Through many tribulations...

 “Why are you angry?”

(Acts 14:19-23, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 22, 2012)

[19] But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium,

The earliest religious arguments recorded in the life of the New Testament church were between Jews and Jews. Some Jews, as Paul himself once did, vigorously denied that Jesus was the Messiah. Other Jews became what Paul himself had become: Jews that were convinced that the Messiah had died for their sins and risen again from the dead.

The debate between the two groups was not a yawner. In fact, the Jews who rejected the Jesus that Paul preached were offended enough by this departure from what they considered to be true Judaism that they were willing to travel many miles in order to try to stop Paul. What made this especially interesting is that we remember that Paul himself had once done exactly the same thing. He traveled to other cities in order to attempt to stop the message of the resurrection of a crucified Jewish Messiah.

Those Jews from Antioch and Iconium who rejected the message of Jesus had already had enough energy to run the apostle Paul out of their respective towns. But they were angry enough to pursue him to the town of Lystra in the region of Lycaonia where the local population had recently concluded that he and Barnabas were Hermes and Zeus, gods come in the likeness of men.

and having persuaded the crowds,

Now these new Jews were presenting a different message, and they were able to persuade the crowds that rather than being gods, at least the Hermes figure, Paul, the one who talked the most of the two, should be killed rather than worshiped. The adoration of a crowd can be very short-lived.

How would the Jews from Antioch and Iconium have made their case? Remember the Lycaonians were a pagan people that were trying to be safe by showing that they were on the right side of the gods when they wanted to lavish honors upon Barnabas and Paul. Any evidence that excited their fears in a different direction might have been enough to turn the crowd into a dangerous mob.

they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

Whatever persuasion they used to make their case, it was effective. They stoned Paul and left him for dead outside the city limits. The choice of sanctions was interesting, since this Old Testament penalty of stoning would have been the natural advice of the religious experts from Antioch and Iconium. The fact that they dragged his body out of the city tells us that they did not think it was enough to kill him. They did not want his corpse bringing danger from the gods upon their town.

They supposed that he was dead. Christianity is notoriously difficult to kill. When you think that you have defeated it, it seems to have an uncanny ability to rise again. As with the King, so with His ambassadors.

[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.

The disciples gathered around what everyone supposed to be the dead body of Paul. But Paul was not dead. As the church, such as it was, gathered around him, he rose up. Not only that, he went back into the city!

The next day he and Barnabas continued the mission for which they were set apart, a mission that the risen Jesus gave to Paul on the road to Damascus, a mission that Christ had given more generally to the entire church: make disciples of all nations. The church could not be stopped because Jesus will not be stopped. They went on to Derbe, another Lycaonian city.

[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,

We know that these labors bore fruit because from Derbe, rather than head east back to Syria, they decided to make the journey west precisely to the cities where they had faced such angry opposition. They made many disciples in Derbe, but there were disciples in each of these cities. The point is that there was a reason to go back again to Lystra, Iconium, and to Antioch in Pisidia. The church had been born in each of those towns by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[22] strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith,

What message did they bring to the new believers in each of those places? One thing that we can say for certain is that it was not a new message, since they encouraged them to continue in the faith. The message of Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We are not looking for a new Jesus or a new gospel with every challenge that we face in life. We want to continue in the faith.

We can also say that this same message was effectual. It was the means that God has appointed to strengthen the souls of the disciples in every place and time. It does not come to us with a new Messiah, a new morality, or a new doctrine. The eternal souls that have been made alive by grace are also strengthened in that same grace.

and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. [23] 

What was new was the added experience of endurance in the faith that God had given them. Paganism only wants to be safe. If you have to drag a dead body outside of the city gates in order to keep the city inside those gates safe, then you do that. The Christ-following message is not searching for superstitious ways to stay safe. We want to stay with Jesus, even when we are assured that it must be through many tribulations that we will enter the kingdom of God.

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.Elders need to help the church to remember that. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders and committed them to the Lord in every church. Elders do not lead us in religious anger or in crippling fear. They lead us is faith. They shepherd the flock toward the unchanging Jesus.

Why do people get angry enough to murder other people? I suppose we would have to ask Cain why he angry enough to kill his brother. My guess is that Paul knew the answer all too well. I do know this: winning arguments does not seem to get rid of self-righteous indignation, it only feeds the beast. Only Christ can bring us the resurrection life we need to be able to love murderous enemies. If we have love like that we have a powerful gift that the world has rarely seen.

1. Why did Jews from Antioch and Iconium travel all the way to Lystra?

2. What did Paul and Barnabas do after facing such violent opposition in Lystra?

3. What did they teach the churches on their return to each city?

4. Why did they appoint elders in every city?

OT Passage: Genesis 4:1-8