When I was a child, we spent most of our summer vacations at my parents’ camp. For most of my childhood, that camp did not have electricity, so there was no television to watch.  Instead, we spent time doing things together and we played a lot of card games.  One of the card games was Concentration.  Perhaps you remember playing that game as well.  For those not acquainted with the game or who have forgotten how it was played, a deck of cards, or part of a deck of cards, was placed face down on a table in a series of columns and rows.  On a player’s turn, they would turn over two cards hoping the cards would match.  If the two cards matched, you got to go again and turn over two more cards seeking a matched pair.  If the cards did not match, the two cards were turned over and placed face down. In the television program called Concentration, as cards were matched and removed from the board, a picture was revealed forming a word riddle to be solved.  The key to either version of the game is remembering what was revealed and staying focused, concentrating on the objective of learning all of the cards as they were revealed.  In some ways, understanding the game of Concentration will help us in our understanding our walk as disciples of Jesus Christ and exemplified by the work Paul did in a place called Ephesus.

          The Apostle Paul had traveled throughout Greece and made his way to the city of Ephesus.  Ephesus was a coastal city in what is now modern-day Turkey.  There was a mixture of people in the city.  There were Jews and non-Jews.  The Jewish population of Ephesus was large enough to sustain at least one synagogue.

          When Paul arrived in Ephesus, Paul immediately set out for that synagogue to share the good news that Jesus had come as God’s long-awaited Messiah.  We read earlier today that Luke reported, “8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8).  What was Paul’s point in his three months of preaching, reasoning, and apparently even arguing with those in attendance at the synagogue?

          We learn about what Paul taught from Paul’s letter back to the church sent years later while Paul was in custody in a Roman jail.  Paul wrote, “4 For he [God] chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he [God] predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he [God] has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he [God] lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he [God] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Ephesians 1:4-10).  What was Paul’s point?

• God chose us to be holy and blameless (v. 4)
• God predestined us for adoption as His children (v. 5)
• Jesus redeemed us with His blood by forgiving us all our sins (v. 7)
• God made known to us the mystery of His will (v.9)
• God will bring unity to us all things in heaven and one earth with Christ (v. 10).

          The first thing we notice about Paul’s presentation in the synagogue at Ephesus is that everything about the good news of the gospel is an act of God not an act of humanity.  God chose us.  God predestined us.  Jesus redeemed us.  God was made known to us.  God will bring unity to us.  The development of the plan for us was and is God’s and God’s alone.  The fulfillment of the God’s plan was God’s and God’s alone. Now here is a rubbing point for many people.  The idea of God taking it upon himself to develop and complete a plan for our benefit, without our input, without asking us what we think, runs counter to human thinking and particularly our modern human thinking.  People want to co-create plans that involve them believing that is necessary for them to be involved to ensure their particular interests are addressed in the way they want them addressed.  We want things our way.  This is why so many people reject the salvation plan.  They do so because it is not the plan they would have created.  Why are we humans so insistent on having things our way?

          I want you to consider this.  The other day, I was reading a book by the 4th century theologian, Augustine, called Confessions.  Augustine wrote this book to God.  And Augustine’s style is to capture his thoughts as though he was speaking to God. Augustine said this, “Men [Humanity] corrupt or pervert the nature which you [God] ordained for them…They [Humans] make use of permissible things, but out of all good measure…They burn in lust for things that are not permitted...When held to blame [to account for their own conduct] they rave against You in mind and speech…They are glad to break the bonds of human society, and they come together in gangs or sects [factions and parties], according to something that pleases or offends them…And that is what men do when they forsake You…They love a mere part, which they mistake for a whole unity” (Confessions, III.8). These are some very profound words.

          Augustine helps us to understand that humanity cannot restore or redeem itself.  Humanity cannot create or co-create a plan of redemption because humanity is corrupt, greedy, lustful, angry toward God, and humanity is happy to break itself into identity groups based upon what pleases that group or offends that group.  Do you have the picture in mind that Augustine was sharing from the 4th century?  I don’t think it is hard to imagine what Augustine was describing because Augustine is essentially describing the life in the 21st century that we live in with its corruption, greed, lustfulness, anger toward God, and it is willingness to break itself along identity political lines.  Paul was saying in the 1st century, Augustine echoed it in the 4th century, and we should say in the 21st century that we are not able to restore or redeem ourselves.  Redemption can only come from God.  Therefore, any religious teaching that speaks of self-improvement, of sainthood or holiness through work must be completely rejected as a mere human philosophy destined to fail from the start.

          Paul shared God’s plan, God’s plan, with those in the synagogue of Ephesus and argued that, “11 In him [God] we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:11-14).  Paul reiterated that the redemption plan was and is God’s and God’s alone.  The human part of the plan is to be humble enough to:

• Place your hope in Christ (v. 12)
• Believe in the message of truth, the gospel (v. 13)
• Accept the Holy Spirit into your life as a deposit guaranteeing your eternal redemption (v. 14)

Augustine described that the way back to God is by humble piety, a submission and acceptance of God’s plan through Jesus Christ.  Any sense of restoration with God and unity within the human society requires that we first humbly placing our hope in Christ.  Second, that we humbly believe in the truth of the gospel.  And third that we humbly accept the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Any other approach towards redemption and unity is and will remain an illusion, something that is not real.  This was Paul’s message.

          But as we know then as we know today not everyone can allow themselves to be humble enough to accept God’s plan.  Luke reported that “9 But some of them [who heard Paul’s message] became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them” (Acts 19:9a). We have seen this pattern as we have explored Paul’s evangelistic outreach in different cities.  Paul preached Christ crucified, some Jews and God-fear Greeks believe and were baptized.  But some refused to believe, and they became belligerent toward the evangelists and those who have given their life to Christ.  Those opposed to God’s plan did not argue against what the evangelists said using the strength of scriptures.  Instead, they created false allegations and attacked first the character of the evangelists and when that was not working, those opposed then attacked the physical safety of the evangelists.  As we have said in prior weeks, they did this to Jesus, Stephen, Paul, and they continue to do it today.  Here in Ephesus, Paul’s character was attacked and so Paul left them.  The attack on Paul’s personal safety came a bit later. 

          Now in between the attack on Paul’s character and the attack on Paul’s body, Paul had more work to do.  Luke wrote that after Paul left the synagogue, “He [Paul] took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 20:9b-10).  What do we make of what Luke has revealed to us in these few words?  I think there are three things for us to consider.

          First, Paul established a gathering of disciples separate from the synagogue.  This gathering of disciples we would call a church.  The church of Ephesus was born.  The church became a standalone living organism that existed in full view of the public but only had one purpose, to make disciples.  The church was not formed to champion social justice initiatives, or to provide a daycare, or soup kitchen, or any other noble purpose.  The church was the place where discipleship occurred.  How do we know this was the case?

          We look to our second point.  Luke said, “He [Paul] took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus” (Acts 19:9b).  We see here that Paul arranged to use a lecture hall, a building created for teaching, apparently owned by a man known as Tyrannus, which translates to “Tyrant.”  Likely, each day after Tyrannus completed the lectures for his paying students, Tyrannus opened the building for use by Paul for his daily discussions with the disciples of the Way, meaning Christians.  We still see this today where newly formed churches will rent space in a public school to hold worship services.  In Ephesus, Paul used the lecture hall to provide for discussions about what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Think about that for a moment.  Everyday, perhaps after supper, or with supper, for two years, Paul and the disciples gathered to talk about God, God’s plan, and their part in the kingdom of God.  Everyday. What was Paul after in holding daily discussions?  Paul shared with us in his letter to the church at Ephesus two reasons for these daily discussions.

          First, Paul said, “3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).  The church of Ephesus was a new creation made up of people with differing backgrounds and differing religious practices who were now united in Christ.  In and through their acceptance of Christ, these differing people had been brought together, had been united.  Unity was a new thing to them.  Remember what Augustine said that absent Christ “People are glad to break the bonds of human society, and they come together in gangs or sects, according to something pleases or offends them.”  These disciples of the Way had previously broken the bonds of human society and lived as though each group was offensive to the other.  Now, in Christ, they were to live in unity that had been created by their individual acceptance of Christ.  Daily discussions were the way the people had to “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”  When we think about ourselves can we honestly say we make every effort to keep the unity with everyone who is a disciple of Christ?  I don’t think we do.  We Christians are still inclined to partition ourselves into different groups or to even avoid other Christians who make us uncomfortable, taking the stance of Augustine says is “They love a mere part [the part we occupy], which they mistake for a whole unity.”  We need to make sure that we are not loving only a part of the Christian community but all of our brothers and sisters.

          Secondly, Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, reminded the members of the church that, “21 When you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 3:21-24).  The daily meetings of the church were used to build disciples by teaching them two things.  First, the truth about Jesus Christ.  Secondly, how the truth and faith in Christ frees them from the sinful and ungodly ways of the past.

          This brings me back to the beginning of our conversation that I started with the game of Concentration.  Suppose you were playing the game of Concentration with three other people.  And let’s suppose you got to go first.  You turned over two cards, and they do not match. Then let’s suppose you turned the cards face down again and said, “I need to do something.”  Perhaps it is to place a phone call, check your email, see what is trending on X, whatever the reason, you need to do something.  And so you say to the three other players, “I am going to step out of the room, please continue to play,” and you leave the room. The other players continue to play, each turning over at least two new cards.  The other players call you for your next turn and you return to the room. You only know the two cards that you turned over.  The other players could know as many as eight cards.  You turn over two cards and let’s say they do not match.  You again leave play to take care of something and play continues without you.  When it is your turn again, you return for your turn.  You know four cards and the other players could know as many as 16 cards. It should be clear that you do not know very much about the game being played because you keep leaving the game to do other things. 

          This is the same situation we find ourselves in when we come just every so often to worship service.  Hebrews 10:25 teaches us, “25 Do not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.”  We make the situation worse for ourselves when we do not participant in Bible studies.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."  When we don’t read the Bible, we are allowing ourselves to drift further from the truth.  Joshua 1:8 teaches us, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

          If we want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, then we need to do those things that disciples do.  We do it not out of guilt but out of joy for the peace and the assurance discipleship brings to our lives.  God chose you, he predestined you, Jesus redeemed you, God made himself known to you, and God will bring unity to your life.  God has done all these things for you.  In return, God asks that you place your hope in Christ, believe in the message of truth, accept the Holy Spirit to lead your life, and then to commit yourself and knowingly become a disciple, an imitator, of his Son, your Savior, Jesus Christ.  In this, we can have unity and a life in abundance now and forever with God.  Amen and Amen.

Near the end of my career in the federal government, I was asked to lead a significant part of an investigation into a man who had heard voices.  The man had become very disturbed by the voices.  He had become so disturbed by them that he went on a shooting rampage killing 12 innocent people as he sought to silence the voices.  The man also died in his struggle with the voices.  My job was to assemble a team and investigate this man.  We were asked to find out what was known about him.  Why did he become violent?  Could we have prevented the loss of life?  I spent many weeks away from home digging into this man’s past and analyzing this man actions.  He had become deadly dangerous because he had heard voices.

By contrast, Christians actively seek to hear a voice that would bring peace and a quieted spirit, not a dangerous spirit, over us.  How can differing voices produce such a startlingly different response?  In one case the voices lead to the death of 12 innocent people and in the other, a voice brings peace and tranquility.  In the end, the answer is quite simple.  It is only the voice of God that can bring peace and a spirit of calmness.  All other voices bring destruction, sadness, and misery.

We saw in today’s Scripture passage the impact of hearing God’s voice in two ways.  Luke started off by giving us insight on the first way. Luke told us that Paul arrived in the city of Corinth.  Paul was later joined by Silas and Timothy.  Luke wrote, “Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching [the Word of God], testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah” (Acts 18:5b). Paul was using his voice to speak the word of God to the people.  Paul was sharing with the people what is called in Latin, ipsissima vox, “the very voice” of God.  To preach mean to speak the voice of God.  To take God’s Word which has been given to the preacher in the form of the Scriptures and to give audio voice to those words.  When you share something from the Bible with someone you are also exercising ipsissima vox, because you are sharing the very voice of God.

What does the Bible say about itself, about the Word of God, the voice of God.  We would read from the Old Testament:

• “Your word [your voice] is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:15).  These words were part of our opening hymn this morning.
• “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
• “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

These were Scripture passages that Paul would have understood when he proclaimed the word of God, that God’s Word, the voice of God, endures and brings life.  Therefore, Paul would have used care to ensure that what he said as coming from God was, in fact, of God and not some other voice.  Paul would later write to the church at Corinth these words, “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:1b-5).  Paul was making clear that faith must not be based upon some human appeal from an eloquent speaker or on some flashy words used by the speaker.  Faith must be found upon each person hearing the very voice of God.

          Paul points here are so important because too often in our modern day, too often preachers use the pulpit to be flashy, or they are charming, or they are good joke tellers keeping the congregation well entertained.  Others, we will call them speakers, use variations of the Scriptures to share a message with their congregation as though the members of the congregation were customers coming to hear what they the customer paid to hear.  When we speak in a flashy manner or in manner to please the listener, then we are no longer speaking ipsissima vox, the very voice of God.  Instead, we have become one of the other ungodly voices of the human world.

          Now what happened when Paul spoke the very voice of God to the people in Corinth? Well, many Jews and God-fearing Greeks were moved to faith in God through Jesus Christ.  God’s gospel message of salvation through the completed work of Jesus upon the cross was received and accepted.  The cornerstone of our faith must be Jesus.  Although I was part of a church from childhood, I do not think I understood faith or could distinguish between the voice of God and any other voice until my later 20’s.  I was faithful, for a time, to following religious practices and going through the motions of church, but that was not the same as faith.

          Faith is the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to change your life because you believe that what has been given to you in and through the voice of God. Paul experienced this same lack of understanding and adherence to religious practices while in Corinth. Luke wrote that many Jews “opposed Paul and became abusive” toward him.  Some people were not able to accept God’s voice given through Scripture because they had accepted the rituals and rites of religion.  And so, Luke said those people opposed Paul and were abusive to Paul. How did Paul respond?  Luke wrote that Paul, “Shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’” (Acts 18:6b).  Paul changed nothing of what he said, nor did Paul keep on sharing the gospel with those who were opposed to it.  Paul simply made it clear that he had done what Jesus asked, “preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23a).  Paul shaking his clothes was simply a method of saying the conversation was over and none of the accusations hurled at him stuck. I think there are two messages there for us.  First, we are to preach Christ.  We don’t need to be inventive or wonder if we are preaching the right thing.  Preach Christ.  Second, the responsibility to accept the message rests with those hearing it, not us as we share the word of God.  We can wish someone would accept the message all we want but the responsibility and the consequence of accepting or not accepting the word of God remains solely that of the listener.  When someone openly opposes the word of God, then we are free to walk away.  The Apostle John recorded a similar experience of Jesus in the opening verses to his gospel.  John wrote, “10 He [Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He [Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (Johnn 1:10-13).  And so, here in Corinth, Paul preached the ipsissima vox, the voice of God to all who would receive the word of God and they were saved, made children of God by God’s will.  We can, therefore, experience peace and calmness when we receive the voice of God. 

The second way we can experience such peace is, again in the Latin, ipsissima verba, or the very word, the actual words of God.  To hear for yourself the very word of God being spoken to you is rarely experienced, but it does happen.

          Hearing the actual words of God happened to Adam and Eve in the garden.

• 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”  10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”  11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”  12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”  13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”  The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Adam and Eve heard the actual words of God.

Hearing the actual words of God happened to Moses on the mountain top.

• 4 When the Lord saw that he [Moses] had gone over to look [at the burning bush], God called to him [Moses] from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”  And Moses said, “Here I am.”  5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. Moses heard the actual word of God.

There are, of course, many other examples in the Old Testament of people hearing the actual words of God.  But here in Corinth, Paul heard the actual words of God.  Luke wrote, “9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God” (Acts 18:9-11). Paul heard God speak to him to encourage him in God’s own words so as to let Paul know that despite the opposition, Paul should continue to preach the word of God.  And so, Paul stayed in Corinth for another year and a half bringing the voice of God to the people.

          Paul would later write to the church at Corinth about the message he shared with them.  “18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…  22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:1, 22-25).  Paul spoke what he knew was true about the voice of God and lives were eternally changed.

          What about us, we who are so far removed from Corinth?  What can we say about hearing the actual words of God and knowing it apart, separate, from all the other voices and noise pounding into our ears daily?  I think there are three things that we can think about. 

First, we should never discount the possibility of God speaking words directly to us. There is ample evidence in the Bible that God did this and there is ample testimony in the present day that God still does speak directly to us.  I have previously shared my personal experience of hearing the actual words of God.

Second, we have compiled for us a magnificent historical account of the ipsissima vox, the voice of God contained in the pages of the Bible.  The more we read it, the more we study from it, and the more we hear the voice of God spoken to us through sermons, then the more we have absorbed and come to recognize the voice of God.  I was saddened the other day when I read that Pope Francis wants Roman Catholic priests to offer shorter homilies, shorter sermons, suggesting that sermons in the Roman Catholic church last no longer than 8 minutes.  The Pope said homilies are boring and the people don’t know what the priests are talking about anyway making the people prone to falling asleep.  We need to hear the word of God proclaimed to us from the pages of Scripture.  This is the lesson from Paul when he said to the church at Thessalonica, “13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).  Hearing the voice of God is possible by reading the Bible.  When we do that, we will come to know God’s voice over all others and be able to stay the path of righteousness.

Third, and finally, we are blessed to have example after example of ipsissima verba, the actual words of God found throughout the Gospels and at a few points in the letters of the New Testament.  We have Jesus’ words, the living Word, God with us, speaking.  If you have time to do nothing else, then read Jesus’ words.  Many Bibles make it easy by putting Jesus’ words, the actual words of God, in red print. Read over and over the great passages of the actual words of God such as the Sermon on the Mount.  It took longer than 8 minutes for Jesus, God with us, to speak those words.  Those words are not boring.  Those words are life changing and faith affirming.

We need to load up our minds with both the voice of God and the actual words of God.  We need this to maintain ourselves in ways of God and live the life of goodness that God desires for us and knows is best for us.  We need to be able to follow his voice and his words and to be able to shun other voices coming at us because those voices are deadly dangerous.  Amen and Amen.

About 10 years ago, I was in a church board meeting.  It was time for me to give a brief report from my perspective on things that had happened since the last time the board had met. One of the things I said was that I had just finished a sermon series in which we had explored one of the books of the Bible and that I was now going to start a new series from another book of the Bible.  One member of the board said to me, “You know there are other books than the Bible from which you could speak.”  I was taken back a little bit by that statement.  My response to the suggestion of using other books than the Bible for the basis of the weekly sermon was, “I am aware there are other books.  But let’s agree to do this.  Once we have exhausted the Bible, we can move on to those other books.”  We are continuing to work our way through the Bible.  We have not yet exhausted it.

I have on occasion thought why did this person want to move away from the Bible and pursue other books?  I think the reason for desiring other books to become the focus of our conversation about faith was that doing so would make for a more pleasurable experience.  It would be more pleasurable to deal with books other than the Bible because we can always find a book that agrees with our way of thinking.  This is true because there are a vast number of individuals who are people pleasers.  A people pleaser is someone who needs to be well-liked.  And so, there are people who will write books, including those about faith, heaven, hell, God, and salvation that are written to please an audience. It is not important whether what is said is true, it only matters that the audience feels good after having read it.

The Bible on the other hand was not written to please anyone other than God.  The Bible is not concerned with people’s feelings.  The Bible is concerned with the truth.  Sometimes the Bible cannot only feel hard, but the truth revealed by the Bible can be hard.  In our modern era, some people want “trigger warnings” applied to the Bible to alert the readers that they might be offended by some of what the Bible has to say.  A recent poll in the United Kingdom, for example, showed that nearly 25% of those living in the UK between the age of 18 and 34 years old believe that unless the Bible is edited to remove offense language, then the Bible should be banned from public sale because the Bible contains “hate speech.”

Our New Testament reading today from the Book of Acts shows us that the idea that speaking from the Bible can be considered “hate speech” is not a new phenomenon.  We would find that Paul, having left the city of Philippi after having been unjustly beaten with iron rods for sharing the gospel, arrived in the city of Thessalonica. Luke wrote that “Paul went into the synagogue and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures [from the Bible], explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the death” (Acts 17:2b-3a).  What do we make of this scene? 

First, Paul went to the synagogue.  Paul wanted to talk with Jews who were already open to understand that Scripture was the inspired word of the one true God.  Also present in the synagogue were God-fearing Greeks, meaning people who were not Jews but nevertheless believed in the God of the Jews. Paul did not start sharing the message of salvation with those who disbelieved or were opposed to God. Paul’s message depended upon his audience having some prior knowledge and belief in the teachings and stories of that book. 

Second, Paul’s approach depended upon reasoning with people. This is a key point.  Paul sought to reason with people.  What does it mean to reason with someone?  To reason with someone is to have a measured discussion and a conversation about the facts concerning a specific topic.  I think this latter point is key for us to understand why so many people today reject the Bible.  It is not that people are completely ignorant of the Bible, because they are not.  The issue lies in that people no longer want to reason things through.  If they even think something they might read or hear will offend them, they want those trigger warnings posted so they don’t read or hear it at all.  If they later find something offensive or in their thinking the words are silly, they reject what is said rather than reason through it.

Let me give you a brief illustration.  The Ten Commandments are very much in the news with the state of Louisiana passing a law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools of Louisiana.  Many applauded this move and just as many have angrily denounced this law.  One social commentator’s remark about the Ten Commandments caught my attention.  He believed that the Ten Commandments could not be from God or if they did come from God, then God is out of touch with his own people.  The commentator cited the commandment, “Thou shall not murder,” the sixth commandment and argued that such a commandment was not from God because the Hebrew people who received the Ten Commandments did not need to be told murder was bad and murder was something they should not do.  They did not need for God to tell them not to murder and if that commandment came from God, then God was most silly.  And because the Ten Commandments contained the statement, “Thou shall not murder,” the commentator said we should reject all Ten Commandments as silly.

Now some of what this commentator said was true.  The Hebrew people did know that murder was bad and to tell them it was bad was not revealing anything new to them. But.  There is always a but.  But the Ten Commandments also says, “Thou shall not steal,” that is number 8.  Most of the Hebrew people probably knew stealing was bad too.  But how many Hebrew people understood that to a Holy God murder and stealing are equal offenses?  The Ten Commandments also says, “Thou shall honor thy father and thy mother,” meaning to do otherwise, to not honor your parents, is an offense equal to murder. And the same would be true for making false statements about one’s neighbors, being envious of what your neighbors have, and using the Lord’s name in vain.  All these offenses, the Ten Commandments reveal, are equally offensive to a Holy God as is murder.  Suddenly, when we let Scripture speak and we reason it out, we are confronted by the hard truth about sin to our God and about the amazing grace that our holy God is extending to us.  But we cannot come to such realization if we simply reject as silly God’s word or offensive because we do not want it to say what it says.  Perhaps we should put a trigger warning on the cover of the Bible that says, “Reasoning Required.”  This is why it is so difficult to have a conversation with someone who has distain for God’s word.  They are not able or willing to reason.

And so, we see that Paul reasoned with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles in Thessalonica using the Scriptures “3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he [Paul] said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women” (Acts 17:3-4).  Thus, the church at Thessalonica was born but not without complications.

Luke shared with us that some Jews who rejected Paul’s message because they “Were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd” (Acts 17:5).  The accusation against the evangelists composed by jealous people and given to the mob to chant had nothing to do with the Scriptures.  Instead, the accusation was that the evangelists, Paul and Silas, said the people should defy Caesar because they said there is a new king Jesus. As we have discussed in prior weeks, this is a familiar pattern of response by unreasoning people.  They stir up people with false information to cause them to make an allegation against their supposed enemy and then when the chants begin they stand back demanding the matter be investigated.  They did this to Jesus, to Stephen, and they have done it to Paul on several occasions.  And it is still done today.  This time Paul and Silas escaped the false charges of the unreasoning and jealous people.

Paul would later write two letters back to that newly formed church.  In the first letter Paul said, “1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority” (1 Thessalonians 2:1-6).  There are two things which are important for us to understand from this passage. First, we have it most clearly that Christians are to share God’s word about salvation through Jesus Christ, but we are not do so in a manner to please people.  We should share the truth, but it is not for us to sugarcoat or change anything about God’s word.  We should reason with those who are willing to listen and to share with them what God has already said.  We are to let Scripture speak.  The second point sounds a lot like the first point.  Christians are to share God’s word about salvation through Jesus Christ. Sometimes, I think we get the idea that we are to share with others our own personal testimony in place of God’s word. There is a place for personal testimony about how God has changed our lives, but our testimony is not to replace sharing God’s word.  God’s word has power our own words never will.  So if someone came up to you right now and asked you to share God’s word of salvation with them, do you know what you would say or where in the Bible you would begin?  Might we say something as simple as this:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1).  And God created mankind in his own image; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).  But the man and woman came to sin, that is they disobeyed God, they sinned (Genesis 3).  Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2).  To remove the separation between us and God, God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to teach us the way, and the truth, and the pathway to life with God (John 14:7). And to all who will receive Jesus, Jesus gives the right to become reunited with God as his children (John 1:12-13). Therefore, by God’s grace we are saved through faith in Jesus.  Salvation, removing the separation from God now and forever, is a gift from God, not a result of our own work (Ephesians 2:8-9).  If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old has passed away. (2 Corinthians 5:18).  Therefore, as new creatures, saved by Christ, we seek to live our lives as Jesus did (Ephesians 5:1).  All we need to do is ask Jesus to come into our lives.  This is the message of salvation from the Bible.”  There are other ways of sharing the good news, but whatever we say must come from God’s word.  And then our lives, our testimony, should bear witness to what God has done when we believed and accept Christ.  We need to know how to let the Scriptures speak.

And we see this distinction between sharing God’s word and showing our personal testimony in Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica.  Paul wrote, “13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone” (1 Thessalonians 2:13-15).

The evangelist plan is to let scripture speak, that is to share the word of God with those who do not know what God has done for them.  That is the first part.  Then to acknowledge that the way those who have accepted salvation through Christ have changed, the personal testimony, is the second part.  I want to everyone to be encouraged and to understand the power we have at our fingertips, God’s word.  Sharing it is not about pleasing people and making them feel good about themselves.  We share it so that people have the truth and can come to understand that God has provided for them a way home to him.  And that way home does not come from a philosophy of life, a particular church, or denomination.  That way home comes through belief in Jesus Christ and grace the resurrected Jesus offers. Amen and Amen.

          In your life, has there ever been a difference between what you expected to happen and what actually happened?  You might say something like, “Well that is not at all what I expected.”  When I worked for the federal government, we would call that “experience.”  Experience is what you got when you expected something else.  We know that those experiences can be either pleasant or unpleasant.  We have had something occur in our physical lives that was unexpected and the same is true about our faith journey, our church life, and our spiritual lives.

          Last week for example, we saw where the missionary team of Barnabas and Paul, men who had risked their lives for Jesus, parted company because Barnabas wanted to bring his cousin, John also known as Mark, along on the next missionary trip.  We could not have expected that to happen.  We saw where Paul refused Barnabas’ request to bring John also called Mark along on that trip because Paul believed Mark’s leaving them on the previous missionary trip was a form of desertion making it unwise to bring Mark on the next trip.  We somehow expect that in church everyone will go along and get along, but we know from Barnabas and Paul and from our own lived experience that that is simply not the case.

          When it comes to matters of deep faith, it seems highly likely that we have had experiences that we did not expect to happen.  Time and again we think God was going to respond in a specific way, meaning our way.  We have been faithful.  We asked for something in our prayers, nicely, and adding at the end, “In Jesus’ name we pray,” and whatever we asked, we expected God to do the way we asked but that did not happen.  We wonder why God did not do as we expected.  We want answers.  And there is a reason that sometimes our prayers, the way we prayed them, our demand for God to act a certain way, did not happen.  In the Book of Isaiah we would read, 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).  We experience the unexpected with God because God confounds us.  His ways and his thoughts are vastly different from our own.  And so, in matters of faith, we are often experiencing the unexpected.

          As we continue in our faith journey, we can see how others, today notably Paul, reacted to experiencing the unexpected from God.  It appears in Paul’s life that, “9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:9-10).  Macedonia was the territory we would primarily think of as Greece in modern-day Europe.  Macedonia had been the powerhouse of Alexander the Great.  And so, with the vision of the Macedonian man in his mind, Paul and his companions set their course for Greek territories.

          From our reading today, we would find that “11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days” (Acts 16:11-12).  Paul and his companions had arrived in Macedonia and gathered themselves in the city of Philippi.  Although the city of Philippi was in Macedonia, the city was a meaningful and historic place to the Roman people.  For about 100 years earlier, the Roman civil war that arose after the assassination of Julius Caesar ended in an epic battle at Philippi with the defeat of Brutus.  After that time, many Romans moved into Philippi making it very much a Roman city.

          Now Paul’s practice when entering a new city had been to bring the news of Jesus to the Jewish people and God-fearing Gentiles of the city who would gather at the synagogue.  But what we find is that “13 On the Sabbath we [Paul and Silas] went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer” (Acts 16:13).  Something unexpected had happened here.  Paul discovered that in coming to Philippi, that the city did not have a synagogue.  There would have been ample temples and other religious places for the God’s of Rome and for the emperor but no synagogue.  In Paul’s time, it took a minimum of ten Jewish men to gather to form a synagogue.  Since the Jews lacked an approved building to hold their services, the Jews, however many there were, would have had to go outside the boundaries of the city to find a place to pray.  And so, Paul left the boundary of the city to find a place of prayer, believing it would be near a river.  What a river? Because Jews would meet near a river to have running water available to ceremonially wash as part of their worship of God.

          So, Paul made his way to a river outside the boundaries of the city but again he found something unexpected.  Instead of his vision of a Macedonian man calling him to come to them, Paul found at the riverbank women gathered to pray.  Luke wrote, “We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God” (Acts 16:13-14).  So far nothing was going the way Paul envisioned it.  No synagogue to start with, no men to preach to, and as it turns out no Jews with which to start because Luke said Lydia was a worshipper of God, meaning she was likely a Gentile by birth attracted to the idea of the God of the Jews. 

          Some years ago, I got asked to work with a church that was going through a difficult time.  A group within the church was dissatisfied with their pastor and they said they wanted someone to help mediate and resolve the concerns.  I thought, “How hard could it to help a group of Christians to come together, place their faith in Christ, and resolve their differences?” That was my vision of what would happen.  Then just before the first meeting with the congregation and the pastor, it became clear that this group that asked for mediation wanted to use the mediation process to fire their pastor.  That is not what I had expected.  Instead of one or two meetings to resolve the differences, I led many meetings over 2½ years to help the church work through the issues.  What I discovered was that some in the group who wanted to fire the pastor were not even Christians.  One person proudly said that he did not believe in God, but he considered the church his church as well.  I never was able to quite understand that man’s thinking.  Other members of the church had a strong belief in Progressive Christianity in which they viewed Jesus as one of many good teachers from which we might learn something. The view of these folks was that all religions believe in “love and goodness,” which is mostly true.  But then again as the poet Steve Turner wrote, “They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.”  This was something I did not expect to find in a church.  In the end, rather than being able to resolve the differences, my work shifted to strengthening and encouraging the Christians of the church to hold fast to their faith amid the conflict.  That was not my vision of what I was being called to do but perhaps this was God’s vision all along.  We cannot presuppose God will bless us in what we desire even if what we desire seems like a good outcome.  We must leave open the reality that God’s ways are not our ways and our thoughts do not become His.  This is what Paul was experiencing along the riverbank outside the city of Philippi as he spoke to Lydia, a God-fearing Gentile and the women gathered with her. That reality was a long way from the vision of a Macedonian man Paul saw calling him to come.

          And so, as we go back to that riverbank Luke tells us, “14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14).  Lydia came to believe in Jesus and thus has the distinction of being the first person in Europe to have accepted Christ.  Luke made it clear that Lydia’s coming to faith was through the movement of God to open her heart to receive the message of salvation through Jesus Christ delivered by Paul.  And again, what was Lydia’s way of showing her adherence and belief in Christ?  Luke wrote instructively, “She (Lydia) and the members of her household were baptized” (Acts 16:15a). Lydia, as a believer, was faithful to the command of Christ and was baptized.  Because of Lydia’s public expression of faith, other members of her household were moved to similarly give their lives to Christ and be baptized.

          There is a subtle yet powerful message here at the end of verse 14 and the beginning of verse 15, “The Lord opened her (Lydia’s) heart to respond to Paul’s message. She (Lydia) and the members of her household were baptized” (Acts 16:14b-15a).  The first part of that powerful message is that when God moves in our lives, it is nice but not necessary, for other members of our family or household to affirm that movement.  Even if others do not affirm God moving within us, we need to follow the movement of God as Lydia did expressing her faith as she must have with her words because Luke said she responded to Paul’s preaching.  Second, those who are spiritually matured, as Lydia was becoming, must not wait to follow Jesus, for those in their circle who are spiritually immature to follow Jesus.  In our immediate case, Lydia was clearly the head of a household.  Luke said Lydia was a dealer of purple fabrics meaning that Lydia was a businesswoman providing for herself and her family.  Luke also used the phrase, “Lydia and her household” suggesting that Lydia likely had no husband and was therefore responsible for leading those living in her home.  Lydia, as a leader, understood that leaders lead.  Lydia responded to Paul’s message and immediate sought baptism. Her leadership helped Paul’s message of salvation take hold in the lives of the others of her household.  When it comes to our following the leading of God, we must not wait for others to feel led, we must be obedient, act, and lead others. We would each do well to see if God is moving us to act in some manner but we have not done so because members of our household are not willing to join us.

          There would be more unexpected things Paul experienced in Philippi.  Paul drove a demon out of a girl who told fortunes.  For that, a crowd was riled up against Paul and Silas and they were stripped, beaten with rods, and jailed.  But for all that Paul and Silas experienced that did not fit their expectations, there were blessings from God.  Paul would later write a letter back to the church in Philippi in which he would say, “3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:3-6).  Paul considered the church of Philippi, began from scratch on that day along the riverbank, as his “joy and crown” (Philippians 4:1).  Paul believed this even though none of what happened in Philippi fit Paul’s vision of what he expected to happen.

          What then can we take from Paul’s experience in Philippi that we can bring into our lives?  I think there are three things that we should take into our lives.

          First, every believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit within them giving them a sense, a vision if you will, of where and what God desires us to do.  God is a God of movement.  We should not be statutes in the park. Paul had a vision of going into Macedonia, but Paul’s first move led him to a situation that was nothing like he expected.  God is moving you and he is moving me.  Perhaps not to Macedonia or to meet people along the riverbank but God is moving us. But are we moving?  Paul, even while in prison, understood the idea of moving forward.  He would later write to the church in Philippi, “12b I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12b-14).  Physically Paul was not going anywhere, yet Paul was moving forward.  To what or where is God moving you forward?  What for the sake of your faith are you straining forward as though you were seeking and stretching to grab hold of a prize?  Reach for it but do not be surprised if what you grab onto is not exactly what you expected but it will be what God desires.

          Second, we must remain open to whom our partners in ministry may prove to be.  Paul was accompanied on this missionary trip with Silas and other men seeking to fulfill the vision of reaching out to the Macedonian man.  Instead, Paul found women along the riverbank.  There was, of course, Lydia.  But in Paul’s letter to the Philippians there two other women who were instrumental in the development and the sustainment of the his joy and crown, the church of Philippi.  There was Euodia (yo-d-ia) and Syntyche (sin-tie-sh) whom Paul described these women as his co-workers who “contended at my side in the cause of the gospel” (Philippians 4:3). Paul did not expect Lydia, Euodia, and Syntyche to be his companions and champions of the gospel in Macedonia but they were.  We cannot predict who God will involve in our lives in developing our own faith and therefore we must not exclude others.

          Finally, we should learn not to lose hope.  Sometimes things in our lives do not work out as we had hoped or planned. When that happens, we can lose heart and become discouraged. Paul found himself in prison in Rome awaiting execution that eventually did come about. While Paul did risky things, I suspect Paul had hoped that his life to end in execution. In facing that prospect, Paul said, “6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Yes, you should pray the outcome you desire will be given to you, but more importantly Paul said hold fast to what, to whom, God has already given you, His Son, Jesus. Paul said for in what we have already received from within God our hearts can be guarded from disappointment and discouragement. We will not be disheartened. We can put our minds at ease that God has taken care of our most pressing concern - our eternal life. If we focus on that, then our minds will not be as grieved about other things in life that do not meet our expectations.

          Let us all open our hearts to God and receive what He desires for our lives. Amen and Amen.

          Has anyone ever let you down?  You had been counting on someone to do something for you or to follow through with what they had agreed to do, but they did not.  You might feel angry at that person, disappointed in their behavior, or even feel a little betrayed.  You have been let down.

          What do you do when someone lets you down?  Often, we will not allow ourselves to be put into a position of trusting that person again to follow through on their commitments.  There is an adage, “Fool me one, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.”  We tend to protect ourselves from being disappointed twice.

          It is hard for a stranger to disappoint us because we generally do not place a great deal of trust in a stranger.  But we do place trust in those who are close to us such as in our family or our church family.  So, what are we supposed to do when that disappointment comes from someone in our own church family?  It is dealing with disappointment from a fellow believer that confronts us in today’s New Testament passage from the Book of Acts.

          Luke shared with us that Paul and Barnabas had returned to Antioch from their trip to Cyprus and Galatia.  After a bit of time, Paul and Barnabas travelled to Jerusalem to meet with the other apostles to talk about a dispute that had arisen as to whether Gentiles needed to be circumcised to be saved.  Simon Peter was at this meeting as was James, the brother of Jesus.  Luke reported that at this meeting, “12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them” (Acts 15:12). When the meeting was over, the apostles and elders issued a letter communicating their decision to accept the Gentiles without conditions to be part of the church.  The church, it seems, settled its differences presumably in a manner that satisfied everyone.  At least, this is how Luke saw the meeting.

Paul, on the other hand, had a more biting assessment of the reason for the meeting and its outcome.  Paul, in the letter to the Galatians said, “4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.  6 As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. 8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along” (Galatians 2:4-10).  Paul felt people from Jerusalem had interfered with his missionary approach to the Gentiles and sought to require the Jews to adopt the practice of circumcision to be part of the church.  After argument within the church, the decision was made circumcision was not required.

The leaders of the church then wrote a letter saying, “24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.” (Acts 15:24-29).   

          But.  There is always a but.  But, “36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.’ 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him [John], because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They [Saul and Barnabas] had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He [Paul] went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches” (Acts 15:36-41).  Huh. What happened here?  The two, seemingly inseparable evangelists Barnabas and Saul/Paul who together had faced a sorcerer and hostile crowds on the mission field had a sharp disagreement.  So sharp was their argument that Paul and Barnabas concluded that it would be better that they go their own ways and they part company. What on earth happened here?

          Let’s go back a bit and see if we can fill in the story a little more.  A couple of weeks ago, we spoke about the first missionary trip from Antioch to Cyprus by Barnabas, Saul, and John.  Why Cyprus and why John?

Why Cyprus? Cyprus was the hometown island of Barnabas.  Barnabas knew the island well and no doubt had family and contacts on the island (Acts 4:36).  It would be a good place to start the missionary journey.

Why John who is sometimes called John Mark and sometimes called Mark?  Paul would reveal to us in his later letter, Colossians, that John, John Mark, Mark was Barnabas’ cousin (Colossians 4:10).  Barnabas, ever the encourager, wanted to bring his younger cousin with him to Cyprus to develop him into an evangelist.  That seems to make sense.  But John, John Mark, Mark had some other important connections.  Let’s look at those other connections. 

Earlier in the Book of Acts, we would find that James, an apostle of Jesus, was arrested by King Herod and executed.  The execution of James pleased the Jews and so King Herod arrested Simon Peter, apostle of Jesus.  Peter, in prison and chained between two guards, was miraculously freed from prison by an angel.  Once out of the prison, we would learn that Peter, “Went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying” (Acts 12:12).  Peter, freshly released from prison, sought refuge in the home of very close friends, Mary and John, Mark, John Mark.  So this cousin of Barnabas was also a well known friend of Simon Peter. As the years developed, we would find that the relationship between Simon Peter and Mark, John Mark, John was very close.  In Peter’s first letter, Peter refers to Mark as his son (1 Peter 5:13), meaning a spiritual son to Peter.  It would make sense then that this cousin of Barnabas and close friend of Simon Peter would benefit from accompanying Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary trip to Cyprus.  We can understand this arrangement.  In a church environment we want to encourage younger members to become involved in mission trips or other ministries to broaden their experiences.  So, this young man was included on the first missionary trip to Cyprus.

A couple of weeks ago, we read in Acts, Chapter 13, how Barnabas, Saul, and John, John Mark, Mark travelled the whole island of Cyprus bringing the good news of Jesus.  Then in Paphos the three met with the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus to share God’s word with him, a Gentile.  There the three also encountered the Jewish sorcerer, Bar-Jesus, also known as Elymas, the child of the devil.  It was there that Paul condemned and made Elymas temporarily blind.  In view of the actions and testimony of Paul and Barnabas, Sergius Paulus believed in Jesus.  Luke then wrote, “13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem” (Acts 13:13).

And there you see the first indicator of being let down.  As soon as the group had left Cyprus and made landfall in Pamphylia, John, John Mark, Mark left them, left Paul.  For whatever reason, this young man was uncomfortable continuing under Paul. Instead, the young man returned to Jerusalem. 

Why did John, John Mark, Mark leave the group?  We are not told the reason, but it could have been related to Paul’s behavior toward the Gentiles, and particularly an association with a Roman official.  Whatever the reason, we can discern from our reading today that Paul considered the young man’s departure an act of betrayal, an extreme disappointment to Paul.   

Luke recorded for us in today’s reading that Paul suggested he and Barnabas return to Cyprus and other lands to strengthen the churches.  Barnabas wanted to include John.  But Paul told Barnabas that, “38 He [Paul] did not think it wise to take him [John, John Mark, Mark], because he had deserted them in Pamphylia” (Acts 15:38).  In Paul’s view, John, John Mark, Mark had broken fellowship with Paul as soon as they landed from Cyprus.  Did Paul consider John, John Mark, Mark one of those who had infiltrated the ranks to spy on him and report back to Jerusalem?  We do not know.  But what we do know is that Barnabas and Paul were so sharply in disagreement on this young man that Paul would not accompany Barnabas on the trip Paul had suggested.

This is a painful scene because it shows a fraying of the fabric of the church and does not appear to have any sort of positive ending.  Unfortunately, there are many of you here today who can relate to this story because you have had a dispute, a serious disappointment, or a sense of being let down by a member of the church.  In that dispute, your fellowship with that other person may not have survived.  You may be here because that dispute led you to seek another church.  It is painful when distrust comes into the church and the account here that Luke offers does not seem to show us the better way to resolving and reconciling our differences.  When we hear about sharp disagreement between believers it is very easy for us to think about who is wrong in this situation.  We might think Paul was wrong and Barnabas was right or that Barnabas was wrong on insisting that John accompany them.

Was there anything in Luke’s account of this dispute that is helpful to us?  The answer is yes.  Even though Barnabas and Paul parted company, neither one of them parted company with the mission that held them together.  Rather than Barnabas or Paul quitting or giving up, they agreed that the time had come for two missionary trips instead of one.  These two men of great faith did not allow their egos or anger interrupt God’s plan to share the good news.  And so, Barnabas and John, John Mark, Mark left to retrace their steps in Cyprus so that they could strengthen the churches they had founded on the original trip.  Meanwhile, Paul and Silas left to start in churches found on the mainland and move the missionary message out to new locales.  Instead of collapsing God’s plan over a dispute, the missionary outreach doubled.

What else might we say about this situation with Barnabas, Paul, and John, John Mark, Mark?  First, in Scripture, we never hear about Barnabas again. Church legend says that on Cyprus, Barnabas was confronted by Jewish sorcerer.  The sorcerer stirred up the people against Barnabas and before a magistrate could be summoned to hear the charges against Barnabas, the crowds put a rope around Barnabas’ neck, dragged him out of the city, and burned him to death.  Second, we hear a lot about Paul.  We will continue to talk about Paul in the weeks ahead. And third what do we learn about John, John Mark, Mark?  This young man was mentored by Barnabas until Barnabas’ murder and this young man remained a close associate of Peter.  This young man would be credited with writing the Gospel of Mark.

But more than being mentored by Barnabas and being a spiritual son of Peter, we find in Scripture that the life of this young man and that of Paul would intersect again.  Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, wrote this in the closing paragraph of his letter, “10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)” (Colossians 4:10).  Oh, my goodness.  Paul, who accused Mark, John Mark, John of disloyalty in leaving the missionary trip was now acknowledging that this same man was a co-worker in ministry.

We see Paul acknowledge this same young man in a letter to Philemon.  As Paul closed that letter, Paul said, “23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers” (Phil 23).  Mark, John Mark, John had become a co-worker of Paul.

Finally, in a letter to Timothy, Paul gave this instruction to Timothy, “11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).  Paul had come to see Mark as a helpful co-worker in bring the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles.  This Mark was the same man that Paul had refused Barnabas’ request to join them in going back to Cyprus.  The very same man that caused Barnabas part company.

If we avoid the temptation to use this additional information about the Barnabas, Paul, John, John Mark, Mark story to fix blame for the sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, what might we learn?  I think there are two things I want to conclude with.

First, Paul was right but not about differing with Barnabas.  Paul was right when he wrote to the church at Corinth that we have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ and we have received the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19).  We see here that it is never too late for two believers, in this case Paul and John, Mark to reconcile with each other.  If we have separated from another believer, then we should do everything possible to keep the door open to forgiveness and reconciliation and look for the opportunity to reconcile.

Second, our mistakes and misjudgments do not have to define our future.  We can and will make mistakes in our life but that does not mean we are excluded from an abundant life in Christ.  Peter denied Jesus three times and he wept bitterly for his denial believing that he had made an unresolvable mistake.  But Jesus forgave Peter and restored him.  Thereafter, Peter became known for his faithfulness in sharing the good news of Christ.  Peter’s mistake did not define him for the remainder of his life.  Neither did the disagreement involving Paul and John, John Mark, Mark define either of their futures.  As we make mistakes, we must not let our mistakes define our future. We need to repent of our errors, seek forgiveness, repair what has been broken, and then keep moving forward on the mission God has given each of us. 

This is the good news story of what Barnabas, Paul, and John, John Mark, Mark did together as fellow believers in Jesus Christ to the glory of God.  Amen and Amen. 

“Lord, let me know and understand which comes first, to call upon you or to praise you, to know you or to call upon you? But who could call upon you without knowing you?  For without knowing it, he might call upon another instead of you.  Or rather must you be called upon to be known?  But how can they call upon him in whom they have not believed?  And how can they come to believe, without a preacher?” (Augustine, Confessions, Book 1).

These questions come to us from Augustine, a 4th century pagan turned Christian theologian, in his deeply inspired book, Confessions.  Augustine was working out in his mind the process by which individuals come to faith in God.  Augustine wanted to know does someone call God first or do they need to know him first? Does someone praise God before calling upon God?  Or is it in calling God that a believer comes to know God?  Augustine provided no answers to his own question.  But Augustine did provide one critical observation in the process of one individual coming to faith.  Augustine asked, “And how can they come to believe, how can someone come to faith, without a preacher?”  The answer to this question is they cannot.

Augustine’s questions and conclusion that a preacher is indispensable in the process of coming to faith are not original.  Augustine’s questions come from the Apostle Paul in a letter to the Romans.  Paul wrote, “12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? (Romans 10:12-14).  Paul’s point, echoed by Augustine, is that preaching is an indispensable part of people coming to faith.  Preaching does not only mean that someone stands in front of group and shares the good news of Jesus.  To preach means to share Jesus.  To share Jesus in a conversation between two friends is preaching.  In this context, every believer is to be a preacher.

          And so, this week we continue to explore the life of two preachers.  One was named Barnabas.  The other preacher was named Saul, who was also known as Paul.  As we come to explore today’s passage, we might note that whenever these two preachers were mentioned together Luke would write, “Barnabas and Saul (or Paul).”  Barnabas’ name always appeared before Saul or Paul.  The reason for that is that in ancient writing, and generally in modern writing, the more important character appears first.  Barnabas was given this priority status over Saul.  Now that we are coming to Iconium, the roles are reversed for Luke wrote, “1At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed” (Acts 14:1).  Paul and Barnabas had walked into Iconium to preach the good news of Jesus.  As usual, they began their preaching at the synagogue, only this time Paul was the primary speaker with support coming from Barnabas.  What did Paul say to these people in Iconium,  We don’t have exactly what was said but it probably followed closely to what Paul had told the people in the last city they visited which was:  23 “God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised….26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.  32 “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus…34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay...38 “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses” (Acts 13:23, 26-33a, 34a, 38-39).

          Paul and Barnabas’ message was quite simple.  God has given the world the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. Sadly, the religious leaders and Romans did not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and instead conspired, killed Jesus, and buried Jesus’ body.  Yet, God would not be mocked, and God’s plan would not be defeated.  And so, God raised Jesus from the dead.  Anyone who believes in Jesus stands before God free of all sin.  The response to Paul’s preaching in Iconium was immediate in that “a great number of Jews and Greeks believed” (Acts 14:1b).

          What had happened?  Two strangers walked into the city of Iconium and spoke about Jesus, his life, his mission, his death, his resurrection from the death, and the offer of salvation from God to all who would believe in Jesus.  They spoke first to the devote Jews and to the Greeks who feared God but who were not Jews.  These strangers, Paul and Barnabas, spoke with passion, conviction, and authority. They did not speak as though they were inviting people to join them on a new exciting once in a lifetime adventure or to join a social movement of some sort.  Paul and Barnabas pleaded with the people to accept God’s salvation for their lives.  It was not a once in a lifetime message, it was a once in all eternity message.  It was if Paul was saying “Please don’t turn away from Jesus, he is your only chance to not just escape eternal punishment but also gain the right to be called a child of God and be with God forever.” So deeply convicted was Paul about this message that he was able to show his listeners the marks of abuse, whippings and beatings with rods, he had received because he dared to share God’s good news in Jesus.  When I think about Paul and Barnabas as they shared Jesus, I am embarrassed by weakness in my own attempts to reach people for Christ.

          In response to Paul’s pleadings, his listeners believed. These people were told by Paul and Barnabas that once their believed they were a new creation in Christ.

          Let’s think about that expression, a new creation in Christ.  As I mentioned at the beginning of the message, I was recently reading the writings of Augustine, a 4th century theologian from North Africa. Augustine wrote about his life as an infant.  He said that as an infant he would have cried when he wanted food and cried for discomfort in his body.  He do so as every other baby does so that an adult can address their complaint.  Augustine said, when crying was not enough, as an infant he would have wailed to make the adults do his bidding.  He would have acted with jealousy and selfish impatience to get others to do his bidding.  But then Augustine said this about his behavior as an infant.  “What does it matter to me now, when I cannot recall a trace of it?”  Augustine had no memory of being an infant.  This is the heart of Paul’s message about salvation from our sins of the past.  “What does it (our sin) matter now, when God cannot recall a trace of it?”  In accepting Christ, we become a new creation, as though our infancy jealous and selfish impatient behavior is now long ago dead and yet we are still alive.

          Paul’s listeners believed, leaving behind their old lives, and leaving behind their old ways of thinking with allegiances to people and organizations that went with it all.  “3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.”   Paul and Barnabas showed no signs of moving on and instead likely were making plans to formalize a church in Iconium to help raise these new creations.

          But.  There is always a but.  “2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers (Paul and Barnabas as well as the new disciples)…4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them (Paul and Barnabas) and stone them” (Acts 14:2, 4-5).  And there is it once again.  A plot was formed against the Christians.  This is the pattern.  The leaders conspire to get someone to make serious charges against the Christians and make a demand for justice.  The leaders then help usher those claims before a court or council they control. A verdict is made against the accused and the leaders stand back and say the accused had his day and we respect the decision of the jury, court, or council.  This was done to Jesus, it was done to Stephen, and now was being planned for Paul and Barnabas in Iconium.

          Why did the leaders react this way toward Paul and Barnabas?  In many respects they did not react to Paul and Barnabas at all.  Instead, they were reacting to Jesus.  As did the religious leaders in Jerusalem rejected Jesus, here in Iconium the religious leaders rejected Jesus.  The leaders could not see Jesus as the fulfillment of the promised Messiah, the chosen one that Moses had spoken about.  They were looking for a grand and great leader not a humble servant. They were looking for someone who would affirm them and their steadfast adherence to the sacrificial practices, their fasting, and hard application of the law.  Jesus did none of that.  Instead, Jesus challenged their lack of mercy and their belief that they could do anything so long as they sacrificed for their sins.  These leaders who had waited so long to become leaders could not imagine losing that status and so they plotted and conspired to kill the messenger rather than change.

          Luke said that the existence of the plot became known to Paul and Barnabas, and they left Iconium to continue to preach in the neighboring towns and countryside.  The preaching must continue otherwise how will the people come to faith in Jesus.

          What then do we learn for ourselves from this passage of Scripture?  First and foremost, we are reminded that God has a salvation plan for you, me, our family members, our neighbors, and the strangers we will meet and the people we will never meet.  No one is excluded from God’s plan.  And God’s plan is simple.  God sent his Son as the truth, the truth about God.  He sent his Son as the Way, the way to God, He sent his Son as the Life, the life in the present and the life eternal.  To complete the plan, God’s Son paid the price by going to the cross for the sin that would keep us from God.  And to show the power of God over life to fulfil the promises of this plan and demonstrate that life is eternal, God raised Jesus from the dead. And finally, Jesus commissioned his disciples to preach the good news of God’s plan brought to all people through God’s own Son so that in believing in him we would become new creations with God having no recollection of our sins.  You and I are here because someone cared enough about us to share with us the good news, the message of eternal life.  Someone cared enough about us that they wanted us to be saved and safe not just for a day, a week, a month, a year, or even for our lifetime but for all eternity.

          What then is our obligation having received and believed in God’s Son and his message of truth, way, and the life?  It is to live by imitating Jesus and to share the good news of Jesus with our family, friends, neighbors, and strangers.  As new people come to faith, we are to help make them become Jesus’ disciples able to share the good news with others.  What we are called to do is simple, but we need to like Nike says, “Just Do It.”

          In this country we are blessed that we can do our part of God’s plan without fear of being stoned, whipped, beaten with rods, or any other act of physical violence.  We can do our part of God’s plan without fear of losing our jobs, our homes, or our property.  What do we risk then in sharing the Jesus?  We might risk some strange looks or a few hateful comments.  What is to be gained?  Eternity for those who come to faith.  We need to be like Paul and Barnabas.  We all need to be preachers, deeply convicted preachers of God’s message of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Sounds like we need to “Just Do It.”  Amen and Amen.

There is one thing in life we all have, and it is one thing in life we tend not to talk about with others.  What is that? We have or will have a spiritual struggle.  Many, if not most of us, will be reluctant to talk about the depth of that struggle with others.  We don’t talk about a spiritual struggle with another person because we don’t want to be a burden.  We don’t talk about a spiritual struggle because the other person will not understand us.  We don’t talk about a spiritual struggle because we don’t want others, and we especially don’t want God, to think differently about us.  We don’t want to talk about spiritual battle and some Christians have peculiar beliefs about the supernatural.  They believe in a supernatural place called heaven but do not believe hell exists.  They believe in supernatural beings called angels but do not believe in demons.  They believe in the supernatural person of the resurrected Jesus but do not believe in Satan or the devil.  Jesus was quite clear there is a heaven and a hell, there are angels and demons, and he did raise from the dead and Satan, the evil one, is alive among us.  And so we deal with the reality of a spiritual struggle in ways that are not helpful or productive.  Let’s walk through a very familiar Biblical illustration that show the existence of spiritual forces pushing against us.

The illustration comes from Genesis, Chapter 3.  The man and woman were in the Garden of Eden.  It was a wonderful place of paradise.  There was food to eat, water to drink, and the man and woman shared perfect fellowship with each other and, most importantly, they each shared perfect fellowship with God.  There was one commandment to follow, and they were following it perfectly.  Then, as the man and woman were minding their own business, a serpent appeared in the garden.  But this serpent could speak.  The serpent spoke to the woman, 1b”Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’” (Genesis 3:1b-3). So far, so good.  The serpent asked a question and the woman without hesitation or struggle spoke the truth to the serpent affirming what she knew to be true and correcting what seemed to be the serpent’s misunderstanding of God’s word.  This is a wonderful illustration of a life faithfully lived in harmony with God. 

But then something happened.  The woman was confronted by a spiritual force that sought to separate her from God and her husband.  She was not looking for this spiritual force.  The spiritual force, in this case in the form of the serpent, came looking for the woman.  The serpent said to the woman, 4 “You will not certainly die...  5 For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).  The tactics employed here by the serpent were simple.  He used word games, half-truths, and different meanings to God’s words to corrupt the truth.  The woman started her day just fine was now in a spiritual battle.  The woman is beset with the questions, “Is what God said true?  Is there an opportunity here to become like God?”  The way the woman dealt with the struggle shows the natural human pattern for dealing with spiritual struggles.  She had a perfect relationship with her husband and a perfect relationship with God, and yet share talked to neither of them about her spiritual struggle.  The woman did not recognize that spiritual forces were aligned against her. Instead, she kept those questions in her mind and heart.  And “6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6).  A spiritual force had persuaded the woman, had corrupted her spirit to not believe God but instead to believe in a lie.  This was and has become the typical human response to spiritual battles.

Our New Testament reading today dealt with a spiritual struggle and gives us further insight into our spiritual battle.  We would find that Barnabas and Saul were sent from Antioch by the Holy Spirit to the island of Cyprus to proclaim the word of God.  Barnabas and Saul were accompanied by John, sometimes called Mark and at other times called John Mark.

Luke described the battle this way.  “6 They [Barnabas, Saul, and John] traveled through the whole island [of Cyprus] until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus” (Acts 13:6).  Here, Luke tells us straight up that the evangelic outreach on the island of Cyprus suddenly encountered a person who represented a spiritual force that was contrary to these missionaries.  We were told that the missionaries, Barnabas and Saul, along with John, we sent at the direction of the Holy Spirit of God.  We are told this so that we would know that the missionaries were acting under the spiritual force of righteousness.  Luke said they encountered a man who said his name was Bar-Jesus and this man was a sorcerer and false prophet.  The name bar-Jesus can be read as, “son of Jesus.”  This could be the man’s real name, meaning he was the son of a man whose name was Jesus.  But I favor the reading that the man had given himself this name, bar-Jesus, because the man wanted Barnabas and Saul, as well as others, to believe he was closely aligned with Jesus.  But Luke tells us that the man was a sorcerer, a man who deals in supernatural with magic or as a medium, and that the man was a false prophet.  A prophet is someone charged by God to speak God’s words to the people.  A false prophet claims he speaks God’s word but usually does so by corrupting or changing the meaning of God’s word.  The sum of Luke’s description was that the man who had encountered the missionaries was a supernatural force who presents himself in name, words, and deeds as having supernatural relationships.

This man, bar-Jesus, Luke said, “7 Was an attendant [advisor] of the [Roman] proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:7).  Bar-Jesus was an advisor to the Roman official, likely the Roman official responsible for the entire island of Cyprus.  So, this man, Bar-Jesus, of supernatural relationships, had moved himself into the position of governmental influence.  But the proconsul, Paulus, wanted to hear what Barnabas and Saul had to say.  A meeting was held, and Barnabas and Saul shared the story of Jesus Christ with Paulus in the presence of Bar-Jesus.

 Luke tells us though, “8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith” (Acts 13:8). There are a couple of things going on here.  First, Luke refers to Bar-Jesus by a different name, Elymas.  Luke seemed determined to remove any reference of Jesus from this man and refer to him for what the man was, Elymas, meaning sorcerer, not son of Jesus.  Second, Elymas had a mission and that was to keep the proconsul from coming to faith in response to God’s word.

You can almost see Jesus’ parable of the Sower come to life here.  We will recall Jesus said that Sower spread seed along the path, the rocky ground, the thorns, and the rich soil.  Jesus explained that “19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path” (Matthew 13:19). Barnabas and Saul were sowing the seeds, the word of God, and Elymas was trying to snatch up those words before the proconsul Paulus had a chance to understand the words.  Elymas, no doubt citing his supernatural relationship and understanding, was likely perverting and corrupting what Barnabas and Saul said to dissuade Paulus from faith.  Jesus said those who snatch away the word of God are from the evil one, the supernatural being of Satan.

We then come to a turning point.  Seeing this corruption of God’s word occurring, Luke said, “9 Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:9-10). 

Luke recorded for us three important points.  First, name of the man opposed to the missionaries changed again.  He was at first bar-Jesus or son of Jesus, then Elymas, meaning sorcerer, and final the son of the devil himself.  This man who claimed supernatural connections was now identified clearly as deriving his spirit from the devil.  As such, this man was completely opposed to the missionaries who are filled with the Holy Spirit.  The encounter between these men then was a spiritual battle. 

Second, Paul’s words show how a spiritual battle is most often waged against us.  Paul said his opposer used tricks and deceit of every kind to pervert the ways of God. Another way of saying this perhaps is that this man played games with words, spoke half-truths, and gave different meaning to God’s words that corrupted the truth, just as the serpent did with the woman in the garden.  This makes this man a child, a son of the devil, who Jesus said was the father of all lies (John 8:44).

Finally, Luke recorded that Saul was also called Paul. In this short passage with the opposer’s name changing, so too does Saul’s name for he is known only as Paul after this spiritual battle.  And to bring conclusion to the spiritual battle and to accentuate the change in names, the Holy Spirit working through Paul blinded the opposer as had been done to Saul when he opposed Jesus.  In the end, the proconsul Sergius Paulus believed and “was amazed at the teachings about the Lord” (Acts 13:12).

What does this all mean to us?  There is one point I want us to focus upon today.  That point is that we today are engaged in spiritual battles whether we know it or not.  Now some people here won’t believe that statement but let’s consider some numbers. 

In the United States, about 60% of the people are religious and believe in the spiritual dimension of their religious beliefs.  If you are a Christian, then you should find yourself in the 60% category.  Another 21% of the people say they are neither religious nor spiritual.  They believe themselves to be soulless beings, atheists.  For today, we won’t consider them further because these people are easily identified and offer opposition to our faith only in the form of mockery.

Finally, there is another 22% of Americans who believe themselves to be spiritual but hold to no religious beliefs.  They will say things like, “I am a very spiritual person, but I just don’t believe in all of the traditions of the Bible.”  I have met many people who are “spiritual.”  I suspect that everyone here has met someone who claims they are spiritual but not religious.  When these people say they are spiritual but not religious, what they are saying is that they do not believe in a spiritual relationship with the God of the Bible, nor with Jesus Christ as the son of God, and certainly not with the Holy Spirit of God.  But they believe in a spiritual life meaning they must have a spiritual relationship with some other spiritual being or presence, none of whom from a Christian perspective are good.  This is the group from which the spiritual battles will come.  A full 20% of the people in this country will engage in spiritual battles with the faithful.  They will present their views, sometimes argumentatively and other times gently and politely, against Christian beliefs using the tactics of the devil.  They use word games, half-truths, and give different definitions to God’s words.  They may as bar-Jesus did use titles that try to claim a relationship with Christ such as Progressive Christianity, but they are not Christian.  The intent and the effect are to pervert and corrupt the truth of God, the truth that our eternal lives guaranteed by Jesus, and the necessity of the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, and comfort our lives.  When we have such conversations with “spiritual” people we need to recognize that whether we asked for it or not we are in a spiritual battle.  The person speaking to us is opposing the Holy Spirit within us, just as had happened in our Scripture reading today.  When that happens, and it has happened to you and will happen again, you are in a spiritual battle even if it does not feel hostile.  The Apostle John was very specific on this point.  John wrote, “But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4:3).  Remember over 20% of Americans are spiritual but deny Jesus of the Bible is from God.

What are we to do?  I think there are three things we can do.  First, hold onto God and tell him what is happening.  Second, grab hold of another faithful Christian so that you are not tricked by being alone.  And lastly, we should follow the lead of the proconsul of Cyprus and “be amazed at the teachings about the Lord” (Acts 13:12).  Bring into your life, daily, some element of God’s word to be amazed and to protect yourself from the deceit of others.  When God called out the Hebrews and prepared them to go into a world with countless spiritual people, God told the Hebrews to prepare themselves this way, “6 These commandments [My Word] that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). God’s direction was not just to honor God but to protect His people from the inevitable spiritual battles that they would face.  God’s direction is still our best defense.  Turn to God, hold fast to other faithful people, and be amazed at the teachings about the Lord and protect yourself in the spiritual battles that await each of us.  Amen and Amen.