ACTS: What is God asking of me?

 Scripture: Acts 14:3  speaking with the boldness of the LORD and relying on Him to perform miracles and offer proof of His existence.

 

Paul and Barnabas continued their journey of sharing the Word of the Lord.

 

Acts 14:1 They went straight to the synagogue when they came to Iconium.  After speaking with the people, many chose to believe in Jesus, some Jews and some Greeks. 2 Again, there were Jews who did not believe and began to stir things up. Soon there was a bitter battle between those who believed and those who did not.

 

Dissension has existed between people for as long as there have been people. Dissension in the church continues to exist even today. In this case the discord was centered around Jesus and whether the words Paul was speaking were true or not.

 

Discord can distract us from the work of the Kingdom or cause us to be more focused on what the work truly is. Paul and Barnabas used this discord as an opportunity to focus on the things God wanted then to do.

 

 3 So, Paul and Barnabas spent a long time in that town, speaking with the boldness of the LORD and relying on Him to perform miracles and offer proof of His existence. 4 The division in the town continued to grow. 5 There was an attempt made by some of the people to get the rulers of the town to physically force Paul and Barnabas out of town. 6 Finding out about the plan ahead of time, they left Iconium and traveled to the neighboring towns of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe. 7 All the while they continued to preach the good news of Jesus.

 

It is interesting to me that some people can see the miracles of God’s work as just the good workings of the universe pulling all things together. I had a long discussion with some friends the other night about their belief and mine. They could not see much of a difference except I saw Jesus as the living God and they saw Him as a great teacher among many teachers. They would not acknowledge Him as God because they did not acknowledge there was a God at all. The universe was a complete system all its own and there was no need for a puppeteer.

 

8 In Lystra they met a man who had never had the opportunity to walk because his feet had no strength, even from birth. 9 While this man listened to Paul, he locked eyes with him, it was evident to Paul of the lame man's faith. 10 Speaking to the man, Paul said loud enough for many to hear, "Get up on your feet!” And the man leaped up and began to walk around. 11 The reaction of the crowd was a chorus of praise to Paul and Barnabas as if they were gods who had come down to be with the people.

 

Miracles often draw the attention away from God and towards the people who stand as God’s assistant in the process. Reading the stories of the Christian healers of the past, many struggled with trying to turn the praise away from themselves and back to God. One, who spoke at a seminary chapel while I was in school, said, “when someone asks me to pray for their healing, I will often tell them, ‘I will ask God if He wants to heal you at this time.’”

 

The work of miracles belongs to God alone. He only asks us to be willing to pray believing that He can and will bring good into another person’s life. And when the miracle happens, He asks us to claim that the work is the power of God.

 

In Lystra, the people saw the miracle as evidence of God’s hand, but they interpreted it such that Paul and Barnabas were God.

 

12 The people called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, since he did most of the speaking. 13 The temple of Zeus was just outside their city and the priest brought oxen and flowers to the gates of the city in order to have the crowds offer sacrifices to them. 14 When Paul and Barnabas realized what was happening, they ripped their clothing in a show of humility, and rushed into the crowd of people, 15 shouting, "People, don't do this! Look at us, we are not gods, we are just like you. We are suggesting that you stop doing these vain acts of worship and turn to the true living God, the God who created this world and everything in it.

 

The interpretation of the people is that they are gods, but Paul and Barnabas rip their clothing, which was a traditional Jewish response to any form of blaspheme. It was an outward act of humility, either real or perceived. And they declared that they were not gods, but servants of the true living God.

 

As witnesses of Jesus, all we can do is talk about what we believe. We cannot convince other people, we cannot come up with the perfect words to speak, and we cannot make people think differently. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. We only have the opportunity to speak what we know at the moment. To let others know that we attribute the work of miracles to God alone.

 

Paul shares a glimpse into his understanding of why the other nations did not believe in the one true God. They were allowed by God to make these choices of how to interpret the workings of the universe. Some chose to say, “it is what it is.” Others saw god in the workings of nature or the phenomenon of life. But now the Messiah has come and the message is being spread throughout the world, that God, the one true God has visited this world with the message of truth and love.

 

 16 "He has allowed the nations of the world to make these random choices; 17 but He has always been near to you and revealed Himself in the many good things He has given you, like rain and harvests, so that your hearts would be satisfied with food and joy." 18 This only restrained the crowd a small amount but kept them from offering the sacrifices.

 

The antagonists of the past tend to follow you around whether you like it or not. And such was the case for the apostles on this journey.

 

19 Those people from Antioch and Iconium who were opposed to Paul and Barnabas came into town and stirred up the crowd to the point of them dragging Paul outside of the city, stoning him, and leaving him for dead. 20 The disciples gathered around Paul and he stood up and went back into the city with them. He and Barnabas left town the next day and traveled to Derbe.

 

21 They spend a short time there and pulled together a group of disciples and then started back home, stopping by Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 encouraging the hearts of those who believed and reminding them, "The path to the kingdom of God is lined with many tribulations." 23 They appointed leaders in each of the groups of followers, fasting and praying for them, and entrusting them to Jesus, who would watch over them in the future.

 

Some things we can learn from this passage include the power of God to care for believers and the need we have to encourage one another.

 

In this story, Paul and Barnabas did not spend years building churches or creating great organizational structures and firm theologies. They just gathered some believers and appointed a few “leaders” who probably did not know any more than the others, and then our apostles left town. The people were left in the hands of the Holy Spirit. And the church grew from there.

 

And we see that everywhere Paul and Barnabas went, they encouraged those who believed reminding them that the path to the kingdom of God would not always be easy, but would come with difficulties of faith and outside persecution along the way. That is still true today.

 

24 They continued doing the same as they traveled through Pisidia and finally came to Pamphylia. 25 Even in Perga and Attalia they preached about Jesus. 26 Then they set sail back to the church in Antioch where they had started their journey. They were thankful to God and His grace for their safety and the many who believed because of their journey. 27 The church in Antioch gathered together and listened to their report of the things God had done through them and how many of the people who came to faith were not Jewish but from the non-Jewish nations. 28 They continued to spend time with the disciples in the town of Antioch.

 

Two things to conclude with:

We are called to talk about what we believe Jesus is doing in our midst. Some people might agree with us and others might not. We are not called to be liked for what we say but called to speak what we know to be the truth.

Miracles are something we should always ask for, expecting God to intervene in our lives and the lives of those we love. When they show up, we are called to name them as a work of God, not a coincidence. Others do not have to believe us, we are just called by God to say it.

May you be blessed in the name of Jesus, to speak what you believe with boldness and confidence, even in the face of opposition.

 Edd Breeden