Paul 13

 

 

 

Acts 14:19-23          

And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,

Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

Once again, we find ourselves with the apostle Paul and with Barnabas, in the town of Lystra. Lystra was the town to which they fled after their persecution in the cities of Antioch and Iconium.  Today we would recognise these towns as being in southwest Turkey; a region known in Roman times as Galatia.

Remember that name and region, Galatia, because, as you know, Paul would later write to his church in that region he would write that letter we know today as the ‘Letter to the Galatians,’ it is the same letter that we can find and read in the New Testament.

For  it was in AD 48 or 49 that Paul wrote that somewhat incendiary letter to the Galatians, in which he said:

If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. (9;1)

However, I began by saying that once again we find ourselves in that agricultural town of Lystra, and we find ourselves there in the aftermath of the high drama, and the violence that was instigated by certain Jews who whipped up a pagan crowd against Paul and Barnabas.  A pagan crowd who thought Barnabas and Paul were the gods: Jupiter and Mercury.  This crowd, you will recall, had heard Paul preach and they had witnessed Paul’s miraculous healing of the man crippled from birth. 

The result of this Jewish agitation amongst the pagans saw Paul being stoned.  When it was thought that this stoning had killed Paul, Paul was carried out of the city and no doubt his body was dumped some distance from the city walls – to avoid the Roman authorities who would, no doubt, have taken a dim view of any unauthorised and therefore illegal execution or murder that had taken place in their jurisdiction; remembering too, that Paul was a Roman citizen.

Then we have, in Verse 20:

However as the disciples stood round him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas into Derbe.

Again, you notice, we have this extreme economy of words in the text that say so little and yet it’s laden with meaning.  There is a method that we can resort to now – it has got a grand-sounding name: exegesis. A definition of exegesis is that it is the critical examination or interpretation of a text or scripture. Quite simply, I suppose, it means what we can infer from the words that have been given to us.

So, what CAN we infer from these few words?   Well, certainly that Paul was stoned, that he was taken for dead and dragged out of the city. Also, what seems to be clear is that, these ‘certain Jews’ who turned the crowd against Paul were skilled agitators or at the very least, experienced public speakers, but there would only be a few of them relative to the crowd. This alone may explain the failure of the public stoning, that is ultimately the failure to kill Paul.  Now let’s imagine that that incident, that stoning had been taken up by a Jewish crowd, in a Jewish city or even in a predominantly Jewish area – if that had been the case it almost certainly might have been a different story.

What we are looking at here is – what? A botched job.  A botched job.  Stoning, after all, is a brutal method of execution and as we have discussed previously, that method of execution did usually involve a set procedure, culminating in dropping a huge rock onto the victim to ensure that at the end – that he or she would be undeniably dead. 

What happened in Lystra seems to have been a rushed job, without enough dedicated stone throwers or killers to finish the job.  This would certainly seem to be the case if the ‘certain Jews’ were going to rely on a pagan, gentile crowd to help them undertake this rather macabre task.  Added to this we have the sheer illegality of this action, undertaken, we can assume, in broad daylight.  Those protagonists, certainly those with any common sense, would wish to leave the scene of the crime with all due haste- and at the same time, dump the incriminating evidence as far away as practicably possible.

A stoning would be, a sickening and repulsive spectacle to witness in any case, and at the same time, we can be sure that a sizeable number of the crowd would not entirely be in favour of this course of action.

And what can we say about those disciples who, we are told, stood around him?  What do you think they might be doing?  Even if they were not strong or numerous enough to prevent the actions of the crowd, surely there would be cries of protest and other forms of intervention that may well have mitigated against, or constrained, others from being sucked into a killing frenzy.  Looking at this text we can see that Paul (and Barnabas) were not alone, because, again at verse twenty it reads

Howbeit as the disciples stood around him he [that is, Paul] rose up…’

Who were these people, these disciples that were ‘stood around Paul’?  Not only were they there, presumably in a concerned and ultimately protective way, but they had formed a ring around him, not only were they there outside the city walls with him, they very obviously had been there when the Jews were trying to kill Paul in the town of Lystra, but clearly, they had followed those killers who had supposed Paul to be dead, those killers were now trying to dump the evidence. 

And again, who were these disciples?  That’s an important question too – because here’s the victory!  These were not disciples that Paul and Barnabas had brought with them. No, they were disciples who had been won to the Christian gospel in Galatia, disciples who were to be the backbone of Paul’s churches in Antioch, in Iconium and in Lystra and Derbe.  How do we know this?  Simply by continuing our reading:

20 He [Paul] rose up and came into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned to Lystra, and to Iconium and Antioch.

22 Confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.  And when they had ordained the elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

So here we are outside of that city, Paul now protected, surrounded not by enemies now, but by his followers.  The storm had passed, those would-be lynchers those would be killers caught up in a moment of mob mentality had now drifted away.  Although we don’t know the extent of Paul’s injuries, here he is now, rising from his ordeal, no doubt battered and bruised. Battered and bruised, but regardless, once he got back on his feet he headed back into the city.

That’s right, he got up, and he walked right back into Lystra.  Now there’s courage for you; God was with Paul and the whole of his ministry does attest to that.  Two words that come to mind in terms of Paul’s spirit-led leadership two qualities in fact– audacity and decisiveness – audacity and decisiveness.  As we read the story of his life and his mission we are constantly reminded and inspired by his heroism. 

We are also assured then, that he was the greatest Christian ever. But let us be clear, no man, no leader can exist and can achieve on his own, in a vacuum.  We would have to say that such inspiring leadership acted as it did as a lightning conductor, as a pole of attraction, as a magnet to other like souls; lesser souls, yes, perhaps, but nevertheless other like souls, other men with similar attributes of courage and self-sacrifice, other souls imbued with the Holy Spirit, ready to follow Paul and ready to help him build the Church.

You know, one thing we can be certain of, is that Paul didn’t walk back into Lystra alone – No, there was that circle of men around Paul, and  they walked right back into Lystra with him,  I think it’s worth our while considering that; it’s worth our while considering what an act of courage that was also for each individual who, in spite of the violence they had experienced, plucked up their courage and walked back into town with Paul.  We could say perhaps it was a calculated risk, the Jews who had tried to bring about Paul’s death might not be hanging around in the aftermath of the storm they had kicked up, certainly considering what they had done and especially if they knew that Paul was indeed a Roman citizen. And in any case the momentary passion of the crowds, of the mob, had probably dissipated leaving them only to disperse and to head for home.

Calculated risk indeed, and it is easy to see from the comfort of one’s arm chair.  But they, Paul, and his disciples, you know, they just did not go back quietly to town to take it easy and to rest up in their lodgings; and yes, they did go back. However, they left Lystra the next day, what did they do? they, Paul and Barnabas then travelled from Lystra to Derbe, a distance of 75 miles.

We can imagine that Paul would have sustained some painful injuries in Lystra and that to walk, or even to travel by horseback after such an ordeal may well have been a quite painful experience and not an experience to be relished by any stretch of the imagination.  Paul and Barnabas, we are told, departed for Derbe.

What can be said about that visit to Derbe is that it appears to be the only town or city mentioned in the New Testament where Paul encountered no resistance to the message of the gospel. We should imagine this to be a welcome relief compared to the trials and tribulations of Antioch, Iconium and Lystra.

So, we read, perhaps with some relief ourselves, at verse 21 that they preached the gospel to that city of Derbe.  Just note that it doesn’t say they preached the gospel in that city – no, it says they preached the gospel to that city.  We can then be sure that left to Paul and Barnabas that the gospel message was widely disseminated in that area.  No Jews arriving from the former cities to tip up the apple cart, so to speak, no serious murmurings of discontent from the opposition and no opposition from the synagogue there in Derbe that Paul and Barnabas preached in.

Then we have that statement that in Derbe, that ‘they taught many’ (20). They taught many in Derbe.  Clearly Derbe, again part of Galatia, proved to be fertile ground for the sowing of the seeds of the Church.  That expression, 'taught many', tells us that there was a ready audience, and it tells us that despite the previous difficulties in the other cities that the mission into Derbe was an unmitigated success. 

Let me return to a phrase I used earlier on; I said ‘here’s the victory’ – remember those other cities that Paul and Barnabas visited – you should know them off by heart by now – Antioch, Iconium, Lystra; I have also used the phrase ‘unmitigated success’ in relation to Derbe – but at the same time, for Paul and Barnabas, Antioch, Iconium and Lystra were not unmitigated disasters.  Far from it, so here’s the victory – after that very successful foray into Derbe.  They, that is Paul and Barnabas, returned to those three cities in this order: they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch.  We can say therefore that the work had been done and that despite everything the new churches had been planted and were growing.

However, how much violence, fear and intimidation had been levelled at the apostles in those cities – here was the victory – Paul and Barnabas were able to return to strengthen and encourage the new and growing Christian witness as in verse 22.

Confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith.

Exhorting them, pleading with then, urging them to continue in their new faith.  What a difference that kind of leadership can make.  Such leadership to the success of the Church in the world is not optional, it is essential. We could ask where the source of such leadership is now, how could a man like Paul keep going under such fire, when lesser men would most certainly have crumbled under the pressure.  We are led once again to be reminded of the spirit-led ministry; the hallmark of the early Church as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. 

You may ask what it means?  It means that such power comes from the hand of God, through faith, through belief and endurance.  If we believe that God created the world, then we must believe in a supernatural power, that exists outside of space and time, and yet that power which is God is the power with whom we are intimately connected.  Paul in his lifetime suffered much, and to his followers in the faith he said, he said to then that ‘we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.  Paul said we must suffer a lot to enter God’s kingdom and towards the end of his life, imprisoned in Rome, Paul reiterated this message to his spiritual son, Timothy (2:3-4). He said, to enter the Kingdom of God, to be saved, requires commitment.  So challenging is this kind of commitment that Paul likened it to being a soldier – that we should endure the hardness of this life like a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and that our minds and our lives should be fixed entirely on him; and not that we should become entangled with the affairs of this world.  That glorious message of Paul’s that if we are dead with Christ we shall also live with Christ. In other words, if we can die to our old worldly selves we can live with Christ, if we take up the cross and follow him.

 

Paul 12

 

 

 

Acts 14:8-15

And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: the same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, ‘The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.’ And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas, and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.

 

The last time I preached on the Acts of the Apostles I mentioned that miracle of Paul’s as he preached in Lystra.  Lystra was a town in an area that today we would recognise as southern Turkey.  To place everything in context. we are talking today about a period of around AD 48-49, that accords with Paul’s first missionary journey, remembering again, how he and the apostle Barnabas had journeyed and preached through Cyprus, crossed over to the mainland of Asia Minor – that is Turkey, over the Taurus Mountains into Pisidian Antioch.  Proclaiming the gospel there – they were forced out of that city – to Iconium, where after a time, under real danger of death and persecution, they travelled 18 miles southwest to Lystra and once again, in spite of all that danger, they continued bravely to preach to that mostly pagan population – to preach the good news of Jesus Christ, to preach the Christian message so that there, it would be heard for the first time.

 

I think it is worthwhile, our hearing or re-hearing of that account of that miracle that accompanied the preaching of Paul did in Lystra as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles 14:7-10

 

And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: the same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

 

And I think at this point having heard this story we just pause to reflect.  How we might wonder, how do such things come about?  And I think we have to realise, and I remind you once again, that book, that scripture, the Acts of the Apostles could quite easily also be known as the Acts of the Holy Spirit – and we could say this with some conviction – because from the very beginning of this account the Acts of the Apostles this account of the early church – those beginnings of the early Church were infused with a spirit-led ministry.  We know this because Jesus in his last appearance before his disciples had said:

 

And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised, but stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven. (Luke 24:9)

 

And we know that this promise came to pass on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, when, as the Bible tells us, ‘All the believers were gathered in one place – everyone there as it is recorded in that second chapter of Acts, everyone there was filled with the Holy Spirit – we might remember that Saul (before he became Paul), blinded on the road to Damascus, after his blinding encounter with Christ, three days later received the gift of the Holy Spirit at the hands of Ananias.  Thus, the church in those days was granted the powers – the signs and wonders – that accompanied the preaching of the apostles.  Signs that God was with them. And so now we come to our text, in the aftermath of that miracle.

 

And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, ‘The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.’ (11)

 

When we hear those words ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men’ it is quite apparent, that this incident did not take place in the Jewish synagogue because although Paul and Barnabas would always try to preach first in the Synagogues of each town or city they visited, in Lystra there was no synagogue. So, this preaching of Paul’s would have been at an open-air meeting, and this meeting by all accounts would have had a majority pagan audience.  These pagans in Lystra, in the audience would have no knowledge of the Jewish scriptures, they in fact, in one form or another, very much worshipped the ancient Greek or Roman gods.  We could say that their theology was polytheistic, which means they believed that there were many gods and goddesses and quite a number of other lesser types of supernatural beings too.  The king of all these gods was known as Zeus and the Roman name for Zeus would be Jupiter. The same gods.

 

This man, then, crippled from birth – publicly, miraculously healed by God, through Paul and through his own faith! And then the text says – ‘and the people saw what Paul had done’ We should be clear about that – not that they heard what Paul had done, but that they saw what Paul had done. 

 

Think about that:  the impact of seeing it for themselves.  With a Jewish or Christian congregation, the conclusion would simply be that they had witnessed the operation of the Holy Spirit – but the pagans of the ancient world had no such reference, but they did know something about their own gods, the Greek or Roman gods – and this miracle had such an impact on them that they became excited – they lift up their voices – shouting that the gods had come down to then in the likeness of men (11) in human form.

 

You will recall that on this missionary journey, Paul was accompanied by Barnabas and that he was there when this miracle occurred. We know also, from other sources, that Paul was not particularly tall – and so he was not therefore seen, if you like, as the senior partner – that perception is rather given to Barnabas. It was Barnabas – who was seen on the occasion of this miracle as the king of the gods, Zeus, or Jupiter, because of his taller stature and his dignified or perhaps more noble countenance.  Paul on the other hand they called Hermes (or the Roman Mercury) – the god who is the messenger of the Gods.

 

Now we come to verse 13-15 which reads:

 

When the priest of Jupiter which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes and ran in among the people crying out and saying “Sirs, why do you do these things?”

 

This was quite an unexpected development – and it seems at first that Paul and Barnabas did not realise what was happening. But in Lystra or just outside the town gates was a temple dedicated to Zeus/Jupiter, and the priest of that temple, like everyone else had assumed Paul and Barnabas were indeed the gods come down to earth and had brought garlands, wreaths of flowers, and bulls to offer as sacrifices.  Barnabas, who had been seen as Zeus, king of the gods, was likely to have been expected to lead them in worship.

 

Then we have that expression at verse fourteen: when Paul and Barnabas heard this, ‘they rent their clothes’ – it means that they tore their clothes and renting or tearing one’s clothes in the Jewish tradition is seen as a ritual response to blasphemy. So, for example, when on trial before the high priest, Jesus was asked if he was indeed the Son of God – Jesus agreed and said that he was – in response the high priest tore his robe to show his revulsion and said ‘Blasphemy!’ Matthew 26.

 

What gave impetus to this peculiar happening in Lystra was a tradition – a well-known story, and that story was, that a long time ago Zeus and Hermes (Jupiter/Mercury) had come down into Lystra dressed as beggars – seeking alms, food, and shelter, but there, none could they find.  The whole town turned their back on these gods dressed as two beggars and that would have been the end of it, but two old peasants, Philemon, and his wife Baucis – took pity on them and took them and showed them kind hospitality.  But in judgement the gods destroyed the rest of the population because of their callous indifference, whilst Philemon and Baucis received their reward.  They were made the guardians of a great and beautiful temple, and at the end of their human lives they became two tall, entwining, magnificent trees.  This traditional story was also recorded by the Roman poet Ovid (d. AD 17).

 

We can see perhaps why now; the presence of Paul and Barnabas should attract such attention. Particularly in view of such a public spectacle of the miracle healing of a crippled man.  Indeed, in the minds of the Lycaonians, what further proof would be required that Paul and Barnabas were in fact the gods Zeus and Hermes. These people knew the legend of Philemon and Baucis. This time they wished to make certain that they would not be condemned to die by the gods for their lack of hospitality.

 

There is a song that some of wish us might remember – written and sung by James Taylor (1976); it begins:

 

You can play the games

You can act the part

Though you know

It wasn’t written for you.

 

I am reminded of these words right now because, you know, potentially after all the stresses and strains, and the threats of death and violence in Antioch and Iconium – here in Lystra, using modern parlance we could say that Paul and Barnabas appeared to have gone from ‘zeroes to heroes.’  They found themselves holding sway over an adulating crowd, a crowd that had become convinced that Paul and Barnabas were divinity itself, even the priest from the local temple – the temple of Zeus, was worshiping them and preparing all the elements of a great celebration so that all due homage could be paid.

 

When we think about that sort of instant success, we might think how such success could be transformed in to a huge church congregation. How many times have congregations sat in churches, chapels and committee rooms and sought to uncover what it may take to restore their declining and dying numbers?  What is it we might ask that may restore the fortunes of the church?  How can we fill those empty seats with a large faithful and enthusiastic congregation?  You know what many of the churches say today?  They say to do this we must become part of the real world, move with the times – become relevant.  One response to our dying churches has been to employ media consultants, marketing experts or to embrace the secular agenda, or to embrace the current thing like climate emergency or the LGBT agenda – ‘calling our building ‘a chapel’ puts people off’, someone once said – let’s call it the One World Centre, let’s embrace ‘earth centred spirituality,’ paganism, atheism, and have ‘secular services’ and so on, to attract people, and all these ideas at some point have gained traction without much success.  And here we are in Lystra with Paul and Barnabas – it has got to be the media officer's dream, I mean, haven’t they got it made now?  It would surely be tempting, would it not, just to go along with this bonus, this unexpected turn of events, this sudden surge of popularity.

 

That’s why I mentioned those words of James Taylor ‘You can play the games, you can act the part, though you know it wasn’t written for you. This kind of stuff is just vanity, there’s a falsity to it, like all the rest of the religions of the world, an idolatry.

 

This kind of popularity, this desire for adulation, to fill the church at any price is a betrayal of the Christian faith, a betrayal of its churches that exist, that were built to glorify God.  It is not written for us to embrace the vanity of Godless atheism, the secular agenda, or the pagan gods. That is why Paul and Barnabas in this final verse of our text exclaim,

 

‘Sirs, why do you do these things?  We also are men of like persons with you, and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein.

 

Turn from these vanities to the living God. Well, the language may be quaint, bit how true is that advice, how relevant today, that we too should turn from such vanities and turn to the living God. To turn from such vanities is to turn from the world, is to repent. The message of John the Baptist, the message of Jesus Christ remains today the same message, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.’ Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.