“Unworthy of Eternal Life”
Text: Acts 13:44-52
5-18-2025
In the name of our risen Lord and Savior, dear friends in Christ. I have to admit, I’m not very good at predicting when you folks are going to laugh at something and when you won’t. It might sound like a funny story to me, and yet you sit there with a blank stare when you hear it. On the other hand, sometimes you folks break out laughing when I wasn’t even trying to be funny. That being the case, I have no idea how you’ll respond to this next statement: It’s a good thing that I’m not God. How about this? It’s a good thing you are not God. The reason being is if you or I were God I can guarantee that the Gospel message would never have been spread throughout the world. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit doesn’t think and plan like us humans. Allow me to explain.
Our first glance at the sermon text might lead us to believe that it’s was a good evangelism plan for Paul and Barnabas to head to the synagogue as soon as they arrived in a town. Who would they encounter there? Mostly Jews who were very familiar with God the Father and the Scriptures of the Old Testament. All you’d really needed to convert them to Christianity would be to teach them about Jesus Christ and fill them in on the Holy Spirit. Compared to the pagan Gentiles, the work of evangelism with the Jews should have been one-third easier, right? That’s what we might think, but that’s not how it turned out. Instead, the seemingly easy target—the Jews—ended up rejecting the Gospel and running these two apostles out of town.
Here’s the crazy part, though. When Paul and Barnabas head to the next town down the road, where did they go first to preach the Gospel? The synagogue! They went back to a potential hotbed of trouble for them. And they didn’t just do it once. They did it over and over again, usually with the same negative response from the Jews. Now if you and I were in charge of planning the preaching itinerary for these apostles it wouldn’t look anything like this, would it? I wouldn’t keep dealing with these stubborn, knot heads. The next time around, I’d avoid the synagogue and go straight to the Gentiles. Why beat your head against the wall with the Jews? And yet this was the Holy Spirit’s plan, and contrary to human reason, it worked.
Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you...” So why did the Holy Spirit have them take the message to the Jews first? Was it because they were more deserving or more worthy? Absolutely not. Over the centuries they had proven that they could be rebellious and obstinate towards God. They had been given God’s word and promises and yet they were constantly disobedient. Keep in mind that it was through the Jews, the descendants of Abraham, that God brought the Savior into the world. They weren’t worthy of this great honor, but by grace God chose them to be His special people for this very special purpose and to be first in line to receive the promises of eternal life.
By grace, God made the Jews worthy of the promise of eternal life. But sadly, they didn’t think this message of salvation was worthy of them. So, the apostles said, “Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” Believe it or not, God used their rejection as part of His evangelism game plan. Not that He wanted them to reject the Gospel. But against all human logic He used their stubborn obstinance to spread the good news.
In Romans chapter 11, Paul explains this unusual evangelism plan. Listen to what he says: “So I ask, did they {the Jews} stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” In other words, Paul hoped that when the Jews saw that the precious gift they had foolishly rejected was now being given to the Gentiles, they’d wake up and seriously desire to have it back.
This is probably a poor analogy, but I hope it’ll help make the point. Nowadays, it seems that kids have more toys than they know what to do with. As many parents can attest, when there is an abundance of toys they get scattered all over the house and yard. So, while the kids are away Mom boxes up a bunch of the toys that aren’t being played with and haven’t been touched for a long time. She plans to give them away to Goodwill or some charity so that a needy child can have them. But what happens when the kids discover that their unused toys have been taken away? Oh... then they want them all back. In a similar but more serious vein that’s what God’s plan was. If the Jews rejected the salvation He was offering, then He would give it to the Gentiles who received it with joy. And hopefully the Jews would say, “Hey, wait a minute! That’s mine! I want it back!” Where my little analogy fails is that salvation is not a zero-sum game. The Jews and the Gentiles could both have it. No one is left out.
You see, neither the Jews nor the Gentiles were worthy of receiving God’s gift of eternal life. As I said earlier, it was purely by grace that it was offered to either group. And that’s true for us too. None of us are worthy to receive this precious gift of salvation from God. But by grace, God has taken all the benefits of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross and offered them to us. By grace, He deemed us worthy to receive it. The question is, will we treat our salvation as the precious gift that it is, or will we despise it and perhaps even reject it like the Jews did? If we do end up rejecting it, then we are no better off than an unbeliever and eternal life is not ours. Instead, eternal death and damnation is our destiny.
You may be wondering: How do people despise and reject God’s salvation today? Well, admittedly, the way we do it is less subtle than the Jews in our text, but it’s just as dangerous. For the most part, in our western world we don’t have groups who chase evangelists out of town. But consider this. In 2023, 68% of Americans claimed to be Christians. In line with that, I can guarantee that if you knocked on every door in Paullina, you’d find that the great majority of people claim membership in a Christian Church here or somewhere nearby. However, the real question is: Do they attend one of those churches regularly? You know the answer.
Just look at our own membership roster and you’ll find proof of that. If a church has more than 30% of their members in worship on a Sunday, they feel pretty lucky. Should we be happy with that, though? Do you remember what we learned in the Catechism about the 3rd Commandment? “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching or His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” Isn’t neglecting to worship a “despising” of God’s Word? It goes deeper than that though. What does it say when we do hear the Word of God but then go out and willfully live contrary to it? Is that not despising God’s Word? Despising God’s Word will ultimately lead to rejecting it and if we reject His Word that leads to rejecting the eternal life promised in it.
Believe it or not, God still uses the same evangelism tactic that He used with the Jews. In our country we don’t have to travel too far to get to a Church. But once we’re here, far too many Christians have their eye on the clock during worship. An hour-long service seems like an imposition. And then a Bible Study or Sunday School on top of that?!? It’s just too much! But did you know that in many foreign countries where mission work is being done, people will walk for hours just to hear God’s Word. If the service only lasts an hour, they’re upset and want more! Their zeal and their attitude towards hearing God’s Word ought to shame us. Like Paul said in Romans, the hope is that we would be envious of that Word of God when we see how joyfully the “Gentiles” are receiving it.
Let’s face it. Our sinful attitudes and sinful actions make us unworthy to receive eternal life. But the good news is that the Holy Spirit is still working in our world today. Through God’s precious Word He calls us to repent of all our sins. As we hear God’s Word we are reminded that none of us is worthy to receive God’s gift of eternal life. But because of His never-ending grace, God still offers us the undeserved forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ. After our Confession He assures us in the Absolution that our sins have indeed been removed and that we are now worthy to receive the gift of eternal life which was purchased for us by Jesus on the cross.
When the Gentiles in our text heard that salvation was now offered to them, “they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord.” That’s the response God wants from all who have been blessed to receive His Word of salvation. As St. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2, God wants “all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” He has made you worthy to receive His salvation through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. May we all hear this good news with glad and grateful hearts, and together, may we honor the Word of the Lord through our Christian living. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!