel, but that God also made promises that extended far beyond the land of Canaan.

v20b “And after that [i.e., the conquest and inheritance] he [God] gave them [Israel] judges [who mostly defended Israel and flexed God’s judgment against other nations/peoples… you can read all about them in the book of Judges] until Samuel the prophet.”

v21 It was at that time (when Samuel became God’s prophet) Israel “asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.”

The book of 1 Samuel tells us all about Samuel’s calling as a prophet and about the rise and fall of king Saul.

It’s important for us to know that Saul was Israel’s king by God’s appointment, and Israel asking for a mortal king was indeed part of God’s design for ultimately producing the Messiah…

BUT, the whole episode was another indication of Israel’s rebellion and their desire to be like all other nations.

They didn’t want Yahweh as their king, they wanted a flesh-and-blood king like everybody else.

v22 “And when he [God] had removed him [Saul], he [God] raised up David to be their king, of whom he [God] testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’”

This statement, which God made about David came as a judgment against Saul in 1 Samuel 13:14.

But, it was still another 18 chapters before Saul died… and another 4 before David was installed as king (2 Sam.

5:1-5).

It’s also important to note that David’s designation as a “man after [God’s] own heart, who will do all [God’s] will” does not give blanket approval to all that David did.

David did some great things, and he did some really terrible things.

You might be interested to know that when the Bible says that this king of Israel was bad or that king of Judah was good, it was not making a statement about the king’s personal holiness per se.

Rather, the king’s goodness or wickedness was measured primarily by his leadership of the nation… either toward obedience and right worship of Yahweh… or toward idolatry.

At any rate, God did promise king David that one of his own “offspring” would sit upon an eternal throne and provide “rest” for all of God’s people (v23; cf. 2 Sam.

7:10-12).

And that’s what Paul is referring to in v23… but Paul pulls that promise into the present when he says, “God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.”

God sent OT prophets, the last of which was John the Baptist

It’s at this point in Paul’s message that he really makes the shift from Israel’s past to Israel’s future… or as we would say it commonly today, Paul shifted from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

In v24, Paul said, “Before his [Jesus’s] coming, John [the Baptist] had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.”

John took his place among a long line of prophets, which God had sent to His people… calling them to repentance and promising salvation through God’s anointed one (i.e., Messiah or Christ).

But Paul seems to be more than implying that John was the immediate forerunner to the Messiah who came… since Paul says that John himself rejected the idea that he was the Messiah.