Lent Day 30 - Acts 14

  More preaching, more teaching, more hardship, more people saved into the kingdom of God.  That sums up the book of Acts.  What is special about Acts 14?  Let's look at verses 8-20:

In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” 18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

What a story - can this really be true?  Are people really this fickle?  Yes!  The crowd is hearing Paul and Barnabas but they aren't listening and understanding.  They are caught up in the idea that something marvelous is happening and they want to be a part of it.  So they yell out look it's Zesus and cling to that notion as quickly as they can. I love Paul's response - we too are only human.

Do you know there are churches that don't have crosses in them?  That there are pastoral coaches that advise "don't Jesus them to death." You are probably saying no way Cynthia.  Yes indeed this is going on.  In the pretense of Christianity we are saving souls to the kingdom without telling them about Jesus.

Why do we have the book of Acts?  The history of the church, how the good news was spread, but I also believe it is a template of what we are suppose to say to people.  Paul and Barnabas Jesus them to death.  They repeat the same story of how God's love is so great he gave his only son to save us.  And we see again and again some people get it and others don't.  But they never give up and say this is too hard, too exhausting, or too dangerous.

If I was stoned and left for dead I'm sure I would be saying - you know Barnabas maybe we aren't hearing God correctly.  Let's go back home and regroup, pray some more, and try something new, something different. No Paul says in verses 21-22:

They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.  We just don't want to believe that do we?  We want everything to be pretty and nice.  We want to be taken care of and feel good about ourselves.  We want happiness and a sense of goodness.  We do missions to help others, we give our money and even our time.  But do we tell people about Jesus?  Oh please don't think this message is one of condemnation - it is encouragement.  I fail in this area of my walk with Christ.  I do not tell about Jesus like I should.  God is working on me and to be honest I hope he is working on you.  Because it is so much easier for me if I have a friend to go along with me.