The
year is about AD48. Paul and Barnabas are well
into what is commonly called, Paul’s First Missionary
Journey. Last time we studied Acts 13 where we saw the leadership of the
Church in Antioch identify and ordain these two apostles and pray for them as
they were sent out to accomplish the work which the Holy Spirit had called them
to do.
Paul
and Barnabas sailed a short distance west to the island of Cyprus and preached
there with great success. Then they sailed north, back to the mainland of what
is now central southern Turkey. They ended up preaching in a town named Antioch
of Pisidia, (Acts 13:14), a different Antioch than the one in Acts 13:1.
At
that time there were many Jews living among the Gentiles and intermarrying with
them in that region. Paul and Barnabas preached the Gospel to both Jews and
Gentiles which made several people mad. Some people believed what Paul was
preaching while others became jealous over the growing crowds. Nonetheless, more
and more people began to believe.
Acts 13 NKJV
50 But the Jews stirred up
the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up
persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.
51 But they shook off the dust
from their feet against them, and came to Iconium.
Acts 14 NKJV
1 ¶ Now it happened in
Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that
a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed.
5 And when a violent attempt
was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone
them,
6 they became aware of it and
fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.
7 And they were preaching the
gospel there.
One man who had never walked before was
healed at the command of Paul and it made everyone in the city imagine that
Paul and Barnabas were Greek gods. They called Barnabas, Zeus and Paul, Hermes,
the chief speaker of the gods. The people of the city of Lystra even tried to
perform sacrifices to them and Paul was scarcely able to restrain them. One
minute they believe Paul is a god and the next minute … well …
19 ¶ Then Jews from Antioch
and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and
dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.
20 However, when the
disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went 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 made many disciples, they returned to Lystra,
Iconium, and Antioch,
22 strengthening the souls of
the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying,
“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
You
never know what God is doing to set you up for your greatest day. God has a
plan with so many intricate details that only He knows what He is doing, and
only He can orchestrate it all. I am continually amazed that even though we
never know … yet … we always know – God is working, and He is not wasting
even one breath we dedicate to Him.
Almost
20 years later, Paul wrote to his young spiritual son Timothy:
2 Timothy 3
10 ¶ But you have carefully
followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love,
perseverance,
11 persecutions, afflictions,
which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra — what
persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.
The
implication is that Timothy was intimately familiar with the Apostle Paul’s
life during that period of time when Paul first visited the cities of Iconium
and Lystra which we are reading about tonight in Acts 14. Timothy had become
the most important disciple of the Apostle Paul.
Remember,
we heard tonight that Paul first visited Lystra in about the year 48AD and
preached the gospel there. The people first thought he was a god who had come
down from heaven to bless and heal them and then, listening to some angry
people who were filled with jealousy, they changed their minds and dragged him
outside of the city and stoned him until they believed he was dead … and he
might well have been.
Why
was Timothy intimately aware of what had happened to the Apostle Paul some 20
years earlier? In the year AD48, Timothy would have presumably just been a
teenager, being raised by his mother and grandmother, who were Jews. Timothy’s
father was a Gentile and no one knows what happened to him, but it appears he
was absent and Timothy’s mom and grandmother really wanted Timothy to have a
good male role model for Timothy to look up to in his life.
Well,
three years after Paul had been stoned in Lystra and left on the city trash
pile for dead, Paul decided to go on his second missionary journey and left
Antioch in Syria headed for … guess where? Yep … Lystra – same town where he
was stoned and left for dead. We read about the beginning of his second
missionary journey in Acts 16. The year is about AD51.
Acts 16 NKJV
1 ¶ Then he came to Derbe and
Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son
of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.
2 He was well spoken of by
the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.
3 Paul wanted to have him go
on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who
were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.
4 And as they went through
the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined
by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.
5 So the churches were
strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
You
see, Timothy was so familiar with what happened in the Apostle Paul’s life in
Lystra and Derbe because he lived there. Timothy was there the first time Paul
came to preach the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles, of which he and his family
were both. Although it wasn’t a popular message, it was a message that hit home
with Timothy and his mom. Little did Paul know what God was doing in the heart
of a young man who needed a father.
Hearing
and seeing Paul dragged outside the city and stoned to death and then seeing
this man get up, brush himself off, go back into the city and preach Christ
must have made a pretty big impression on this young man. He must have thought
about it a lot over the next three years, and perhaps he asked his mother and
grandmother question after question about his heritage and the God of the Jews.
When Paul came back, Timothy was ready. He had been prepared for his next step into
the will of God.
Acts
14 teaches us so many wonderful truths and none better than the fact that:
·
You never know what God is doing … but
·
We always know what God is doing …
God
is using every breath we dedicate to Him to reach the lost and give them a
chance to fulfill their destiny in Christ.
Don’t
despair when you go through hardships … As Paul said to Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:3 You therefore
must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 3:11 … I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered
me.
You never know what God will do but we always
know God is doing something to further His Kingdom in us and through our
efforts. For this reason, God wants to endure the temporary troubles and
continue being a witness for Him wherever we are and in whatever situations we
face.
What is our take-a-way from Acts 14 this
evening?
·
We may not know what God is doing but we can always assume He is
doing something important to His plan.
·
We must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
·
God will deliver us from evil.
Trust God to work behind the scenes to take
you to your greatest day. To Him be all glory, and honor and power forever.
Amen.
