Supernatural RSM Series – Part 8
Refton Student Ministry Series:
Supernatural Part 8: Paul’s Mission
This is the second to last lesson in our Supernatural series… it’s been quite the ride! Today we’re talking about how the gospel – the message of Jesus – spread across the first century world and what impact, if any, that it has on us today. I think you may be surprised at the intentionality behind how the gospel spread. We talked about Jesus last time and mainly focused on the fact that He did claim to be God, but what we didn’t have time to dive into was His mission and strategy for bringing people to a believing loyalty in Himself. I have a series on Luke that I’m currently writing that traces this strategy, and as we’ll see, it gets passed on to all believers so that every nation will hear the good news of Jesus.
If you have read the book of Acts then you might remember that it opens with Jesus commissioning His disciples to be His “witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8a). Jesus ascends to Heaven, and then in Acts 2 Luke describes the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Apostles, and they began speaking in other languages that were not known to them. There were Jews from every nation who were living in Jerusalem who heard the Apostles speaking in these different languages and even heard their own language (these Jews were here to celebrate the Feast of Weeks which was one of three festivals that they would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate)! They were so amazed that they asked, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Glileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our own native language?” (Acts 2:7-8).
I like to imagine it being like having the “universal communicator” on Star Trek, which allows you to hear everyone in your own language, no matter what their nationality. But catch this, these weren’t unintelligible languages. The languages that were being heard were established languages. It would be like a Japanese person trying to speak Japanese to me, but only English comes out of their mouth, despite the fact that they don’t know English. Pretty amazing right!? That’s what everyone who witnessed this event thought as well. In fact, some thought they were just drunk on wine, but apparently it was too early for that!
It’s been a while since we’ve discussed this, but the Pentecost event in Acts 2 is a dramatic reversal of another famous story much earlier in the Bible. Remember the connections with the Tower of Babel?
The Tower of Babel – Genesis 11:1-9
Everyone was together and used the same language
Their coming together was the direct opposite of what God told them to do
Yahweh God divided them across the whole earth to confuse their languages
This act of dividing was the result of punishment for their disobedience
This event split the world into 70+ nations
The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost – Acts 2
Many people from different nations with different languages came together to celebrate Pentecost
Their coming together was mandated by God
Divided “tongues” [represents real, established languages] rested on them so that they would understand each other
This act of coming together and receiving the Holy Spirit was an act of grace due to Jesus’ obedience
This event was the continuation of Jesus’ work in taking the nations back, now accomplished through His Church
But there’s another parallel in the works here. Luke, the author of Acts, clues us in on a strategy that would take the gospel to the entire first century known world. He does this by listing his own table of nations. Check out Acts 2:9-11:
“Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!””
This list is an intentional effort by Luke to clue the reader in that the Gospel was to spread throughout the known world. I keep saying “known world” because people in the first century had no concept of the Americas, China, Australia, or other parts of the world. They simply didn’t know those areas of the planet existed. So how do I know this is intentional? I’m going to have the students read these verses and trace the general direction the list indicates by the order of appearance. However, I’ll save you some time:
Notice the overall East to West direction. Luke goes on to give us an overview of Peter’s sermon, and then tells us that about 3,000 were saved! When the Feast of Weeks was over, these Jews would go back to their nations. I think it’s safe to assume that due to their new belief in Jesus, they took His message with them and began to spread it in their own nations – hence the overall western movement of the gospel.
This brings us to Paul.
Have you ever noticed that Paul desires to go to Spain? This is found in Romans 15:22-28:
“This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. 23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.”
Luke concludes Acts rather abruptly. Paul is basically on house arrest, but we know that he fully intended on visiting Spain at some point. This actually might be why he appealed to Caesar. It got him as far as Rome, and he eventually hoped to make it to Spain. Why? Because as he tells the churches in Rome:
“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:25-26a)
Paul is concerned with bringing the gospel message to the entire known world, as Jesus commanded in Acts 1:8 (see also Matthew 28:18-20). Here’s the point: “Paul was concerned that his life’s mission as apostle to the Gentiles – the disinherited nations – would only be finished when he got to Spain. As incredible as it sounds, Paul was conscious that his mission for Jesus actually involved spreading the gospel to the westernmost part of the known world – Tarshish [located in Spain during Paul’s time] – so that the disinheritance at Babel would be reversed” (Heiser, The Unseen Realm, 303; my addition).
What’s My Part In All of This?
Paul was bent on bringing the gospel to the entire world, but as I already said, he really didn’t know that the world was much bigger than he knew! The fact is that all followers of Jesus [disciples] are tasked with taking the gospel to the entire world.
The mission that began with Jesus and continued by His disciples and Paul, is now our mission.
If you attend Refton BIC then I know you’ve heard this before. But here’s the thing, when was the last time you talked about your faith to another person who was not a believer? When was the last time a person came to know Jesus because you played a part in explaining the gospel message? I’ve found that for most people, the reason they don’t talk about their faith is because they either don’t know how to explain it, or they’re afraid that they won’t know how to answer a question.
I recently heard a quote from a podcast I listen to – they said, “The first disciple you need to make is yourself.” Matthew 28:18-20 can be summed up as this: Make disciples who make disciples. The first disciple we should be making is ourselves. It’s okay to ask questions and really dig in because that’s when you will grow in your faith. But don’t stay there. Step out in faith. Ask God to use you and give you the courage to talk about your faith with someone in your life. But do it in a natural and conversational way. Be ready to ask, admire and admit:
Next Time: What does the Bible have to say about our final destination?