On the Move, Part 2
Notes
Transcript
On the Move, Part 2: Perseverance
On the Move, Part 2: Perseverance
Last week we talked about the first missionary journey of Paul.
We saw the conversion of a Roman Governor, Sergius Paulus.
We witness Paul preaching a Sermon about Christ in the Synagogue and many coming to know the Lord, especially the Gentiles.
He also made some more enemies b/c of his Preaching while in Antioch Pisidia.
Regardless of the enemies made the gospel was still moving.
49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
There was Joy b/c people were coming to know the true messiah.
They were coming to turn away from their sins and turn towards the giver of Life.
Paul’s Journey is not over. He is continuing to preach the gospel to anyone who would listen.
To the Jew first then to the Gentile.
Paul’s heart is that the Jewish people would come to accept Jesus as the Promised Messiah.
That they would realize that Scriptures had been fulfilled and they would know and love Jesus Christ.
This pattern of going to the synagogue first is a pattern that we will see over and over again when it comes to Paul’s Preaching.
If there is a synagogue in town he is going there first.
And in the synagogue there are both Jews and Gentiles present.
So he is bearing witness to Jesus to all people.
In the text we are going to be studying today, we will see the key theme of perseverance.
Paul and Barnabas are going to face a lot of opposition, but they are going to continue on the mission.
They are going to keep leaning into the HS and their calling as Disciple makers to sustain them through the trials.
Let’s take a look at the map again
Red is where they have already been. Green is where they are going.
After Paul and Barnabas are chased out of Antioch Pisidia
They make their way to Iconium
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.
2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
4 But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.
5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them,
6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country,
7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.
Bold Perseverance
Iconium is their first stop after being chased out of Antioch Pisidia.
Here we see that there are a great number of people who respond to the gospel message.
Both Jews and Greeks.
There is a divisiveness that occurs in the city between the unbelievers and the believers.
Here’s the reality:
The Gospel message will cause division.
Like we looked at a last week some will believe, and some won’t believe.
But the gospel message causes people to respond in saving faith or in rejection.
Here we see just that those that reject the message of Christ are not complacent to ignore it they are violently opposed to it.
We read that there was an attempt to stone Paul and Barnabas.
The unbelieving Jews were poisoning the minds of the Gentiles.
They were filling their minds with things that run contrary to the gospel message.
They were turned against their brothers.
Those who accepted the message were now seen as the enemy.
They should change their minds and come back to the way things used to be.
However, even with the hostility Luke tells us that “they remained for a long time.”
Paul and Barnabas weren’t going to let some division and anger stop them from preaching the gospel.
They weren’t going to let hostility get in the way of what God was doing in Iconium.
Some resisting the message wasn’t going to be discouraging to Paul and Barnabas because some were also accepting the message.
What exactly was causing such an anger and frustration amongst the unbelievers?
All Paul and Barnabas were doing were going out preaching the “word of his grace,” doing signs and wonders through the Holy Spirit.
So just to get a picture, They were preaching the gospel and healing people, yet there were those mad at them for doing so. Why?
Because the message of Grace is offensive to those who resist it.
Grace enrages people.
When God Created people he created them to work.
Working is not a result of the fall, it is inherent in who we are.
Adam was working in the Garden before rebelling against God. It’s just that in rebellion work got harder.
We are designed and built to work. To earn. To see the fruits of our labor.
Grace tells us that we can’t earn God’s Acceptance.
We can’t be good enough. We can’t do enough.
And remember the Jewish People had their own list of do’s and don’ts that they tried to hold onto, but each one of them failed.
Yet each day, each hour, each moment they were trying to appease God with their adherence to the Law.
They wanted to be good enough.
They wanted to be able to have their checklist and mark off the good things they did that made them and God happy.
Grace doesn’t make sense.
Nothing is free. You can’t get something for nothing. Paul writes in 1 Cor 1:18.
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
It’s not logical. It’s not fair. It’s not the way that it’s supposed to be.
Those are all the arguments from the ones that Don’t understand what God is doing.
And when we don’t understand something our natural instinct is to either ignore it completely or fight against it.
These people decided to fight against it.
The gospel is exactly good news because we don’t have to earn it. We don’t deserve it. But God gives it anyway. He offers it to us free of charge.
We get to be children of God because of what Christ accomplished not what I can, should, or haven’t done.
For those who believe we can rejoice and trust our Savoir Jesus.
And we need to know that as we go about and tell people about Jesus and his great love and grace, we will run up against opposition.
We will have to endure and persevere. We will have to be committed to the cause of Christ.
We can’t be comfortable. We can’t be complacent.
If our belief in God doesn’t cause us discomfort then we really aren’t living out what we say we believe.
If we have the Good news (and we do) why aren’t we telling others about it?
Now Paul and Barnabas were bold, but they weren’t stupid.
So as soon as the mob started to get violent they left Iconium and fled to Lystra and Derbe.
But as they fled they were preaching the Gospel.
They were telling others about the good news of Jesus where ever they were going.
Paul and Barnabas reach Lystra and there interaction is strange and dangerous.
8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked.
9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,
10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.
11 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!”
12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.
13 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.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out,
15 “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.
16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
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.”
18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
19 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.
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,
Perseverance
Paul and Barnabas enter Lystra and are preaching the Gospel to those who would listen.
There is a man who has never walked b/c his foot is crippled.
He was listening intently to what Paul was saying and Paul saw him.
Paul, through the power of the HS, healed the man.
Immediately, the man sprang up and began walking.
This should remind us of the man healed at the temple gates by Peter in Chapter 3.
The story is very similar.
This occurrence shows us that Paul has the same authority as Peter to be claimed as an apostle and is genuinely chosen by God to bring the message of the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Peter heals a Jewish Man. Paul heals a Pagan Gentile.
Both men Jump up and begin to walk on the command of the man giving it.
God is doing the same work among the gentiles that he did with the Jews.
He is interested in saving people. All people.
The response from the crowd in Lystra is striking.
They believe that the god’s Zeus and Hermes had come to them.
This feeds from a tradition in that area.
Greek Poet Ovid speaks of a local legend that Zeus and Hermes had made a trip to Lystra before in the form of men.
They were rejected by the everyone except for an old poor couple Philemon and Baucis.
The old couples house was then transformed into a temple and the rest of the town was devastated by a flood sent by Zeus and Hermes.
They surely didn’t want to encounter the wrath of legends so the Lystrans demonstrated their hospitality by worshipping Paul and Barnabas.
Initially, Paul and Barnabas didn’t realize what was going on.
The people were speaking to one another in their own dialect that wasn’t known by Paul and Barnabas, but when they saw the oxen. They knew what was happening.
A priest from the temple of Zeus showed up with oxen decked out in garland.
A reception fit for the gods.
An offering fit for the gods.
Paul and Barnabas wanted to redirect their worship.
Contrast this with how Herod Antipas responded to the people’s adulation and worship.
Redirecting the worship to God is always the right response.
Accepting worship from others is never the proper response.
They tore their robes and accosted the people.
The act of tearing their robes was a sign that blasphemy was happening.
That Paul and Barnabas were distressed by what they were seeing.
“We are only Men, like you”
This gives Paul the opportunity to preach the good news of the Living God.
Our God’s not dead.
He doesn’t live in statues or monuments.
He is a alive. He works in the world today.
The things that these people in Lystra worshipped were vain.
They didn’t offer anything.
But the God of the Bible is creator.
Everything else is created and therefore should not be worshipped.
Only the creator is worthy of worship and praise.
Paul writes about this in Romans
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
John Calvin once said that “The Human Heart is an idol factory.”
Our very nature is to worship something.
Unfortunately, Idolatry is our default position.
We see this in these people of Lystra.
They are wanting to worship Paul and Barnabas.
They want to worship something in their own image.
A god made to look like them. A god made to serve them. A god that they can appease with sacrifices. With hospitality.
We may not make idols to place in our homes or sacrifice animals to worship a god, but we all participate in idolatrous worship.
Every time you think your way is better than Gods way.
Every time you think you know whats best for your life and ignore the statutes God has placed.
We worship ourselves. We become the idol we adore.
When my wants, desires, achievements, money, family, job, entertainment, comfort are placed before God’s desires, will, and plan that is idolatry.
So what do we have to do?
We have to turn from our wicked ways and follow after Christ.
We have to turn to and rely on the one that sustains us. The one that created us.
We have an opportunity to do that b/c of Christ and his sacrifice.
We have to be focused on living out our faith.
We have to live as if God actually exists.
Many of us are what I have heard called Christian Atheists.
We believe that God exists but we live our lives as if he doesn’t.
We don’t walk in our own ways, but in the ways of Christ.
Love God will all that you have and are. Love People as you love yourself.
Live with gratitude. Live with thankfulness.
Live knowing that every good thing that has happened and will happen is a gift of God.
That’s what Paul was trying to get them to see when he said
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.”
There are two types of grace that are offered by God: Common Grace and Special Grace.
Common Grace.
Common grace is something that is experienced by all people at all times.
Delicious food. Loving Relationships. Laughter of Children.
Rain. Wind. Fruits of our Labor. A Brain. Life.
These are common not in that they are unspectacular but that they are available to all people.
The second is Special Grace.
This is the grace that is only available to those that follow Christ.
Salvation, Sanctification, Glorification.
Paul appeals to Common grace so that he can make a way for special grace.
That’s what we need to do when we talk to people about the gospel of Jesus.
Start with something that they can recognize and point it to Jesus.
Start with commonality and move to speciality.
Because all people are made in the image of God we have his finger prints all over us.
We desire Justice.
We desire Joy.
We desire goodness.
We desire fairness.
We desire rightness.
We desire relationships.
We desire love.
We desire forgiveness.
We desire good tasting food.
These are all good desires that come from a good and gracious God.
There is a basis for all of these desires because we are more than an accident.
We are more than merely stardust that just happens to exist.
We are more than molecules. We are more than just our brains. We are more than just neurons firing.
We are created in the image of God.
We are created to be in relationship with God.
And these good things can point others to the loving and gracious creator God.
The God of the Bible. The true God. The Creator God. Is a God of Grace.
Unfortunately, as we saw earlier. There are some that hate Grace.
You know who hate grace more than any one else?
Legalist.
19 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.
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.
Perseverance
There was an intense amount of Hate coming at Paul and Barnabas.
But it wasn’t just coming at Paul and Barnabas. It was coming ultimately toward the truth of the Gospel.
These Jews came from 100 miles away to persecute Paul.
They were raging and incensed that Paul was preaching the message of gospel.
They began a Riot and stoned Paul.
Leaving him out of the city. He was convicted of preaching the gospel.
Of healing people. Of loving people. The message of grace. The message of love. The message of the good news caused anger, hostility, and violence to come on Paul.
Paul even mentions this occasion in
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
Paul is outside the city nearly dead and the disciples gathered around him and something miraculous happened.
He rose up and entered back into the city.
He wanted to face those who stood to destroy him.
He wanted to show them that their work wasn’t accomplished.
God had a message that needed to be preached. Saul was the man to do it.
Puritan Preacher George Whitefield said it this way:
“We are immortal until our work on earth is done”
Paul may have been bruised. He may have been beaten. He may have scars.
But God wasn’t through with him. He knew that so he arose and walked back into that city.
Paul is brave and bold, but he isn’t stupid.
The Next day they move on to Derbe.
The gospel was preached. Made some disciples and then retraced their steps back to Antioch.
Show the Picture again.
Leaving Derbe he could have gone home to Tarsus.
He could have continued Southeast and went back to Antioch Syria that way.
But they choose to retrace their steps.
They choose to go back to the towns and areas where the gospel was preached. Why?
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.
Gospel Follow-Through
They retraced their journey because the churches needed to be further discipled, encouraged, and lead.
Remember, these were brand new churches and they had some teaching, but they needed to be strengthened because they were going to face persecution.
The same ones who attacked Paul and Barnabas were going to come for the new believers in these cities and areas.
Why? Because the gospel of Grace is offensive to those that are perishing.
When we wrap our minds around grace it is astounding.
I was speaking just the other day to someone.
They told me that they finally get the lyrics to “amazing grace”
They have sung and listened to the song multiple times, but it finally clicked that there was something absolutely amazing about Grace.
Daily we should be astounded by grace. We should be amazed that God would choose to Love you and me.
People persecute and antagonize Christians as being narrow-minded and bigoted because we believe in the exclusivity of Christ.
That Christ is the only way to know the Father.
The only way to inherit eternal life.
The Only way that we can have forgiveness.
The only way that we can be made new and restored.
Christ himself is exclusive.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
We should be excited that God made a way.
Not that there aren’t more than one way, but that there absolutely is A Way.
That’s Grace. That we didn’t deserve a way made for us, but Christ carved that path.
Christ built that bridge.
The trinity from eternity Past decided that the path would be made through the loving sacrifice of the Son.
And the reason we sing. The reason we gather. The reason we celebrate is because that way was made.
And if we are truly amazed by that grace we should live it out.
We should live as little models of Christ in our families, neighborhoods, and communities.
We should live like Christ in our daily lives.
The reality of that grace is what strengthens us. It is what encourages us.
Because we know that we are partaking in the same sufferings as our Lord.
That he knows what it is like to suffer with us.
He knows what it is like to suffer for love.
He knows what it is like to suffer unjustly.
He knows what it is like to be hated for the good news of the coming kingdom.
So we are not alone.
God is with us. He will never leave us or forsake us.
Now as Christians, if we suffer let’s make sure that we are suffering for the message of Christ and not b/c we are being Jerks.
The mark of the Xian is that he/she loves.
What is love?
That we would lay down our life for the good of others.
Those who who don’t deserve it.
Those who hate us.
Those who can’t stand us.
Those who are easy to get along with.
In addition to encouragement and discipling, Elders/leaders were established.
Every church needs leadership.
So that they can continue to be focused and spurred on into the kingdom.
these early churches were no different.
In fact, these churches that Paul visits on his first missionary journey are in the region of Galatia.
Soon after his departure back to Antioch Syria he has to write a letter to these churches.
And we have a record of that letter he writes. Galatians.
These churches were being persuaded by the Jewish people around them to change the message of the gospel.
To add works to the message of Grace.
Exactly what Paul faced when he was there, they were facing when he was gone.
Even after spending time with Paul and understanding the reality and goodness of grace it was easy for them to slide back into a works based faith.
Grace doesn’t need our works.
Grace doesn’t need us to do anything except submit to it.
We can fall into the same trap of adding to Grace, but if we do we are preaching a different gospel.
We stand against what God has revealed and we become his enemies.
We need to be committed to persevering in Grace.
We need encouragement from one another.
We need to grow in our devotion to Christ.
We need to be devoted to prayer.
It’s only one small step that takes us down the road of abandoning grace.
We must be diligent.
We cannot forsake grace.
This is why we need to continue to meet together, grow together, and learn together so that we don’t abandon the truth of the gospel.
Paul and Barnabas leave these believers and return back to Antioch
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.
Open Door
Paul and Barnabas get back to the church that sent them out.
They get to report the amazing work the God is doing among the Gentiles.
That he is saving a people to himself.
That Jew and Greek alike are responding to the message of the gospel.
Verse 26 is the bookedn to the journey that started back in 13.2.
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
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.
This wraps up the first of 3 missionary journeys made by Paul.
This opens the door and explains what we are going to talk about next week.
The inclusion of Gentiles in the Story of Salvation.
There is going to be a heated debate as to what it means to become part of God’s family.
Paul’s witness and testimony are going to be key reasons and arguments for their inclusion, but we will look at that next week.
I want to encourage you to persevere in your faith.
To remember that it is by grace alone you have been saved.
That God is the one who invited you to join him.
That is something to rejoice about.
But it also is the reason for our obedience and proclaimation.
That if we have been saved and we know the goodness of God we should go and tell others.
We should lead others to the cross the way that we have been led.
If you haven’t experienced the grace of God. I want to invite you to give your life to Christ.
I want to encourage you to enter into the most loving and caring relationship you can ever be a part of.
Join Jesus.
He is calling you will you respond?