Perseverance for the Sake of the Gospel

Introduction:

Persecution takes many forms. While many of us in this room will never face a life or death situation for a faith, many of us have probably faced some sort of persecution for our faith whether it be in the form of ridicule from close friends and family to the possibility of losing a job over our beliefs. I believe that persecution can come in such minor ways a people close to you making fun of you for your beliefs, or even losing friends for certain beliefs. Persecution can also come from within the Christian body. We live in a world that pushes acceptance, and when you stand up for your beliefs, those that have a more liberal theology can and more than likely will persecute the more conservative theologically minded Christians.

Paul’s experiences:

Paul experienced persecution for sharing the gospel on many fronts. When he would enter into a city, he would go to a synagogue and share the gospel with the Jews for as long as he could, and eventually he would be run out of town in some fashion, and he would move on to the next town and many times start the cycle all over again. Yet, he never stopped sharing the gospel wherever he went. This morning, we are going to look at one such scene early in the missionary journeys of Paul in which he was stoned and left for dead, and yet he continued to go forward with his calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles. It is through Paul’s ministry that we can see how we, as Christians, can find an enabling strength from the Holy Spirit to persevere in sharing the good news even when we face superstition and opposition.

Acts 14:8–23 ESV

Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that 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. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 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.” Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

How we got here:

Acts can be effectively divided into three sections: The first section being Acts chapters 1-8.3. In this section, we read of Jesus’ direction for His disciples to take His message from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth. We see the focus of the story stays mainly in Jerusalem until 8.3 and the Stoning of Stephen which transitions the narrative into the second section (8.4-12) of focusing on the Judea and Samaria areas and how the gospel begins to spread to the outer lying areas of Jerusalem, and in chapters 13 all the way to the end of the book of Acts, we read the stories of Paul’s missionary journeys that start the gospel being carried to the ends of the earth. Acts then closes with Paul being kept in Rome under house arrest and still able to preach the gospel freely to all those he comes in contact with, and abruptly ends almost leaving the reader hanging, but we can see that even today, the book of Acts and the spread of the gospel continues.

More Specifically in the not too distant past:

If we look back to chapter 12, we see what gets us to this point in the story. James (the brother of John) and Peter are both imprisoned by Herod Agrippa I. James is subsequently beheaded for his faith and ministry, and while Peter is in prison waiting the same fate, the believers at a church house were fervently praying for him, and he is busted out of prison by an angel sent from God. One thing to note about this section of the passage is that even today, we may find ourselves in similar predicaments ith someone else, the outcomes may be different for each of those involved. Just like this situation where James loses his life, yet Peter is freed by God. we can safely say from this that God has different plans for each of our lives no matter ho similar the circumstances my be for us.

Once Peter is broke out of jail, he goes to the house church (those that were praying for him), and when he knocks on the door, they didn’t believe it was him. we learn fro them that even though they were praying for Peter (and possibly James) to be released, they ultimate were praying with no faith because they didn’t really believe it was Peter when he showed up. Here’s a freebie on the application for everyone: when we pray, pray with the expectation that God is going to do something to answer your prayers in some way, shape, or form. This, ultimately ends up being the last time we see Peter until chapter 15 when the council meets ( and we will talk about that next week.) Then we see at the end of chapter 12 where Herod Agrippa is struck dead because he did not give God the glory that rightfully belonged to Him.

As we enter chapter 13, the scene will start to transition into Paul’s first missionary journey. Barnabas and Paul travel back to Antioch which becomes a home base of operations of sorts for Paul in his first and the beginning of his second missionary journey. We read in the first part of chapter 13 where they are worshipping, and the Holy Spirit calls Barnabas and Paul to be missionaries, and in verse three we see their commissioning to be sent out.

From Antioch, Barnabas and Saul (and John Mark) set off for Cyprus. They start to develop a pattern of ministry at this point. When they reach a city, they go to a synagogue and minister there until they are run out. Along their travel, they come across a man named Bar-Jesus. This man was a magician, and he was sent by Sergius Paulus to get them so he could hear what they were preaching. Bar-Jesus opposes them and tired to turn Sergius Paulus away from faith, and Paul struck him with a temporary blindness, and because of that Sergius Paulus came to true faith.

Their next stop was Antioch of Pisidia, and during the journey, John Mark leaves them for some reason, and this will come into play in the second missionary journey that Paul will go on when Barnabas wants John Mark to go along and Paul is adamant about him not joining. Once they arrive in Antioch, they go to the synagogue and he preaches a sermon and presents the gospel which takes up the remainder of chapter 13. Because of Paul’s sermon, the Jews were enraged and they started stirring up the people in the area, and once again the persecution comes on.

Paul and Barnabas move on to Iconium and the same thing happened and so they moved on to Lystra which brings us to the passage we read. Through all of this Paul and Barnabas never gave up, so what does this mean for us?

Divine incidents bring attention to God and believers (vv. 8-10)

In the first part of our passage, we read about Paul healing a man that was lame from birth. The passage states that he “had the faith to be made well” (v. 9). When Paul notices this, in verse 10, he said “in a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet.’” Now this may seem out of place for Paul to say something like that in a loud voice, but the reason why he did it, we he was purposely bringing attention to the matter of the healing. There were many “faith healers” from other religions and also withing the Jews. Many of these healings were never seen by others, and many of them were probably staged, so Paul draws attention to the fact that this man had faith to be healed and healed him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We live in a world full of all kinds of people that perform miracles in deceptive acts in the public arena, and for some reason, we, as Christians, tend to shy away from bringing attention to the works of God in our lives and the lives of others. Now, more than ever, people need to see the acts of God. Sometimes it’s not enough to try and rationalize with others the substance of the gospel, but if those outside of a relationship with God actually see what God can do, it makes a world of difference.

Be careful for confused responses (vv. 11-13)

In the next section of the passage, the people see Paul and Barnabas as gods of their pagan religion. They see Barnabas and Zeus and Paul as Hermes. Basically what we determine from this is that Barnabas comes across as the more mature Christian and as a leader, but Paul was the more vocal of the two and since he was proclaiming the good news of the gospel. The people wanted to immediately worship them as their gods, and they started to attempt to make sacrifices to them.

Sometimes when major things happen in a good way in our lies, people can get them confused. When our lives change from what the gospel does in our lives, people outside of a relationship with God neglect to see the truth and put the perceived success back on us and claim that we have really turned our lives around. We tend to see this a lot with faith healers as well. They become idolized and people celebrate their achievements and what they can do, and when God truly does a work in someone’s life, they miss the real point.

Use those opportunities to share the gospel (vv. 14-18)

Paul and Barnabas were so distraught over this incident and the case of “mistaken identity” that they tore their cloaks. Tearing cloaks was a sign of great distress and anguish because in that time people probably owned only one or two cloaks so when a person tore their cloak, they were distressed enough to give up something they wore on a daily basis. Paul then tells them in verse 15, “Why are you doing these things? We are men just like you,” and then he uses the opportunity to share the true gospel with them, but the downside to this scene was that nobody basically paid attention to them and they just kept on doing what they were setting out to do which was make sacrifices to these two as gods.

When things in our life happen that change the course of our life and when we give those situations proper credit for God working in our lives, those event can, usually will, open a door for a gospel conversation. Just as Paul used this event to share the gospel with others, we are called to do the same thing. People in today’s society are much more eager to respond to a tangible event that is brought about by God than just sharing the message alone. We all have events in our lives that can be connected to the work of God through the gospel in our lives, and we would be remiss if we didn’t share the gospel in those situations.

Be prepared for repeated persecution (vv. 19-23)

Once Paul shared the gospel with the crowd, there were a few that believed, but once again, persecution rose up. This time, Paul was stoned and left for dead, Scripture tells us that the disciples gathered around him and he got up (v. 20). When he got up, he went right back into the city. He went right back into the group that had just stoned him and left him for dead. we can assume that he still shared the gospel with many more people there in the city. The point of this though is that he didn’t give up on the people of the city. He went right back to doing what he was doing.

It takes a person today an average of seven times to hear the gospel before they come to a pint before that can accept it or reject it. That requires staying power. It is a power we can only get from the Holy Spirit. I guarantee you this: under my own power, I would have quit all together had I been stoned and left for dead outside of a city. Form my human side, i would have said, “This just isn’t worth it.” Yet Paul not only returned to the work of the gospel he went back to the city that had just sanctioned a stoning of him for his ministry. Not only did he go back that day, but he returned there on his way back to Antioch. He never gave up on his calling no matter what the circumstances.

Conclusion:

In the early parts of the 20th century, Peter Milne became a missionary. When he was about to go to the mission field, he was going to the New Hebrides. When his group got ready to leave, they bought one-way tickets and packed all of their belongings into a casket because they New Hebrides were known for having vicious groups of headhunters and missionaries would not return from there. In spite of this knowledge, he went anyway. He felt compelled to share the gospel with this tribe of headhunters. Peter served in that mission field in the New Hebrides for more that 50 years. In spite of his knowledge of the possibility of never returning, he went anyway. For many of us, knowing that there is a strong chance of never returning would deter us, but that didn’t stop him. When he died, the tribe buried him and inscribed on his grave stone, “When he came there was no light. When he left, there was no darkness.”

The call to share the gospel is strong. It is compelling. This is what drove Paul to minister in spite of all the hardships he faced. Paul said in 14.22, “Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of heaven,” and he encouraged others to continue in the faith as he did. He set an example of perseverance for all of us to follow. That is a courage that can only come from the power of the Holy Spirit, and Paul surrendered his life completely and totally trusting God for his strength to continue in spite of some very severe persecution for sharing the gospel.

Many of us here today will not face stoning, or even a life or death situation for the gospel, but there are times when we are ridiculed and shamed for our participation in our faith. Do we respond with frustration and just throw our hands up and say, “I can’t do this anymore,” or do we continue on and even go back to the same place that persecuted us for our beliefs? This is a power that only comes from having faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ and believing in the power of the Holy Spirit to empower us to endure those trials.