Text: Acts 13: 38-49
There were times when our ship would go out on patrol in the North Atlantic. We would board Russian fishing vessels 100-200 miles out to make sure they weren’t taking our lobsters. We would be sent to rescue people from sinking boats. We would stand watch, work long hours and do our best to deal with the tedium of life at sea. At least once we were out for a month. No internet, no contact with our families. No mail. A long time out at sea.
Then finally it would come time to return to port. Every now and then we would return at night. We would watch the horizon for those first lights of land that shined in the darkness. Those lights told us. We were coming home. Soon we would see loved ones waiting on the pier to welcome us. Soon we could read the letters from those we so missed.
A light that shines in the darkness. God often uses that picture in his Word. We can relate to that picture. When some kind of darkness surrounded us, a blackout, a dark, scary street, an emotional darkness and then finally a light.
Well God’s Word speaks of another darkness, a terrible darkness that enveloped every one of us. The darkness of sin and death. The darkness of being without God and without hope. And then a light shined. It shined long ago in a place we’ve never been. The Light shined in the darkness, our darkness. That light is Jesus. And The Light he shines is not some pinpoint of light on the horizon. Rather think of the way the prophet Isaiah described his coming to the people of Galilee. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
Today we remember how that light shined on the people in a town called Pisidian Antioch. Not in person. But through those that carried the Light of Jesus, the blessed Gospel. And how blessed we are. That same light has shined on us all these years later. And it shines for still others as we, his church, bring it. So we say:
Shine Jesus, Shine
I. He shines the Light of God’s forgiveness (38,39)
II. He Shines a Light we dare not refuse
III. He Shines his Light in surprising places
Ever had a problem you just couldn’t solve no matter how hard you tried. But then someone came along and solved your impossible problem. Maybe a math problem. Maybe you were trying to fix your car. No go. I was supposed to write a computer program. I had a problem I just could not find. I spent hours. Then I went to my friend, a math major. He looked at it for a moment and solved it. If it was left up to me, I’d still be working on it. Ever have a problem like that?
You did. And so did these people in a Jewish synagogue one day long ago. It was the year 48 AD. The apostle Paul and Barnabus were on their first missionary journey. They had sailed from Cyprus to a seaport town called Perga. From there they made their way to Pisidian Antioch, Turkey today. On the Sabbath they went the Jewish synagogue and sat down with the worshippers. Some were Jews all their lives. Other were Gentile converts.
Then something happened that seems strange to us but was quite customary. After some portions of the Old Testament were read, the synagogue leaders invited Paul and Barnabus, strangers, to share some words of encouragement for the people.
Paul stood up and began to speak. I wish we had the time to hear all that he shared. He took them on a guided tour of their history as God’s chosen people. He reminded them of God’s faithfulness often in the face of their sin. Then he pointed them to Jesus. How he had been rejected and crucified in Jerusalem and yet how it all happened just as the Scriptures said. Then God raised him from the dead and showed Jesus to be his Son, their Savior and ours.
Paul was there standing before a people like you and me. People with a problem, a terrible problem we could not ever solve. And worse yet, maybe we did not even care. I know there was a time when I didn’t. Our problem was this. We needed to be right with God . So did they. But instead of looking where God’s Word pointed them, many of them had made Judaism into one more work righteous religion. But trying to make ourselves right with God is like riding to the store on a stationary bike. You pump and pump and still you are in the same place. In the dark, with the wages of your sin hanging over your head.
But shine, Jesus, shine. He shines the Light of God’s forgiveness. Paul shined that light here as his servant. 38 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Shine Jesus shine. Shine on me. Shine on those here this morning. He has. He is. For this is the heart of the Gospel. Through faith in Jesus and what he has done for each of us, we are forgiven. That garbage bag of guilt is gone. We are justified. God looks at you just as if you never sinned. Shine Jesus shine.
You and I desperately need that light. So did these people. But Paul knew the history of his people. He reminded them here. Listen to how he put it. Sounds like my mother describing my teen years. He endured their conduct in the desert for about 40 years. Paul knew the history of his people. So he looked out at the faces of the people before him this day. Both Jew and Gentile. Young and old. Men and women. Slave and free. His heart went out to them all. For there are so many things in this life we can take or leave. But not here. Shine, Jesus, Shine. He shines a Light we dare not refuse.
Paul had that concern for these people. He reminded them of another time in their history. When their forefathers had become so corrupt and unbelieving that God threatened this. There would come a time when he would allow the ruthless Babylonians to sweep down on their land. But what was the response of so many? They refused to believe it, even though the prophets told them. They refused to believe that the Lord would do something like that.
Now Paul stood before these worshippers. He told them how this Jesus had been humiliated and put to death on a cross. He told them that he is their Savior. That he is the way of forgiveness and life. Then he warned them: 40Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: 41“ ‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’” That something was the very Son of God on the cross. And that someone telling them was Paul. As I tell you today. For too often people have said, that’s foolishness. So he warned them. For Jesus shines a light we dare not refuse.
But some did here. 44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. Think of Paul and Barnabus. How their hearts must have grieved for these people. These were fellow Jews and they were rejecting the One God had sent for them. The one their forefather Abraham was promised. The one who would come from the line of their King David.
They needed to understand what they were throwing away. Paul told them in no uncertain terms. Words that I pray never apply to any of us. “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. Jesus shines a light we dare not refuse.
There is a book called Tortured for Christ. A Lutheran Pastor was jailed by the communists in Romania for many years. There he was cruelly mistreated. Yet he held on to Jesus. But more than that there he still shined His light. One day he was in the hospital because of the torture. Alongside of him was another man who began to tell him about a man he did not know. He said he wished he could thank him. He told this pastor that this man led him to Jesus through the wall of his cell. He now had hope. This pastor was that man. Shine, Jesus, Shine. He shines his Light in surprising places.
It sure was a surprise to these Gentile believers. In some ways, they thought of themselves as outsiders, not quite part of Gods’ people. Even the Temple seemed to say that. The Gentiles could only come into the outer courts.
Then they heard these words quoted by Paul. “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” You heard these words in our Old Testament Lesson this morning. They pointed to God’s Son who came as the servant of the Lord. Well here Paul applied them to himself and the others. As servants of the Servant they were to be lights for the Gentiles. They were to bring salvation in Jesus Christ to more and more.
And here as far as these Gentile folks were concerned, Jesus was shining his light in a surprising place. On them. Those that had been so far away. When they heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord…
But this story is not unique. To this day, it has been repeated again and again. In you, in me and countless others. Jesus shines his light in surprising places. Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but not am found. Was blind but now I see. The Light. Your Light, Jesus and not just for me. Not just for you. For others. Shine, Jesus, shine. And lead us home. Amen