Doug Van Pelt

Boldness, Rudeness, and In-Your-Face-ness

In Acts 13 we see that Saul and Barnabas were set apart for the work of the Lord. They were sent on their way "by the Holy Spirit." They went into the Jewish synagogues and proclaimed the Word of God.

When I consider sharing my faith, I ask myself, 'What is the crux of the story? What are the crucial elements? What can I say that will not add to God's story? What must I not leave out?' Some great cases to review are the talks recorded in Scripture. Paul lays out almost a history lesson to these Jewish people, taking them from the "Fathers" to the time in Egypt to the exodus through the wilderness to judges, prophets, kings, and the King of Kings, Who came from the lineage of David. They state how Jesus was executed and rose from the dead, which was prophesied in the Old Testament -- that the "Holy One" would not see decay. And he concludes with:

"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

"'Look, you scoffers,
wonder and perish,
for I am going to do something in your days
that you would never believe,
even if someone told you.'"

That's pretty direct and stern. The people invited them to speak again the following Sabbath. On that day it says "almost the whole city gathered to hear the Word of the Lord." When the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they "were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying."

Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly:

"We had to speak the Word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

"'I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'

"When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the Word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The Word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them (which was what Jesus instructed His followers to do in Luke 9:5 "as a testimony against them" who don't welcome them) and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. It's interesting that these disciples didn't wallow in anger or judgmental criticism of what happened and their little protest. They did it and went on...rejoicing in the Lord.

It is in this chapter that Luke transitions from calling Saul "Saul" and starts calling him "Paul." It also shows an interesting interaction when they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, "an intelligent man," sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the Word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, '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? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.'"

That is what immediately happened to the man. It is interesting that Paul was given the power from God to inflict this kind of punishment on the guy -- the same kind of punishment that was inflicted on him when we was converted on the road to Damascus. Interesting, huh? It wasn't necessarily Paul's power, but Paul was given the authority to speak this word against the man and it happened. It says he was "filled with the Holy Spirit," which also means he was "controlled by the Holy Spirit," so it was God Who gave him the words to speak, and these powerful prophetic words had an impact in our material world. Amazing.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at November 22, 2005 09:26 AM