June 28, 2015
Church Planting
Runnin’ with the Devil
Acts 13:4-12
Opening words: At the very heart of this morning’s scripture lesson is a very complex topic, the Devil. Did you know, in the Bible, the Devil is called by 42 different names? Those names are interchangeable. In this message I will use two of those names, the Devil and Satan. What are your thoughts on him? Do you believe the Devil is a little red creature with a tail and pitch fork? Do you believe the Devil is just the embodiment of mankind’s dark side? Do you believe the Devil is physical in nature? Do you believe the Devil is a spirit? Do you believe the Devil is the primary source of our world’s problems? Do you believe the primary source of our world’s problems are human selfishness and ignorance? Do I have to go on? There seems to be as many opinions about the Devil are there are people. This is the most important question. Do you believe God will win in the end? Regardless of your understanding, this message will speak to you. Let me call this message Runnin’ with the Devil.
This is sermon number twenty-six in my sermon series called Church Planting. During the summer months, I have been preaching through the Book of Acts. This is no small task, because Acts has so much to offer. I believe the Holy Spirit is vital to our future success. Human effort and determination are not enough to revive the church. It is the Holy Spirit who created the church originally, and it must be the Holy Spirit who revives the church again. With this understanding, let us look at our scripture lesson for today, Acts 13:4-12.
Acts 13:4-12 4 The two of them (Barnabas and Saul), sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. 6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil 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?11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
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I love this story; I have used it in the past. History tells us Franklin Roosevelt hated the long receiving lines during his time in the White House. He often complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. As each person passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir." It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. He heard the President say, “I murdered my grandmother this morning” and responded, "I'm sure she had it coming." That story reminds us that listening does not come naturally. Listening is a true art, especially when you are listening to God. If that makes you think, say, “Amen!” Let us look at this morning’s scripture lesson together.
We are in the thirteenth chapter of Acts. The first three verses of this chapter explain the rest of the book. According to those verses, it all began in the church at Antioch. The teachers and prophets had assembled, when the Holy Spirit began to move. There were seven people present and each one had gotten the same message. They were to set Barnabas and Paul apart to begin their lives’ purpose. They were created to win the world for Jesus.
According to today’s reading, Barnabas and Paul began their lives’ purpose on the island of Cyprus. They are accompanied by Barnabas’s cousin John, who would later wrote the second Gospel, Mark. Their method of teaching was straightforward. They walked into a local synagogue and proclaimed the word of God. People responded to their message in every congregation. In one of those congregations they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet by the name of Bar-Jesus. “Bar” is Aramaic for “son of”; “Jesus” is derived from the Greek word for “Joshua.” In verse 8, Bar-Jesus is called “Elymas”, which is the Greek word for sorcerer or magician. Bar-Jesus was the assistant to the proconsul, or governor, of the entire island. The proconsul’s name was Sergius Paulus, who is remembered as a gifted man. He sent his assistant, Bar-Jesus, to Barnabas and Paul for one reason. Like many, he too wanted to hear the word of God. The story would have gone unrecorded except for one thing: the sorcerer Bar-Jesus (or Elymas) tried to turn the governor away from the faith. In the end, a show-down occurs between the sorcerer and God. Bar-Jesus is no match for the Almighty and finds himself temporarily blinded. The whole event becomes a great witness for God. No one present can question his powers.
When I first read the story, I thought it was odd. When was the last time you met a sorcerer? Then I read it a second, third and fourth time. In the end, I read it countless times and every time I read it the point became clearer. Every day, we play the part of the Roman proconsul. He wanted to hear the word of God but was temporary frustrated by Satan. We too want to hear the word of God, but Satan frustrates us. Does anyone here not want to hear the word of God? Is anyone here frustrated that you can’t hear God’s word? The problem is not that God mumbles. The problem is, our lives are filled with so many distractions. Satan uses those distractions to prevent us from hearing God’s words. It is like the old Van Halen song, we are “Runnin’ with the Devil.” How many distractions has Satan put in your life to prevent you from hearing God’s word? If that makes you think, say, “Amen!”
Can I state the obvious? Our world is filled with dark distractions. Satan has filled our world with all kinds of addictions. Our local, national and international news is filled with all kinds of addictions. We have people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We have people who are addicted to pornography. We have people who are addicted to gambling. (Isn’t it funny our denomination has stood against gambling for years, but no one said a word when Hollywood Gaming opened in our own community?) It is easy to attach those things to Satan, because so many lives have been destroyed by them.
Once a month, I have breakfast with a good friend. He is a retired United Methodist minister, who gets me to think. He told the story of going to a funeral of a woman who had died from a drug overdose. As he stood in the back trying to support the grieving family, someone walked up to him and said, “The devil is sitting over there.” He must have looked confused, because the person said the same thing in a different way. This time they said, “The drug dealer is over there.” The drug dealer came to pay his final respects. Do you consider drug dealers the devil?
Last week, I stood at the back door and said, “Good-bye,” to everyone. One person looked at me and said, “Russ, you will never guess what I am going to do this week?” I didn’t have a clue. I thought, go to a ballgame or go to dinner at an expensive restaurant. She looked at me with a big smile and said, “I am going with a friend to a psychic reader!” After my head spun around a few times, I didn’t know what to say. She caught me off-guard. Psychic readers are wrong at so many levels. The Bible takes a hard stand against such things. Leviticus 20:27 says spiritualists should be stoned to death. There is nothing entertaining about such things. They are simply sinister. I do not question their insight. I do question the source of their insight - Satan, himself. Have you ever been to a spiritualist? Within the 2013-14 edition of our User-Friendly Phone Book, there are five psychic readers listed. The internet tells us there are eleven in this area. Which one do you think is the best? Let me say this clearly, Satan loves it when you do such things, because they distract you from God. Satan doesn’t want us to hear God. Some of the distractions in our lives are truly negative in nature; some of the distractions in our lives are quite positive.
We are distracted by positive things all the time. Our lives are filled with positive distractions. Satan is extremely creative. How many good things in life are distracting you from hearing the word of God? How much time do you spend trying to hear God? How much time do you spend just trying to exist in this world?
There is a website called livingforjesus.com. It says there are seven things that distract us from hearing God. None of them are sinister in nature, but each one prevents us from hearing God. This is their list:
1. Money – That is why proper money management is important
2. Media – How much time do you spend watching TV?
3. Church – Do you go to church to support an organization, or to hear God?
4. Relationships – Family and friends are time consuming.
5. Routine – Is spending time with God part of your routine?
6. Work – How many people do you know work more than 40 hours a week?
7. Hobbies – Everyone tells me I need one.
This is the point. Every day we are runnin’ with the devil. Our lives are so full that we have very little time left to hear God. When was the last time God spoke to you? When was the last time you gave God an opportunity to speak to you? If that makes you think, say, “Amen!”
One of the greatest preachers of the Twentieth Century was a man by the name of Fred Craddock. No one influenced my preaching more than Fred Craddock. He taught homiletics at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. However, I will always remember him as a great storyteller. I have told you some of his stories in the past. He died back in March at the age of 86. On old cassette tapes he told me these stories.
He once sat in a group of incoming seminary students. Each student was asked to tell their story, how God had led them to this point. One by one the students spoke. Each story was different, but each story was the same. One story stood out. A man in his late thirties told the group he had been a teacher. He worked with children who had a hard time hearing. He said his work was heartbreaking and exhausting. Every student struggled hearing the slightest thing. He said, he just couldn’t do it anymore. The end came with a little girl by the name of Susan. She was as cute as a button. One day she was on the playground and he tried to talk to her. He walked up to Susan and looked at her square in the face. He said, “Susan, what do you want to do when you grow up?” Susan responded, “My shoes are red!” She didn’t hear a word. The incoming student said it was so heartbreaking that he had to leave. Fred looked at the student and said, “If you are going into the ministry, then you’d better get used to people not listening. Every church has a surplus of people who just don’t listen.”
Sometime later, Fred was on vacation in Texas. Sunday morning came and he was in a strange community. He just walked into a convenient church to see if God had a word for him. He sat alone in the back and was pleasantly surprised. Everything about the worship was perfect. The preaching was solid. The music was inspirational. The prayers were sincere and the spirit was moving. He was sad to see the benediction coming because God was speaking to him. After the benediction was given, he just stood there with his head down and his eyes closed. He wanted to absorb the last crumb. When he finally looked up, a man was standing next to him. The stranger stuck out his hand and said, “Do you think the Cowboys will win today?” Fred said, what the man really said was, “My shoes are red!” Like it or not, we are all runnin’ with the devil. Our lives are filled with all kinds of distractions that prevent us from hearing God’s word. The question is not if God has a word for you. He does. The question is, are you listening? Will you pray with me?
