It is Monday, Memorial Day. First,
in-store today is to stop and remind ourselves of the high cost of freedom, and
to honor those who died giving their lives that we might keep that freedom. My
thought is to drive to my home town cemetery and take a walk among the graves
lined with flags, read the stones, visit the graves of my relatives who were in
WWII, and Korea. The first order of business in life is “remembering to give
honor where honor is due”.
As we continue to read thru the
New Testament, we come today to Acts 14:1-28. It is the continuing story of
Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey. Read it thru and come back so that
we might think about it some more. And thanks!
When we left Paul and Barnabas on
the weekend, they had made a journey from the southern coast to the interior -
about 100 miles to the city of Antioch Pisidia, a large city in southern
Galatia. They were successful but also - in the end — opposed. Chpt. 13 ended
with:
“...the word of the Lord was
spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of
high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against
Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the
dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were
filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” (13:48-52)
This was to be a pattern soon
repeated in the next cities they journeyed to. The Gospel is a message of
exclusivity - Jesus alone, “is the way, truth, and life, and no one comes to
the Father except through him” (John 14:6). It is the exclusiveness of Jesus
that drives opposition. I’ve heard many a person argue, “how can you say there
is only one way? Look at all of the religions of the earth, are you saying they
are lost because they don’t worship Jesus?” My answer is “I’m not saying
anything like that at all, I’m saying Jesus said so...the Bible says so, and
it’s not my private opinion that makes me say so, but the word of God as truth
that says this.”
Paul and Barnabas went about 90
miles east of Antioch to the city of Iconium. The Romans had built a series of
roadways through their empire to facilitate fast movements of troops - if
needed - and these roadways served as the means for God to spread the Gospel in
the first century. I stood on one of those “Roman roads” once and after 2000
years it was still a walkable path to travel on. The road from Antioch to
Iconium was one of these Roman roads.
As they arrive in Iconium, they
begin the same pattern as in Antioch - go to the synagogue to tell the Jewish
audience and Gentile God-fearers the good news of Jesus Christ. As before “some
believed”, but there were others who did not believe and began to oppose them.
Luke does not tell us what Paul said leaving us with the assumption that his
message didn’t change from what he had said to the people of Antioch.
Luke summarizes their time in
Antioch in the first six verses and specifically in vs 3 with: “they remained
for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of
his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” The “long
time” is not specific, but they continued to share the message of the Gospel
for a period of time, gaining more converts. Without knowing what signs and
wonders they did, we can only speculate; but we soon see an example of it in
the following verses. Perhaps the most interesting note in these verses is
Luke’s reference to Paul and Barnabas as “the Apostles” (vs 4), which might be
the first reference to someone other than the original twelve in early Acts. It
is a testimony to God’s recognition of their leadership and call to carry the
Gospel. An Apostle comes from the Greek word, “Apostolos” and means “messenger”.
Paul and Barnabas eventually got
wind of a plot to stone them and decided it was time to turn things over to
their local converts and leave. They traveled to a region called “Lycaonia” and
to two cities called Lystra and Derbe. It is Lystra that gives us a picture of
Apostolic life - a life that Paul writes about later to the Corinthians and
summarizes as difficult and often physically dangerous. If interested, read 2
Corinthians 11:23-29 for his account.
In Lystra, Barnabas and Paul
encounter the heights of success and the depths of misunderstanding and
opposition. It seems, from reading the text, that there is no Jewish synagogue
in Lystra so Paul began to share his message - most probably - in the open
marketplace which each Roman city was built around - a public square if you can
imagine. At some point Paul “looked directly at” a lame man who had been
sitting there listening to Paul speak. Moved by the Spirit, Paul told him to
“stand up on your feet”. He did. The miracle served as an example of a “sign,
wonder”. It was meant to add to the words spoken, not replace it.
The people of Lystra were
Lacaonian in language - a dialect that was part Greek and part native language.
Paul and Barnabas were - at first - unaware that the crowd speaking in their
native language were convinced that the Greek gods, Zeus and Hermès, were
standing in front of them, and so the crowd began to prepare a sacrifice at the
Greek temple just outside of town. Luke says Paul and Barnabas eventually found
out what was going on and they rushed into the midst of the crowd to stop what
was about to happen.
Paul’s message was simple. We are
only humans like you; but we carry a message of “good news”, “euangelizo”, from
which we get our word, evangel, i.e., the Gospel. His message is that their
attempts to sacrifice to their “gods” are the very reason he shares the Gospel
with them - for these are “worthless things” in comparison to the “living God”
(vs 15).
Paul reminds them that God is the
creator of everything, and sustains the creation with natural elements of rain
and crops that provide them with food to make their lives joyful.
Paul’s appeal stops the false
worship...but probably makes the Lycaonians wonder why Paul and Barnabas do not
embrace the Greek gods as they do? The message Paul preached was not just
informational, it was confrontational - you have to choose which way you are
going to go, you cannot have two Gods. Our God is a “living God” and in Jesus
Christ, God gives life - a life that is eternal life - to all who turn to
Christ as their Savior. To sum up Paul, any other belief system is “worthless”.
Eventually some of the Jewish
opposition from Iconium and Antioch, that had plotted to stone Paul and
Barnabas caught up with them in Lystra. Now they did stone Paul - a form of
Roman execution - and left him as dead; but he was revived, and to my
amazement, he went back into the city! Undeterred, Paul used it as an
opportunity to remind this young church of believers that the Kingdom of God
has a price called hardships and suffering (vs 22).
Barnabas and Paul take another
trek 60 miles southeast to the final city on this trip - Derbe. Luke sums up
their time there in one short sentence: “they preached the Gospel...and won a
large number of disciples”. The late Autumn was upon them and Paul and Barnabas
decided it was time to travel back home instead of trying to figure out how to
winter in this mountainous region. They retraced their steps and stopped in
each place they had established a church in, appointing elders (vs 23) and
“strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith”
(vs 22).
Eventually they retraced their
steps thru all of the cities to the coast in the south where they had first
begun - Perga and Attalia. From there they sailed back to their home town, and
their home church that had commissioned and sent them out. It was probably
November, early December when they stood in front of their church gathering and
shared the stories of their successful mission to the Gentiles in Galatia. Some
believe Paul penned the letter to the Galatians at this time, and some think he
wrote it after the events that would unfold in the next chapter as Paul and
Barnabas defend the conversion of the Gentiles in Acts 15. More on that later.
I’m struck by the simplicity of
the Gospel message and the effects it has on those who become part of the
church. In many ways the pattern is so effective that I don’t understand why
it’s not a pattern for every local church today. The foundation of what causes
a person to become a believer is that Jesus Christ died for their sins and
through belief (trust) in Christ as Savior, their forgiveness of sins is
affirmed. As Paul would later write to the Ephesians, this is “by grace through
faith alone, not of works lest any person should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Yet once a person believes and
comes into the church the process of being a “disciple” of Jesus begins. The
pattern is clear:
1. Vs 22, “strengthen and
encourage them to remain true to the faith”. In a day and time when many people
join churches there seems to be little effort to “teach” what the Christian
Faith is about. Where is the doctrinal foundation that every believer needs?
Where is the preaching and teaching that is doctrinally focused and necessary?
It’s worth our time to read and study with others to get a sound doctrinal
foundation for understanding what our Faith in Christ is all about. Right now I
am reading through a massive theological book written by the great
pastor/theologian - now home with the Lord - Dr. R.C. Sproul - on an exposition
of “The Westminster Confession of Faith”. While it might not be everyone’s cup
of tea, it is a great book for understanding the theological underpinnings of
our Faith.
2. Vs. 23, “appointed elders for
them in each church...”. "The Faith" is to be taught by those who
serve the church as Pastoral leaders. I cannot help but comment that in no
place in Paul’s writings does Paul ever refer to a singular “pastor” for the
church. It is always a group of leaders working together, appointed and
commissioned to be “the church’s elders” that are meant to serve as both the
teachers and the guardians of “the faith”.
3. Vs. 26, a “commitment of
believers to the grace of God”. The language of every believer and the church’s
message is not religious, as if to say, “come to us and learn how to be
religious”. The message of every believer in every church is “come to receive
God’s grace through Jesus Christ, and together we will grow up in him”.
That was the message Paul and
Barnabas returned home to triumphantly share with their own home church. It is
a message I would love to see in every church today...oh that we would Lord.
Peace
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