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Main Idea
Be open to the Spirit’s leading and act accordingly
[God is working out His plan and wants willing participants who can follow His lead.]Passage
Acts 13:1–12 ESV
1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Outline
I – The Spirit Calls (vv. 1-3)
II – The Game Plan (vv. 4-6)
III – Confronting Falsehood (vv. 7-11)
IV – The After Effect (v. 12)
I – The Spirit Calls
In this section, we see the Holy Spirit take on the primary role of directing the affairs of the church. Though men are named, God is speaking through them to carry out the next phase of His mission.
Prophets & Teachers
- Roles and/or offices in the early church
- NT Scripture has not yet been written down
- Barnabas and Saul are clear teachers, as we have already seen. Paul is a type of prophet, being one to write inspired scripture.
Meet the Antiochian brain trust:
- Barnabas – A Levite and generous giver in the early church, vouched for Saul when he converted to the faith and was dispatched to Antioch to investigate the church’s growth.
- Simeon “Niger” – Niger is Latin for ‘black,’ so Simeon was likely a prophet/teacher from Northern Africa.
- Lucius of Cyrene – Another prophet/teacher from Cyrene, in modern-day Libya, mentioned only here and, perhaps in Romans 16, as one of Paul’s associates.
- Manaen – Greek form of a Hebrew name, which likely means he is a Hellenistic Jew. He was childhood buddies with Herod Antipas. The word friend in Greek is suntrophos, which means a person who dines with another, so he likely ate at the King’s table, which would signify a high position and/or relationship.
- Saul – The great champion of the church and theological bulldog.
Diversity: Both Simeon and Lucius show the diversity of fellowship and leadership in the early church.
The Church’s Modus Operandi
Standard practices of the early church:
• Prayer: bold prayer and trust in God’s ability to respond
• Fasting: there were times of feasting and times of fasting. Both serve a purpose. Feast – to enjoy God’s blessing and fellowship among believers. Fasting was intended to connect with and discern God’s will.
• Worship: Giving honor due to the One True God and a practice that keeps the human heart in a state of gratitude, joy, and submission.
“Worship and service go together and should never be separated. If we try to work for the Lord without worshiping him, we will settle for legalistic, self-centered service. And if we worship and never work, we will end up with a form of godliness but no power.“
–Acts—The Church Afire
Set Apart & Commissioned
- The Holy Spirit spoke.
- Book title: “Acts of the Apostles,” or more accurately, “Acts of the Holy Spirit.”
- “Me” and “I,” not “It.”
- “Set apart” means to appoint, to draw out from others for a particular purpose.
- Laying on of hands, an outward expression of unity of purpose and confirmation of mission. Impartation of blessings and support for the mission.
The commissioning happens by individuals in relation to the church. Both the individual and the gathered church are mentioned and thus intertwined. One leads to prideful arrogance/individualism (which exalts the individual), and the other leads to institutionalism, where the organization neglects the individual and can operate without the guidance of the Spirit.
We need to regain the modus operandi of the early church. We worship and pray briefly on Sunday mornings, but what about fasting? What about dedicated time of prayer and worship outside of the Sunday service with our families, life groups, or Bible Study groups?
We started in the book of Acts to model ourselves after them…
II – Stick to the Game Plan
Since chapter two, the gospel has advanced forcefully and powerfully by using the same patterns of evangelism. This pattern is still utilized eleven chapters later as the mission goes beyond Phase 2 into Phase 3.
Travel Itinerary
Seleucia – port city 16 miles from Antioch, also positioned near the Orontes River for easy access by foot or boat.
Cyprus – the island that has a shared history with Phoenicia. Also, where Barnabas is from.
Salamis – Prominent eastern port city of Cyprus, 130 miles from Seleucia, with a known Jewish population and at least one synagogue.
Paphos – City on the west coast of Cyprus, 90 miles from Salamis. Housed the Roman government for the island and was ripe with the worship of Aphrodite and Apollo.
Straight to the Synagogue
Methodology. Every mission has a game plan or playbook. In football, the offensive coach has a playbook with a pre-defined set of plays and chooses each based on the current circumstances. Every missionary and evangelistic effort needs a purpose and a prescribed method to achieve that purpose. Otherwise, you are just aimlessly trying to do things. In scripture, the early church had a prescribed method. We’ve seen it in play already in Damascus. Saul would go directly to the Jews in the synagogues to proclaim the good news of Jesus the Messiah. And this is the same play he runs in Salamis. Saul and Barnabas go directly to God’s covenant people on a pagan island to tell them their long-awaited Messiah has come. Saul and Barnabas (with John Mark in tow) march straight into the local synagogue to proclaim that Jesus had come.
Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Like the football coach, we will see Saul utilize this same play until the circumstances call for a change.
Do you have a strategy for sharing your faith?
III – Confronting Falsehood
From Salamis, the 3-man band traveled westward to Paphos, where the central part of the story takes place. As they navigated the street of Paphos, they encountered a high-ranking government official and one of his supposed advisors. We don’t know where they were located or how Saul and the others met these two men, but Saul didn’t waste any time stepping into the conversation.
In one of many instances of symmetry to Peter’s life, Saul encounters a magician (Peter confronted Simon Magnus in Samaria).
Bar-Jesus
The antagonist. He is:
- Bar-Jesus: ‘Bar’ means ‘son of,’ so he is literally the son of Jesus (which is pretty ironic), or perhaps more accurately, ‘son of Joseph.’
- Elymas: His alternate name is Elymas, the Arabic root word meaning ‘sage/wise.’
- A Jewish false prophet- A Jew who deceives, claiming to speak on behalf of God, but doesn’t.
- A Magician – a practice explicitly prohibited in the Old Testament (Deut. 18:9-12)
The plot
Luke tells us that Elymas had one objective at this time. He had the ear of the Proconsul – Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. A Proconsul is essentially a Governor of a province who answers to the Roman Senate, so Sergius was a political Roman official who listened to Elymas, and his influential position was being threatened. These three missionaries were teaching things contrary to his, so he had one mission: to keep them from influencing Sergius and retain his influence.
Sergius wanted to hear what Saul and the others had to say… specifically… he wanted to hear the Word of God. Since Elymas was a false prophet and magician, what Saul had to say would directly contradict and refute the advice and wisdom he was dispensing.
The confrontation
Elymas throws the first punch in this verbal brawl, opposing the good news of Christ that Saul was offering—bad move.
Without hesitation, Saul reacts… (and thankfully, Luke takes this opportunity to identify Saul by his Greek name: Paul. From here on out, we can use the name we all know and love).
In his reaction, Paul throws a few heavy blows while staring directly into his opponent’s eyes.
Right Hook – Paul calls him ‘son of the devil.’ This seems mean and harsh, but it wasn’t meant for Elymas. It was meant to inform everyone else about who they were dealing with. Remember, Paul said this as he was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit,’ so it wasn’t his fallen fleshly anger talking. This is what God wanted to be communicated. While his name meant the son of Jesus, Paul ensured he was shown to be the opposite.
Three jabs – three, meaning Paul issues three ‘all’ statements:
1- enemy of all righteousness
2- full of all deceit
3 – full of all villainy
In short, Elymas displays the same characteristics as his father… the father of lies.
Cross-jab – Chastised by intentionally bending the Lord’s straight paths.
Uppercut – Commands temporary blindness on Elymas. Despite all the details of the verbal beating he received, Paul wants Elymas to remember one thing. The only imperative command in this story is for Elymas to behold. Paul wants Elymas to ‘look upon in a state of awe’ how the God of creation commands authority and upholds truth. It is interesting for Paul to command Elymas to see something, though he has just been struck with blindness. We are supposed to see that ironic statement. Once Paul said, ‘behold,’ a dark mist fell over Elymas’ vision, and he had to be led away under the assistance of someone else. Surely, Paul immediately remembered his own conversion experience where he too was struck with blindness by Jesus Himself so that, in his state of physical blindness, he might see the spiritual reality of Jesus as King and Lord.
“Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you.” Right now, it is in judgment because Elymas is an enemy. However, the physical ailment was a temporary measure, meant to bring about repentance so that “the hand of the Lord” might eventually be upon him as a Father on a son and become a true ‘Bar-Jesus,’ or son of the living God.
Even though I’ve been using the illustration of a game and a playbook, this is not a game for Paul. Eternity is at stake for every person in the room. He so treasures the truth of the gospel that he will blitz-attack any opposition to it.
This calls for discernment on our part. I am not saying that this is how we handle every opposition to the faith, but this shows that there are times when we should stop beating around the bush, stop trying to be nice or politically correct, and cut right to the chase. Eternity is still at stake, and we need to trust and depend on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to show us how He wants us to handle the situation. While we want to express Christ’s love, grace, and kindness to the non-believer, we need to realize that being nice isn’t the ultimate goal. There will be times when we must be willing to pick up the gloves and unapologetically defend the gospel we profess.
Because if we do it the right way to the right person at the right time, it will have a positive effect.
IV- Kingdom Power Results in Belief
Though the blindness would have a significant impact on Elymas, Luke shows us how the match between Paul and Elymas had the most significant effect on Sergius.
Judgment produces repentance
Repentance would be the desired outcome for Elymas, but his blindness profoundly affected the governor. He was the one asking to hear the word of God in the first place. Not only did he hear the word of God spoken, but he also witnessed a demonstration of God’s power as he watched Elymas grope around for help in darkness. As powerful as he might have been, Elymas was no match for the Creator. As the gathered church marveled at Peter’s miraculous escape from prison, so too Sergius was astonished at what just took place.
As anyone would expect, he was astonished at the miraculous power Paul displayed as he pronounced God’s judgment over Elymas, but don’t miss that last half of the final sentence. The unfolding events led to his faith. Sergius believed that as a result of what happened, and we praise God that he uses various means to impart genuine faith. But Sergius was truly astonished at the teaching of the Lord. His utter delight was in learning about who Jesus is.
Conclusion
- Be open to the leading of the Spirit (in where to go, what mission to fulfill, and how to interact with others along the way)
- Behold the power, majesty, and splendor of our Heavenly Father
- Delight yourself in the teachings of the Lord