Sermons Worth Stealing - Pt 9

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel. (Acts 14:1-7 ESV).

Again I can only introduce the sermon for today’s devotional. I hope you will take the time to read the full context of our reading today. It will give you some depth in regard to the thought I’ve singled out today. It is always difficult to measure success in sharing the Gospel. In fact, sometimes the reaction of our audience would indicate anything but success For that reason we need to exercise caution not to be concerned with what people think about us. Paul and Barnabas prove that in today’s example. We do hunger for human approval. By nature, we think more about what people think of us than about what they think of Jesus. We crave acceptance and dread rejection. The apostle Paul lived differently. Apparently he had been liberated from the need to be liked, or even respected. He moved from town to town, in and out of crowds, anchored in the safety and satisfaction of knowing Jesus. Many adored him, even to the point of worshiping him, and others hated him, even to the point of trying to murder him. But he lived and served above approval ratings. Everywhere Paul went, he met dramatically mixed reviews. We see that in our text today. In a town called Lystra they came to a man crippled from birth. Paul saw through the man’s disability into his heart and he saw faith. So Paul healed the man’s legs (v. 10). The crowds saw the man walking, after sitting for so many years, and they rushed Paul and Barnabas. They treated them like gods (v. 11). They even brought oxen to sacrifice to them (v. 13). Their reaction is instructive. They did not bask in the attention, building their million dollar mansions and bulging bank accounts. They did not change their monikers to @Zeus and @Hermes, and retweet a few lines of the people’s praise. They ran from their raving fans as fast as possible (v. 15). To Paul and Barnabas, the allure of human approval, acceptance, esteem, and intense admiration seemed more dangerous than enticing, more threatening than tempting. And they knew the roots of the crowd’s flattering idolatry would eventually kill each and every one of them. So they confronted them, risking their skyrocketing social statuses, with a brave call to worship the living God and live. We would do well to mimic them in our ministry!