Observation: Paul and Barnabas continue to tell the good news in Antioch. At first many Jews receive the truth about Jesus as Messiah, but then Jewish leaders become jealous of their popularity and argue against them. It is to this action that Paul and Barnabas reply, and the nature of their reply is telling.
There is a judgment against the resistant Jews, however it is not Paul and Barnabas doing the judging. It is not Yahweh or Jesus doing the judging. It is not even a debate about the truth that is revealing judgment against them. Instead, the Jews are judging themselves, and declaring themselves unworthy of salvation.
Truly this is the issue Paul and Barnabas are addressing ... they are speaking the truth, straight out of scripture, identifying alignment between Jesus and the promised Messiah, and thus the fulfillment of salvation and thus eternal life through faith in the promise, and the Jews are declaring this false. This goes beyond a lack of faith, but rather they are contradicting and therefore rejecting God's Messianic covenant promise. And if a person rejects the validity of that entire covenant, they are well and truly declaring themselves unworthy of receiving the resulting promise.
Application: In this way, the challenge in our lost world - and especially in our lost corner of the U.S. - is not an issue of 'faith in Jesus as Messiah'. Rather, it is the broad rejection of the entire covenant promise of the Lord. However, beyond that, I am a little 'haunted' by this characterization of the condition by Paul and Barnabas ...
Such people judge themselves unworthy.
This is so alarmingly accurate. Over and over, we see people who have fully rejected the Lord and embraced crazy, radical ideals that run opposed to biblical teaching, and over and over we know they have a root-cause issue involving personal pain and suffering, which has left them in a state where they are seeking value and esteem in all the wrong places. They are judging themselves unworthy - and yes, probably because they have been hurt by the world - and turn to the wrong things to find their self-worth and "identity". Just like the Jewish leaders, they decide they want some form of 'attention' from people, instead of the promised love of the Lord.
They declare that, by pursuing this attention, they are fighting against all the forces that have made them feel unworthy. However, the truth is, they are embracing that unworthiness and then seeking value in lesser, worldly places. They do not turn to the loving creator of the universe, to the point that they reject all truth about him, and in their self-judged unworthiness they opt out of his promises. That is a tragedy.
Prayer: Lord, you are the loving father of everyone. Somehow, Lord, may we find a way to serve you by revealing to others that they are worthy of the very best love in the universe, and not just some form of earthly attention. Amen.
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