Mano a Mano for the Master

       We’ve had Survivor Borneo, Survivor Palau , Survivor Panama , and Survivor Cook Islands.   Now we’re at the tail end of “Survivor Fiji .”  This time the tribal council arena is decorated with a lovely motif of human skulls that represent Fiji ’s cannibal past.  They also accurately reflect the Survivor present as contestants eat each other even as they vow eternal loyalty and friendship. 

         Of course the reason Survivor can be held on Fiji is that true cannibalism there belongs to the distant past.  The network wouldn’t dare otherwise.  It would be terrible to have Jeff Probst served up with a plate of beans. 

        When the first Christian missionaries went to Fiji , it wasn’t so tame.  When James Calvert went out to the cannibals of Fiji , the captain of the ship tried to stop him.  “You’ll lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among those savages.” Calvert only replied, “We died before we came here.”

       For Calvert, and those with him, the most important thing was not their lives.  The most important thing was to bring the light of Jesus Christ to people sunk in darkness. 

       The missionary impulse that sent Calvert among the cannibals of Fiji had its start in the book of Acts – specifically the 13^th chapter of Acts which is the start of the first missionary journey.  It began in the city of Antioch in Syria or Antioch on the Orontes River . 

      There were a lot of cities named Antioch in those days because one of Alexander the Great’s generals, Seleucus Nicator founded sixteen cities and named every last one of them after his father Antiochus.  That kind of makes me feel I never did much for my dad.

      At the time of Acts, Syrian Antioch is far and away the largest and most prosperous of all the Antiochs.  It has a population of a half million including 70,000 Jews.  It has a thriving economy because it sits at the crossing place of the great trade routes between Egypt , Persia and Asia Minor . Antioch on the Orontes is justly called " Antioch the Great, Queen of the East."   It is the third greatest city of the Roman Empire, behind Rome and Alexandria . 

       Antioch was also a melting pot of Western and Eastern culture.  Greek and Roman traditions blended with Semitic, Arab, and Persian influences.  The Roman Cicero praised Antioch for its art and literature. 

       But Antioch also had a darker reputation.  It is a place of great immorality because of the rites connected to great temples of Daphne and Apollo. 

       So when the Roman satirist Juvenal lamented the breakdown of traditional morality in the city of Rome , he put the blame on Antioch .  Juvenal wrote how “the Syrian Orontes is pouring pollution into the Tiber" – the Tiber being the pure river that symbolizes traditional Roman virtue.  It would be as if a Moorpark satirist were to write that the Las Vergas Strip has become joined to Tierra Rejada Rd. so that now “what happens in Moorpark stays in Moorpark.”   It wouldn’t be a good thing for the moral life of the city. 

       But it wasn’t only moral pollution that the Antioch gave the Roman world.  It also gave the gospel.  The church in Antioch is the first great missionary church.  It is in Antioch , Luke notes that the disciples of Jesus are first called Christians or “followers of Christ.”  It is the place where the gospel is first regularly preached to non-Jews.  It is the place where God packs dynamite in order to send His good news into the world.

       Luke tells us that in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger , Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.  

       That’s quite a cast.  You have a Jew from Cyprus named Barnabas.  You have two disciples from Africa, Lucius from the area that is now Libya and a man named Simon Niger or Simon the black guy.  You have an aristocrat who had been a boyhood friend of a king.  You have the former persecutor of the church, Saul of Tarsus who has been brought by Barnabas to Antioch to help teach. 

       Luke writes: 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." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”

       You may remember when I started this series, I quoted the opening words of Acts from the Hawaiian Pidgin New Testament.  The title of Acts in Da Jesus Book is Jesus Guys Wat Dey Den Do. 

        But dats notta good nem.  It should be Summa Wat Summa Da Jesus Guys Den Do.  The book of Acts is not an exhaustive history.  It is Luke’s story of how the gospel spreads first to Jerusalem , then to Judea and Samaria and finally to the ends of the known world.   Der wassa lotta Jesus guys an Jesus wahines doin lostsa stuff ta mek dat happen.  But, beginning in chapter 13, Luke narrows his focus to just one great stream – the evangelistic ministry of the Apostle Paul.

       You will remember how Jesus calls Paul to follow Him on the Damascus road.  Jesus declares that Paul is a chosen instrument of His to carry His name before the Gentiles – people like us.  Jesus says that Paul will suffer many things for the sake of His name. 

       About seven years have gone by since that initial call.  But now there comes the second call to the church.  "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

       Even a chosen instrument of the Lord can’t go it alone.  Even one called to suffer needs someone to bandage.  Barnabas, the great Son of Encouragement, is always good with a bandage. The Lord sends them both. John Mark, Barnabas’ young cousin comes with them as a helper.

       Two significant changes take place in this passage. 

        First, in verse 9, Saul becomes Paul.  Up to this point Luke refers to him as Saul – his Hebrew name.  Now he becomes Paul.

        Sometimes people have the idea that Saul became Paul when he became a follower of Jesus on the Damascus road – that the use of the name Paul was a way of showing a break with his Jewish past.  In fact, when I was working at Bel Air Presbyterian, one of my friends jokingly suggested that we lead the owner of Saul’s Deli on Ventura Boulevard to faith in Jesus so he’d change the name to Paul’s Deli. 

        But as you look at Acts, you see that Saul stayed Saul for seven years after his conversion.  He only started using the name Paul on Cyprus .  He didn’t become Paul on Cyprus .  Paul had always been his Roman name as a Roman citizen.  He just starts to use that Gentile name because his primary ministry will now be to Gentiles.  

       There is another change that goes beyond that.  If you look back at verse one you find the words “Barnabas and Saul.”  In verse 7 it is still Barnabas and Saul.  Then, in verse 9, Saul becomes Paul.  Verse 13 then says, “Paul and his companions.”  Finally, in verse 42 we find the words “Paul and Barnabas.” 

        Barnabas is the acknowledged leader when they start out.  He has been in the faith longer.  He has been effective.  He actually recruited Paul to work in Antioch .  Paul has been in the background.  Now God brings him into the foreground. 

        Barnabas allows this to happen.  That’ s another sign of  his greatness He keeps his eyes on the main issue.  That’s what the great ones do. 

       During the American Civil War, General Grant had been bogged down in front of Petersburg Virginia for several months.  He had Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia pinned down.  But he seemed no closer to victory.  It was a stalemate.  Meanwhile, General Sherman captured Atlanta and carried out his grand march to the sea. 

       So a great cry arose in the Northern newspapers to promote Sherman to Grant’s position as lieutenant-general.  When Sherman heard of this he wrote to Grant, “I would rather have you in command than anyone else.  I should emphatically decline any commission calculated to bring us into rivalry.  Grant replied, “No one would be more pleased with your advancement than I; and if you should be placed in my position, and I put subordinate, it would not change our relation in the least.  I would do all in my power to make your cause win.”

       Sherman and Grant, Grant and Sherman.  Barnabas and Paul. Paul and Barnabas.  It doesn’t matter to either one.  The main thing is to win people to Jesus Christ and set them free.

       Now the Spirit doesn’t tell Paul and Barnabas where to go.  He leaves them to work that out for themselves.  They decide to head first for Barnabas’ home island of Cyprus – 130 miles from the Syrian coast. 

       The ancient world regarded Cyprus a lot like we regard Hawaii or the Bahamas .  It was nicknamed Markaria or Happy Island because its climate was so perfect and its resources were so abundant.  It was fantasy Island .  But it was also a strategic place at the crossroads of the Mediterranean .  It was a strategic place and a place badly in need of the liberating good news of Jesus Christ.  

      Paul, Barnabas and John Mark land on the island at the ancient port of Salamis .  They then travel across the ninety mile island from east to west – preaching the gospel first in the Jewish synagogues and also to the Gentiles.

       After several weeks traveling and teaching they reach the capital city of Paphos . 

       Paphos was the ancient world in miniature.  It was a center for the worship of Venus, the goddess of love.  She was said to have been born from the foam of the sea at this very spot. Paphos was therefore a center of sexual depravity.  I won’t do into the details in order to keep this sermon from an R rating – except to say that every woman of Cyprus was expected to serve at least once in her life, as a prostitute at the temple steps.

        Paphos is also the seat of Roman government on the island.  Sergius Paulus is the Roman proconsul there.  Luke refers to him in verse 7 by the highly complimentary adjective sunetos which means a person of intelligence and understanding.  Other people agreed with Luke. The Roman Pliny later praised Sergius Paulus for his insightful writings on Cyprian customs.

        Apparently Sergius Paulus is fed up with materialism, idolatry and pagan sensuality.   Fantasy Island isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  He is looking for a higher and more genuine spiritual reality.  

       He starts with a wrong turn.  Sophisticated Romans were fond of keeping astrologers and sorcerers to help them make important decisions.  Sergius Paulus falls in with a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Elymas – an Arabic word which means “the skillful one” or “the know-it all.”   Elymas also goes by the name Bar-Jesus which means the son of Jesus.  Maybe he claimed to be a spiritual descendant of Jesus and heir to Jesus miraculous powers. Or it’s also very possible that Elymas’ father’s  name was Jesus. Jesus was a common first-century name

       Sergius Paulus has been consulting Elymas for guidance.  Then the procounsel becomes aware that Paul and Barnabas are in his city.   He hears that they are speaking the word of God.  He sends for them.      

        The Bible forbids any kind of sorcery.  Elymas knows that.  Now he is face to face with a fiercely intelligent Rabbi, a well-educated Jew from the dispersion, equally at home in Roman law, Greek philosophy, and Jewish religion.  Elymas is in trouble.  This sudden threat to his position and influence know the true Jesus.

       Elymas has no desire to repent and seek the Savior.  Instead, he tries to keep Sergius Paulus from hearing the truth – like Grima Wormtongue in the Lord of the Rings who does all he can to keep Theoden, King of Rohan under his malignant spell.    

       This sets off a power encounter that is a miniature version of the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel .  Elymas learns, as the prophets of Baal learned, that the servants of the true God are not kind to those who are false.   Although Christianity is not magic, the gospel doesn’t mind squaring off with the so-called gods and powers of the world.  The power of God can manage very well in open conflict with counterfeit deities. 

       Eugene Peterson translates Paul’s words to Elymas this way in The Message:  “You bag of wind, you parody of the devil – why you stay up nights inventing schemes to cheat people out of God, but now you’ve come up against God Himself and your game is up.”

       Spiritual warfare is not a fantasy of over-imaginative theologians or novelists.  It happens today.  Paul is not at all flexible or accommodating. He doesn’t suggest to Elymas that they look for some middle ground. It is truth or error, light or dark, life or death.  It’s “mano a mano” for the Master

       Paul also doesn’t second guess himself.  Paul knows, as he writes in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16, that the gospel always divides its hearers.  Some will be brought to life.  Others will be confirmed in their darkness.  Paul know this. So he doesn’t wallow in what-ifs -- “What if I had approached this a different way” or “What if I had been gentler with Elymas?”  Paul knows that Elymas has made a choice and that choices bring consequences.

        Paul looks straight at Elymas and says, “You call yourself the Son of Jesus but 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?

        It is bad enough, as Paul writes in Romans 1, to be caught up in sin.  It is even worse to give hearty approval of the sins of others.  And what is even worse is to try to stand between someone else and the gospel.  Jesus said that it would be better to have a millstone hung around your neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of His “little ones” to stumble.

       The prophets of Baal who contested with Elijah were killed.  Jesus calls for a millstone around the neck.  So Elymas gets off easy.  Paul simply says, “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."

       Nothing worse happens to Elymas than what Paul experienced when he was blinded for a time on the Road to Damascus .  Like Paul, who was led by the hand into the city, Elymas stumbles around looking for someone to lead him by the hand. 

       But the effect of Sergius Paulus is huge.  Luke writes, “When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.  Just as Elymas’ eyes are closed, his eyes are opened.   The power showdown between Paul and Elymas opens the door.  But what Sergius Paulus is amazed by is the Word of God.  He comes to faith. 

       God’s way of doing things is different from ours. That is why the Christian life is so exciting. You never know what God is going to do next.  God thrusts us right into the middle of the action. We go, knowing that God is going ahead of us, opening doors and preparing hearts.

       Public people, like political leaders, are not very accessible.  They can’t be.  You can’t just walk into their office and introduce yourself.  So how would you set this up on your own?  You wouldn’t think of doing it through a wizard.  That’s God’s creativity.

       The Christian life is designed to be an adventure. Isn’t that great?  None of us here this morning wants to waste our life in trivial matters.

       We want to be delivered from suffering.  That’s true.  But we want even more to be delivered from mediocrity.  We all want to do something significant, to be in on what God is doing and where He is working. We want God to use us.

       And it begins by simply making ourselves available to Him.  Paul and Barnabas are simply serving the Lord, worshipping when they are thrust out into this great adventure.  But they are willing to do whatever He asks. 

      That’s where it starts for us too.  It starts with being simply available. Eighty percent of life is just showing up.  We start with what lies close to hand for God -- whether it is sharing what God is doing in our life with a friend at work, in the neighborhood, or at school. Maybe it means volunteering to help in a Sunday school class or on a mission project. 

       You start out available and you find yourself sent out.

       It’s up to God where you end up.