A Study in Acts Week 14

Acts Chapter 14

Verses 1-7 – The first thing to notice here is that Paul and Barnabas experienced the same thing in Iconium as they did in Pisidian Antioch, but there was a very different outcome.

They got in trouble. Their trouble was not because they preached sermons about the social evils of the day. It was not because they took a political side. It was not because they contradicted scientific or philosophical issues. It was for preaching the good news (gospel) of Christ, crucified, buried and resurrected for the remission of sin.

The Jewish leaders were as upset with Paul and Barnabas as they had been with Jesus, Himself. It is not our stand on social, political or historical issues that offends people, it is the gospel, itself. The Jews tried to divide the people and wanted to execute Paul and Barnabas by stoning them to death. Paul and Banarbas left for Lystra and all they preached was the good news.

We have no other message. Period. End of discussion.

Verses 8-13 – Lester was a Roman city, and there was no synagogue there. So Paul preached in the street. While preaching the gospel, he saw a man who had been born crippled. (Remember, Acts was written by Luke, who was a doctor…thus his interest in this healing).

I take the phrase, “…he had faith…” to mean that he had heard Paul’s preaching and had responded to the gospel. At any rate, Paul told him to stand and he stood.

Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made, and often they heal themselves by “natural” means, as when a wound heals over time. But this was not a natural healing, it was a healing from God, distinguished by the fact that it was immediate!

The crowd misconstrued what was going on, thinking that Paul and Barnabas had the power. They started calling Barnabas Zeus, the chief Greek god. They called Paul Hermes, Zeus’ son. They wanted to make sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas.

Verses 14-20 – Paul and Barnabas were so distraught at the people’s misunderstanding of who they were, that they literally tore their garments, to keep from looking polished and suave as a god would look. They did not want to be worshiped, far from it. They wanted the glory to go to God.

All of this angered the Pharisees again. They had followed Paul and Barnabas from Antioch. They were as determined to kill these two preachers as they had been to kill Jesus. This time, they thought they had succeeded. They stoned Paul and dragged him to the burial mound outside the city. But the disciples gathered around him and he stood up, brushed himself off and went right back to the city to stay the night. Then he and Barnabas went to Derbe.

Verses 21-28 – In Derbe, Paul and Barnabas once again began to preach the gospel. People responded to the message and became disciples. Disciples are not just followers of someone. The word “disciple” is the from the same root word, “discipline,” meaning to learn to put into action what their leader did.

It troubles me that churches lead people to the Lord, baptize them, give them a short course in being a New Church Member, and then just let them go their merry way without training them to do what Jesus has commanded us to do.

People cannot be discipled from the pulpit. They cannot be discipled in a Sunday School class. To be discipled, people must be trained to do themselves what needs to be done in the Kingdom of God. They need to be trained to be teachers, preachers, deacons, musicians, missionaries, Bible students, hospitality coordinators, administrators, ushers, worship leaders, apologists, ministers to the elderly, to hospitals, to the community and hundreds of other tasks.

We need to lead them to be committed to the grace (Gods Riches At Christ’s Expense) of God.