No Good Deed Goes Unpunished?

Acts 14 is where we are studying this evening as we continue our series First Church - a series that looks at the historical events of the early church.

The tile of the message is a bit… different. It might even come off as negative. The title for tonight’s message is No Good Deed Goes Unpunished? And yes… the question mark is intentional.

First off… does everyone understand the idea that this phrase attempts to communicate? Due to the cruelty, ignorance, or selfishness of the world or others, one's good deeds or good intentions will often result in more trouble than they are worth.

An example of this might look like this: Janet walks up to Bill and says, “I helped my husband this week by cleaning out the gutters on the house. Now he has me doing all kinds of repairs around the house.” Bill then responds by saying, “I guess no good deed goes unpunished.”

But what would this phrase have to do with the first church? What spiritual significance does it have in our operation as a church and effectiveness in our ministry?

As highlighted in the explanation of the phrase… this world can be cruel. This world operates according to a secular worldview - a worldview that is selfish, often ignorant, and even corrupt. This world is struggling to navigate through the harsh reality brought upon it by sin.

The church… the church has been commissioned by Jesus Christ be be doers of good deeds - deeds that benefit others. Deeds that bring honor and glory to our heavenly Father. Deeds that communicate His love, His truth, and lead people back to Him.

There are times in which the world responds to such deeds in a positive way! But then there are times… when the response is not exactly what we expected it to be. But the main point I want to make clear tonight is this: No matter how the world responds… the church must remain faithful in doing the good deeds of the Father.

As we are moving through the book of Acts, we are studying Scripture where Paul and Barnabas are on a missionary journey. Acts 13 tells of how they set apart under the instruction of the Holy Spirit, and after fasting, praying, and following the laying on of hands, they were sent off.

They moved throughout the region while guided by the Holy Spirit to bring the gospel message to all who would hear. And the responses varied as the gospel was proclaimed.

But in our story tonight… it would certainly seem that afore mentioned proverb, no geed goes unpunished, certainly applies! As we break this story down, we are going to look at the good - the good deed specifically, the bad - the initial response, and then the ugly - the all out life and death situation that results.

The Good - Paul and Barnabas Continue the Work of the Lord

Acts 14:8 is where we pick up the story. It reads, “In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

In this region… it appeared that everything was getting off to the right start! The Spirit of God had brought them to a place where they encountered a crippled man who had never walked. And while the miracle of his physical healing is worth noting… something even more powerful took place.

Verse 9 indicates that Paul saw the man had faith to be healed. The man’s faith was NOT placed in Paul but was placed where? In Jesus. He listened to the message and believed. And he did so in such a way that his faith was observable to Paul. Paul could see the man believed! For me… this is the GREATEST MIRACLE of the moment - a heart was set free by the gospel message of Jesus Christ!

And once the faith was established… the physical healing took place. In response to Paul telling him to stand up, the man JUMPED UP and began to walk.

God took care of the physical problem this man faced. Whatever had caused him to not be able to walk had been miraculously healed.

God also helped him to take those first steps. We know this because the man had never walked before in his life! And yet Acts 14 clearly states he began to walk.

So… think of all that God did to make this a possibility. The muscles in his legs would have been underdeveloped. His balance not refined. But God enabled this man to walk.

What we see happen here is a spiritual and physical healing take place all because the man placed faith in Christ after hearing the gospel message. THIS IS A VERY GOOD THING!

When something like this happens… the word begins to spread very quickly. A crowd had witnessed what took place and they were amazed.

But here is where the ignorance of the world became a problem in this instance… the crippled man believed so much so that Paul could see his faith in some way… the crowd was beginning to believe… but their belief was misplaced.

The crowd failed to connect the miracle with the message. The crowd failed to see Christ. All they could see was a once crippled man now walking down the street.

In this moment… the crowd began to fill in the place. They began making connections with what happened to what they knew in their minds.

The Bad - The Crowd Gave Credit to the Wrong god.

The Greek culture was deep in this city. it was all the people had known and when they witnessed a miracle… it’s where their minds immediately went. “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. (Acts 14:11-13).

Credit was given to Zeus and Hermes. In fact, they thought Barnabas was Zeus and Paul was Hermes! The crowd believed this so much that the priest of Zeus began prepping to sacrifices for these guys!

This was NOT the response I’m sure that Paul and Barnabas had in mind! The crowd gave credit to the wrong god and in fact… Zeus and Hermes weren’t even real gods!

Paul and Barnabas quickly try to turn the situation around. They began by saying in verse 15, “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.”

And even with the extended explanation the two missionaries had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

They had witnessed a miracle… but they failed to connect that miracle to Jesus Christ. They, instead, connected what they saw with what they had known. THEY FAILED TO BELIEVE.

Verse 11 makes clear the crowd witnessed what happened. They heard the same message that the crippled man heard as indicated in verse 9. But they didn’t place their faith in Christ. The good deed of faith appeared to have taken a turn for the bad… and then… things started getting UGLY.

The Ugly - The Crowd was Won Over

The situation was bad… but then came the Jews who were trailing Paul and Barnabas for the sake of refuting the message of Jesus. In a sense… you could say they were trolling the missionaries! Verse 19 indicates they won the crowd over. The crowd believed the Jews… and this led to a terrible thing. “They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.” (Acts 14:19).

Paul survived… but can you imagine the physical pain he experienced after being stoned? Things had gone in a direction never though possible. Physical pain aside… can you imagine the discouragement Paul must have experienced after receiving this kind of treatment?

Things started out really good! Then we see the misdirected credit given to false gods by the crowd, and then we see an all out rejection of those who brought the message of the gospel to Lystra.

Was this truly a case of no good deed goes unpunished? Is this what can be expected when God does something amazing? Why did this happen like this? Did God not care about what was happening in Lystra?

God CARED VERY MUCH what was happening in that city - so much so that He, through the leading of His Spirit, sent Paul and Barnabas to minister there.

Things did in fact go south as they preached the message of hope and church… no matter how negative the experience appeared to be… GOD WAS ON THE MOVE IN LYSTRA.

The Unchangeable Reality

I would bet… that if given the chance to do it all over again… Paul and Barnabas would do it again. Even after being stoned and drag out of the city, even after being left for dead, even after the mix up of worship that took place… I believe Paul and Barnabas would do it again.

First - in obedience to the leading of the Spirit, these guys would go. If God was in it… that’s where they wanted to be. And I pray that is our desire as well tonight.

Second - they would go back because of the life that was changed by the gospel. Yes… a lot of bad things happened in the aftermath but THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT A HEART WAS TRANSFORMED BY THE GOSPEL MESSAGE OF JESUS.

How much value do we place on that one life? How much effort are we willing to give to see that one soul set free? Unfortunately the masses did not end up believing… BUT ONE DID. He believed, and he was healed. HIS LIFE WOULD FOREVER BE CHANGED and there was NO AMOUNT of negativity that could change his new reality.

The devil was working REALLY hard to to discourage the advancement of the gospel. Satan desired to silence the messengers of the good news of God but failed miserably in doing so. How do we know that the enemy failed? because Paul and Barnabas REMAINED ON MISSION.

On the surface… it looks like Paul and Barnabas received bad for the good they had done. But church… let us never forget that it’s not so much that when it comes to God, no good deed goes unpunished… but it truly is no good deed goes unrewarded.

These guys had not failed in anyway but in fact succeeded in obeying the Holy Spirit AND in the delivery of the Word.

Here’s the deal… WE CANNOT CONTROL HOW THE WORLD WILL RESPOND WHEN WE DELIVER THE GOOD NEWS. What we can control is OUR RESPONSE to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. God is leading His church to reach the unreached of this world! Our responsibility is to continue to deliver the good news under the leading and empowerment of God’s Holy Spirit!

Remember - a heart was set free because of the obedience of Paul and Barnabas. God set that appointment into motion.

And no matter how much the crowd worked against the message… they could not change the impact of the message. That man would remain forever changed by the power of God! The devil can try… but he cannot undo what God has done!

From the onset, a person might read this passage of Scripture and think, “Wow… I really don’t want to do something that might get me stoned and left for dead.” No one hopes for that kind of response.The hope is that all will choose to repent. The hope is that all will choose to believe.

Good deeds are to be given no matter the outcome and the glory that comes with them is to be given to God. No matter how the world responds… the church must remain faithful in doing the good deeds of the Father.

And I believe it is the heart behind the deed that makes all the difference. IF Paul and Barnabas’ motive was centered on themselves then yes… their good deed did not go unpunished. However, IF their motive was to SERVE… then their good deed will not go unrewarded.

Serving is not concerned with what happens to the servant… but is all about the person or people on the receiving end of our service.

When Christ served us on the cross… He was more concerned with following the will of the Father (SERVING GOD) than He was serving His own interests. AND because He served… this world was FOREVER transformed.

As Paul was stoned that day… as the crowd was won over by the Jews who did not believe… Paul was NOT being punished for his good deed… Paul was serving God in all things.

How far are we willing to go in our service to God? Is one life worth our well being? How many souls makes our effort s worth the investment? How many people must respond before we feel like our ministry was effective?

To look for a reward on earth… is to serve our own interest. But to remember our reward will come in heaven… is to remember who it is that we are serving.

As Christ gave all… are we, the church, THE BODY OF CHRIST, willing to give all? We are the extension of Jesus’ ministry until He returns.

As we continue the work… as we continue to minister… there are two very important things we MUST do.

We must follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. THIS IS ESSENTIAL.

We must do all things with a servants heart. THIS IS NOT ABOUT US.

We cannot control how the world might respond… but we can control how we will respond when the Holy Spirit says… go.

Are you willing to listen? Are you willing to follow? Are you willing to serve? That is our call to prayer. Are you in this for your sake… or for the sake of God’s kingdom?

Prayer - Give us an ear to hear the Spirit… gives us a heart to serve no matter what.