“Sometimes
Disagreements are Demonic”
Acts 13:1-12
We’re in the midst of a sermon series
called “Ordinary People with Extraordinary Experiences”. It’s a look at people in the Bible that I can
relate to. They’re not superstars. They’re not well known. They were just ordinary folk who had an
encounter with God. We’ve seen a pattern
in this series. The ordinary person is
almost always one who is a seeker after God in the best way they know how, good
or bad and God sees that seeking and reaches down to them. But when God reaches down to them he always
gives them a faith task. A faith task is
something that God asks you to do that seems impossible to complete but with
God is always possible. It’s only when
they do the faith task that they then have an extraordinary experience with God.
Today we’re going to meet an ornery
magician who has an unexpected experience with God. In Acts 13:1 we read “In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers…” That’s important for understanding the person
we’re studying today. Prophets are
people who preach, exhort, explain and sometimes foretell the future. In my experience Presbyterians don’t generally
like prophets. We tend to see them as
obnoxious and weird and wish they’d go away to the Pentecostal church. But prophets are important for the
church. That’s why God gave some that
gift and we’re going to see why in this text.
Verse three
says “So after they had fasted and
prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” Now we get to meet our ordinary guy who
has an extraordinary experience. Skip
down to verse 6 “They traveled through
the whole island until 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.”
Let me clarify
something here. Don’t confuse sorcerers
or magicians with illusionists. Illusionists
are those guys who put a beautiful woman in a box and then stab the box with
swords only to open the box and the woman steps out of it unscathed. It gets me every time. How do they do that? That’s entertainment. Bar-Jesus was a sorcerer and sorcery is the
manipulation of the spirit world. It can
involve black magic like voodoo dolls that you poke with a pin and the cursed
person feels it. It can also involve
white magic or good magic where disease spirits are manipulated and people are
healed. Personally I’m a little
uncomfortable messing with that spirit world.
I like to stick with God’s Holy Spirit.
Bar-Jesus had a
boss named Sergius Paulus. Let’s
continue looking at verse 7 “The
proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to
hear the word of God.” This is the
break these missionaries had been waiting for.
They had found an influential politician like Sergius Paulus who was becoming
sympathetic to the cause of Jesus Christ.
That doesn’t happen everyday.
When we were starting Chino Hills
Presbyterian we didn’t have land or a building to meet in so we were at the
mercy of the Chino Valley Unified School District to let us meet in one of their
schools. God provided us with a
Christian principal at the school we rented who was a Christian education major
in college at Biola. I know what that’s
like to have a sympathetic voice in such an influential place.
But then look what happened to their
big break in verse 8 “But Elymas the
sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the
proconsul from the faith.” So we
have a disagreement here. The Christians
want to introduce Sergius Paulus to the Lord Jesus Christ and Elymas or Bar
Jesus opposed them.
There’s a conflict going on in this
story. In conflict there are two sides,
the good side (that’s the side that agrees with us) and the bad side (that’s
the side that disagrees with us). If you
know and believe in Jesus Christ Elymas Bar Jesus appears to be the bad guy
here. But Elymas was just an ordinary
guy who was seeking after his own god of magic. The conflict wasn’t that he
worshipped a different god, the conflict was that he tried to block his boss’
worship of Jesus Christ. That’s where
the conflict became demonic.
That’s different than most conflict
we see in the church. I understand that
you have had your share of conflict in this church. They say everything is bigger in Texas and if
that’s true my last church despite being a somewhat dynamic church had Texas
size disagreements. People had some
serious differences of opinion.
That church had had six straight
years of membership and attendance growth until late 2001 when some people led
by our forty nine year old youth pastor started blaming the senior pastor for
the church not growing even more and wanted him to resign. Now those people weren’t evil people. They weren’t demons. They were good, Christ following people whom
I know and love. They were not trying to keep people from turning to Christ
like Elymas was. They had a difference
of opinion. But you can guess what
happened to our growth.
Later this month we’re going to look
at conflict that’s caused by differences of opinion when we look at a division
on the early mission team involving an ordinary guy named John Mark. There’s a different way to deal with that
kind of conflict. Demonic conflict has
to be named and rebuked in the name of Jesus.
God called Barnabas and Paul to
spread the good news of Jesus Christ to whomever was interested. Sergius Paulus was interested. His assistant stood in the way. Now we’re going to learn why God gave
prophets to the church.
What happened next in our Bible text
would be absolutely shocking if it happened in a Presbyterian church. This text should actually come with a warning
to Presbyterian pastors “Don’t try this at home…if you want to keep your
job.” Ac
13:9 Then Saul, who
was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, Ac 13:10 “You are a child of the
devil q 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? Ac 13:11
Now the hand of the Lord is against you. s You are going to be blind, and for a time you
will be unable to see the light of the sun.” t Immediately mist and darkness came over him,
and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
Perhaps you
would like your pastor to talk like that.
This makes pew sitters really uncomfortable. Even if I was to call you “a child of the
devil and an enemy of everything that is right.” the chances of a mist falling
over your eyes at that moment are pretty slim.
That’s because God hasn’t yet equipped me to be a prophet. But because Paul was equipped to be a prophet
we have the following result in verse 12 “Ac 13:12 When the proconsul u saw what had happened, he believed, for he was
amazed at the teaching about the Lord.”
We don’t know
what happened to Elymas the magician. It
says that he was going to be blind only for a time. That’s how Paul came to know Christ, he was
blinded for a time and then regained his sight after he gave his life to
Christ. The Bible doesn’t tell us what
happened to Elymas and that leads me to think that he didn’t respond well to
this opportunity to meet Jesus Christ as his savior. Not everyone who has an encounter with God
goes on to experience him. Don’t take it
personal just keep talking to people about Jesus.
As we share the good news of Jesus
Christ we’re going to run into conflicts like these. They seem to be inspired by a force that
doesn’t seem possible by good people we’d never suspect. Always remember that the person causing the conflict
is loved by God who sacrificed his only son for that person. Don’t condemn them eternally. Second, the Jesus that is in us is always
stronger than the evil driving the other person. That may not always feel like the case but
it’s always true. Know that if someone
tries to keep you from growing in the faith they can’t stand up to the name of
Jesus. The same for you if you’re being
an Elymas to someone else, you won’t stand for long because God’s plan for the
people you encounter will not be thwarted.
The demons in us will fall.
Christ in us will prevail! Remember
that when someone is trying to keep you from going to church, from reading your
Bible, from praying or from witnessing God will prevail in Jesus Christ. So pray in the name of Jesus and be patient. That’s all that really works in this sort of
battle.
But the demonic conflict that I saw
more often in Texas took place at night in the minds of my precious
members. I would always ask the question
when someone came to see me “how are you sleeping at night.” I’ve learned that that’s war zone time. If you’re suffering conflict right now and
you’re laying awake at night because of it I want you to grasp the power that
you have in Jesus Christ. The power that
raised Jesus from the dead is at your lips.
Just as the Apostle Paul spoke to Elymas the magician so speak boldly to
your demons. I want you to pray in the
name of Jesus Christ for deliverance from this conflict whenever it comes up. God wants to put you at peace so that you can
have an extraordinary experience with him.
Prayer in the name of Jesus Christ can do that. I can pray with you.
Let me ask you if you were to die
tonight do you know for sure that you’d go to heaven? You can have that peace and know for sure by
acknowledging that Jesus the Christ died for our sins and pray to receive him
as the Lord of your life. Pray this
little prayer with me: “Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I am a
sinner separated from you. I want to know
forgiveness. I accept your forgiveness
and accept Jesus Christ as my Savior.
Thank you for saving me. Amen.”
The Date: October 2
The Text: Acts 13:6-12
The Sermon Title: “Sometimes Disagreements are Demonic”
Summary of Text: The story of Sergius Paulus who wanted to hear the Word but a demon inspired person tried to thwart his search.
The Point: Our struggle to grow spiritually is sometimes against invisible powers and principalities that can only be overcome in prayer.
Special event: Worldwide Communion Sunday
Barnabas and Saul
Sent Off
Ac 13:1
In the church at
Ac 13:2
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, z “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the
work a to which I have called
them.” b
Ac 13:3
So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them c and sent them off. d
On
Ac 13:4
The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, e went down to
Ac 13:5
When they arrived at
Ac 13:6
They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they
met a Jewish sorcerer j and
false prophet k named
Bar-Jesus,
Ac 13:7
who was an attendant of the proconsul, l Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent
man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.
Ac 13:8
But Elymas the sorcerer m (for that is what his name means) opposed them
and tried to turn the proconsul n from the faith. o
Ac 13:9
Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, p looked straight at Elymas and said,
Ac
Ac
Ac