Acts 13:44-52: Speaking to A Different Audience

On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.

Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “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. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. - Acts 13:44-52

God gives you the audience to whom you should tell his story. Sometimes we miss the right audience because we're so busy looking over their shoulder for the audience that we think we should be sharing God's love to. So me miss it.

Then there's the other problem: clinging to an audience and not recognize God's timing to try something different. We get stuck, sometimes out of an unwillingness to admin failure or a misplaced sense of perseverance-as-virtue or taking loyalty to your original audience too far. It is not always clear to know when to move on.

In Paul and Barnabas' case, they felt that they were obliged to start with their first audience: the Jews. They were both Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. But unlike those who had fled Jersualem with the persecution of Stephen, they were not interested or-even more bluntly-they were opposed to this message.

Now Paul was a good debater and he could have said that he wanted to stick it out and try to convince his fellow countrymen about the good news of Jesus the Messiah. But he and Barnabas took it as a sign to move on to the second audience: the Gentiles. They were aware of God's long-term care for the Gentiles, but had not necessarily considered their part in it.

Their first audience still didn't like them. But the second audience felt "glad" and gave God's word through them respect for God and, in some cases, faith in God. And the second audience grew. 

Sometimes God has give us something to say, about him and about life. We start with the audience we are given, but we also need to be alert for God giving us a chance to speak on his behalf to some we hadn't even considered. Maybe we'd even disqualified ourselves, or not paid enough attention to them, but God had.