Sent By The Spirit 

The Spirit Leads & Equips His People In Mission

As human beings, we are sometimes involved in things so large we can’t seem to see the whole picture.

My grandfather drove a truck in Italy during WWII. Enlisted men couldn’t be expected to see the big picture. It wasn’t his job to worry about how to defeat the Axis powers, but just carrying out his orders (take this shipment of supplies to that place).

Soldiers also have to trust that their leaders understand what they need and adequately supply them.

Generals are far removed from concerns of frontline soliders, whom they sometimes supplied with the wrong tools for the job.  

Canadian soldiers landing at Dieppe were given guns that constantly jammed and tanks whose tracks wouldn’t work on the Dieppe beaches because of the types of rocks on the shoreline.

My grandfather and the soldiers he fought alongside, needed to trust that they would be given proper orders and adequate equipment.

As in any battle that trust can be misplaced. Our leaders are fallible human beings.

We are in a similar situation: We’re engaged in a Spiritual battle against darkness, and like enlisted people, we can’t see the big picture, and we’re dependent on those over us to give us the tools to get the job done

Unlike the soldiers my grandfather fought alongside, we can have confidence that the one who is coordinating the strategy knows how to achieve victory and can properly equip us.

This is the Holy Spirit. He knows the way to victory and gives each of us our marching orders. 

So when God gives us direction to go into the world, we can move with confidence

We see this is the opening story of Paul’s first missionary journey

Acts 13:4–12 NIV

4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.

6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 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. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then 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? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”

Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

Helpful Details

If you’re having trouble with the geography, here is a map showing their route from Antioch to Seleucia, to Salamis and on to Paphos

During this story, Luke tells us Saul is also known as Paul, then he never calls him Saul again. Why?

Saul is a Jewish Roman citizen. Common to have a Jewish and Greco-Roman name. 

As he moves into Gentile contexts, it makes sense for him to go by his other name

Šaul, Transliterated into Greek, turns into Saulos – an adjective describing the walk of a conceited or arrogant person. Paul now walks in humility (Paul means small) so the name change avoids distraction and sends a message about Saul’s change in perspective as a Christ follower.

He is the one who boasts in his weakness so that Christ’s power may rest on him.

What can we learn about God’s leading from this story?

The Spirit Opens Doors

As a missionary, my outreach group felt called to go to Turkey. One of our members—a Romanian—had mentors who had just moved from Romania to Turkey. God provided us with contacts to help us get based and started.

The Spirit calls Barnabas and Saul to set out from a place where they have usable connections: Cyprus

When Barnabas is introduced, we are told he’s from Cyprus. Having a coworker with family ties means that Saul has a leg up. 

They couldn’t call ahead to make reservations, they couldn’t check reviews on TripAdvisor in advance, they couldn’t find flights on Expedia. Travel required a lot of difficult coordination.

While many Jews oppose Christians, they are able to work through the Synagogue in Salamis without any mention of opposition from Jews scandalized by their message.

God opens doors for them to share the message with people in authority

As They travel, word spreads about these new people sharing new ideas. They get an invitation to share the Good News with the Roman Proconsul (the highest imperial authority on the island). 

When Nelson and I go to Cuba in March, I don’t expect to get an audience with President Miguel Diaz-Canel, but that’s basically what happens.

It was common for high officials to request an audience with notable scholars – so the invitation to Barnabas & Saul is a recognition that people are talking about what they’re saying.

Was it possible, that they were thinking of Jesus’ promise that disciples would preach in front of kings and governors?

Matthew 10:17–20 NIV

17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

While they’re not arrested, they are called before a governor (and faced with an adversarial person). Just as Jesus promised, they are given wisdom on how to use the opportunity well.

The Spirit Validates the Message with Wisdom & Power

Having an open door to share isn’t helpful unless there’s substance to the message they bring. Here God delivers as well.

The gospel divides people: While it is God’s saving message, it can only be seen as such from a place of faith. To others, it looks like folly. Consider Paul’s words to the church in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 NIV

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. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 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.

The Spirit opens the door to sharing the Good News with the proconsul, and the Spirit helps him see the value of the message.

When you start with “There’s this Palestinian Jew who was executed by the Roman authorities who is really the king of the whole earth,” a lot of people automatically assume you’re a crackpot.

But the Spirit appears to have worked in the heart Sergius Paulus’ heart, so he’s receptive

Not everyone is receptive to the message as we can see from the reaction of Sergius Paulus’ advisor a Jewish astrologer called Bar-Jesus.

Bar-Jesus opposes Paul, trying to discredit the message he speaks to Sergius Paulus

Bar-Jesus is a senior advisor to the proconsul 

He’s not a party trick magician – an astrologer/religious consultant, his other name, Elymas, means “sage.” He’s the ancient equivalent of a science advisor.

The name Bar-Jesus is Aramaic for “Son of Joshua/Yeshua/Jesus”

Paul identifies him as a Son of the Devil – the one whose name declares him a son of Jesus is, in fact, a son of the Devil

Bar Jesus likely sees Paul & Barnabas as a threat to his influence, so he opposes them

Luke identifies Bar-Jesus as a false prophet b/c as a religious advisor, he opposes God’s plan

In Luke’s previous volume, John the Baptist—a prophet—makes straight paths for the Lord

Here Bar-Jesus does the opposite: perverting the right ways of the Lord—hence false prophet

Paul sees his true motives and calls him out.

Paul’s message about Jesus is vindicated by his miraculous blinding of Bar-Jesus – This is what convinces Sergius Paulus of the truth of the Gospel.

The Good News isn’t an idea, it’s a fact about how God has acted in the real world

So God acts in the real world to confirm that the message is true

When God sends his people he gives them wisdom and power to validate their message

Maybe that power is miraculous, or maybe that power is demonstrated in a transformed life

Freedom from addiction, supernatural patience, or the ability to love our enemies

As God works, people are transformed – That’s what our testimony is about

Testimony isn’t necessarily the story of how you accepted Jesus, but the report about how God has worked in and changed your life 

Your life can be compelling evidence of God’s power to save

The Spirit leads People to Repentance

So the Spirit opens doors for his people to go with him on mission, and  equips them with wisdom and power. But the Spirit is also at work, leading people to repentance.

What makes proclaiming the Good News effective is that the Holy Spirit prepares those hearts to hear the message.

Think of your own experience: Many Christians talk about how after coming to faith, they realized that God was at work in advance creating the conditions that made them open to the message.

Sometimes, the things that make us open to God’s leading are the hard things

God allows the alcoholic to get to rock bottom because it’s there they find grace

God allows the consumerist to lose everything, so they can find there’s more to life than possessions.

Perhaps nowhere is this more painful than in our places of religious hypocrisy.

A Religious hypocrite is convinced they are right, so often something shocking is necessary to shake them free of their toxic self-assurance.

This is why Jesus, who is gentle with most sinners, seems so harsh with the Jewish religious leaders – In love, he realizes their only chance requires something shocking. This is what God does through Paul to Bar-Jesus.

Bar-Jesus’ Interprets what is right as what aligns with his interest (something we all can do)

He’s so convinced that he knows what’s right, that only something shocking can help him see that he’s wrong and needs God’s grace.

Paul’s miracle of striking Bar-Jesus blind mirrors his experience when God confronted his religious hypocrisy.

Paul (Saul) saw himself as a perfectly righteous servant of God. He needed to lose his sight to see.

Acts 9:1–9 NIV

1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

God blinded Paul, but the miracle was that God could forgive him and transform him into something new

As Paul pronounces judgment, I have no doubt he feels compassion for Bar-Jesus. 

“You’re lost, but I’ve been there. I hope this experience, as painful as it is, leads to the same transformation in you that it did in me”

God does what is necessary to shock Bar-Jesus, so that he can know that the path he’s on, is a twisted path away from God.

Did it work? We don’t know. Chrysostom & Origen say he converted. A later (6th Century) tradition said he did not, and participated in the martyrdom of Barnabas.

The power of God to offer grace to those who oppose God is not lessened by their choice not to accept that grace. 

Following Jesus on Mission means that we go to people in whom the Spirit is at work.

What we say or do may lead them to repentance down the road

Or perhaps the Spirit has already prepared them, so that they respond to us

People aren’t saved because We were so eloquent or wise, but because God’s power was at work to open them up to the message.

Going In Confidence

We are called to go into the world (Africa or Tim Hortons. It doesn’t matter) into the world as Missionaries—sent ones

When we go there, we find that God is already at work wherever we go

The Spirit works by opening doors for us, by validating the message with wisdom and power, and by leading people to repentance. 

We have Good News. We share it by living transformed lives of purity, compassion and humility, so that people see God’s power at work in making us new

We share it by telling people that the brokenness in their lives has a solution: Jesus

This is an impossible task made possible by the God who can do all things working alongside us.