20th Sept 2010

Acts 13:13-52 – In Pisidian Antioch

• “Spread, Spot, Stay, Send”
• Paul here demonstrates just how much he had learnt from the first disciples.
• In Luke 10 Jesus sends out his new Sanhedrin with this commission;
• Spread the word to everyone.
• Spot the people of peace.
• Stay with them, invest in them, don’t go looking for a better deal.
• Send them into the world to repeat the process.
• Paul clearly follows this pattern.
• He goes to the synagogue, not because he has forgotten his mission to the gentiles but because he fully understands that the people of peace will be at the synagogue.
• It has been suggested by Crossan/Read that Paul’s target audience throughout his ministry were the ‘god-fearers’ – those gentile converts to Judaism that had not become Jews themselves but loved the God of the Jews.
• Turning up at the synagogue was a strategic move.
• Paul knew that as a visiting teacher he would be given an opportunity to share his message because of the hospitality etiquette of the synagogues.
• He also knew that that is where he’d find those gentiles and Jews who were leaning forward.
• I sometimes hear people say that if Jesus turned up he would go to the pubs and not to the churches. That is nonsense.
• Jesus went preaching and teaching in the synagogues and then if rejected went to the ‘pubs’. He also followed up as Paul does, wherever people sought Him.
• Paul continues in this Jesus pattern in verse 42 & 43 where he ‘stays’ with the people of peace.
• It works.
• The next Sabbath the whole city has become infected by those Paul invested his time in. He has effectively ‘sent’ them back into their community.
• Almost the entire city it seems comes out to hear more.
• At this point the opposition comes. He is not opposed because of the content of his message but because it works.
• Jealously disguised as theology raises its ugly head.
• Paul eventually leaves, leaving behind a verbal sword that separated the ‘have’s’ from the ‘have not’s.
• What can I learn from this?
• Invest in those leaning forward no matter what their label, background, religion, experience, philosophy.
• Don’t chase those who don’t want to know about the kingdom and are only interested in having their personal needs met.
• I wonder how many leaders don’t learn the lesson that Paul learnt from Jesus?