Acts 13: Jealous of Others' Blessings

We read Acts 13 and watch the mission of Paul and Barnabas take center stage as the Holy Spirit sends them out and opens doors for the gospel. We also wrestle with the jealousy that erupts when God’s grace reaches people we did not expect, and we ask what that reveals in our own hearts. 
• Antioch’s leaders worshipping, fasting, praying, and listening for the Holy Spirit 
• Barnabas and Saul set apart and sent for missionary work 
• A confrontation with Elymas the magician and the proconsul’s response 
• Paul’s synagogue message tracing Israel’s story to Jesus’ resurrection 
• Forgiveness of sins and justification through belief in Jesus 
• Crowds, jealousy, persecution, and the turn toward the Gentiles 
• A personal heart check on envy, contentment, and celebrating God’s generosity 

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Transcript

A New Chapter For The Church

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, this is the Out Loud Bible Podcast, and this is Mike. We're reading through the book of Acts. And now today in Acts chapter 13, which is what we're going to read here in just a minute, we're going to find a new chapter. I mean, it's yes, literally a new chapter of the Bible, but it's it's also a new chapter in the life of the church where we see who was kind of a side character in Saul, this man who oversaw the persecution of Stephen, one of the deacons, and was an active member of a very violent group of persecuting Christians. He was converted and and he now has won the favor of the apostles and a couple other of the local Jewish believers, in no small part thanks to Barnabas, uh, another believer who saw that, you know what, God is working through him. I think I know he had a bad history even just a couple days ago against us, but I say we got to get on board with what God's doing. And uh, and so where Saul and Barnabas had a couple moments here as they're kind of getting introduced to this new church and the new movement of God through the Holy Spirit and spreading the good news of Jesus to not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles, inviting them into God's family. Now we see Saul and Barnabas take a much more prominent role. Now it's not because the other apostles are not doing anything, it's just this is how Luke, who is actually the author of this book and uh traveling companion of Saul, uh he this is just his observations following the life of Saul, starting more heavily at this point. So the other apostles, they're out doing their thing. They are uh they're doing signs and wonders and teaching and sharing the gospel and and doing a lot of great things that unfortunately do get them persecuted and executed as well. Uh but we're gonna just focus on Saul and right now Barnabas as Saul's traveling companion in this new mission to go take the gospel to the ends of the world. So let's pick up the story here in Acts chapter 13 in the New English Translation. Now there were these prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch: Barnabas, Simeon called

Antioch Sets Apart Paul And Barnabas

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Menaean, a close friend of Herod the Tetrarch from childhood. Man, I wish we had more of that story. What's the deal with this guy who was a childhood friend of Herod, who meanwhile has been going on this rampage, just an absolute menace among the Jewish people as this really selfish, awful king. And and this guy, Minaan, he's now a believer, and he's a prophet and a teacher in this early church in Antioch. Man, I I wish I knew that story. If you're into writing historical biblical fiction, maybe you can flesh that one out for me. I'd read it. Well, anyway, oh, and Saul. I don't know if I mentioned Saul. He's what he's he's here too. Okay, while they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them. Then, after they had fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them, they sent them off. So Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived in Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of

Elymas Opposes The Gospel In Cyprus

SPEAKER_00 3:35

God in the Jewish synagogues. Now they also had John as their assistant. When they had crossed over the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet named Barjesus, who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. But the magician Elimus, for that's the way his name is translated, opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at him and said, You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you'll be blind, unable to see the sun for a time. And immediately mistiness and darkness came over him, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he was greatly astounded at the teaching about the Lord. And then Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and returned to Jerusalem. Moving on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After reading from the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent them a

Paul Preaches Jesus In The Synagogue

SPEAKER_00 5:15

message, saying, Brothers, if you have any message of exhortation for the people, speak it. So Paul stood up, gestured with his hand, and said, A men of Israel, and you Gentiles who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay as foreigners in the country of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave his people their land as an inheritance. All this took about four hundred and fifty years. After this, he gave them the judges, until the time of Samuel the prophet. And then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin who ruled forty years. And after removing him, God raised up David, their king. He testified about him, I have found David, the son of Jesse, to be a man after my own heart, who will accomplish everything I want him to do. And from the descendants of this man, God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, just as he promised. Before Jesus arrived, John had proclaimed a baptism for repentance to all the people of Israel. But while John was completing his mission, he said repeatedly, What do you think I am? I'm not he, but look, one who is coming after me. I'm not worthy to untie the sandals of his feet. Brothers, descendants of Abraham's family and those Gentiles among you who fear God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us. For the people who lived in Jerusalem and their rulers didn't recognize him, and they fulfilled the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning him. Though they found no basis for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had accomplished everything that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had accompanied him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now his witnesses to the people, and we proclaim to you the good news about the promise to our ancestors, that this promise God has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus. As also it's written in the second Psalm, You are my son, to day I have fathered you. But regarding the fact that he has raised Jesus from the dead, never again to be in a state of decay, God has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and trustworthy promises made to David. Therefore he also said, in another Psalm, You will not permit your holy one to experience decay. For David, after he had served God's purpose in his own generation, died, was buried with his ancestors, and experienced decay, but the one whom God raised up did not experience decay. Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers, that through this one, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by this one every one who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses couldn't justify you. Watch out, then, that what's spoken about by the prophets does not happen to you. Look, you scoffers, be amazed and perish, for I am doing a work in your days. A work you would never believe, even if someone tells you. As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people were urging them to speak about these things on the next Sabbath. When the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God fearing proselytes followed Paul

Jealousy Sparks Pushback Then Joy

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and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city assembled together to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they began to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him. Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, it was necessary to speak the words of God to you first, since you reject it and don't consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we're turning to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us, I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed. So the word of the Lord was spreading through the entire region, but the Jews incited the God fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their region. So after they shook off the dust from their feet in protest against them, they went to Iconium, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Well, this is a frustrating chapter for me. Especially this last section we just read about the Jews here who weren't excited about God

A Heart Check On God's Generosity

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extending his grace to the Gentiles. They were offended by it, and they worked against it. It says there in uh at the end of the chapter there that in verse 45, they were filled with jealousy. And so they began to contradict what Paul was saying. They were filled with jealousy. It reminds me of a parable that Jesus told in Matthew chapter 20 about a uh a vineyard landowner who went out and found some workers to work in the vineyard. In the early morning, he said, Hey, can you come work in my vineyard? I'll pay you a full day's pay. Okay, great. And they they went and they worked. A few hours later, the landowner went out and hired some more people. Hey, come work in my vineyard. I'll at the end of the day, I'll pay you what's right. Oh, okay, great. He went out even later in the day, at the point where there's only a few hours left of the workday. And they said, Hey, can you come work in the vineyard? I'll I'll pay you what's fair at the end of the day. Okay, and they do it. So at the end of the day, the landowner starts with the people who had only been working there for a little bit and said, Hey, uh, here's a full day's pay. And they're like, Wow, that's amazing. And the people who had been working there all day were like, I know he told us a day's pay, but man, he just gave them a day's pay. They've only been here for a little bit. Imagine how much he'll give us. This guy's really generous. That's amazing. And then when the landowner got to them, he had given everyone the same pay, a day's pay, regardless of how much they worked. And the original workers who had been there the longest and they were invited first, they were bitter, they were jealous. And the landowner says something really interesting. He says, and this is again on God's God, this is the God character of the parable, says, I can do whatever I want with my money. Why are you jealous? Because I'm generous with someone else. Yeah, that's a loose translation. I guess the Mike Domini version. But the same question can be posed of us. And because I've I've said this before when we read the Bible, I'll say it again. Let's not assume we are the good guys. Let's not assume we're the good example when we read the Bible. Can we find the bad examples, like the case of the Jews in this story or the bitter land workers in Matthew 20? And can we recognize anything in our heart that actually aligns with them that God may be calling out? And there's this idea of jealousy about God's generosity. We love it when God's generous. We love being the beneficiaries of God's generosity. But when you see God blessing someone else, especially in an area that He has not blessed you yet, and especially an area that you've been praying for God to bless you, but you see him give that to someone else, how does how do you respond? I do celebrate when people receive blessings from the Lord, even if you don't have it. I I don't always. That would be the humble and good thing to do. I don't always feel that way. When I s I've been praying for God to, you know, provide for us, or you know, whether you may be praying for a promotion or for uh a new job that pays better, and then you've prayed and praying and praying, and then you see someone else get a job or a pay raise, and they have more than they need. I have some dear friends who are praying for a baby. They've been praying for a long time, and it's so hard, it's heartbreaking to see other, I don't know, teen moms who weren't even planning on a baby, or others who who complain about their babies being this or that, and it's just it's heartbreaking and it's hard. It's hard to see someone else get blessed the way that you feel like you should get blessed. And it reveals a heart here. And Paul identifies it when he confronts these Jews. He says, in verse 46, talking about the word of God that was shared to the Jews first, they said, Since you reject it and don't consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we're turning to the Gentiles. Did that phrase jump out at you when we read it the first time? You didn't consider yourself worthy of eternal life, so you rejected it. So these these Jews, they weren't disqualified by God. God did not disqualify them from receiving the Holy Spirit and and and being part of his family. They but they were actively rejecting the good news about Jesus, and so basically they ruled themselves out. Could it be that you have disqualified yourself in your mind from receiving the blessing that you really do want, but you don't think that you're worthy of it, you don't think that you'll actually receive it, and so you disqualify yourself. And when you see God blessing others in that way, you find yourself being jealous, but not because God is unjust, but because you've just written yourself off from receiving that blessing, but it hurts to see anyone else receive it. It's a tough heart check, but it's an important one. Kelsey and I have had to do this heart check multiple times, and I can I can say we can see some growth. We're not all the way there yet, but we can see some growth because uh we live in an apartment, we're very thankful for the apartment. And uh yet over the past few years, we've we've just been like, I just wish we could own a home. You know, I just wish we had a home to call our own that we didn't have a neighbor across the wall, and we could have a little more space in our yard, and I just, you know, just own a home, you know? And so we would, as we drive around town, drive around, we'd we'd just see homes and their beautiful homes, and they were always twinged with a little bit of jealousy of like, man, these that's a nice home. Like, why do they get to have a home? And we have some apartment that we can't change the paint color on. Well, God had to do some work on us to help us to be content, and even just this past spring, we kind of noticed that we drive by someone's beautiful home, and now we start to think, oh wow, that's really nice. I'm really glad for them. Genuinely. I can't say we're perfect all the time, but I can say that that is something that God has been doing in our life, and He can do in your heart as well, to remove some of that bitterness and jealousy of God's blessings on other people, and just be content with what God has given us. To the point where we realize that, you know, I don't need those things to be content. I'm gonna focus on being thankful for what I have and genuinely praise God with and for other people when God's blessings come in any form. Because God's blessings are good, and we can praise God for the good. That's a thinking out loud thought for the day. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next time on the Out Loud Bible Podcast.