Acts of the Apostles (30)
Introduction
We know that the Lord Jesus was turned over to the Romans by the Jewish leaders because of envy. Pilate had been around political posturing and positioning long enough to be able to detect it when he saw it. Pilate wanted to release Jesus, in part because he could see what was going on. “For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy” (Mark 15:10).
We have come to the point in the story of the expansion of Christianity where the Spirit-blessed kingdom was starting to provoke the same kind of response from the religious curators of the old guard. This is as it should be. This is the way God determined to grow His church. The new wine and the old wineskins have a predictable relationship.
The Text
“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming . . .” (Acts 13:42–52).
Summary of the Text
We have just concluded the sermon that Paul preached in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch. Remember that this congregation included both Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. When the Jews left the building, the Gentiles clustered around and asked for more on the following sabbath (v. 42). As the congregation was dispersing, Paul and Barnabas also spoke to two other groups—Jews and proselytes, urging them to continue walking in the grace of God (v. 43). The proselytes mentioned here would have been those Gentiles who had already converted to Judaism. So when the next sabbath came around, almost the whole town turned out (v. 44). When the Jews saw these crowds, envy took them by the throat, and they began opposing and blaspheming (v. 45). Paul and Barnabas then “waxed bold” and said that going to the Jews first was necessary, but because they had decided to thrust grace away from them, counting themselves unworthy, Paul and Barnabas were going to turn and go to the Gentiles (v. 46). The Lord had commanded them to do this—seven centuries earlier—when He said this: Restoring Israel would be far too easy. “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (v. 47; Isaiah 49:6). The Gentiles were glad when they heard this, and they glorified God’s Word. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed (v. 48). The Word of the Lord spread through that whole region (v. 49). But the envious Jews stirred up some of the God-fearing aristocratic women, along with some leading men, and ginned up a persecution. They succeeded in running Paul and Barnabas out of that region (v. 50). Paul and Barnabas then shook off the dust of their feet, and came to Iconium (v. 51). But the disciples who were left behind in Antioch were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit (v. 52).
Pisidian Antioch and Iconium
Iconium was about 100 miles from Antioch, and both cities were in the region of Galatia. If you recall what we covered with regard to provincial Galatia versus ethnic Galatia, we have now been introduced to the people to whom Paul was writing in the book of Galatians. We are in south central Turkey.
Note that in the face of settled persecution, the disciples there responded the way Jesus instructed us to (Matt. 5:12). They rejoiced with great joy (v. 52). This was not a sign that something was terribly wrong. It was a sign that they were right on track.
Ordained to Life
When the gospel was preached in this place, who responded in faith (v. 48)? The passage is very clear. The cause of their faith was the fact that they had been ordained to life. It did not go the other way around. They were not ordained to life because God had looked down the corridors of time, saw them believing, and then decided to ordain them to life. No. Our response of faith is because God set His electing love on us, by name, before time began.
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9).
Before the world began. One of the fundamental truths we must recognize is that God is sovereign in all things, and this manifestly includes who is saved and who not. You can give it the nickname Calvinism if you want, but God was saving His elect long before Calvin was born. In fact, He was determining who would be His people long before the world was born.
Envy and the Gospel
Before outlining the biblical treatment of the relationship of envy and the gospel, we have to be sure to mortify something in our own hearts first. There are two carnal lusts that must be absolutely mortified before we can be trusted with this truth. The first is our tendency to envy others. “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:26). The flip side of this, and the second thing we must mortify, is to reach for the vainglory of wanting to be the envy of others (Phil. 2:3)—wanting to be the richest, or the prettiest, or the smartest. When you notice anything like that stirring in your heart, you must show it no mercy. If you see this lizard sin of envying others in your heart, kill it. If you see the cockroaches of lusting to be envied, kill those too.
But having said this, the apostle Paul tells us that the conversion of the Jews is the linchpin for world evangelization (Rom. 11:12,15). Not only so, but the linchpin of the conversion of the Jews is them watching Deuteronomic blessings come down upon Gentiles—which is what is barely starting to happen in our text. “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy” (Romans 11:11).
So there is a godly way to want to live under the blessing of God. And if you are living under His Deuteronomic blessing, it is no sin to realize it in true gratitude. Neither is it a sin to realize that this reality gets the unblessed really agitated—particularly the religious and unblessed. If we are in it for the sake of our own ego, envy and jealousy are toxic and will kill you dead. But if you are understanding how the gospel advances, you realize that God can and does use this. It is His M.O. Budget for it.
Christ In All
When we draw the ire of envious attacks, this is not a sign that something has gone terribly wrong. This is God’s appointed strategy. Those who live in hot pursuit of this world find that it is a bauble that constantly recedes from them. Those who give themselves away, and worship someone outside the world, and who set their minds on things above (Col. 3:1-4) . . . find all these things added to them (Matt. 6:33). You lose what you worship, and you are given what you refuse to worship. And why? Because Christ is all.