The Mission Continues

Introduction

When you have gospel conversations with your family members, what are you aiming for? Do you want them to promise to attend church next Sunday? Do you want them to admit that they’ve sinned? Do you want them to say that they “really do believe in Jesus,” so you don’t have to bring it up anymore?

When missionaries cross geographic and language barriers, what should they be aiming for? Should they invite people to “make decisions” for Christ? Should they confront false religious beliefs and practices? Should they authoritatively preach and teach from the Bible, or should they spend most of their time on social programs, disaster relief, and community relationships?

How about local churches in East Texas? How about FBC Diana? How will we measure the success of our church at the end of this year? Will we be successful in ‘22 if we start at least one new ministry program? Will our success be measured by the amount of money we take in? The number of visitors we see? What about the number of baptisms we observe?

Will we be successful if we’ve gained 10 new church members in ‘22? What if we only gain 4? What if we end up with a net loss of 10?

And what if we (missionaries, churches, and everyday Christians) aren’t getting the results we want? Should our method of evangelism and discipleship change in order to produce better results? Is that what we see the earliest Christians doing when we read the New Testament?

In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were sent on a missionary journey by the church in Antioch… and, of course, by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-3). Paul and Barnabas came first to the island of Cyprus, where they preached the gospel from coast to coast (Acts 13:4-6). Luke doesn’t say much about the responses they got, except that a Gentile government official “believed… the teaching of the Lord” while a Jewish false-prophet stood against it (Acts 13:6-12).

Next, Paul and Barnabas traveled to Perga in Pamphylia (Acts 13:13) and then to a town named Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14)… not to be confused with the Antioch in Syria, where they had first begun their mission trip (Acts 13:1-3).

Now, it’s been a few weeks since we were last in Acts, but do you remember how Paul and Barnabas left Antioch in Pisidia (the last town they’d visited)? They preached the gospel there, and they were even invited to come back to preach again on the next Sabbath day. But how did it go?

Look at the last few verses of Acts 13. Verse 48 says that some rejoiced and glorified God, “and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” But v50 says that at least some of the Jewish folks in that town “incited devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city” to persecute Paul and Barnabas “and [drive] them out of their district.”

One commentator said that Paul and Barnabas had “an unprosperous and unlucky beginning… not only [having been] expelled out of Antioch, but also forced… to shake off the dust from their feet.”[1] The leaders of Antioch condemned Paul and Barnabas, and so too did Paul and Barnabas show a gesture of God’s judgment on those who expelled them!

So, what would they do next? Verse 51 of Acts 13 says that they “went to Iconium,” but what would they do there? Would they change tactics? Would they lay low for a while? Would they make plans to head back home?

Well, let’s find out! Let’s stand together as I read Acts 14:1-7.

Scripture Reading

Acts 14:1–7 (ESV)

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.

Structure of the Sermon

Main Idea: The Christian mission is to live as faithful witnesses, expecting opposition and even division, and wisely avoiding the worst, if possible.

Outline:

1. The Mission and the Method Continued 6

2. Opposition Continued 9

3. Divinely Endorsed Division 12

4. Prudent Faithfulness 17

Sermon

1. The Mission and the Method Continued

When Paul and Barnabas left Antioch, because of persecution, they came to the town of Iconium. Verse 1 tells us that they did the same thing in Iconium that they’d done in Antioch: “they entered… the Jewish synagogue and spoke…” (v1). And we are to assume that the speaking they did in Iconium was the same kind of preaching that they’d done in Antioch.

So, right out of the gate, we see that persecution seemed to have had absolutely no affect whatever on either their missionary efforts or their methods. They had been sent from their home church as missionaries, and their mission – their purpose and aim – was to preach the gospel to those who did not understand it or believe it. When they faced persecution, they didn’t feel sorry for themselves or even try to establish some form of political protection. Instead, they seemed to expect that some would receive the gospel well, while others would aggressively reject and oppose it.

Friends, we’re far enough away from the earthly life and ministry of Jesus that we can sometimes forget that He was wrongly accused, scandalously condemned (by a form of mob-justice), and shamefully crucified as a disturber of the peace among Jewish and Roman society. First-century Christians had no illusions that they would be treated better than their Master, but we tend to expect the opposite! If we’re honest, many of us expect a warm welcome and a happy embrace from the worldly culture around us.

Brothers and sisters, there is no promise in the Bible that your worldly friends will love you just because you love them enough to talk about Jesus. In fact, the Bible promises Christians that their worldly neighbors, their unbelieving political leaders, and the earthly economic movers-and-shakers will generally express hatred for them… especially when it becomes clear that Christians are citizens of an other-worldly kingdom with loyalty to an other-worldly King.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, saying, “it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Phil. 1:29). Suffering for the sake of Christ is not just the lot of someChristians in some places; it is the biblical expectation of every Christian everywhere. No doubt, some Christians suffer more for following Christ in this world than others, but we will all endure at least some hostility from the world when we set our aim to live not merely as Americans… not merely as conservatives or liberals… not merely as Republicans or Democrats… but to live as faithful Christians.

This reality not only shaped the early Christians’ perspective– they expected persecution – it also shaped their method of evangelism. They did not change their methods simply because they got bad results in one town and good results in another. Rather, their methods stayed exactly the same wherever they went, because they knew that the means by which God has designed to bring about the conversion of sinners is the preaching of the gospel! And, of course, v1 tells us that “a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.”

There’s so much more that we will consider today from our passage, but let’s just notice the simple and profound truth that’s already staring us in the face. Paul and Barnabas faced persecution in Antioch because they preached the gospel there; then they went to Iconium, and they set up shop doing the exact same thing. Why?! Were they gluttons for punishment? Were they contentious Christians, just looking for a theological fight?

No, they were followers of Jesus Christ who knew that the Messiah had come, and they knew that this changed everything! They knew that Jesus purchased the salvation of sinners at the cross, and they knew that Jesus was the only Savior of guilty sinners… and they also knew that Jesus had been raised as the victorious King of kings and Lord of lords, and they knew that Jesus was coming soon to judge the living and the dead. So, they preached the gospel, and they called all people everywhere to repent and to believe!

Brothers and sisters, don’t we know the same truths they did? Don’t we know that Jesus is both Savior and Lord? Don’t we know that Jesus saves repentant sinners and judges unrepentant ones? Don’t we know that Jesus lived and died and rose again… and don’t we know that Jesus is coming soon, both to rescue and to condemn?

Then, brothers and sisters, may God help us – knowing the same truths they did – to preach and talk about and call our own family and friends to repent and to believe… regardless of what opposition or ridicule or even persecution we might face.

Paul and Barnabas set for us a great example of Christian witness in the world, even as they faced opposition in Iconium just as they had in Antioch. Let’s look now to v2, and let’s consider the ground or basis of this gospel-opposition.

2. Opposition Continued

Verse 2 tells us that there were some “unbelieving Jews” who “stirred up the Gentiles… against the brothers.” The word “brothers” here is likely referring not only to Paul and Barnabas, since they are designated specifically as “apostles” in Acts 14 (v4, 14), but to all those – both Jew and Greek – who “believed” their message (v1). Indeed, Luke tells us in v4 that the whole city became “divided” along the lines of those who believed (i.e., the “brothers”) and those who did not.

We will explore the division in just a bit, but let’s notice here just how bizarre unbelievers can sometimes act when they are defending their unbelief. The Gentiles of Iconium were typical Greek idolators. The Phrygians believed that Iconium was founded by the mythological Perseus when he “defeated the city’s ancient enemies using the head of a Gorgon, which turned to stone anyone who looked upon its eyes [think of the 1981 movie Clash of the Titans].”[2]In other words, they embraced the full pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses, and they even had specific gods which were nearest and dearest to their own city. And the city itself was named Icon-ium (εἰκων is the Greek word for image or idol)!

First-century Jews, on the other hand, were no friend of idolators. Most of them weren’t too concerned about most of the Mosaic covenant, but they did maintain observable customs like the Sabbath and social conformity to the other Commandments (though not actual conformity). So, rejecting idols of any form (the 2ndCommandment)[3]and keeping the Sabbath (the 4th Commandment)[4] were not only religious duties, but these were also cultural and political traditions that marked off Jews from Gentiles.

And yet, those “unbelieving Jews” (v2) in Iconium joined and even “stirred up” (v2) idolatrous Gentiles to unite with them in their opposition to the gospel and against those who were associated with it! No doubt both the unbelieving Jews and the idolatrous Gentiles realized that Christianity was in direct conflict with both – they had a common enemy. The gospel claims that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Mosaic covenant is obsolete; and the gospel claims that all forms of idolatry are Satanic and must be abandoned immediately. This confronted both unbelieving Jews and idolatrous Greeks in the same way – both needed to repent of sin and submit to Jesus as Lord!

Friends, there is one God, and Jesus is His Prophet, Priest, and King… but this message is only good news for those who believe it. Paul, speaking of his evangelistic ministry later in Troas and in Macedonia, said, “thanks be to God, who… through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him [Christ] everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life” (2 Cor. 2:14-16).

In other words, to those who believe the message of the gospel, there is rejoicing at the promise of forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ! They hear the gospel and smell the fragrance of life! But to those who do not believe, the gospel is an announcement of judgment – they are guilty in their sin, and God has condemned them. They hear the message of the gospel, and they smell the stench of death.

Friends, the gospel that provokes opposition is one that confronts sinners and calls for repentance, it announces the true King and calls for a new allegiance. The biblical gospel says that worldly ambition and political power and military might are all temporary and futile. The biblical gospel says that all the stuff the world thinks is most valuable is really cotton candy… it looks so full, but it’s mostly air, and it cannot satisfy.

And this gospel is not always received well by those we love. Sometimes it smells like death to them. Sometimes they hate us for bringing it up, and sometimes they avoid us so they can try to stop thinking about it. But we must remember that the smell of the gospel is the product of one’s perception of it, not the other way around… In other words, they don’t reject God and His Christ because of the stench of the gospel or because you are especially annoying; unbelievers think the gospel stinks because they reject God and His Christ.

Well, in Acts 14, the unholy alliance of idolatrous Greeks and unbelieving Jews only grew in disagreement with the Christians in Iconium. But Paul and Barnabas continued preaching, and God even granted miraculous confirmation of their message… until the whole thing came to a head… and that’s what we read about in the next several verses.

3. Divinely Endorsed Division

As I’ve already mentioned, before Paul and Barnabas came to Iconium, they had been driven out of the district around Antioch (Acts 13:50). The opposition in Antioch was overt, public, and hostile. In verses 3-4 of our passage, the unbelieving opposition hadn’t yet reached that level. In fact, there seems to have been a growing clarity in the division between who’s whobefore there was any real move toward hostility. Let me explain what I mean and what I see in verses 3-4.

Verse 3 tells us that Paul and Barnabas “remained for a long time” in Iconium, and the verse begins with the word “So” (ESV, NIV) or “Therefore” (KJV, NASB). It seems likely that Paul and Barnabas stayed specifically to encourage and to instruct the new Christians in Iconium because of the growing opposition (of whatever kind) they were facing.

At any rate, they did stay for a while, and they were “speaking boldly for the Lord” (v3). Notice here that their reaction to opposition was not to back down or lighten up, but rather to speak boldly. Again, Paul and Barnabas exemplify courageous and faithful Christianity. They show us what it looks like to live as Christ’s faithful witnesses in an unfriendly world.

And v3 also tells us that Christ Himself “bore witness to the word of his grace” by “granting signs and wonders to be done by [Paul’s and Barnabas’s] hands.” As we’ve talked about already in our study through Acts, the message preached by the earliest Christians was the good news that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that God had been promising throughout the Old Testament.

The message (and God’s OT promises) centered on Christ’s atoning sacrifice for sin – God said there would come a child or “offspring” who would finally and completely “bruise” or “crush” the head of that ancient serpent, the devil, even as the “offspring” Himself would suffer “bruising” in the process (Gen. 3:3; cf. Rev. 13:9-11); and Jesus did indeed both suffer God’s judgment for sinners and also triumph over all demonic authorities at the cross (Col. 2:13-15)!

And because Jesus was the promised “offspring” (Gen. 3:3), the better “prophet” (Deut. 18:15-18), the perfect “priest” (Heb. 7:23-28), the divinely anointed “King” (Ps. 2:6-7; cf. Acts 13:33-40), and the true Israel,[5] His arrival marked the beginning of the end which God had been talking about for centuries.[6]

When sin entered creation, it brought God’s curse upon everything. In a post-Genesis-3 world, tornadoes ruin homes, people murder one another out of sheer rage, disease and illness of all sorts devastate us when we least expect, children are abused by those who are supposed to protect and provide for them, entire people-groups suffer under the bootheel of a tyrannical government, those with access to power and wealth use it only to gain more for themselves, and dictators destroy apparently peaceful and flourishing cities.

But when Jesus came, He announced the arrival of the kingdom of God! He began to show all creation what it will look like when He makes all things new! He made blind men see, He made lame people walk, He made the storm stand still, and He even made dead people come back to life again! And, when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, He commissioned His Apostles to be His authoritative witnesses in the world (Acts 1:8), and He did through them the same sort of miracles that He’d already been doing.

Friends, God has revealed His gospel in full, and He’s done so through what the Bible calls “prophets and apostles” (Eph. 2:20). These are those men who “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). God often validated His spokesmen by granting them “signs and wonders,” miracles (like those mentioned in our passage) that showed God’s power at work among them (v3). This is the purpose of the miracles we read about in the New Testament; this is what we are to understand when we read of such things.

If someone reads about miracles in the Bible, and their takeaway is “Why shouldn’t I expect to see stuff like that happening today?,” then they’ve simply misunderstood what the Bible is saying. God is telling a bigger and grander story than the temporary healing of ailments! God’s love for His people is not demonstrated by helping them get to the grave with a little less pain and sorrow!

No, God’s love for His people is going to be on full display when Christ returns… in the brilliance of His glory… to bring about the full renovation of this world… to eradicate sin completely… and to grant His people resurrection bodies that will never wear out and that will enjoy the beauty and wonder of a universe at perfect peace forever… under the sovereign reign of God’s appointed King.

Ah, but that’s just the rub… for the unbeliever.

When “the Lord” Himself “bore witness to the word of his grace” by “granting signs and wonders to be done” by the hands of Paul and Barnabas (v3), it meant that the Christ they preached was and is truly King. It meant that there was no room for unbelief or for idolatry in Iconium; there was no middle or neutral ground.

Verse 4 tells us that “the people of the city were divided; some sided with the [unbelieving] Jews and some with the apostles.” We are to understand here that the division was over the gospel. This isn’t because the gospel was bad or because Paul or Barnabas were malicious in bearing witness, but it was because some people in the city didn’t believe the gospel Paul and Barnabas preached – they rejected Christ as King, and they would not bear to have Him as their judge.

Have you ever heard someone say, “Doctrine divides!” or “You’re just stirring up division!”? Well, it is true. Doctrine does divide. The gospel – the message of who Christ is and what He did – and the biblical demand for repentance and faith in response to it… divides. The gospel divides believer from unbeliever. The gospel divides families and churches and communities.

Friends, sometimes Christians can be divisive because they are jerks, and this is a sin that we should avoid… the Bible says sometimes we should even excommunicate or remove an unrepentant and divisive person from among a church’s membership (Titus 3:10-11).

But sometimes Christians can be accused of being divisive when all they are really doing is preaching the gospel and calling for repentance and faith. Doing that stuff will cause division, and we shouldn’t be surprised when we see it. We should be broken-hearted when we see unbelief, and we are horrified when we think about what unbelief means for our loved ones. But unbelief and division over the gospel are to be expected in this world… and not just somewhere out there, but right here in our own families as well.

There’s one last point and three more verses to consider this morning. We’ve raised up Paul and Barnabas as exemplary Christians. They were bearing faithful witness to Christ; they seemed to expect opposition from some; and they didn’t seem surprised by the division produced by the gospel. Next, let’s turn our attention to their wise avoidance of the worst persecution… at least in this passage.

4. Prudent Faithfulness

The division of v4 turned into a violent scheme in v5. Luke says that “both Gentiles and Jews” made a plan together, even with the “rulers” or government officials of Iconium, to “mistreat… and to stone” Paul and Barnabas (v5). But somehow, “they learned of it” before it was fully carried out (v6). Now, before we go further, I wonder what you expect them to do in this situation.

What does Christian faithfulness look like when a mob is after you? What would you do in a situation like this? What would you expect some other Christian to do when the local government and the leading citizens of the area have plotted to kill him or her?

Well, Paul and Barnabas (we read in v6) “learned of it and fled…” They packed up their stuff and ran away!

Let’s think about this by considering three facts of this particular situation.

One, the scheme against Paul and Barnabas was extreme violence. The unbelievers in Iconium had planned to kill them – that’s what “stone them” means (v5). If Paul and Barnabas stay, their mortal lives are over.

Two, Paul and Barnabas were the specific targets of this violent plan. While there were “a great number of both Jews and Greeks” who believed the gospel (i.e., had become Christians) in Iconium (v1), they do not appear to have been targets of violence. Therefore, Paul and Barnabas (I think) cannot be charged with cowardice because they left these other Christians behind. As a matter of fact, Luke told us that Paul and Barnabas “remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord” (v3) when the unbelieving Jews stirred up opposition against the “brothers” (v2).

Three, Paul and Barnabas did not see this departure as an end to their mission in the least. Luke says they “fled to Lystra and Derbe,” which were also “cities of Lycaonia” (v6), and “there they continued to preach the gospel” (v7). This would be like things getting too hot in Ore City for the safety of Tony Peirce and his family (Tony is the Senior Pastor of New Hope Baptist), so he came down to Diana to continue in ministry for the benefit of lost souls in our neighborhoods.

John Calvin commented on this passage, saying, “This is the right kind of fear, when the servants of Christ do not run willfully into the hands of their enemies… to be murdered, and yet they do not [abandon] their duty; neither [does] fear hinder them from obeying God...”[7] In other words, the fear of extreme violence, acted out personally upon Paul and Barnabas, compelled them to wisely avoid the worst of it by escaping to a nearby town for a while (As we will see next Sunday, the violent mob did in fact follow them down the road!).

But their love for and fear of God, as well as their love for lost sinners, also compelled them… to continue preaching the same gospel that had already gotten them kicked out of one city and their lives threatened at another.

If it’s possible, they run and preach another day… but they don’t run and close their mouths just because they’re getting opposition and seeing division. Opposition and division are to be expected in this world, and their mission is to live as faithful witnesses of Christ – avoiding the worst, if possible – but faithfully witnessing either way.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, our mission is the same… it continues today. Jesus Christ has called every one of His disciples to be disciple-makers (Matt. 28:18-20). We do this by preaching the gospel with the aim to persuade… We do this by living honest lives of Christian virtue and moral integrity… We do this by speaking and living in alignment with the Bible’s teaching… and we expect that opposition and even division will not be unusual.

Like Paul and Barnabas in the passage this morning, we will have to count the cost when our safety, our families, and our livelihoods are at stake. We won’t all react in the same ways, and we won’t all react the same every time, but we all must prepare and encourage one another as opposition to genuine Christianity turns more and more intense in our own back yards.

May Christ grant us courage… may He grant us wisdom… and, above all, may He grant us faithfulness.

Endnotes

[1]Calvin, volume 2, page 1. [2]Dunne, John Anthony. “Iconium.” The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016. [3]Exodus 20:4. [4]Exodus 20:8-11. [5] “Jesus The True Israel,” Ligonier (blog), May 4, 2017, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/jesus-true-israel. [6]See how the New Testament points to Jesus’ first advent as at least the beginning of the fulfillment of all that the “last days” have in store, and also how the New Testament authors believed that their generation was experiencing the “end of the ages” (Acts 2:16-21; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Hebrews 1:2, 9:26; 1 Peter 4:7). [7]Calvin, volume 2, page 6.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Calvin, John. Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles. Edited by Henry Beveridge. Translated by Christopher Fetherstone. Vol. 2. 2 vols. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.

Peterson, David. The Acts of the Apostles. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2009.

Polhill, John B. Acts. Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. 2015 Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.