1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:1-6)
Trying to “do it yourself” when it comes to salvation is slavery. “Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery,” Paul says. And he says, “If you let yourself be circumcised...”
So, if you think you are saving yourself though any kind of ritual, or if you are trying to make yourself righteous by your own effort or willpower or strength, Christ will be of no value to you at all! That’s serious. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ, not by anything we do (except to trust him). Paul said (in Philippians 3) that he put no confidence in the flesh (although at one time he had put confidence in the flesh—and that’s when he was persecuting the Christians—but no more).
You know what? The Galatians had received the message of the gospel with joy. But after they were persuaded that they needed to be circumcised in order to be saved, they were biting and devouring each other and were in danger of destroying each other. (Gal. 5:15) It all has to do with pride. And do you know what else? We are do it yourselfers in this country, too. We don’t want to think we have to depend on anyone else.
Something else: Everywhere that Paul and Barnabas went, the message of the gospel divided people. Some received it with joy. They knew it was their only hope. They knew that Jesus was their only hope. Many others probably just didn’t want to hear about sin and judgment. They just wanted to go on sinning. But still others, because of pride, wanted to “do it themselves”.
The message of the gospel divides people. When you are saved, you “cross over from death to life”. Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24) You cross over. There is no partial salvation. You are either in the darkness or you are in the light. You are either on the side of death or on the side of life.
We can draw a line. On one side of the line is death. On the other side is life. And there are degrees of reward and judgment. The further you are away from the line on the death side, the greater the judgment. The further you are from the line on the life side, the greater the reward. But there is no middle. You can’t walk up the middle. You are either on the side of death or on the side of life.
I’ve talked about a dividing line. But it’s not really a line. It’s a huge chasm! You can only cross over from death to life through the cross of Christ. You can’t cross over by rituals or by making yourself good, “doing it yourself”. You can only cross over by hearing Jesus’s word and believing the one who sent him. That’s what Jesus says.
I might add this, too. I believe this country is becoming more and more divided. The other day I read that the results of a survey that’s taken every year show that 87 percent—I can’t remember the exact number, but it was high—presently believe that this country is going in the wrong direction. It’s the highest percentage ever since the survey was started in the early ‘90’s. It was below 30 percent or somewhere around there a few years ago.
You want to hear my interpretation? Here’s what I think. I believe the politicians are trying to walk close to the middle—some somewhat to the left and other somewhat to the right. But people—the general public—are becoming more and more extreme and more and more sharply divided on the direction they think this country should go—and they are not happy with anything that’s close to the middle!
Now we are usually taught that the extremes are not a good thing. Compromise is a good thing. The middle is the way to go. That may be the case for some issues, but when it comes to the question of worshipping and serving the living God who made all things and who made us also or—worshipping and serving the things of this world or anything else, the middle is not at all, in any way, shape or form, the place to be! There can be no compromise! Our worship has to be extreme! God’s command is that we are to love him with all of our hearts and all of our minds and all of our lives and all of our strength—and our neighbor as ourselves.
And when it comes to salvation, it’s extreme. There’s no walking with one foot on one side of the line and the other on the other side of the line! You can’t do it! You are either on the side of life or on the side of death!
Now let’s go on to today’s passage. According to verse 1, Paul and Barnabas arrived at Iconium and went to speak, as they had been doing, in the synagogue. A great number of both Jews and Gentiles believed. But some of the Jews who refused to believe poisoned the minds of the others minds against Paul and Barnabas. I looked up the word that’s translated refused to believe—the Jews who refused to believe. It’s translated as disobey, defy, rebel and similar things. The reason they refused to believe was not that the message of the gospel was too incredible for them to believe, but that they were rebelling against it. And they didn’t just try to refute the message—the good news—they attempted to turn everyone against Paul and Barnabas.
Here’s what I think. I think it’s generally true that people reject the gospel not because they don’t believe it, but because they don’t want to be subject to God. They rebel. These days, many people argue against the validity of the gospel and of the Bible—against the word of God. But the real starting point of their arguments is that they are rejecting God. They don’t want anyone to have absolute authority over them. They are not arguing because they have concluded that God’s word is illogical, but because they have rejected him. Then they try to come up with a reason not to believe.
Let’s go on to verse 3. Verse 3 says, “So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.”
I noticed that it was before the signs and wonders that many people believed. It was because of what Paul and Barnabas said, not because of the signs and wonders that the people believed. Maybe the signs and wonder were to refute what the trouble makers had been saying trying to discredit Paul and Barnabas.
But what were the signs and wonders. It doesn’t say. But I know what they weren’t. I remember 25 or 30 years ago there was a movie “Oh God”. George Burns was “God”. The main character (I think it might have been John Denver) was being sued because he had interrupted an evangelistic meeting to say he had heard from God (George Burns). “God” (George Burns) came and testified in court and confirmed his testimony by doing some card tricks. (He didn’t even have to touch the cards. They just shuffled themselves.)
Then he said, “Do you want to see a real miracle? I’ll give you a real miracle.” I was wondering what he would do. I was thinking that it would have to be something really great—something really beautiful. But what he did was he became invisible and walked out of the courtroom. You could see his foot prints in the carpet, but you couldn’t see him.
God’s signs and wonders are not magic tricks. They are things like healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and setting the prisoners free (and I think the prisoners are those who are prisoners of sin, not just those who are in jail). God’s signs and wonders are also raising the dead. After Jesus died for our sins, he rose from the dead. And he didn’t rise just to die again later. He rose never to die again. And we who believe in him will also rise with new imperishable bodies just like his body never to die again! Amen. Those are God’s signs and wonders.
Well, there was a plot to mistreat and stone Paul and Barnabas. But they found out about it and left town. How do you think they felt? Do you think they were discouraged? They were kicked out of the last two towns they’d been in. Maybe you remember that Peter and the other apostles had been flogged because they were teaching in the name of Jesus. After they were flogged, they left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus. I think Paul and Barnabas were also rejoicing. They were rejoicing because the name of Jesus was clearly dividing those who believed from those who didn’t. The message of the gospel should clearly divide those who accept it from those who don’t. If it doesn’t, something is wrong.
Verses 6 and 7 say that Paul and Barnabas went on to Lystra and Derbe where they continued to preach the good news. (The good news, by the way, is the same word as the gospel.)
Now let’s look at what happened in Lystra and Derbe. I’m going to read verse 8 through 10:
8In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. (Acts 14:8-10)
Paul was preaching and this crippled man was listening to him. It says that he saw that the man had faith to be healed. (The word translated healed, by the way, can also be translated as saved.) What do you suppose Paul saw when he looked at the man and saw that he had faith to be healed? How does faith look? I think the Holy Spirit revealed the man’s faith to Paul—maybe through his face.
But look at what happened when Paul told the man to get up. (This man had been crippled from birth.) He not only got up and walked, he jumped! (My dad had an appendectomy many years ago. They kept him in bed for three weeks. He said that when they finally told him to get up, he almost fell on his face. Yet this man not only walked, but he jumped!)
Now let’s look at verses 11 through 13:
11When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13The 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. (Acts 14:11-13)
Well, this wasn’t in a synagogue. These people were Pagans. They wanted Paul and Barnabas to be Pagan gods and were going to make sacrifices to them.
Now let’s look at verses 14 through 18:
14But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17Yet 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.” 18Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. (Acts 14:14-18)
What do you do if someone tries to worship you as a god? (“Well, do you suppose I should tell them? Maybe I should wait just a little longer.”) Paul and Barnabas were greatly distressed. They tore their clothes. That was a sign of great distress. That’s what the Jews did when they heard blasphemy against God. Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes and ran through the crowd shouting that they were men just like everyone else. They just barely got them stopped. Then they began to preach their message.
Now, did you notice that Paul and Barnabas began with a different approach from the one they had used in Pisidian Antioch? They were attempting to preach to people who were Pagans. These people had no background in the Jewish religion and no knowledge of the Scripture or of the history of Israel. They were not looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. But, still, Paul and Barnabas were able to say that God had not let himself without testimony. They could look at God’s creation. (These days people who want to reject God say that everything came about by random chance. They say that it all started with the ‘big bang’. But they, you know, still don’t have an answer to the question of who produced the big bang! And they definitely don’t have an answer to fact that the probability that life came about by random chance is essentially zero.)
Now let’s look at verses 19 and 20:
19Then 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. 20But 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. (Acts 14:19-20)
The Jews from Antioch and Iconium apparently hated the message of the gospel enough to follow Paul and Barnabas all the way to Lystra. (I would actually say that they hated God enough to follow Paul and Barnabas all the way to Lystra.) The result was that Paul got stoned. (I should say that Tom pointed out when we were talking about this passage that stoned meant something different then than it does today.) They dragged Paul out of the city and left him for dead. (Maybe he was dead.) When the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. (Probably the disciples prayed for him.)
This part of the passage (the part about Lystra) doesn’t say that anyone believed when Paul and Barnabas preached, but it does say that the disciples gathered around Paul, so there must have been disciples. Probably that’s why Paul went back into the city the next day, to be with the disciples. (We can also assume that the Holy Spirit was leading him to do so because it was the Holy Spirit who had sent Paul and Barnabas and it was the Holy Spirit who was leading them all the way.) The next day Paul and Barnabas left for Derbe.
Now let’s look at verses 21 through 25:
21They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22strengthening 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. 23Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. (Acts 14:21-25)
After Paul and Barnabas had preached in Derbe (that city in verse 21—they preached the good news in that city), they returned through Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. They didn’t just abandon the new believers, but returned to encourage and strengthen them. You also notice that they didn’t say that everything would be smooth sailing but warned them that they would have to go through many hardships. Many these days imply, when preaching the gospel, that all will be smooth if you just say the sinner’s prayer—and then abandon the people to whom they are preaching. Also, notice that Paul and Barnabas didn’t become leaders in the churches that they established as people who start new churches frequently do these day. That wasn’t God’s purpose for them. They were there to preach the gospel and to start the churches. They appointed elders for each of the churches. Finally, though, they committed them to the Lord.
Now let’s look at verses 26, 27 and 28:
26From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28And they stayed there a long time with the disciples. (Acts 14:26-28)
Finally, Paul and Barnabas returned to their home base from which they had been sent by the Holy Spirit. Luke (the human author of Acts) says that they had now completed the work that they had been sent to do (my paraphrase). Whether they were consciously led by the Spirit at every turn or not, I don’t know. But they had done just exactly what God wanted them to do. The work was completed. Then they did something else that was very important. They reported to the church at Antioch what God had done. He had opened the door of faith to the gentiles. It’s important for us to report, to each other, the work that we see God doing, too.
I think that after Paul and Barnabas gave their report, they had a time of rest. The Lord gives us times to work and times to rest.
[prayer]