People of "No".

Good morning!

This morning's text is Acts 13.  Grab your Bible and read it if you can.  I was reading from The Message.

The opening scene is in Antioch, a church that had many Spirit-filled preachers and teachers.  The Bible tells us that believers were first called Christians at Antioch.  This city, in Syria, was where many of the Jerusalem Christians fled after the martyrdom of Stephen, who was the first Christian martyr recorded in Scripture.  Antioch was a beautiful city, a jewel of the Roman Empire.  But, it grew to be a bastion of Christianity, second only to Jerusalem.

At any rate, the Christian congregation at Antioch grew strong in the faith.  It was this church that was led by the Holy Spirit to commission Paul, Barnabas and Mark to go on Paul's first missionary journey.  The Holy Spirit spoke to the congregation as they were worshipping, praying and fasting for direction (vs. 2).  This congregation said "yes" to the Lord.  Paul and Barnabas and Mark did as well.

Later on in chapter 13 Paul and Barnabas ended up in Antioch of Pisidia (not the same one mentioned above).  (Where was Mark?  He had returned to Jerusalem.) Beginning in verse 16 Paul gave a wonderful recitation of how God worked in the affairs of the Hebrew people, starting with Moses and the Egyptian enslavement and going on to that present day.  Many believed on Jesus, and Paul and Barnabas spent the next week discipling them.  The following Sabbath, Paul began to preach again. But, this time, they were opposed by jealous Jewish leaders who saw their power and influence begin to erode.  Reactions such as these were common where the gospel was preached, and it's no different today.  The gospel often divides people because it separates Truth from the lies of the devil.

Paul makes this sad pronouncement in vs. 46-49 ...

"It was required that God's Word be spoken first to all of you, the Jews.  But, seeing that you want no part of it - - - you've made it quite clear that you have no taste or inclination for eternal life --- the door is open to all the outsiders."

When the non-Jewish outsiders heard this, they could hardly believe their good fortune!  All who were marked out for real life put their trust in God ... they honored God's Word by receiving that life. And this Message of salvation spread like wildfire all through the region.

Isn't it astounding that the very people to whom the Messiah was promised, rejected Him?  This happened over and over in the early days of Christianity.  On the other hand, think about it....if they had not rejected Him, the Gentile world (which includes most of you reading this) would perhaps not have heard the Message of Jesus Christ and His salvation.  There are those today of Jewish heritage who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah, and I believe that they are some of the happiest Christians on earth!  In their worship, they celebrate their salvation and right-standing with God by grace alone. Yet, they enjoy keeping the Jewish feasts as acts of worship.  They embrace the Old and New Testaments to a depth that many of us Christians do not.  Ah, but I digress.

Lest you start looking down your nose at most Jews, I submit to you that many others have rejected the Savior, perhaps even us at times?
Consider this:

There is a group of people who has heard the gospel, perhaps from infancy, and yet the very familiarity of it is repugnant to them.  They reject the Savior because Christianity is to their minds "anti-intellectual" or intrusive or in opposition to their own self-governance. Like the Jews in the passage above, these "have no taste or inclination for eternal life".

Then, there are disciples of Jesus who balk at what they are being asked by the LORD to do.  Perhaps it is to apologize to someone they've wronged or to cook a meal for someone who is in need or to donate money to a ministry or to serve in a fearsome capacity in their church, city, state, country, abroad.  It could be anything. The point is, we say "no, Lord."  Is not that very response ... contradictory?!  Does it not shut down the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

Sometimes, this rejection of Christ becomes like that of the Jews in Acts 13.  Notice in verses 50-52 that some of those who rejected Christ ran Paul and Barnabas out of town.

Look at the attitude of Paul and Barnabas in verse 52, though.  They shrugged their shoulders, figuratively speaking, and left...

"brimming over with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples". 

Does that response puzzle you?  Isn't it counterintuitive that they could be happy in the face of such extreme rejection from the people of "No"?  We'll take a closer look at that tomorrow.

Dear Father, thank you for allowing us to hear your invitation to eternal life.  Thank you for those who obey your call to "go and tell".  I pray for those we know who are right now being people of "No", perhaps even us.  Open the blind eyes and unplug the dear ears, Dear Lord, because Hell awaits those who reject Your offer of eternal life through Your Son, Jesus.  It is in His matchless name that I pray, amen.