2022-08-21 One Step Short of Reality

ONE STEP SHORT OF REALITY (Acts 14:8-18) August 21, 2022 Read Acts 14:8-18 - Most think the world has people who worship and people who don't. Not true. The world actually has those who worship God and those who worship anything else - BUT everyone worships something. We worship what we value most. Worship says, "This person, this activity, this status, this is what I value most. This I love. If this were lost to me, life would not be worth living." But to miss God is to live 1 step short of reality. A couple are sipping wine before dinner. Suddenly, the wife says, "I love you." The surprised husband asks, "Is that you or the wine talking?" The wife answers, "It's me - talking to the wine." I hope that's not you, but it illustrates loving the provision more than the provider. That's what idolatry is. Paul describes unbelievers in Rom 1:25 as those who "exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!" They missed reality by one step, worshiping the gift rather than the giver. A primary reason it is folly to worship God's gifts rather than God is the gifts are temporary - He is forever. So the question is, "Who or what do you worship? What or who could you simply not live without?" If it is not God, then you are living one step short of reality. The people of Lystra are a great example of putting our worship in the wrong place. Let's see how that happened to them so we don't follow their error. I. The Confirming Miracle Lystra - a frontier outpost. Augustus made it a Roman colony in 6 BC, the easternmost fortified city in Galatia, an "old-west" flavored town. Most of the people were not well educated, and there was no synagogue there. So, P&B began to preach probably in the agora where a lame man sat to beg as people passed. 9 "He listened (aor) to Paul speaking (pres)." Not once, but every time Paul came. He was captivated by the message. Paul perceived that faith had taken root in his heart. 9b) "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." "To be made well" translates σωζω - to be saved - as in Eph 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved thru faith". That is the normal meaning of the word. But it sometimes speaks of physical healing. So which is it here - spiritual salvation or physical healing? I think a double meaning is implied. Paul saw saving faith in this man, but that opened the door in these apostolic times for his physical healing. The healing was both immediate and thorough. Even for us who are healthy, it is hard to rise after sitting for hours. This man never walked a day in his life, yet he springs to his feet and walks like he's been doing it all his life. This miracles certainly benefited the lame man. But it also, as apostolic miracles were intended to do, confirmed Paul's message. It gave Paul's teaching about God and Jesus instant credibility. And in these early days of ministry with no written Scripture to confirm God's message, this miracle spoke volumes. We see here how word and deed go together. Both are needed to share the gospel. To speak the gospel, but not live it is to be a hypocrite and to discredit the message. On the other hand, to have deeds without words fails to meet the great spiritual need. Either extreme is a misrepresentation of the gospel. Word and deed. It's in Acts 3. Peter and John go to the temple to pray and encounter another lame man seeking alms. But Acts 3:6: "Peter said, 'I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!'" And he did! It was a wonderful deed of healing, but done by and in the name of Jesus. Word and deed. In Acts 6 the apostles are busy in prayer and preaching. But when widows are neglected, they form the first informal deacon group to meet the need. Word and deed. We need both today. The Word followed by works showing the message is real; Jesus is real; the gospel is real. We are saved by responding to the Word. Rom 10:17: "So faith comes by hearing, and hearing thru the word of Christ." But we're saved for a purpose. Eph 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." This gives credibility to our witness - the Word and works. Faith and deeds! We claim it; we must live it. As A. W. Tozer put it, "Plain horse sense ought to tell us anything that makes no change in the man who professes it makes no difference to God either, and it is an easily observable fact that for countless numbers of persons the change from no-faith to faith makes no actual difference in the life." It matters how we live. An example: Victor Masters in The Call of the South, reports that in 1900 Mikado, emperor of Japan, decided to make Xnty the state religion in Japan. He felt Xn missionaries were more helpful than any other religions in Japan. But his counselors suggested that 1st they ought to send fact-finding missions to the US and Britain. Those missions found some gaping holes and reported, "While the lives of Xn missionaries among us is the purest of any religious advocates in Japan, and the principles of Xnty taught by them are helpful to our citizens, the people of the US and Great Britain do not believe and practice the doctrines taught by their Xn missionaries." Mikkado backed away. Of course, many they'd watched were not Xns. But to be effective, deeds must match words; faith and works must go together. II. The Confounding Misinterpretation So, how does the crowd react to this healing? 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." Bc the people spoke in Lycaonian, P&B did not at first realize what was going on. But the crowd decided this miracle meant these men were gods. In their pantheon, Zeus was the chief god which fit the older, quieter, more dignified Barnabas. The animated Paul must be Hermes, the messenger of the gods. And they took it a step further: 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." They wanted to offer sacrifices to these men, which leads to a couple of observations about human nature. First, these people interpreted the miracle in keeping with local folklore. The Roman poet, Ovid, recorded the legend that Zeus and Hermes once came to earth incognito. At Lystra they asked for food and lodging, but were refused until one old peasant, Philemon, and his wife, took them in. The rejecters were drowned in a flood sent by the vengeful gods. But Philemon's home was made a magnificent temple where he and his wife served as priest and priestess until their death. Archaeology has uncovered inscriptions about "priests of Zeus" (in Lycaonian) and a statue of Hermes near Lystra, confirming Luke's record. The point is, they misinterpreted God's work bc they saw it from the flawed perspective of human wisdom. So they began to worship the creation (P&B) rather than the Creator who sent them. Everyone worships something, but when that something - whether a person, thing, ambition, philosophy or even religion - is a product of human wisdom, it will always fall short in the end. Tom Brady has won 7 Super Bowls. Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes interviewed him after the 3rd. Brady was frustrated that he was still not satisfied. He said, "Why do I have three Super Bowl rings, and still think there's something greater for me? Some people might say, 'Hey man, this is what is. I reached my dream. Me, I think: 'God, it's gotta be more than this....'" "What's the answer?" Kroft asks. Brady responded, "I wish I knew. I wish I knew." After 7 rings, Brady's still searching. That's because the gods of human wisdom are false gods. They look great - but they always disappoint, and worse - they kill. God gives great gifts, as he did in Lystra, but when we treasure the gifts rather than the Giver as ultimate - we put ourselves in grave danger. III. The Corrective Message When P&B realized sacrifices were for them, "they tore their garments" - a sign of emotional turmoil. They cried 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." The message wasn't, "Don't worship." It was, "Don't worship the wrong thing!" Their correction was this - "Stop worshiping "vain things" (idols) and worship the real thing - the God whose evidence you willfully overlook - His amazing creative power (where do you think this all came from); the witness of his goodness in the crops you grow; and the witness of His Son, Jesus, who died to take away your sins. Worship that God!" The phrase "vain things" was a direct attack Lystran idols. Vain = useless, futile, lacking truth. Same word as I Cor 15:15: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile (futile, lacking truth)." But Christ has been raised, so our faith is true, fruitful and eminently useful. The idols of the Lystrans were useless. Paul is saying, "You are enslaved to idols which are useless. You need a new master." That was the beginning of the good news Paul brought. They had many idols beyond Zeus and Hermes. They had the god of war, of commerce of agriculture, of love and romance. Caesar himself was a god. In sacrificing to any of these they were actually worshiping commerce, or beauty or ambition, or love. They were saying, "This is my hope - my meaning in life. I cannot live without this. If you take this away, I would want to die." True is we all get caught up in vain things! If we could just have this political solution or this job or get into this school; if we could just get this recognition in the world of art, sports, entertainment or education; if we could just make this much money, or get this person to love us - then life would be great! The list of idols we put above the living God is endless - even religious freedom, but every one a vain thing when given first priority in our lives. So Paul says, "turn from these vain things to a living God." These will end; He will not. They'll promise what they can't deliver; He never will. Most of all, all these other things cannot forgive your sins, remove the guilt from your heart and make you clean from the inside out. But He can because He has sent His only Son die in your place, paying the penalty for your sin and paving the way to a living relationship with this living God. Worship Him! The only way to turn the vain things in your life into useful things is to place them under His control. Mt 10:39: "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses is life for my sake will find it." Jettison vain things; find the real thing. Anything or one can be an idol. Spurgeon had a delightful wife. But once, while engaged, he took her on a preaching engagement. They got separated in the crowd of thousands. After the meeting he still couldn't find her, so he went to her house and there she was, pouting a little at his lack of concern. He replied, "Susie, I was concerned. But I knew you were in God's hands. I care, but when I see a crowd waiting for me to preach, I'm overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility. So you must know it will be the rule of our marriage the command of my Master comes first; you shall have the 2nd place. I would expect the same from you. Are you willing as my wife to take 2nd place while I give first place to Christ?" She was and they had a glorious relationship. In losing their lives, they found them. That's how it works. So I ask, have you given Him all your vain things, turned to the living God and trusted Him to give back what you most need? He is a good God - but He must be the only God in your life or you are stopping one step short of reality. Conc - At his battle with the prophets of Baal, Elijah challenged the Israelites, I Kings 18:21: "How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If God is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." That's your crossroad this morning. Will it be the true and living God or your idol? David Gibson, commentator on Ecclesiastes, says the lesson of the book is that in the created world you can only truly enjoy what you do not worship. He says, "The man who makes sex his god discovers that what is normal and pleasurable, soon becomes inadequate. He becomes chained to a path only enjoys perversion - which of course is no enjoyment. The woman who makes family her God and worships her children discovers they fail her and disappoint her and do not achieve all that she desires, leaving her empty and unfulfilled. This can happen with any of God's good gifts when they are made ultimate. When you worship God's gifts, they will never ever deliver what they promise and instead will leave you empty and broken. As C. S. Lewis put it, "Natural loves that are allowed to become gods do not remain loves. They are still called so, but can become in fact complicated forms of hatred." That's the danger of stopping one step short of reality. The solution: Come to the true and living God through faith in Jesus Christ. Joshua challenged Israel, Josh 24:15: "Choose this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Let's pray. DONE Use "When I Survey the Wonderous Cross" 7