Acts 14:1-28 (January 14, 2024)

And then when you turn in your Bible to Acts 14, while you're turning there, I'll tell you a quick story. When we lived in Turkey, I had a friend that lived on the other side of the mountain from us. The family's name was the Clarks.

One day, while working in the kitchen, kind of looking out of her window, my friend's wife just kind of gasped in shock and horror. And she called her husband to come near, and so he came over, and they looked out, and they saw between their apartment building and the local village, they saw their 11-year-old son, and there's a group of young men, young boys who had gathered around him.

They were a group known in the neighborhood as the Rough Uncles, kind of a neighborhood.

Gang.

And they had gathered around their 11-year-old son, and the boy closest to their son had a rock in his hand, and it was locked and loaded. It was ready to throw at their 11-year-old son. A few minutes later, the boy lowered the rock, and their son hurried home, and he came inside their apartment, and they embraced him, they hugged him, and my friend's wife, you know,.

Just, you know, asked him, you know, what happened?

And so he told him, he said, the Rough Uncles, they knew that he was a foreigner, they knew he was American, they assumed that he was a Christian. And so they asked him, they said, you know, do you believe that Jesus is God's son who died on the cross?

And the boy answered, yes. And they were enraged, and they threatened him with stoning, and his mom was like, whoa,.

What did you do?

And he said, I told them that I wasn't afraid of them. I told them that they could kill me, but it didn't matter, because I would just end up in heaven anyway. And the boy didn't throw the rock. Open your Bibles to Acts 14, we continue our series through the book of Acts, and I want to begin towards the end of this story, and read one line from verse 22, where God's word says we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.

We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. My friend's son that day, he had a little tribulation, one that threatened to be a big tribulation for him and his family. In our passage today, we're going to read about opposition that Paul and Barnabas faced on their missionary journeys as they were out preaching the gospel.

In fact, Paul was not only threatened with stoning, Paul was stoned, left for dead. And so in this passage today in Acts 14, I want us to see what Job saw, that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, Job 5 .7.

I want us to see what Paul saw, that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, 2 Timothy 3 .12. I want us to see what our Lord Jesus saw in John 15 .20, where he says, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, we should not be surprised by opposition. We should not be surprised by threats.

We should not be surprised by persecution or hardship or troubles or challenges. This is life in a fallen world. But what I want you to see this morning is that in this fallen world, God provides hope and God provides help as we go through the tribulations and trials and troubles of life.

Before we get to that part, I want us to read about Paul's troubles on his missionary journey. So let me read verses 1 -7 of Acts 14. Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews.

And so spoke that a great multitude, both of Jews and of the Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. Therefore they stayed a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

But the multitude of the city was divided, part sided with the Jews, part with the apostles. And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Laconia, and to the surrounding region.

And they were preaching the gospel there. This is the word of God to us this morning. And in this passage we see that Paul and Barnabas faced opposition in Iconium. Their opposition arose because of the effectiveness of their preaching.

We see that in verse 1. They so spoke that a great multitude, both of Jews and Greeks, believed. And because the great multitudes believed, the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the Christians.

And so at this point there's this propaganda war going on in Iconium against the church. There's lies, half-truths, character assassination, a smear campaign against Paul and Barnabas and the disciples there.

Anything that they can do to turn the Gentiles from the faith, to turn the Gentiles from believing the gospel. In this way they are very much like Elemas the sorcerer that we saw last week in Acts 13.

One thing we can learn from this is that the presence of conflict or the presence of opposition does not necessarily mean that we've done anything wrong. It's not an absolute indicator of unfaithfulness, the fact that there's some conflict or opposition.

In fact, faithful living and bold preaching will almost always bring us into conflict with the unbelieving world. One sin that plagues Christians in our age is that of being conflict-averse. We'll do anything to avoid conflict and opposition, anything including shutting your mouths and letting the wicked have free reign, anything including saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.

Now it's called being conflict-averse a sin. What do I mean by that? I'll tell you, it's a form of cowardice, which is named as a sin in the Bible, one that is especially shameful for men, because the Bible tells us to quit ourselves like men, being strong and courageous, and not fearing the backlash of opposition to faithful Christian living and faithful gospel proclamation.

The opposition in Iconium that Paul and Barnabas face, it ended up having the opposite effect than intended by their opponents. See that in verse 3, it says, therefore they stayed there a long time. See, their opponents meant to drive them away.

Their opponents meant to silence them, but they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

So when faced with opposition, they were not scared into scattering or silence, but they stayed a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord. God blessed their word, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands, giving witness and authentication to the message that they are preaching, but the city is divided.

Some Gentiles join the Jews, some join the apostles. And so what's interesting to me here is that you have this conjured up, counterfeit Jew Gentile community that Satan's conjured up. This counterfeit Jew Gentile community that is there to oppose the work of the apostles and oppose the work of the gospel, to oppose the work of the true Jew Gentile community.

So Christ had torn down the walls between Jew and Gentile and formed this new community in Himself, the Christian church. But here, Jew and Gentile unite to oppose Christ's community. So much of Satan's work is to counterfeit the true work of God, to take what is true and hollow it out and wear it as a skin suit and completely alter its meaning so as to make it false.

So for example, Islam is a counterfeit Christianity. Critical social justice is a counterfeit Christianity. Egalitarianism is this counterfeit Christianity. So much of what Satan does is to counterfeit the true work of God.

He doesn't come up with new ideas, he steals God's ideas, twists them, perverts them and turns them into something that opposes the truth. That's what we see here. This counterfeit community then turns violent against Paul and Barnabas and makes plans to stone him.

But this time they don't stay, they flee. They leave Iconium. So does this mean they were being cowardly?

Well no.

Conditions had changed. Being courageous doesn't mean that you throw out all prudence. So throughout the Bible we have examples of godly men staying put in the face of opposition and throughout the Bible we have examples of godly men fleeing life-threatening danger.

And so we have an example of both of those here in the very first paragraph of Acts 14. When conditions changed such that the opposition went from ideological and social to physical danger they left. They were under no obligation to subject themselves to abuse and so they left and they were not cowardly to do so.

In fact they were persisting in their work, as verse 7 tells us, and they were preaching the gospel there when they went to the surrounding cities. They kept up what they were doing, preaching the gospel.

Let's read about it. Because in Lystra, the next place where they went, they faced idolatry, 3 verses 8 -18. And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked.

This man heard Paul speaking, Paul observing him intently, and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand up, straight on your feet. And he leaped and walked. Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lyaconian language, These gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.

And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priests of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.

But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard this, they tore their clothes, ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, who preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their ways.

Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without a witness, in that he did good, gave his rain from heaven in fruitful seasons, filling our heart with food and gladness. And with these sayings, they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to.

Them.

One thing that we see here first is that Paul, he performs this miracle. He heals this lame man in the name of Jesus. You might remember Isaiah chapter 35. Isaiah prophesied of a time that was coming when the lame shall leap like a deer, prophesying of the time of the Messiah.

And then we read in the gospels where Jesus healed several paralyzed men, he made them to walk, even to leap. And then earlier in Acts, in Acts 3, we see Peter picking up the mantle in the ministry of Jesus.

And what does he do? He heals a paralyzed man so that he can walk. And then now, Paul picking up the mantle in the ministry from Peter, heals a lame man and makes him do what Isaiah prophesied about, makes him leap and walk.

And so one thing we learn here is that Paul is continuing the ministry of Jesus. Jesus is acting through Paul. But the Lystrans do not understand this. They see the miracle and they think that Paul and Barnabas must be gods walking among them.

They think that they're Hermes and Zeus. And so they begin to worship them and make sacrifices to them. Now Paul and Barnabas at first, they don't really understand what's going on. Because the Lystrans are speaking their native language instead of Greek when they're doing.

This.

And so they're not really catching on at first, but it doesn't take long to figure out what they're doing. And as soon as they figure it out, what do they do? They tear their clothes as a sign of grief.

They tear their clothes as a sign of rebuke. And they begin to preach repentance. Turn from these useless things to the living God. Turn to the God who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything that is in them.

This is opposed to this kind of native pagan religion, which would have, which one would have worshipped the created things in heaven and on earth and in the sea. And Paul says, no, no, no, don't worship the created things.

Worship the Creator. Turn from the useless things to the living God. Then he highlights the mercy and the generosity of God who sends the rains and gives fruitful seasons, filling their heart with food and gladness.

Yet even in that statement, he is contradicting their pagan religion because pagan religion would have, you know, you would attribute the harvest to the fertility gods and to the.

Sun.

And Paul is saying, no, it comes from God. What we know from James 1, every good and perfect gift comes down to us from the Father of lights. In other words, Paul confronts their idolatry and he tells them to turn from it.

But it doesn't click. Even with saying all this, they can scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to.

Them.

They still want all for sacrifices. They give their Zeus and Hermes. You see, these are pagans and they can only fit what they see into their preconceived view of the world. World full of idols, false gods.

It's this world they need to be delivered from. And so at this point, the ministry in Lystra is frustrating for Paul and Barnabas, I would.

Imagine.

It's not yet dangerous.

That's going to change.

Let's read verses 19 through 20. Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

You see, Jews from Antioch, Jews from Iconium followed Paul. They tracked him down, trying to put a stop to his work. They so opposed him. And they come stirring up trouble, trying to persuade the multitudes in Lystra to stone.

Paul.

And so one thing that we see here is the power and the fickleness of mobs. Multitudes of people. Mobs are dangerous. Mob mentality is dangerous. And so we need to be aware of this reality so that we can be sober minded, what the Bible calls being sober minded.

So we don't get caught up in this mob mentality. You see what happened in Lystra. One minute they want to worship Paul and Barnabas. They want to sacrifice oxen to them. They want to place garlands around their necks.

They want to worship them and the next minute they want to kill him. Mobs are fickle. We need to be sober minded so we don't get caught up in mob mentality. Another reason is we need to be aware that mobs can turn on us.

That's what happened to Paul.

They stoned him.

They left him for dead outside the city.

But he wasn't dead yet.

And once the mob dissipated, he went back into the city and then he continued on to Derbew. And that brings us to verses 21 through 28. Let me read these. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.

So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Atalia. From there, they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

Amen.

This is God's word to us, all of us, in the remainder of our time together. I want us to focus on verses 22 and 23. See, Paul and Barnabas, they had gone to Derbe, they had preached there, they had made many disciples.

Then they made their way back to Antioch to report to the church on all that God had done through them, how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And on their way back to Antioch, they make stops in Lystra, they make stops in Iconium.

In other words, they go back to the places where they faced opposition, they went back to the places where they had been stoned and left for dead. And they go to visit the disciples there to strengthen their souls, to exhort them to continue in the faith, saying, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.

Why don't you think about these disciples for just a minute. We think about Paul and Barnabas, they're kind of front and center, right? I mean, they're the ones who are preaching, they're the ones who kind of draw the ire of the opposition, the brunt of the mob's persecution.

But these disciples, they incited with Paul and Barnabas. And this was their home, they were Lystrans, or they lived in Iconium. This was their home, they weren't leaving, and they incited with the troublemakers.

They incited with the preachers. Now Paul and Barnabas may have satisfied the mob's fury such that the fever pitch of it had dissipated. But you don't think the people in Lystra and Iconium knew who had taken up with the troublemaking preachers?

You don't think they knew who had disturbed the peace and who incited with them and set.

The city on edge?

They don't know who had turned their backs on Hermes and Zeus and the pantheon of God such action that could, according to their belief system, would bring down wrath on the whole city? Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, and sparks of trouble are flying all over the place for these believers.

And it's not just opposition for their faith in Jesus and their loyalty to Jesus that they face, so that is the acute most pressing thing at this moment, but then you add in just all the normal challenges and troubles of life in a fallen world.

The fact that you've got to work hard to provide food to eat. A world where there's illness, broken relationships, death of a loved one, disappointment over failed plans, whatever it is. Life can be really hard, right?

You know this too, don't you? You have troubles and tribulations. You have hardships and challenges. You've been disappointed. You've been betrayed. You've had things happen in your life that you never would have written into your story had you been asked.

You've suffered unspeakable tragedies, and that way we're like the disciples in Lystra and Derby. We need to be exhorted to continue in the faith, like a coach that won't let his team give up in the fourth quarter when they're tired and they're hurt and nearly out of breath and they're ragged.

And the coach says, don't stop now.

We're almost there. Victory is within our grasp. It's just around the corner. Don't give up. Never ever give up.

You can do this.

You just need a little more.

Dig down.

Keep going.

A good coach does that, right? He exhorts his team to continue. Brothers and sisters, the kingdom of God is just around the corner. It's just a little while till heaven, till your faith will be sight, till you see and behold the face of Jesus, the glory of God in the face of Jesus, till you hear, well done, my good and faithful servant.

Enter now into the joy of your master. It's just a little while.

Keep going.

We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God, but we're in Christ. We will enter. We're going to make it, so continue in the faith. That's interesting to me that the very next verse, verse 23, it says that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church.

They prayed with fasting and then they commended them to the Lord. You see, Paul wasn't staying with them. He wasn't staying in Lystra. He wasn't staying in Derbe. He wasn't staying in Iconium. He's headed back to Antioch, but he wasn't staying there either.

I'm sure they would have loved Paul to stay, to keep strengthening their souls, to keep exhorting them in the faith, to keep reminding them of the things that were true. I mean, it's not like their troubles or their tribulations were over.

They're still there in that city and they still got opposition.

Paul's going away.

I bet it's kind of like how the disciples felt about Jesus, how they wished Jesus would have stayed. But Jesus said what? He said, it's better that I go and send the Holy Spirit. So he ascended to the heaven.

He sends the Holy Spirit. Jesus went away, but he sent the Spirit. Jesus went away, but he gave the apostles. And here the apostle is going away, but he's leaving behind elders to continue the ministry in the churches.

We said earlier that in this fallen world, God provides hope and God provides help for the troubles of life. The hope is the glory that is to be revealed. The hope is the hope of heaven, the kingdom of God, the place where every tear will be wiped away, where every sad thing will become untrue.

The hope is that Christ has defeated Satan, sin, and death, that Christ has overcome the world and that in him we too shall overcome. But what about the help, especially in the meantime? What we see in verse 23 is that God gave elders.

I'll make a few quick notes here. One is that in the New Testament, the word translated as elder, overseer, or pastor, there are three terms that are used interchangeably to refer to the same office in the church.

And so an elder is an overseer, is a pastor. Three words highlighting maybe different aspects of the role or the ministry, but three words that refer to the same thing.

That's the first thing.

In our tradition, we typically just use the word pastor. And so when you see these other words in the scriptures, just use your concept that you know of as pastor. Think pastor. Second thing to note here is that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church.

And so the New Testament pattern is shared leadership such that authority, responsibility, and ministry is never bottlenecked in one man. Now there's a lot more we could say there that would be fun to track down in how it relates to church practice.

That would be a little bit further afield from our text here. Maybe we can track some of that down, follow up on a Wednesday night. I invite you to Midweek Family Fellowship. But for now, I want us to focus on the fact that Paul was going away, that people he loved and cared for that belonged to Christ, they were going through hardship and opposition, and his solution was to appoint pastors in the churches.

Why?

Because the elders, pastors, would take up the mantle of strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and reminding them that we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.

And so a pastor does a lot of different things. Some things are more important than others. One of the most important things that a pastor does is helping his people along towards heaven. Is helping his people along towards heaven by prayer and the word to strengthen your souls.

To exhort you to continue in the faith. Life's so hard sometimes, right? The temptation is to find help in a thousand different places. The temptation is to lose heart, to give up, to depart from the faith, because it all just seems to be too much.

Or maybe God forgot about me, or maybe God doesn't care about me, or maybe it was all a lie, or maybe I just kind of used this religion thing as cope, and it doesn't seem to help.

Anymore.

And in those temptations, it's my job to be right beside you. Weeping with those who weep. Reminding you of the things that are true. Strengthening your soul with the word of God in a listening ear. Being like that coach, saying don't give up.

You have the spirit of God. You can do this. You can endure just a little bit longer. Heaven's just around the corner. Keep the faith. Continue in the faith. We're almost there. We're almost home. We're going to make it.

You're going to make it. Maybe you're going through hardship right now. Maybe you're facing opposition because of your loyalty to Jesus. The HR department's just kind of bearing down. Maybe somebody's betrayed you.

Maybe sickness or something else has taken someone from you that you love. Maybe money's tight and you're just worried. I want to just take the last few moments that we have together and I want to strengthen your souls with a few reminders from God's word.

And my prayer is that it will be a comfort to you and it will be nourishment for your soul. Psalm 119 .68. God is good and he does good. Hold fast to the truth that God is good and he does good. Genesis 50 .20.

What others meant for evil against you, God means for good. And that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8 .28. Jeremiah 32 .17. That God has made the heavens and the earth by his great power and outstretched arm.

There is nothing too hard for God. Nothing that you face is too hard for God. It's often too hard for us. Lean into the outstretched arm of God. Nothing is too hard for him. Remember Matthew 6 .31 -33.

Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And here's the promise. And all these things will be added unto you as well. 1 Peter 5 .7. Cast your cares on God because he cares for you. Matthew 11 where Jesus says Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Psalm 46. Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear. Though the earth gives way. Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea.

Though its waters roar and foam. Though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. The holy habitation of the Most High God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.

God will help her when the morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. He utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come behold the works of the Lord.

How he has brought desolations on the earth. How he makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Brothers and sisters The God of Jacob is your fortress. No matter the tribulations that you face.

And I know in this very room There are tribulations that you have faced That are incredibly heavy. The God of Jacob is your fortress. I want to end with the words of our Lord. In this world you will have tribulation.

But be of good cheer. Other translations have it. Take heart. I have overcome the world. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven. We know that in this world we will have troubles. We will have tribulation.

Some of it may be In opposition to you. Because of our faith in and loyalty to you. Some of it may be life in a fallen world. Some of it may be the result of our own sin. Some of it may be the result of sin against us.

Whatever it is we know that we face Troubles and trials and tribulations. We also know Christ has overcome the world. Lord I pray that these things will be a comfort to us. Lord for those who are in this room Who are currently facing trials and tribulations.

Will you strengthen their souls With these truths from your word Will you strengthen their souls By your Holy Spirit. Will you uphold them with your mighty right hand With your outstretched arm By which you created all things.

By which we know that there is nothing too hard for God. And Father will you help us along towards heaven. Will you help us to remember Heaven is just around the corner. Will you help us to remember that life is a vapor.

Will you help us to remember To keep our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. And Father will you help us to continue in the faith That we must through many tribulations Enter the kingdom of God.

But we will by the grace of God. And because of Jesus Christ We will enter the kingdom of God. And you are making all things new.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.