You're listening to the 10-minute Bible number podcast. It's best time free daily deep night bible. And right now we're talking about Galatians.
SPEAKER_02Once upon a time, not so long ago, the most magical, pure, perfect, noble, enlightened restaurant in the entire world existed in Grand Island, Nebraska. And its name was USA Steak Buffet. USA Steak Buffet is exactly what you're picturing. It had a bunch of Americana decor. It was full of senior citizens. It had bunting everywhere, like opening day at the ballpark, and it reeked of grilled meat. And it was absolutely delightful. $7.99. You could go in there and they would let you eat as much as you wanted of anything. Cost me, I think, $8.11 by the time I paid tax. You go in, they give you a drink, that comes with it. They give you a plate, and you just walk right up to the steak window because they had a steak window. And inside the steak window, there was a guy. I can still picture what he looks like. And he would make steaks all day long, eight ounces at a time. And you just walk up and you tell him how you want it cooked, and that's all you really say. Medium rare. And he gives it to you and nods like, I see you, sir. And you might be thinking to yourself, dang, eight bucks for eight ounces of cooked steak? That's a pretty good deal. Oh, but you're selling USA Steak Buffet so far short. Because you could go back up to the steak window and get a grilled steak as many times as you want. Indeed, one time I did that to the tune of 48 ounces of steak, and I don't regret it. In fact, I think you should probably respect me more for it. But let me tell you who didn't like USA Steak Buffet. The lovely Camila. Just wasn't her bag. She wasn't into it. I would constantly point out, look, over there in the dark part of the restaurant that I never go to, there's the whole shelf, it's vegetables. Maybe it's a salad thing. I don't know. Go check it out over there. Scoop some stuff up. See how it tastes. That's for you. But nope. Did not care. Didn't like it. Wouldn't get into it. Well, people at church there, they knew that I liked it. And so anytime they wanted to do me a solid, they would give me a gift card to USA Steak Buffet. And then I would go home and tell my lovely wife, hey, guess what? Great news. We're going out to eat tonight because I got a gift card. We didn't really have money back then, so it was a big deal. And she would light up because I wanted to get her excited first so that maybe then she wouldn't feel as let down when I gave her the next part of the news, which is that the gift card was too USA Steak Buffet. And then she'd kind of wince, like, uh she loved the first part of the message. She just didn't like the second part. And sometimes she'd go with me, and other times she wouldn't go with me. Likewise in the book of Acts, when Paul would go around to the synagogues and talk to the faithful Jewish people who were scattered around the classical Mediterranean world, he would start with news that resonated with a whole bunch of these Jewish people. The Messiah is here. It's Jesus. He's real. Everything that we've been hoping for, all this stuff, the law, the prophets, all that narrative, it's all pointed to this thing and it's real. It just happened. And the religious leaders back in Jerusalem, they got it wrong, but it's okay because what they intended for evil, God intended for good. It's going to be all right. It's here. We should celebrate. And people would be like, I really like that news. We have a gift card. We're going out to eat. I really like that news. But then the second part of the news would hit, and that was harder for people. Not a deal killer for everybody. For some, yes, but it was harder. The second part of the news was and this Jesus, this Messiah, he's for everybody. Not just the Jews, not just the circumcised, not just those descended from Abraham who can trace their lineage. It's for everybody. There's a new family of faith. This was always the plan. Now it is coming to pass. So good news to you Jewish people who are hearing this message. And good news to those of you who are not Jewish who are hearing this message. It's for all of you. Now I cannot stress enough that this was not a deal killer for everybody. But it was difficult for pretty much all of the Jews who realized that God was doing supernatural stuff to back up what Paul was saying. And that indeed it was for everybody. Heck, it was difficult for Peter. And Peter's a pretty good Christian. You know, some people would say one of the better Christians ever. Definitely a devoted follower of Jesus. Laid down his life, following in Jesus' footsteps. But it was hard for him. So I think we can cut all these Jewish people a little bit of slack if seeing their uncircumcised neighbors become members of a new shared family of faith was a little bit difficult for them. Well, the last couple of conversations, we looked at what the message was, the part that everybody got excited about in these synagogues. And they're in Acts chapter 13. I was like, all right, now we're going to hit pause for a minute, and then we're going to have to come back and we're going to have to see how people actually responded to it. And now it's time to get the response. Acts chapter 13, we're in Poseidon Antioch, we're in the synagogue. Paul just got done laying out all that stuff that we've been talking about, about Jesus and about how he is the Messiah and He is the one who's going to reign on the throne of David forever, and about how there is a righteousness apart from the law that is needed. There is forgiveness in this. And it says in Acts 13, 42, as Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. Well, that's great. I mean, nobody's immediately getting flogged or stoned. They've piqued their interest. It seems like there is a warmth and a receptiveness to this. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. So a little congregation of Jesus followers is practically cropping up on the first day. This is very exciting. Well, now a week passes, Acts 13, 44. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. My impulse as I read that was to imagine myself to be much better than these people. You petty Jewish Passidian Antiochians, what are you doing? You should be excited. You should get it. Jealousy is for the weak. That's stupid. But the truth is, I know exactly what it feels like to feel like I kind of got my little thing that's on lockdown, that's a part of my identity, it's part of my narrative. I've put in the work, I've been around this longer, and now these come lately's jump in and I don't like it. And I know that I can't really admit that because I'll look like a chump. And so sometimes in my life, I have tried to use social sophistication to keep my things for myself selfishly without letting anybody know what I was actually doing. In other words, I don't feel like admitting any specifics from my past about times when I've been a jerk about this, but I've done things like what the Jews have done. I know what it is to be turfy. I know what it is to feel like I own a thing and I want to continue to own a thing, and I don't really want to share, but I also don't want to look not benevolent, and then you come off feeling icky. Or maybe it wasn't such an emotional thing. Maybe some of these Jews would be like, no, I don't feel any of that emotion. I don't think I'm being petty. I think this is theological liberalism. And I think all of this talk of Jesus and the Messiah and Paul, it's all happening way too fast, and I don't trust it. Well, guess what? There's another impulse that I can relate to, because I would also probably be initially very skeptical of something that sounded so novel when I had it all figured out and cobbled together in my brain. This is one of those moments where I can kind of relate to the bad people a little bit, and that doesn't mean I think they're right. I think they're wrong. It's just that I also think I'm wrong when I act like that, and sometimes I act like that. And that same shared, dark, selfish, insecure impulse that they had and that I at times have causes an unfortunate division, and it kind of quenches some of the excitement and enthusiasm of what this gigantic early win should have been for the message of the kingdom going out with Paul on these journeys. Verse 46. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly. So they're talking to the Jewish people who are mad. There are Jewish people who aren't mad, but they're talking to the Jewish people who are mad. Quote, we had to speak the word of God to you first, since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. We now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us. Quote, I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Well, when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and they honored the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. Luke, the author of Acts, makes a theological statement there. He is thinking very much in keeping with what Jesus said in Matthew 10, the missional discourse, the second of the five great speeches around which the book of Matthew is structured. Jesus very much has this attitude of, hey, go find people of peace, stay with them, tell them the message, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. If they listen, awesome, your peace be upon them. If they're not into it, cool, leave, dust off your sandals, go find someone who is a person of peace and communicate the message to them. And Luke is content to give that all over to God. I mean, hey, Jesus said eyes would be opened, eyes would not be opened, but ultimately be faithful to the message, go do the thing. And Luke is very content here to evaluate this situation and be like, yeah, everybody who God ordained, appointed, knew in advance, nudged, whatever you want to call it, everyone who got appointed to believe, they believed. That's a win. And we're not gonna let this win be sullied by pouty behavior that unfortunately I can a little bit relate to. Well then it says in verse 49 the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region, but the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and they stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. That's another reference right back to Matthew chapter 10. Cool, we brought you this message. The people who were appointed to respond did. You all should be filled with joy. Cool, we are. And those of you who are mad and want to gossip and be stupid and get us out of here, so you can get back to your status quo, where you're the one who's the gatekeeper of who gets to have the joy of God in their heart, cool. Uh, you can be the imagined gatekeeper all by yourselves at your little thing while everyone else follows God and this message flourishes and they flourish in response to it. This cycle right here in Acts chapter 13 is a very recurring narrative cycle. And what does it come down to? The first part of the message is really exciting and likable, like we have gift cards and we're going out to eat tonight, baby. But the second part of the message, this is for everybody, and we're all going to share it together. Um, that's harder for a few people. I don't like the way this played out because it seems like I just likened Camilla, my favorite human I've ever met, to angry people who gossiped and caused division to try to thwart God's redemptive work in the lives of people. And really, all Camilla was doing was saying she didn't like USA Steak Buffet. And I think it's okay for her not to like it. And in the end, she won because they all closed. More on the rocky, but generally pretty exciting story of how the churches in Galatia got founded. Next time around, I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.
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