Through Many Tribulations…

And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Acts 14:27 

Acts 14:1–28– The Story of the Church: Living Into This Drama in the 21st Century
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost – August 15, 2021 (am)
  

From c.13 to c.14 in The Book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas turn a ministry corner that helps us grow in our understanding of gospel life and ministry in our world, still, today. The dissimilarity of their ministry experience in Lystra (8-20a) as compared to Antioch, Pisidia (13:13-52), and even Iconium (1-7), helps us see that there are many approaches to ministering the gospel even though the message itself never changes. But the responses in each city, and even in the combined responses of several cities together, can take such a similar direction here that this passage can also help us see that the sort of heightened opposition they faced back then is still a likely a response to the clear, pure gospel for us today.

Through all this, therefore, we can and should discern that gospel ministry leads us on a faith adventure that is fraught with trials and tribulations—with successes, yes, but also with many sufferings and setbacks—that we might think would be inconsistent with the presence and power of a sovereign, saving God! But they’re not! Rather, He works in them and around them, in spite of them, and even through them, such that these missionaries could even say to the churches they formed: we enter the kingdom of God [only] through many tribulations! (22)

We need to remember this today, when we’re so tempted to think that any opposition at all to gospel ministry, gospel living, couldn’t possibly be okay with God, that it must be the work of the enemy, and that God would surely nullify it, or at least neutralize it, if we were better servants of His—better prayers, more faithful witnesses, or the like. Or worse, we transfer blame. Surely we wouldn’t be facing it if our American government were properly protecting our Constitutional rights—our freedom of religion, of speech!

But we see here that the sovereign, powerful blessing of God can be present in the saving of souls and in gospel-affirming signs and worders right alongside of serious, even brutal persecution of gospel messengers! That’s amazing! It’s also instructive! And hopefully somewhat corrective to us in our day! And not a little bit comforting as well! And the comfort comes not by confirming that we will face persecution, but by assuring us that when we do, we can know that it doesn’t reflect any absence of God!

But let’s just get into the text at this point and walk through it according to the outline we’ve already suggested—not ordered by the flow of the text but more according to the themes we just mentioned. We’ll state our outline as three propositions.

God Is Present with His Messengers, Affirming Their Message

And this proposition is undeniable here! We see it in the opening verse. 1 Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. God was saving people!

Luke has made it clear throughout this history of the church that saving people is God’s direct work. One of the clearest ways he’s said it was in last week’s passage: 13:48 … as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And He appointed a great number of both Jews and Greeks here in Iconium! God’s word was [preached] in such a way that it penetrated their hearts and produced saving faith, just like it had back in Antioch (13:16-41). God is present with His messengers, affirming their message through the saving of souls—the number one way He proves His presence!

Luke records it again (21) in his single-sentence summary of their work in Derbe—they made many disciples there.

But we also see God’s presence and power with these messengers in other ways. How about their attitudes? Remember how they left Antioch last week? The Jews had stirred up [opposition] against Paul and Barnabas (13:50) such that they shook off the dust of their feet against [that city] (51, as Jesus instruction [Luk.9:5]). But they were still filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit (13:52) as they moved on to Iconium. This was the Lord’s presence with them!

And we see it again here, in several ways. Even after feeling some opposition, Luke records that they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord (3). Their attitudes were indomitable! Luke even suggests by the way he puts it here that their [remaining] to [speak] boldly for the Lord was precisely because they were facing opposition—the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles… against the brothers (2). So, they remained for a long time, speaking boldly… (3). The opposition was the reason they stayed! They wanted to un-poison their minds! (2) They wanted to see saving [belief]! Only God can enable such courageous compassion!

We see it again after they had to flee Iconium: 7 … they continued to preach the gospel. We see it in Paul as he was stoned and [left for] dead [outside] Lystra (19)—20 … he rose up and [went right back into] the city, and [spent the night there before] he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. We see it as they traveled through each of these same [cities] on their [return] trip, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to [endure], … saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God, [appointing elders (23). Only God can enable this attitude, this outlook!

But right along with both of these is God’s endorsement of their work with miracles, His backing them up with signs and wonders (3)—non-specific ones in v.3, but the dramatic one that stands at the center of this story in vv.8-10, the healing of this man who could not use his feet, was crippled from birth, and had never walked (8)—a three-fold description of his weakness. These miracles were the affirmation of the Lord, who—and I love the way Luke puts it in v.3—bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. God is present with His messengers, affirming their message. Even so…

God’s Messengers Face Persistent Opposition in Their Work

Side-by-side with this dramatic enabling and affirmation is almost unimaginable suffering! The Jews who heard Paul’s exposition of OT promise and fulfillment were so agitated that they weren’t satisfied just expressing their disapproval or disinviting [him] and Barnabas to their synagogue, they stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against [these two] (2) to the point where they wanted to mistreat them and stone them! (5)

And let’s not rush past this too quickly: unbelieving Jews [stirring] up the Gentiles (2). They sided with the Gentiles against the Christians! We’ve been told that there’s no religious/ethnic/cultural divide in history like the Jew/Gentile divide. But the Jews in first-century Iconium hated Christians even more than pagan Gentiles!

And this took place with the [apostle] Paul on his first missionary journey! Why do we suppose that those who’ve carefully fashioned their own religious beliefs today would respond any less violently to a dismantling of those beliefs than these first-century Jews responded? People don’t like to be confronted with truth claims that expose their beliefs to be lies! And the more deeply they treasure those beliefs, the harder it is for them to let go of them and embrace something profoundly different!

And that response is seen in stunning ways here in our text. These unbelieving Jews who conspired with Gentiles in Iconium were not even satisfied when Paul and Barnabas fled to the smaller, lesser important cities of Lystra and Derbe in the neighboring region of Lycaonia (6) here in the province of Galatia (Stott 229-230). They followed them there, some 20 miles southwest of Iconium! (Polhill 2008) And it wasn’t just the [Iconian] Jews who did this! They were joined there by Jews from Antioch (19), which was nearly [a] hundred miles northwest of Iconium! (Stott 228) These folk were serious! They hated this gospel message, and its messengers! And they were determined to stamp out both!

One additional element of this conspiracy of unbelieving Jews and Gentiles that’s interesting. They were able to turn the [Lystrans] against Paul and Barnabas almost on a dime! They went from believing these two were gods—Zeus and Hermes, their chief [god] and his [spokesman] (11-13)—to joining in the [stoning] Paul! (19) There had been a local legend, narrated by the Latin poet Ovid, that told of Jupiter and Mercury (the Roman equivalents of the Greek Zeus and Hermes) [visiting] this area disguised as [mortals] and blessing any who showed them hospitality (Stott 230-231; Longenecker 933-934). So, in addition to having a temple of Zeus at the entrance to [their] city (13), these folk were motivated to honor any visiting deity! But they could also be quickly persuaded otherwise!

Two quick things before moving on: first, we believe that the [Lycaonians] were uneducated people (Marshall 933), likely even illiterate (Stott 231), and surely superstitious. But Paul was still able to speak the gospel on their level. This is significant, I believe. So, we’ll come back to it in a moment.

And second, it would’ve been nice if Paul and Barnabas could’ve understood the Lycaonian language here! Clearly this situation got as out-of-hand as it did (11) because the language barrier allowed for momentum to be generated toward [sacrificing] to Zeus and Hermes before Paul and Barnabas realized what was happening! So, just a note for those who want to make the gift of tongues normative: even when God was affirming His message and messengers with signs and wonders, He didn’t give the gift of tongues just in order to skirt opposition or avoid misunderstandings! There was a purpose for that gift and, obviously, this scenario didn’t fit into that purpose!

True Messengers Sense No Incongruity in This Scenario

They really didn’t seem to struggle with it at all! When Paul was left for dead outside of Lystra (19), he didn’t wake up and wonder, why is God doing this, or allowing it? He just rose up and [went back into] the city! (20) This was part and parcel of his work!

[He] and Barnabas did a similar thing on their return trip. They didn’t avoid different areas based on the fact that they’d faced persecution there. Rather, they [returned through] Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and [teaching them] that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God! (21)

Really, each of the examples we listed earlier that show their positive attitude could be repeated here as evidence that they [saw] no incongruity [between] God [being] present and affirming of their [work] and their [facing harsh] opposition in that work—their joy as they left Antioch (13:52), their [boldness] with the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles (2-3). They faced the same opposition Jesus faced in His earthly ministry, and they seemed to understand that this was just par for the course! In fact, as they returned to their home church and reported, they described all this as an [open] door of faith to the Gentiles! (27)

But there’s one more thing I want us to see that was also par for the course. They communicated with everyone they met according to their need and their experience, their ability to understand and perceive the presence and power of God, His grace and salvation. You remember how deep Paul went into the themes of promise and fulfillment as he preached at the synagogue in Antioch? (13:16-41) But here, look how he addressed these uneducated Gentiles in Lystra. He meets them right where they are. As he introduces them to the ways they can see and know of God’s presence and power, he doesn’t take them to OT texts. Rather, while they were pursuing their pagan worship rituals, he said to them: 15 “… you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, much like he’ll say later on the Areopagus in Athens (17:24). 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. He really didn’t, but it could seem to them like He did. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” It’s God who does all this! In the midst of all the trial and hardship of life in this troubled world, Paul and Barnabas don’t just recognize that there’s no incongruity between the [presence] of God and [suffering] for them, they represent this same deep truth even to these unlearned [Lystrans] as they were introducing them to this living God!

Conclusion

This should be especially helpful to us today. Not only can we learn from Paul and Barnabas’ whole experience here in Acts 14—each facet of it, as we’ve seen this morning—we can especially appreciate the sensitive and listener-shaped way they expressed gospel truth here. [You guys, turn to the actual] living God, who made [the whole world you’re living in and even seems to let you use it for no cost at all! He shows you His presence and power and benevolence each time it] rains [on your crops and they grow! Each time you have a good meal or enjoy any sort of] gladness[, He’s behind it!] You wont get that from Hermes or Zeus or anyone else in your pantheon of gods!

Translate that for today and we might say something like: People, look around you! See how the world works. By the very complexity of its interconnectedness you know it must’ve been designed by One Whose intelligence is on a wholly different level than ours! But because it’s understandable to us, and so perfectly suited not just to our survival but to our satisfaction and our thriving, this intelligent God must be favorably disposed toward us!
  See also that every species that depends on a coupling to reproduce has the built-in capacity to do so! And for human beings, our emotions are even linked into this coupling process such that love is the best word to describe our joining! That can’t be accidental!
  And notice also that human beings come with different skin colors even though their inherent qualities are all identical! Surely it makes no sense, then, for one color of people to seek advantages over another for any reason at all. In fact, that wouldn’t even make sense!

And on and on we could go, talking to our world today about all the ways this God, Whom they don’t know, is actually showing Himself all around them as the Designer, the Creator, even the Savior of the very world they’re inhabiting, the very world in which He’s allowing them to live seemingly free of charge!

And as they grow interested, we can inform them that they don’t live here free of charge at all. In fact, they owe this loving, benevolent, creating, saving God their undivided allegiance! They were made to reflect His glory! And if they choose to use the life He’s given them to pursue their own glory, they will be discarded in the end and never have the privilege of knowing Him personally, or of experiencing His cleansing, or of entering into the joy of relationship with Him and with His people right here and now, and also, then, in the eternal future He’s prepared for us where we’ll finally be free of all this evil and opposition and unbelief!

We can learn from Paul and Barnabas here at the end of their first journey just what it’s like to be people of the gospel, and also how we can go about proclaiming and defending it in our present day, enjoying the presence and affirmation of God even as we experience the opposition Jesus and His apostles and servants have experienced before us.

We need to consider the fact that some of the direct challenges to Christian belief, to gospel living, in our day provide the very context for our gospel witness! Beliefs that fly in the face of truths that God has built-in to the very fabric and fibers of this world, that are visible to all, even to those who don’t believe in Him. The existential emptiness of same-sex marriage, the disturbing absurdities of fluid gender, the blind arrogance of racial prejudice, and the thinly disguised reversal-of-justice that we call Critical Theory—each of these is just part of the push-back of this fallen world against the liberating truths of the gospel in our day! Like polytheistic mythology was for the Greeks back in Paul’s day (c.14), and like a suffering Messiah was for the Jews (c.13), these are just obstacles to the gospel that conspire to try to shout it down in our day like each of those obstacles tried in theirs.

And just like the Spirit equipped Paul and Barnabas to address those issue in their day, He equips us to do the same in ours—no hateful, red-faced shouting at the unbelievers in our day, or even any complaining about how bad things are as we converse in our Christian huddles, but honestly engaging with neighbors and friends who exhibit the same sort of self-important stubbornness that Paul and Barnabas encountered in the Jews, or the sort of uninformed ignorance that they faced in the Gentiles. What we see here in Acts 14, on the heels of Acts 13, is that the Spirit can enable both of these in us!

He can enable pleasant, insightful affirmations of God’s presence and power in our world, just like Paul referring to His sending rains and enabling gladness (17).

We can do things as simple expressing our thankfulness to God for the rains, or for the sunshine! We can just mention our spouse with fond affection, or make reference to our sons and daughters. We can speak kindly to anyone whose skin is a different color than ours and, as we do so in faith, believing that God has placed this opportunity before us; as we do so in intentional obedience to His word, that is a beginning!

But there we need to end today…

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Resources

Beale, G. K. and D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Acts, by I. Howard Marshall, 513-606. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Beveridge, Henry, ed. Commentary upon the Acts of the apostles, vol. 1, by John Calvin. Translated by Christopher Featherstone.

Bruce, F. F., ed. 1988. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The book of Acts, revised, by F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Acts, by Conrad Gempf, 1066-1114. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Dockery, David S, ed. 1992. New American Commentary. Vol. 26, Acts, by John B. Polhill. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on Acts, 2073-2156, by John B. Polhill. Wheaton: Crossway.

Longman III, Tremper and David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Acts, by Richard N. Longenecker, 665-1102. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Morris, Leon, ed. 1980. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 5 Acts, by I. Howard Marshall. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Stott, John, ed. 1990. The Bible Speaks Today. The Message of Acts, by John Stott. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

NEXT WEEK: No Distinction Between Us and Them, Acts 15:1–35