WE MUST GO THROUGH MANY HARDSHIPS
Acts 14:1-28
Key Verse: 14:22
“…strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they said.”
In today’s passage Paul and Barnabas continue their first missionary journey. After sharing the good news of Jesus at Pisidian Antioch, they pressed on toward Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. God worked through them mightily but, at the same time, they experienced many intense hardships. Through Paul and Barnabas, we learn what kind of attitude we must have toward life and our lives of mission.
First, Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly for the Lord in Iconium (1-7). Look at verse 1. “At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.” It was the Jews who rejected Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch. Paul and Barnabas told them, “Now we turn to the Gentiles.” However, Paul and Barnabas did not become bitter toward their fellow Jews. They maintained their usual practice of preaching the gospel in Jewish synagogues wherever they went. Paul and Barnabas knew that they might invite persecution from their fellow Jews. Still, they went into the synagogue and began to preach, believing that those who were appointed for eternal life would believe (13:48). They spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
Look at verse 2. “But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.” Food poisoning is a serious problem because it can result in physical death, but mind poisoning can result in spiritual death and plunge those who are poisoned into the pit of separation from God and God’s people and eternal condemnation. How did Paul fight against Satan’s mind-poisoning tactic? Look at verse 3. “So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.” Paul and Barnabas did not engage in physical fight with those who poisoned the minds of the Gentiles. Instead, they fought a spiritual battle against Satan, depending on the word of God. The best strategy of fighting against Satan’s lies is to speak the word of God’s truth boldly and persistently. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit, which enables us to fight against Satan and win victories.
Look at verse 4. “The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.” God granted Paul and Barnabas many remnants as the fruit of their ministry, though some people were against them. A riot was about to break out and the city mob was incited to mistreat and even stone Paul and Barnabas. Finding out about this, they fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe. It was their strategic retreat. They fled not because they were cowards, but because they wanted to continue to preach the good news of Jesus elsewhere. This is what Jesus himself commanded his disciples to do in Mathew 10:23, “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” We should know when to have great courage to stand firm and fight and when to have sufficient wisdom to make a strategic retreat.
Second, turn from worthless idols to the living God (8-20). Look at verses 8-10. “In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.”This event reminds us of how Peter healed a crippled man in Jerusalem in the name of Jesus Christ. This God cured a crippled man in Lystra through Paul. While Paul was preaching, he saw that this man, though his feet were crippled, his soul was not crippled. He had faith to be healed. He believed in God Almighty with whom nothing was impossible. Paul challenged him, “Stand up on your feet!” He not only stood up, but jumped to his feet and began to walk. A lame from birth who had never walked in his entire life stood up and began to walk! This was a miraculous healing that could be verified by everybody who were there. This was a genuine demonstration of God’s power and mercy.
The response of the people of Lystra to Paul’s healing of a crippled man was quite unexpected. Look at verses 11-13. “When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!’ Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 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.”These people of Lystra were very superstitious. They believed that Barnabas and Paul were gods--Zeus and Hermes--who visited them in human form. Paul and Barnabas fled Iconium because they were under the threat of being stoned. Now they met another trial. This time they were about to be deified as gods.
What did Paul and Barnabas do? We remember that when the people of Tyre and Sidon flattered King Herod Agrippa, saying, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man,” Herod enjoyed their flattery and did not give glory to God. Soon an angel of God struck him down and he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:21-23) Paul and Barnabas did not make the same mistake. At first, they did not realize what was going on because the people were shouting in the Lycaonian language. They must have asked someone to interpret for them. When they heard that the people wanted to deify them and offer sacrifices to them, they tore their clothes and ran into the crowd telling for them to stop. They regarded it as a sin of blasphemy.
Look at verse 15. “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.” Francis A. Schafer wrote in his book, “How should we then live?” that the Greek gods were nothing but mythological figures. They were just.amplified humanity, not deity. They were like men and women larger than life, but basically not different from human men and women. They were worthless idols. People worship their rulers as gods or worship their ancestors. People idolize actors, singers or football players. There is even a television show called, “American Idol.” All these people do not measure up to deserve our worship. Paul’s message to the people of Lystra was very clear and challenging: “Turn from these worthless things to the living God.”
Then Paul proceeded to expound who God is. Look at verses 15b-17. “…who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." Paul told them that God is the living God. He is the Creator, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. God is also the kind provider of rain, crops, plenty food and joy in their hearts. God is the one who puts roof over our heads and surrounds us with people who are willing to support us in times of our needs. God shows the riches of his kindness, patience and tolerance to all people in order that people may repent of their sins, turn to God to thank and worship him. (Romans 1:21)
Paul’s message to the people of Lystra was quite different from his message to the Jews in Pisidian Antioch. God reveals himself in two ways: general revelation through the nature and special revelation through the Bible.God’s special revelation was primarily given to his chosen people Israel. God’s general revelation is summed up in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Since the people of Lystra were ignorant of the Bible, God’s special revelation, he appealed to them with God’s general revelation through the nature and told them who God is. Paul’s message to the people of Lystra challenged them turn away from worshiping worthless idols to the worship of the living God.
Instead of accepting his message, the people of Lystra, who really wanted to offer up sacrifices, felt frustrated and disappointed. They also did not want to change their life of idol worship. Into this volatile situation came the Jews from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium who won the crowd over and persuaded them that Paul was leading them astray. They stoned Paul. After stoning him, they dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. What a drastic change it was! At one moment Paul was hailed as Hermes; next moment he was stoned and thrown out of the city.
What did Paul do? Look at verse 20. “But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.” It seems that Paul just fainted and regained his consciousness. But after regaining his consciousness and standing on his own two feet, he went back to the city where he was just stoned. He testified in 2 Corinthians 4:9, “…persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”He was a spiritual general with a resurrection faith.
Third, “We must go through many hardships...” (21-28). Paul and Barnabas went to Derbe where they preached the gospel and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch, the cities in which they had suffered much. They knew that new believers in each city would face persecutions and need much encouragement. So they revisited them. In order to strengthen and encourage them to remain true to the faith, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders. They raised leaders among them and entrusted the believers under their care and ultimately to the Lord.
Paul and Barnabas said in verse 22a, ”We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” This does not mean that we must ask God to give us many hardships. We have many hardships to go through whether we want to have them or not. This means that we must have a proper attitude toward hardships that we encounter in our lives and our lives of mission.
We see the clear difference between Mark and Paul and Barnabas in their attitude toward hardships. They started out their first missionary journey together. But Mark quit on the way. When the missionary journey was filled with the opposition, persecution and hardship along with the work of God, he got scared and discouraged. He left Paul and Barnabas in Perga in the middle of their first missionary journey and went back to his home. Mark did not have the proper attitude toward hardships that accompany the life of mission.
On the other hand, Paul and Barnabas had a very realistic view about their missionary journey and a proper attitude toward hardships that they encountered. They knew that all kinds of hardships were waiting for them. They persevered in doing the work of God, facing the work of the devil and the opposition of the Jews. Paul was ready to follow Jesus through the way of the cross and the resurrection. Paul encourages us, saying in 2 Tim 2:3, “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Peter also encouraged the early Christians, saying 1 Peter 5:9, “… standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
Let us have the right attitude toward hardships. Let us remember Paul who stood up after being stoned. Let us remember our Lord Jesus who died on the cross, was buried yet rose again. Let us not be overcome by hardships but overcome them by depending on God and our Risen Christ. When we overcome our personal hardshipsby faith, we can strengthen and encourage those whose are undergoing the same kind of hardships and be a blessing to them.