Acts 14:1-28 - Someone's Poisoned The Water Hole and Church Theology

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Hope that you're having a good morning so far. If you are listening to this right as the podcast is coming up, then happy 4 a.m.

to you, and hope that you are having a productive day. Friday is the day that my family and I kind of take a little bit of Sabbath, a little bit of rest. And for many people, that might be a Saturday or Sunday.

Obviously, we're working a lot during those particular days, and not really a day of rest for us. So we try and set aside Friday as a day that I don't do any work, as much as I can help it.

I'm trying to follow through with some of the advice that God gave the Israelites in the Old Testament, where He says, you work for six days, and I will do for you in six days what you couldn't do for yourself in seven days.

And so, trying to have a reliance on the Lord in that, so recording this ahead of time, and hope that it would be an encouragement to you in your walk with the Lord. Hopefully, you're learning something. We'd love to hear how God is speaking to you.

If you have any of that, put it down in the comments. You don't know who you mentioning something might be an encouragement to them, that they might never have thought of that particular thing.

And you can get in on the action of encouraging people through the Word, and that'd be a great thing to do. Today, we are in Acts 14.

And in the end of Acts 13, we heard that Paul and Barnabas, they had given the Gospel to the Jews, they had shown from all across scripture that Jesus is the Messiah, and upon some of the Gentiles in the area also turning to Christ, and that really

causing a stumbling block for some of the Jews that they couldn't believe that God would reach those people who were not God's chosen people as well as themselves. And they were very upset about that.

And so Paul and Barnabas quoted this wonderful verse, Isaiah 49 and verse 6, I have made you a light for the Gentiles to bring salvation to the end of the earth. God's plan was always that the Gentiles would be brought into the family of God.

So that's kind of our springboard into Acts 14. In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue as usual and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. I want to take a moment and just look at that verse. They stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

I have seen this happen, I am certain in my fallen nature that I have done this before. This is a terrible sin to do. This is poisoning minds against someone.

So this would be something akin to slander, sowing discord. I am going to make sure that no one else thinks anything good about this person. I am not going to allow someone to form their own opinions about a person.

I am going to poison the well as it were. And many of us can do this in situations where we have such animosity and hatred towards someone.

Maybe it's something that we have not forgiven someone else, and as a result, bitterness has really taken a hold of our heart. And here, that's what it was for the unbelieving Jews.

Then that bitterness spilled over, poured over into the Gentiles, intentionally so, so that then the Gentiles had a specific thing in mind when it came to the Christians. Can I challenge us this morning?

Let's not be those that would poison the minds of others against our enemies.

Maybe if there's someone that's genuinely a danger to someone else, or maybe if you need to interact with someone or give them a little bit of a warning after some conversations have taken place, maybe you can do that in a wise and a caring manner.

But let's not do what these people here did and poison the mind of people against our enemies. It's not the way of Jesus. This is the way of the world.

So they poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of His grace by enabling them to do signs and wonders. But the people of the city were divided.

There was some siding with the Jews and others with the apostles.

When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, they found out about it and fled to the Lyconian towns of Lystra and Derby and to the surrounding countryside.

There they continued preaching the gospel.

If you found out that you were going to be killed for teaching about Jesus, I don't know if your automatic reaction would be, OK, I'm going to get out of danger and then I'm going to continue preaching Jesus and teaching about Jesus.

But that was what Paul and Silas were doing. And that is to be our goal that wherever we are, we are to shine the light of the gospel.

Verse number eight, in Lystra, a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet, had never walked and had been lame from birth. He listened as Paul spoke after looking directly at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed.

Paul said in a loud voice, stand up on your feet. And he jumped up and began to walk around. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted saying in the Lyconian language, the gods have come down to us in human form.

And there were many stories that were circulated in Greece and in Rome and in other areas about gods coming down to humankind and interacting with them.

And many times, it would be something that you would have children that were born, and then those children that were born from the gods and the women of humanity, they would become great kings.

And you could read about some of those types of thoughts even in Genesis 6, among other places. And here, the people of Lystra think that Paul, given the healing to this lame man, is a god.

Verse number 12, Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Hermes would be the herald of Zeus, kind of that main god, the storm god, all those kinds of things.

The priest of Zeus, verse 13, whose temple was just outside the town, brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended, with the crowds, to offer sacrifice. They genuinely thought Paul and Barnabas were gods.

The apostles, Barnabas and Paul, tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting, people, why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you.

And we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea and everything in them. There he's quoting from Exodus 20 and verse 11 and Psalm 146 and verse 6.

In past generations, God allowed all the nations to go their own way, although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with

joy. Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

I want us to look at those verses very quickly, that God allowed all the nations to go their own way, that he didn't wipe them out, that he turned them over to do what they wanted to do.

And what a fearful thing it is when God turns us over to our own devices. But it says he did not leave himself without a witness. What is God's witness?

The goodness that is all around us. He says rain from heaven, water, watered crops, the ability to eat and to have food, fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.

Think of Romans chapter 2 where it says that the goodness of God, the kindness of God is intended to lead us to repentance. If your life has had any goodness in it, it is because God has witnessed to you that he is there.

Maybe you're going through a time of trouble right now. Maybe you're going through a time of sickness, of relationship upheaval. Can I encourage you?

If there has been any good in your life, God has been there. If currently you have food, if you have a place to stay, God is looking out for you. Maybe your circumstances are dire, but I promise you if you are still here, God sees you.

God is there for you. He has left a witness, and his witness is his goodness. So, they barely stop the Greek God worshipping people from sacrificing to them.

But then verse 19 comes. Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city thinking he was dead. After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the town.

The next day, he left with Barnabas for Derby. What a miracle God does here that Paul, even though he is beaten, people think that he's dead and that he was dragged out of the city.

This is abuse and just terrible things that are happening to Paul, but it's not happening because he is not in the will of God. He's doing exactly what God wants him to do, and yet trouble comes.

Don't think that following God is always going to be an easy path. I think of what Paul said in the book of, in the letter, his second letter to Timothy where he says this, Yes, and all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

He knew this first hand, we just read about it. He was beaten. Don't think that life with God is a bed of roses, and that if it's not a bed of roses, then God's not with you.

No, no, no, no. If Jesus suffered for us, we should expect if we're following in Jesus' steps, that eventually those steps will lead into suffering. So don't think that it's a strange thing.

I am recalling a verse, beloved, think it not strange when there are those fiery trials. In those moments, we realize God is with me, that maybe I'm in the fiery furnace, but I know that there's a fourth man that's there from the book of Daniel.

Maybe it's a time when I'm in the middle of the waters, but God is there either in the great fish, or he's there in the Red Sea parting the waters.

Maybe it's a time when I'm surrounded by the armies of so many things coming against me, but I know that there is an angel army that's surrounding all of my problems. In the midst of trouble, we can know that God is with us. So take heart.

Hopefully, you're not getting beaten to a pulp and left for dead outside of the city today. When Paul experienced that, he got up and went back into the town.

The next day, he did leave for another town, but what an incredible account this is of Paul's continued faith.

Verse number 21, after they had preached the gospel in that town, Derby, and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra where he was stoned.

They returned to Iconium where they threatened to stone him and to Antioch of Pisidia, strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them it is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of

God. There is no Christian life without hardship. It is necessary to go through hardships to get to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was purchased through the death of Christ, and in our death, that is how we enter the kingdom of God.

That is that ultimate hardship that we must pass through. Verse number 23, when they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Want to make a quick note here just on the church theology side of things. Verse number 23, when they had appointed elders for them in every church. It doesn't say when they had appointed an elder for them in every church.

When scripture speaks about pastors, it normally uses the word elders. It's borrowing from many of the things happening in the Old Testament in those accounts. That is what the people of God called those who oversaw the community of faith.

And that is brought into the New Testament in some specific ways. And the Bible speaks about pastors, about elders, the other word that's used, overseers. God speaks about those men in the plural, that there are multiple pastors in a church.

We talked yesterday or the day before about the ordination of Barnabas and Saul for ministry, that as people recognize, oh, this person is caring for others, he's shepherding people's souls, he's feeding them the word of God, he has a care about

right theology, and he is interested in the oversight of the church. Hey, where's our church going? How can I help us accomplish this mission together?

As we recognize people that in our church exemplify those things that embody the characteristics that are found in Acts 20 that we'll get to in a week or two maybe, Acts 20 and 1st Timothy chapter 3 and Titus chapter 1 and 1st Peter 5 and Hebrews 13,

as we see people that are already exemplifying those characteristics, the Bible says then we appoint those people as elders, as pastors. In most churches, how that looks is maybe there's someone like myself that is paid to work full time in the

administration of the church in that oversight capacity, in that elder, in that teaching, in that Lord willing leading people, in pastoring, in feeding people, and trying to keep away wrong doctrine. So sometimes there are people that are paid for

that. But what is often the case is that there are people who do that not as their vocation, but they do it as lay people. They do it as those that are not paid to do the task, but they serve in that way.

1 Timothy 5 even talks about some of the difference in that. 1 Timothy 5 and verse 17, the elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

For the scripture says, do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain and the worker is worthy of his wages. There the elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor.

It's a double portion of sometimes financial support, sometimes food support from the congregation. It says especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. So there are here in this verse elders who do not work hard.

It's not those that are given to the preaching and teaching aspects of the role.

It says those that do labor hard in preaching and teaching, those ones are to be given a special amount, and there are other elders that aren't in that particular category.

So what it often looks like is you have somewhat of a main teaching elder or a teaching pastor, a lead pastor who is paid for that position, and then there are other pastors that aren't just in the congregation, that aren't paid full time or maybe

even sometimes part time to do some work of pastoring, but they are praying for people, but they are praying through decisions for the church. Maybe they are working together with people to better some different areas of the church or to plan out

some maybe outreaches or different things that are done. I think in our church of Pastor Ron that he is in many ways an elder, that people go to him for spiritual advice, people interact with him about many things that would be just like you would

with a pastor. So that's just kind of a side trail to teach a little bit about elders and what's happening there in verse 23. Verse 24, They passed through Pisidia, came to Pamphylia. After they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Italia.

From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they spent a considerable time with the disciples. What a wonderful thing.

At the end of their mission, it was completed. They bring the church together and they say, this is what God has done. There was joy and they spent time together.

Hope some of these thoughts as we've gone through today about suffering, about the church and church leaders, about how we poison the well sometimes in the minds of others and not having that outlook, allowing people to be able to come to their own

conclusions about people. Many thoughts that we looked at in this chapter, but hope that it was an encouragement to you. Tomorrow is an absolute treat. I love this section of scripture, the Jerusalem Council.

It's going to be a wonderful time. I don't believe that we'll take the entire chapter at once. I believe it will be broken up.

So we'll spend a couple days in it, and it will be a wonderful time together. Thank you for being here, and I hope to see you tomorrow.