May 25, 2025 • 23 mins
Grace is offensive. Holiness is offensive. Yet people everywhere are hungry for both. This tension sits at the heart of the missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas as they navigate the treacherous waters of sharing the gospel in first-century cities.
Following their progress through Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and beyond reveals a striking pattern. Initial enthusiasm often erupts into fierce opposition when the exclusive Jewish establishment realizes that God's chosen family is expanding to include "any old, pork-eating, idol-worshipping social reprobate." The message that anyone could come, repent, be baptized and experience transformation threatens those who've built their identity on being spiritually superior.
What's remarkable is not just the opposition they face—public denunciation, stoning, plots against their lives—but their extraordinary resilience. They knew when to stay and when to flee, when to endure and when to move on. Their teaching to new believers wasn't false promises of ease but the stark reality that "it is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." This counterintuitive approach strengthened rather than weakened the early church.
The episode in Lystra highlights a particularly relevant challenge for modern Christians. When Paul heals a lame man, the crowd mistakes him for Hermes and Barnabas for Zeus, completely missing the true source of the miracle. In our spiritually curious but biblically illiterate world, even supernatural encounters won't automatically point people to Jesus without clear explanation.
Following Jesus will make your life better, but not necessarily easier. The spiritual disciplines Paul practiced—solitude, fasting, prayer—build the resilience needed for the journey. In a society increasingly lacking the ability to handle setbacks, these practices prepare us for the inevitable valleys on the path to the kingdom. The gospel still grows most vigorously not in the soil of comfort, but through the faithful perseverance of those willing to count the cost.
© Bentley Baptist Church Inc.
www.bentleybaptist.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We'll be reading from Acts, chapter 13.
We will have it up on theoverhead the gospel is good news
, isn't it?
It's billions of peoplethroughout centuries and
centuries can testify to thetransforming power of Jesus.
They've received his love, hopeand joy.
(00:24):
They've experienced real lifechange when they've encountered
the gospel.
And yet Jesus said thatfollowing him means taking up
our cross daily and dying toself.
And you know, very often it'sonly through suffering that not
(00:44):
only churches grow, as we'll beseeing in our stories today, but
that we grow as individuals aswell, and that we grow into
maturity as people.
And so persevering throughhardship is the theme of our
chapter today, and it's learningto do that is something that's
vital to being a healthy humanbeing, let alone a fruitful
(01:08):
Christian.
So if you were here last week,we saw that Paul and Barnabas
are in the city of Antioch inPisidia, a province of Rome
different to the Antioch inSyria, where they were sent from
, and they've just preached inthe synagogue, and we read in
(01:30):
Acts, chapter 13,.
As they were leaving, thepeople urged them to speak about
these matters.
The following Sabbath, afterthe synagogue had been dismissed
, many of the Jews and devoutconverts to Judaism followed
Paul and Barnabas.
Many of the Jews and devoutconverts to Judaism followed
Paul and Barnabas, who werespeaking with them and urging
them to continue in the grace ofGod.
It's a really encouraging startto the ministry, isn't it?
(01:53):
And as the week goes on,apparently word spreads.
Perhaps people are talkingabout this new teaching, maybe
something has happened in theirlives and people are seeing
change happen in the lives oftheir neighbours.
But whatever the reason, by thetime the next Sabbath rolls
around, we're told, nearly thewhole city turns out to hear
(02:16):
what's happening.
Now, this must have been quitea shock to the synagogue.
Remember, jews, even in theseGentile cities, are quite
exclusive.
Jews, even in these Gentilecities, are quite exclusive, and
that's when everything startsto go pear-shaped.
Now, you know, if you're aregular here, for you and me, we
probably like it when thechurch fills up.
Apparently, these Jewish peopledon't.
(02:38):
When the Jews saw the crowds,they were filled with jealousy
and began to contradict whatPaul was saying, insulting him.
Filled with jealousy, whatexactly do you think they were
jealous of?
Well, the Jews were keenlyaware of their status as God's
(03:01):
chosen people, and that wasbased on their scriptures, the
Hebrew scriptures, what we callthe Old Testament and they,
frankly, had a superior ethicaland social system to the
Gentiles.
They lived more moral lives,they looked after each other as
a community and a lot ofGentiles respected them for this
(03:22):
, even if they thought they werea bit weird.
And so you know, the Jews werespecial spiritually, ethically,
and they knew it and they wereproud of it.
And so here is Paul coming innow and opening up the club, so
to speak, to everyone.
Any old, pork-eating,idol-worshipping social
(03:43):
reprobate can come, repent oftheir sins, be baptised and
become one of God's people.
That was the message Paul waspreaching no circumcision, just
the message of grace throughfaith.
The Jews didn't like it.
(04:04):
The Jews didn't like it.
But you know, we can suffer fromthat same kind of mentality
that they had.
You know, sometimes we thinkwe're owed something or that
those people over there don'tdeserve what we have, because,
you know, I've earned it, I'vebeen good, I've done whatever,
I've worked hard.
And when we have that attitudeas Christians, particularly
(04:25):
regarding spiritual things, itreally can demonstrate a lack of
understanding about God's loveand grace.
You know, when you read the OldTestament it's pretty clear
that God didn't choose theHebrews because they were good,
they were special because hechose them.
He didn't choose them becausethey were anything special.
They weren't better than anyoneelse.
(04:47):
And he doesn't choose usbecause we're better or we're
special.
We're special because hechooses us, but he doesn't
choose us because we're special.
He chooses us because he islove and it's his love that
transforms our lives.
But, as we see, these people'sjealousy excluded them.
(05:11):
Paul and Barnabas boldly repliedto the people who were
insulting and contradicting them.
It was necessary that the wordof God be spoken to you first,
to the Jews, since you reject itand judge yourselves unworthy
of eternal life.
We are turning to the Gentiles,for this is what the Lord has
(05:31):
commanded us.
I have made you a light for theGentiles to bring salvation to
the end of the earth.
And when the Gentiles heardthis, they rejoiced and honored
the word of the Lord and all whohad been appointed to eternal
life believed.
The word of the Lord spreadthrough the whole region.
(05:53):
You know, as I'm going throughthis again, reading this passage
, I'm like there's so manylittle nuggets of theology in
here, but I'm going to stick tomy point about suffering, to my
point about suffering.
So there's this rejoicing amongthe Gentiles who receive the
message, because the message ofgrace is appealing, but you know
(06:16):
we're not going to read it nowbecause we haven't got time to
read everything in the passagethis morning.
But we read in the next versethat the Jews incite prominent
people in the city to persecutePaul and Barnabas and basically
force them out of the district.
And so they go to the next towncalled Iconium, and in Iconium
they entered the Jewishsynagogue as usual, the pattern
(06:39):
that they have when they go intoa new town If there's a
synagogue they start there.
And they spoke in such a waythat a great number of both Jews
and Greeks believed.
It's good news for everyone.
But the unbelieving Jewsstirred up the Gentiles and
poisoned their minds against thebrothers, and so this is
interesting.
So they stayed there a longtime and spoke boldly for the
(07:02):
Lord, who testified to themessage of his grace by enabling
them to do signs and wonders.
So more opposition, apparentlyfrom a different group of Jews,
but probably the same mentality,but this time they're able to
stay longer.
Maybe the power dynamics intown are a little different.
(07:22):
Maybe the Jews don't have somany friends in high places.
The Lord blesses the ministry,so much so that he performs
signs and wonders and enacts.
This is typically healings thatare taking place.
You know, as Christians we havethis strange relationship with
(07:44):
opposition and persecution.
On the one hand, you know,there's some Christians can be a
prickly bunch, can't they?
Do you ever hear someone, maybeon a podcast, or you see them
on TV or something, and you'rejust like they're just being
provocative.
You don't need to say that, oryou don't need to say it in that
way.
And they have this abrasiveedge which people react to.
(08:07):
And then those Christians cryoh, persecution.
On the other hand, you getChristians who say, oh look,
we've just got to be, you know,sort of cuddle up to the culture
, not be so rigid about some ofour values.
You know, just embrace theculture and its values and that
sort of thing.
More people would come tochurch.
(08:28):
And then we have to crycompromise, because you know
what the reality is that thegospel is offensive.
Grace is offensive To peoplewho lean into law and religion.
Grace is really offensive.
I mean, doesn't it seem sounfair that God forgives so
(08:53):
freely?
On the other hand, the call toholiness is offensive to those
who think that they're thecentre of their moral universe,
in a world where my truth is theonly truth that matters,
declaring that there is agreater truth that's holier than
(09:16):
your truth, that's offensive.
So the gospel is offensiveenough without us putting in a
brace of edge on it.
But here's the thing and this iswhat we see constantly in this
missionary journey is thatpeople are hungry to hear both,
both the message of grace and ofholiness.
People are hungry for a messageof hope that includes both
(09:42):
God's unconditional love for youand also that you know,
actually there is a better wayof life.
You know it's good news forpeople who think my life sucks.
If you think your life is okayor that you know whatever it is
I'm doing, well, the gospel isnot going to be so appealing.
(10:04):
But if you're just like I knowmy life sucks, I know I'm ruined
.
I don't know that God can loveme, but when you hear that
message that he can, that's goodnews.
And as long as those people arethere and as many of you today
(10:26):
as long as those people arethere, the grace of God is with
us to bring the message and weneed to persevere in it.
You see, they have people therewho are receptive to the
message and people who areopposing them, so they stay
around.
It's almost like both theopposition and the receptivity
(10:49):
are what are driving them.
But not to point.
We don't need to persevere tothe point of stupidity.
And so the apostles find outabout another plot to their life
.
Their nemeses from the previouscity have arrived in this place
, in Iconium, and are stirringup the crowd, and both Jews and
(11:12):
Gentiles, apparently, areplotting to kill them.
The gospel is an equalopportunity offender, yeah, jew
and Gentile.
And so the apostles flee to thenext city, lystra, and this is
a great story.
They fled to the Lycanian townsof Lystra and Derby and to the
(11:34):
surrounding countryside, andthere they continued preaching
the gospel.
In Lystra, a man was sitting whowas without strength in his
feet, had never walked and hadbeen lame from birth.
He listened as Paul spoke andafter looking directly at him
and seeing that he had faith tobe healed, paul said in a loud
voice stand up on your feet.
(11:55):
And he jumped up and began towalk around.
And when the crowd saw whatPaul had done, they shouted
saying in the Lycanian languagethe gods have come down to us in
human form Barnabas.
They called Zeus and PaulHermes because he couldn't shut
up.
Apparently, the priest of Zeus,whose temple was just outside
(12:15):
the town, brought bulls andwreaths to the gates because he
intended, with the crowds, tooffer sacrifice.
The apostles Paul and Barnabastore their robes when they heard
this and rushed into the crowdshouting people, why are you
doing these things?
We are people also, just likeyou, and we are proclaiming good
news to you that you turn fromthese worthless things to the
(12:41):
living God, who made the heavenand the earth, the sea and
everything in them.
In the past generations, heallowed all the nations to go
their own way, although he didnot leave them without a witness
, since he did what is good bygiving you rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons and filling youwith food and your hearts with
(13:01):
joy.
Even though they said thesethings, they barely stopped the
crowds from sacrificing to them.
You know, I think there's areally important lesson for us
in this episode.
There's a few here, but I'mgoing to pick one.
You know, there's a sayingthat's attributed to Francis of
Assisi, although I'm told hedidn't actually say it.
(13:22):
But preach always, use words ifyou must, and what greater
wordless sermon is there than amiraculous healing like this?
Someone's life is radicallychanged.
He sees, he believes, he'shealed.
You know, we can imagine thisman was probably born with a
(13:46):
congenital defect, probablymaybe something like club feet
or something.
He's never walked and so hislegs are probably withered from
atrophy, and so not only is hisphysical deformity or lameness
healed, but he doesn't needtherapy, he's just up and at it.
What a miracle.
(14:08):
Now this crippled man no longercrippled knew what was
happening.
And Paul had seen that he hadthe faith to be healed.
He had heard the message.
He's getting this Jesus thingat some rudimentary level.
But for whatever reason, thecrowd completely missed the
point.
Maybe they hadn't heard it,maybe they'd seen the miracle
and came running and were lateto the party.
(14:29):
But whatever, the gospel isn'tclear to the crowd.
They can see what happened.
They can see clearly there'ssome sort of amazing power at
work here.
They don't understand why theman was healed, they don't
understand whose power healedhim.
(14:52):
And you know, we live in asociety with increasing
spiritual awareness butdecreasing Christian memory, and
so we can't assume that thegood things that happen to us,
and maybe even if God works amiracle in our lives, we just
can't assume that people aregoing to say oh, praise God.
(15:13):
God is real.
We can use the same wordssometimes when we're talking
about spiritual things to peopleand we're meaning one thing and
they're meaning somethingcompletely different and there's
no connect.
We don't have to Bible bashpeople when we're sharing the
(15:38):
gospel, but we do need to beclear about who Jesus is, what
he's done, the power that's atwork in our life.
Make sure that Jesus gets theglory and they understand at
some level the good news.
Anyway, once again this crowd isfickle.
(15:59):
So many crowds are fickle inActs and so probably some time
later, because some Jews camefrom Antioch and Iconium so they
had to have time to get there.
They won the crowds over.
They got what they wanted.
This time they stoned Paul anddragged him out of the city
thinking he was dead.
Apparently, barnabas wasn'tthere at the time.
(16:22):
Barnabas wasn't there at thetime.
After the disciples gatheredaround him, he got up and went
into the town and the next dayhe left with Barnabas for Derby.
They got out of Dodge andapparently in Derby we're not
going to read the story therebecause there's not much to read
.
Apparently they had a fruitfuland uneventful ministry and so
(16:45):
after some time there they hadpreached the gospel in that town
, derby, and made many disciples.
They returned to Lystra, toIaconium and to Antioch,
strengthening the disciples byencouraging them to continue in
the faith and by telling them itis necessary to go through many
hardships to enter the kingdomof God.
And when they'd appointedelders for them in every church
(17:07):
and prayed with fasting, theycommitted them to the Lord in
whom they had believed.
So did you just pick up themessage that the apostles used
to strengthen them with?
This is not something thatyou'd.
It's a bit counterintuitive.
Persevere in the faith andexpect hardship.
(17:28):
Persevere in the faith andexpect hardship.
In fact, they say not just toexpect hardship, but hardship is
necessary for us to enter thekingdom of God.
And of course, we've just beenreading.
Paul knew all about hardship.
People publicly denounced him,maligned and tried to murder him
.
He ran from city to city,fleeing persecution, but always
(17:51):
preached the gospel, because forevery persecutor there were
many people who were hungry forthe good news.
And so the church greweverywhere he went.
Friends for us, following Jesuswill make your life better, but
(18:11):
it won't necessarily make iteasier.
Hardships must come, paul sayswhy?
Well, I think three reasons.
One, because the Christian lifeis one, frankly, of battling
sin and temptation.
When we're saved this mortalflesh, the temptations don't all
(18:32):
go away.
God gives us grace to begin tolearn to resist that temptation.
Some take a little longer tolearn than others, but we still
have to resist.
We still battle with sin.
By God's grace, we grow inholiness and overcome sin.
But it's still a painfulinternal struggle.
So that's the first reason.
(18:54):
Secondly, because you have anenemy that wants to take you
down or take you out, morally,spiritually, psychologically,
even physically, despite thevery human attacks that Paul
experienced.
He says in Ephesians that ourbattle is not against flesh and
(19:14):
blood but against spiritualforces of evil in the heavenly
realm.
So the devil's out to get youand out to get me.
Because you belong to God.
You got someone stronger onyour side.
There's no match, butnevertheless Three.
Someone stronger on your side,there's no match, but
nevertheless three because wehave to.
People love darkness and hatethe light.
Now, not everyone, as we'vebeen seeing.
(19:36):
There are many people who longfor the light and that's one
reason we need to make sure thatwe shine our light brightly so
they can find the light of Jesus.
But there are also many peoplewho hate the light and will mock
, ridicule and even try to harmus reputationally, sometimes
physically, if you're in thatenvironment.
(19:57):
And so we must endure hardships.
Why?
Because of sin, because of thedevil and because of the world.
Maybe you've heard that before,but you know there's a problem
that's particularly unique tothe 21st century.
I hear from psychologists andteachers how many particularly
young people today lackresilience and can't handle
(20:19):
setbacks.
Now, that's not grumpy old Alexsaying that?
I probably am grumpy, but I'mnot making that up.
I hear that from people at thecoalface.
You know, we've become analarmingly soft society, and so
the question for us as God'speople is how do we develop the
(20:40):
kind of resilience that is goingto see us through the hardships
that must come so we can getinto the kingdom of God and so
that we can shine a light andhelp people find the light?
Well, one of the ways we've gotcommunity together.
(21:03):
But God has also given us agreat gift in spiritual
practices, what we used to callwait for it spiritual
disciplines Don't like that word, of course, when we think of
spiritual disciplines orspiritual practices, we talk a
lot about prayer and Biblereading and so on, but there are
(21:23):
also, I think, particularpractices that can really build
our strength, and these arepractices of restraint.
In the Bible we see Jesus wentalone, practiced solitude If he
had a mobile phone he would haveturned that off got out
somewhere, just him and theFather, and unplugged.
(21:48):
Him and the Father andunplugged.
There's the practice of fastingfrom food, actually
experiencing hunger, and thereare other practices like this as
well.
And when we disciplineourselves with these, when the
(22:10):
disciplines come externally,we're a lot more ready to meet
them.
I can handle this.
I know I can handle this.
I've done it before.
Now I know many of you are doingJohn Mark Comer's Practicing
the Way.
It's a book, it's an onlineseries and so on.
I commend that to you.
If you're wondering where tostart with exploring spiritual
practices, practising the way,look, I don't know about you,
(22:34):
but I'm someone who fleesconflict and I hate.
I flee hardship.
I like my comfortableAustralian suburban life, but
comfort doesn't stimulate growth, doesn't stimulate personal
growth and it doesn't stimulategospel growth.
Wherever the gospel goes,whether in your heart or in your
(22:57):
city, there will be opposition.
Now I don't think the lesson ofActs is that we should go look
for trouble.
Paul and Barnabas had todiscern when it was time to
endure and when it was time toflee.
But the lesson is don't besurprised when it comes.
Persevere through it.
(23:18):
God works all things togetherfor those who love him.
It is part of his maturing you.
And here's the thing, as wereflect on something like Psalm
23,.
It says we endure the valley ofthe shadow of death, that we
find eternal life at the otherend.
We'll be reading from Acts, chapter 13.
We will have it up on theoverhead the gospel is good news
, isn't it?
It's billions of peoplethroughout centuries and
centuries can testify to thetransforming power of Jesus.
They've received his love, hopeand joy.
(00:24):
They've experienced real lifechange when they've encountered
the gospel.
And yet Jesus said thatfollowing him means taking up
our cross daily and dying toself.
And you know, very often it'sonly through suffering that not
(00:44):
only churches grow, as we'll beseeing in our stories today, but
that we grow as individuals aswell, and that we grow into
maturity as people.
And so persevering throughhardship is the theme of our
chapter today, and it's learningto do that is something that's
vital to being a healthy humanbeing, let alone a fruitful
(01:08):
Christian.
So if you were here last week,we saw that Paul and Barnabas
are in the city of Antioch inPisidia, a province of Rome
different to the Antioch inSyria, where they were sent from
, and they've just preached inthe synagogue, and we read in
(01:30):
Acts, chapter 13,.
As they were leaving, thepeople urged them to speak about
these matters.
The following Sabbath, afterthe synagogue had been dismissed
, many of the Jews and devoutconverts to Judaism followed
Paul and Barnabas.
Many of the Jews and devoutconverts to Judaism followed
Paul and Barnabas, who werespeaking with them and urging
them to continue in the grace ofGod.
It's a really encouraging startto the ministry, isn't it?
(01:53):
And as the week goes on,apparently word spreads.
Perhaps people are talkingabout this new teaching, maybe
something has happened in theirlives and people are seeing
change happen in the lives oftheir neighbours.
But whatever the reason, by thetime the next Sabbath rolls
around, we're told, nearly thewhole city turns out to hear
(02:16):
what's happening.
Now, this must have been quitea shock to the synagogue.
Remember, jews, even in theseGentile cities, are quite
exclusive.
Jews, even in these Gentilecities, are quite exclusive, and
that's when everything startsto go pear-shaped.
Now, you know, if you're aregular here, for you and me, we
probably like it when thechurch fills up.
Apparently, these Jewish peopledon't.
(02:38):
When the Jews saw the crowds,they were filled with jealousy
and began to contradict whatPaul was saying, insulting him.
Filled with jealousy, whatexactly do you think they were
jealous of?
Well, the Jews were keenlyaware of their status as God's
(03:01):
chosen people, and that wasbased on their scriptures, the
Hebrew scriptures, what we callthe Old Testament and they,
frankly, had a superior ethicaland social system to the
Gentiles.
They lived more moral lives,they looked after each other as
a community and a lot ofGentiles respected them for this
(03:22):
, even if they thought they werea bit weird.
And so you know, the Jews werespecial spiritually, ethically,
and they knew it and they wereproud of it.
And so here is Paul coming innow and opening up the club, so
to speak, to everyone.
Any old, pork-eating,idol-worshipping social
(03:43):
reprobate can come, repent oftheir sins, be baptised and
become one of God's people.
That was the message Paul waspreaching no circumcision, just
the message of grace throughfaith.
The Jews didn't like it.
(04:04):
The Jews didn't like it.
But you know, we can suffer fromthat same kind of mentality
that they had.
You know, sometimes we thinkwe're owed something or that
those people over there don'tdeserve what we have, because,
you know, I've earned it, I'vebeen good, I've done whatever,
I've worked hard.
And when we have that attitudeas Christians, particularly
(04:25):
regarding spiritual things, itreally can demonstrate a lack of
understanding about God's loveand grace.
You know, when you read the OldTestament it's pretty clear
that God didn't choose theHebrews because they were good,
they were special because hechose them.
He didn't choose them becausethey were anything special.
They weren't better than anyoneelse.
(04:47):
And he doesn't choose usbecause we're better or we're
special.
We're special because hechooses us, but he doesn't
choose us because we're special.
He chooses us because he islove and it's his love that
transforms our lives.
But, as we see, these people'sjealousy excluded them.
(05:11):
Paul and Barnabas boldly repliedto the people who were
insulting and contradicting them.
It was necessary that the wordof God be spoken to you first,
to the Jews, since you reject itand judge yourselves unworthy
of eternal life.
We are turning to the Gentiles,for this is what the Lord has
(05:31):
commanded us.
I have made you a light for theGentiles to bring salvation to
the end of the earth.
And when the Gentiles heardthis, they rejoiced and honored
the word of the Lord and all whohad been appointed to eternal
life believed.
The word of the Lord spreadthrough the whole region.
(05:53):
You know, as I'm going throughthis again, reading this passage
, I'm like there's so manylittle nuggets of theology in
here, but I'm going to stick tomy point about suffering, to my
point about suffering.
So there's this rejoicing amongthe Gentiles who receive the
message, because the message ofgrace is appealing, but you know
(06:16):
we're not going to read it nowbecause we haven't got time to
read everything in the passagethis morning.
But we read in the next versethat the Jews incite prominent
people in the city to persecutePaul and Barnabas and basically
force them out of the district.
And so they go to the next towncalled Iconium, and in Iconium
they entered the Jewishsynagogue as usual, the pattern
(06:39):
that they have when they go intoa new town If there's a
synagogue they start there.
And they spoke in such a waythat a great number of both Jews
and Greeks believed.
It's good news for everyone.
But the unbelieving Jewsstirred up the Gentiles and
poisoned their minds against thebrothers, and so this is
interesting.
So they stayed there a longtime and spoke boldly for the
(07:02):
Lord, who testified to themessage of his grace by enabling
them to do signs and wonders.
So more opposition, apparentlyfrom a different group of Jews,
but probably the same mentality,but this time they're able to
stay longer.
Maybe the power dynamics intown are a little different.
(07:22):
Maybe the Jews don't have somany friends in high places.
The Lord blesses the ministry,so much so that he performs
signs and wonders and enacts.
This is typically healings thatare taking place.
You know, as Christians we havethis strange relationship with
(07:44):
opposition and persecution.
On the one hand, you know,there's some Christians can be a
prickly bunch, can't they?
Do you ever hear someone, maybeon a podcast, or you see them
on TV or something, and you'rejust like they're just being
provocative.
You don't need to say that, oryou don't need to say it in that
way.
And they have this abrasiveedge which people react to.
(08:07):
And then those Christians cryoh, persecution.
On the other hand, you getChristians who say, oh look,
we've just got to be, you know,sort of cuddle up to the culture
, not be so rigid about some ofour values.
You know, just embrace theculture and its values and that
sort of thing.
More people would come tochurch.
(08:28):
And then we have to crycompromise, because you know
what the reality is that thegospel is offensive.
Grace is offensive To peoplewho lean into law and religion.
Grace is really offensive.
I mean, doesn't it seem sounfair that God forgives so
(08:53):
freely?
On the other hand, the call toholiness is offensive to those
who think that they're thecentre of their moral universe,
in a world where my truth is theonly truth that matters,
declaring that there is agreater truth that's holier than
(09:16):
your truth, that's offensive.
So the gospel is offensiveenough without us putting in a
brace of edge on it.
But here's the thing and this iswhat we see constantly in this
missionary journey is thatpeople are hungry to hear both,
both the message of grace and ofholiness.
People are hungry for a messageof hope that includes both
(09:42):
God's unconditional love for youand also that you know,
actually there is a better wayof life.
You know it's good news forpeople who think my life sucks.
If you think your life is okayor that you know whatever it is
I'm doing, well, the gospel isnot going to be so appealing.
(10:04):
But if you're just like I knowmy life sucks, I know I'm ruined
.
I don't know that God can loveme, but when you hear that
message that he can, that's goodnews.
And as long as those people arethere and as many of you today
(10:26):
as long as those people arethere, the grace of God is with
us to bring the message and weneed to persevere in it.
You see, they have people therewho are receptive to the
message and people who areopposing them, so they stay
around.
It's almost like both theopposition and the receptivity
(10:49):
are what are driving them.
But not to point.
We don't need to persevere tothe point of stupidity.
And so the apostles find outabout another plot to their life
.
Their nemeses from the previouscity have arrived in this place
, in Iconium, and are stirringup the crowd, and both Jews and
(11:12):
Gentiles, apparently, areplotting to kill them.
The gospel is an equalopportunity offender, yeah, jew
and Gentile.
And so the apostles flee to thenext city, lystra, and this is
a great story.
They fled to the Lycanian townsof Lystra and Derby and to the
(11:34):
surrounding countryside, andthere they continued preaching
the gospel.
In Lystra, a man was sitting whowas without strength in his
feet, had never walked and hadbeen lame from birth.
He listened as Paul spoke andafter looking directly at him
and seeing that he had faith tobe healed, paul said in a loud
voice stand up on your feet.
(11:55):
And he jumped up and began towalk around.
And when the crowd saw whatPaul had done, they shouted
saying in the Lycanian languagethe gods have come down to us in
human form Barnabas.
They called Zeus and PaulHermes because he couldn't shut
up.
Apparently, the priest of Zeus,whose temple was just outside
(12:15):
the town, brought bulls andwreaths to the gates because he
intended, with the crowds, tooffer sacrifice.
The apostles Paul and Barnabastore their robes when they heard
this and rushed into the crowdshouting people, why are you
doing these things?
We are people also, just likeyou, and we are proclaiming good
news to you that you turn fromthese worthless things to the
(12:41):
living God, who made the heavenand the earth, the sea and
everything in them.
In the past generations, heallowed all the nations to go
their own way, although he didnot leave them without a witness
, since he did what is good bygiving you rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons and filling youwith food and your hearts with
(13:01):
joy.
Even though they said thesethings, they barely stopped the
crowds from sacrificing to them.
You know, I think there's areally important lesson for us
in this episode.
There's a few here, but I'mgoing to pick one.
You know, there's a sayingthat's attributed to Francis of
Assisi, although I'm told hedidn't actually say it.
(13:22):
But preach always, use words ifyou must, and what greater
wordless sermon is there than amiraculous healing like this?
Someone's life is radicallychanged.
He sees, he believes, he'shealed.
You know, we can imagine thisman was probably born with a
(13:46):
congenital defect, probablymaybe something like club feet
or something.
He's never walked and so hislegs are probably withered from
atrophy, and so not only is hisphysical deformity or lameness
healed, but he doesn't needtherapy, he's just up and at it.
What a miracle.
(14:08):
Now this crippled man no longercrippled knew what was
happening.
And Paul had seen that he hadthe faith to be healed.
He had heard the message.
He's getting this Jesus thingat some rudimentary level.
But for whatever reason, thecrowd completely missed the
point.
Maybe they hadn't heard it,maybe they'd seen the miracle
and came running and were lateto the party.
(14:29):
But whatever, the gospel isn'tclear to the crowd.
They can see what happened.
They can see clearly there'ssome sort of amazing power at
work here.
They don't understand why theman was healed, they don't
understand whose power healedhim.
(14:52):
And you know, we live in asociety with increasing
spiritual awareness butdecreasing Christian memory, and
so we can't assume that thegood things that happen to us,
and maybe even if God works amiracle in our lives, we just
can't assume that people aregoing to say oh, praise God.
(15:13):
God is real.
We can use the same wordssometimes when we're talking
about spiritual things to peopleand we're meaning one thing and
they're meaning somethingcompletely different and there's
no connect.
We don't have to Bible bashpeople when we're sharing the
(15:38):
gospel, but we do need to beclear about who Jesus is, what
he's done, the power that's atwork in our life.
Make sure that Jesus gets theglory and they understand at
some level the good news.
Anyway, once again this crowd isfickle.
(15:59):
So many crowds are fickle inActs and so probably some time
later, because some Jews camefrom Antioch and Iconium so they
had to have time to get there.
They won the crowds over.
They got what they wanted.
This time they stoned Paul anddragged him out of the city
thinking he was dead.
Apparently, barnabas wasn'tthere at the time.
(16:22):
Barnabas wasn't there at thetime.
After the disciples gatheredaround him, he got up and went
into the town and the next dayhe left with Barnabas for Derby.
They got out of Dodge andapparently in Derby we're not
going to read the story therebecause there's not much to read
.
Apparently they had a fruitfuland uneventful ministry and so
(16:45):
after some time there they hadpreached the gospel in that town
, derby, and made many disciples.
They returned to Lystra, toIaconium and to Antioch,
strengthening the disciples byencouraging them to continue in
the faith and by telling them itis necessary to go through many
hardships to enter the kingdomof God.
And when they'd appointedelders for them in every church
(17:07):
and prayed with fasting, theycommitted them to the Lord in
whom they had believed.
So did you just pick up themessage that the apostles used
to strengthen them with?
This is not something thatyou'd.
It's a bit counterintuitive.
Persevere in the faith andexpect hardship.
(17:28):
Persevere in the faith andexpect hardship.
In fact, they say not just toexpect hardship, but hardship is
necessary for us to enter thekingdom of God.
And of course, we've just beenreading.
Paul knew all about hardship.
People publicly denounced him,maligned and tried to murder him
.
He ran from city to city,fleeing persecution, but always
(17:51):
preached the gospel, because forevery persecutor there were
many people who were hungry forthe good news.
And so the church greweverywhere he went.
Friends for us, following Jesuswill make your life better, but
(18:11):
it won't necessarily make iteasier.
Hardships must come, paul sayswhy?
Well, I think three reasons.
One, because the Christian lifeis one, frankly, of battling
sin and temptation.
When we're saved this mortalflesh, the temptations don't all
(18:32):
go away.
God gives us grace to begin tolearn to resist that temptation.
Some take a little longer tolearn than others, but we still
have to resist.
We still battle with sin.
By God's grace, we grow inholiness and overcome sin.
But it's still a painfulinternal struggle.
So that's the first reason.
(18:54):
Secondly, because you have anenemy that wants to take you
down or take you out, morally,spiritually, psychologically,
even physically, despite thevery human attacks that Paul
experienced.
He says in Ephesians that ourbattle is not against flesh and
(19:14):
blood but against spiritualforces of evil in the heavenly
realm.
So the devil's out to get youand out to get me.
Because you belong to God.
You got someone stronger onyour side.
There's no match, butnevertheless Three.
Someone stronger on your side,there's no match, but
nevertheless three because wehave to.
People love darkness and hatethe light.
Now, not everyone, as we'vebeen seeing.
(19:36):
There are many people who longfor the light and that's one
reason we need to make sure thatwe shine our light brightly so
they can find the light of Jesus.
But there are also many peoplewho hate the light and will mock
, ridicule and even try to harmus reputationally, sometimes
physically, if you're in thatenvironment.
(19:57):
And so we must endure hardships.
Why?
Because of sin, because of thedevil and because of the world.
Maybe you've heard that before,but you know there's a problem
that's particularly unique tothe 21st century.
I hear from psychologists andteachers how many particularly
young people today lackresilience and can't handle
(20:19):
setbacks.
Now, that's not grumpy old Alexsaying that?
I probably am grumpy, but I'mnot making that up.
I hear that from people at thecoalface.
You know, we've become analarmingly soft society, and so
the question for us as God'speople is how do we develop the
(20:40):
kind of resilience that is goingto see us through the hardships
that must come so we can getinto the kingdom of God and so
that we can shine a light andhelp people find the light?
Well, one of the ways we've gotcommunity together.
(21:03):
But God has also given us agreat gift in spiritual
practices, what we used to callwait for it spiritual
disciplines Don't like that word, of course, when we think of
spiritual disciplines orspiritual practices, we talk a
lot about prayer and Biblereading and so on, but there are
(21:23):
also, I think, particularpractices that can really build
our strength, and these arepractices of restraint.
In the Bible we see Jesus wentalone, practiced solitude If he
had a mobile phone he would haveturned that off got out
somewhere, just him and theFather, and unplugged.
(21:48):
Him and the Father andunplugged.
There's the practice of fastingfrom food, actually
experiencing hunger, and thereare other practices like this as
well.
And when we disciplineourselves with these, when the
(22:10):
disciplines come externally,we're a lot more ready to meet
them.
I can handle this.
I know I can handle this.
I've done it before.
Now I know many of you are doingJohn Mark Comer's Practicing
the Way.
It's a book, it's an onlineseries and so on.
I commend that to you.
If you're wondering where tostart with exploring spiritual
practices, practising the way,look, I don't know about you,
(22:34):
but I'm someone who fleesconflict and I hate.
I flee hardship.
I like my comfortableAustralian suburban life, but
comfort doesn't stimulate growth, doesn't stimulate personal
growth and it doesn't stimulategospel growth.
Wherever the gospel goes,whether in your heart or in your
(22:57):
city, there will be opposition.
Now I don't think the lesson ofActs is that we should go look
for trouble.
Paul and Barnabas had todiscern when it was time to
endure and when it was time toflee.
But the lesson is don't besurprised when it comes.
Persevere through it.
(23:18):
God works all things togetherfor those who love him.
It is part of his maturing you.
And here's the thing, as wereflect on something like Psalm
23,.
It says we endure the valley ofthe shadow of death, that we
find eternal life at the otherend.
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