How we enter the Kingdom of God

Acts 14:20–23 ESV

20 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. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 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. 23 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.

Today we will come to the end of Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey. The book of Acts will continue to show us how the church was established and sustained through the early years.

But we will not only see how it was sustained through the early years, but in fact how the church continues to be sustained. I believe it is here, at the end of the first missionary journey that we see a glorious truth that has more application for today than we would’ve thought a year ago.

Before we get there, let’s make sure we understand fully what is happening in this text.

Acts 14:20 ESV

20 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.

Last week we saw that Paul was just stoned and dragged outside the city being left for dead. Yet once these new converts gather around him, he springs up and goes back into the city where they just tried to kill him.

The next day they leave for Derbe. This is another city in the province of Galatia, it is about 60 miles away. Most people thin this would take 3 days of walking to get there.

Acts 14:21 ESV

21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,

Now this has to be one of the most uneventful descriptions of their ministry in the whole book of Acts. Before talking about how they go back to the towns where they were just cruelly persecuted at, notice that Luke only describes Derbe as a place where they preach the gospel and make many disciples.

Compared to the extraordinary things that happened in other places this seems almost insignificant, and yet, this is the kind of ministry everyone wants to do for their whole life.

Wouldn’t it be nice if at the end of your life this short sentence was written about you. You preached the gospel and made many disciples. This is normal gospel ministry… But it isn’t.

Think about it… Paul was very badly beaten and had to walk some 60+ miles, and then he preached the gospel, where people repented and believed and became disciples. What he went through to get to the kind of ministry that we all want was not normal, or was it?

In fact for Paul and the early church they believed something so unique about gospel ministry, something that we either fail to believe or don’t often enough preach in order to prepare our people. He shares it in the next verse. But before we get there notice that they are going back to those places where they were treated so badly.

Not many of us would’ve done that, but Paul has a pastors heart to see these new believers not give up, so he is willing to go back to Lystra and Iconium.

Acts 14:22 ESV

22 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.

Now this is huge and where I really want to land, but before we do, notice his motivation for going back to those awful places...

To strengthen the souls of the disciples. To encourage them to continue in the faith. and before we get to that last statement, just think about what it takes for these guys to care enough about Christs’ church and God’s people to be willing to go back into a danger zone to strengthen and encourage people you barely know.

These are new Christians and Paul wants them to continue because he is sure they will struggle, that they will want to quit. That they will be weak at times and their very souls will need to be lifted up. And there is one way he can do this for them… By preaching the gospel to them.

The gospel not only saves us but strengthens us and encourages us.

This is why we need to constantly hear the gospel preached to us. We will never age out of hearing it about the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

When we are weak, we believe that he is strong and was strong enough to take the penalty for our sins upon himself. When we want to quit we remember that Jesus set his face like a flint and never stopped until he made it to heaven where hit now sits at the right hand of the Father. The gospel reminds us that if we are faithless God is faithful, and it encourages us because we do not have to be afraid of God’s judgement since he poured out his wrath on Jesus in our place.

The gospel reminds us that what we face is temporary opposed to the eternal message of hope in Jesus Christ. And that actually is why Paul then makes sure they know this...

We enter the Kingdom of God through many tribulations

The apostle Paul was not telling them this because he had a rough go at it, and the early church didn’t believe this because they took the brunt of persecution as the gospel originally spread through the world. Rather, this is a vital part of the message of the gospel… And we would do well to remember it.

The words here for the phrase many tribulations can also be translated as simply suffering. Through much suffering we enter the kingdom of God. This is not something that people like to talk about now a days, or even acknowledge as being part of God’s glorious plan for his people, and yet this is exactly what Jesus taught us. We need to remember Jesus’ words…

Matthew 5:10–12 ESV

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

He taught that we are blessed WHEN these things happen to us not IF these things happen to us.

But it wasn’t just this one time that Jesus taught us what it would mean to follow him, he gave many warnings about what it would mean to believe the gospel and become a Christian.

Luke 9:23–26 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

For some reason it seems like people have forgotten these words of Christ. Especially in our culture and in these days, we love our autonomy and our rights as citizens so much that we fail to remember that following after Jesus means to forsake all other things and dying unto ourselves.

And now some will say, “Yes, that’s true about our sins and becoming a Christian, but that has nothing to do with living in this world.” But doesn’t it?

Didn’t Jesus suffer and die at the hands of men in earthly authority over him to fulfill God’s plan, in order to save some and see them changed into godly people who would in turn live in a self sacrificial way so that others may hear of this good news and be saved too? But then you say well, that was what Jesus had to do, but not us? Really?!?!

John 15:20 ESV

20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Jesus tells us that we should expect persecution, we should count the cost, and die to self, because we are not above him and we will suffer too.

But this wasn’t just some rare things Jesus taught, rather it was a truth that the early church embraced as part of living this life.

They believed and taught that we should also expect to suffer and indeed look forward to it knowing that we will share in his sufferings and his resurrection power. That knowing him meant suffering for him...

Philippians 3:10–11 ESV

10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Listen to Paul’s language here, that by any means possible… and part of that is to ‘share his sufferings’...

So the key is to understand that suffering is part of the package deal that comes from this life as we live for Christ, but even as Paul encouraged them, let us also be encouraged...

2 Timothy 2:11–12 ESV

11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;

So we never give up as believers who come to expect suffering, because we need to remember that even our suffering cannot compare to glorious gospel truth of an eternity with him safely secured by Christ’ work alone…

But if all this talk of expecting suffering is too much for you to hear, this is where the gospel shines so bright… Because of what Christ did for us when he died in our place for our sin, we not can expect to be treated the way he was when we identify with him, but we are rewarded with his reward eternally… And when we understand that aspect of the gospel, then these sufferings are as Paul describes, momentary affliction that doesn’t compare...

2 Corinthians 4:16–17 ESV

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

So let us not be scared of the suffering through which we enter into the kingdom of God, but see it in light of the glorious gospel.

And when we do, then we see this is not all some sort of special instruction only for those who are in full time vocational ministry, it is written to all believers.

We would do well to listen to Paul’s words to these first believers and remind our hearts of the same this very day.

back to the story, he didn’t just come to share the gospel again and encourage them, but to ensure that they will continue, so look at how the church continues to endure.

Acts 14:23 ESV

23 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.

Paul and Barnabas do not leave these churches without help or leadership, but ensure that there are godly men left to handle the church and care for believers.

Why? Because as Christians enter the kingdom of God through suffering tribulations, they do so under the care of elders.

Elders care for Christs’ church

No church should be left without the care of qualified men who will devote themselves to caring for those people who God has saved. And while we have the Holy Spirit with us all, we still need some to stand up against false teaching, guard the body of Christ from wolves, and protect the believers from any threat they may face, especially their own sin.

But, Elders are not above other Christians as they are Christians themselves, so they should preach the gospel to everyone as they instruct the church to do the same. They evangelize, live godly lives in this world with all the believers. the difference is that they are not new believers, and they aren’t special believers but they are just further down the road of godly living so as to help those who need the church to teach and train them.

But elders will stand before God and answer for those they have under their care, and so they should be appointed with much prayer and fasting as they did here in Acts.

The point is that Paul was not going to encourage them to keep living for Christ without making sure there would be elders to care for those believers in those places. Once that was done, Paul and Barnabas return to their home base.

Acts 14:24–28 ESV

24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, 26 and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 27 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. 28 And they remained no little time with the disciples.

First notice the church was gathered, because thats what a church is, it isn’t a lose collection of random people and it was that they visited from house to house all the believers, but rather they gathered them all together to retell the stories of God’s faithfulness.

Churches are believers that gather together, have elders caring for them, continue to have the gospel preached and taught God’s word, and celebrate all God is doing with his people.

Next notice that Paul and Barnabas give all glory to God for opening the door to the gentiles, and all that God had done with them.

They didn’t say this is what God did to us, but rather, this is what God did with us. That may not seem important but it is a world of a difference between a God that allows suffering to happen TO his people opposed to the God that it WITH his people in suffering.

As we looked at this idea of entering God’s kingdom through suffering, perhaps today you are suffering something in this life beyond what we all feel growing in our society. In some ways we are all starting to suffer for the cause of Christ, so let us be reminded today of this truth and look to God our faithful creator while we do good to display his love to a lost and dying world.

1 Peter 4:12–19 ESV

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Have you put your faith in Christ to be saved from God’s wrath that is coming on those who do not believe? And if you have, then do not be surprised when we suffer all sorts of fiery trials.

Let us also be encouraged from the gospel that saved us as the same truth will sustain us in these times. God is in charge and we can endure all things in this life to his glory as we will one day be with him because of what Jesus has done for us. And this we celebrate!