Sermon 25

God Opens The Doors

Acts 14:1-28

Someone has said that the Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.

Acts 13-14 covers the first missionary tour of Paul, beginning and ending in Antioch. In between, Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel in six cities.

We tend to think of the growth of the gospel in quiet and rural villages. Thus, many Christians are surprised to learn that the Book of Acts is almost entirely urban. The first foreign missionaries concentrated on urban areas.

We are working away through this first missionary journey. It began in ... Antioch of Syria (13:1-5), a place of decision. From there, the missionaries traveled to Paphos (13:6-12), a place of deception. Then the team traveled on to Perga (13:13), a place of desertion. In Acts 13:14-52, Paul and Barnabas went to Anticoch of Pisidia, a place of disputation.

Iconium - A Place Of Division, 14:1-7.

Last time, we just touched briefly on Iconium (14:1-7), a place of division. This city, more Greek than Roman in culture, was in the Roman province of Galatia. Later, Pauls letter to the churches of Galatia (Galatians) would have included the believers we learn about here. Once again, the ministry started in synagogue. Here, there were many both of Jews and Greeks who believed. And here, (v. 2) the unbelieving Jews "stirred up the Gentiles" and poisoned them against the believers. But the missionaries stayed there a "long time" and witnessed boldly for the Lord. Here, it is said, that the Lord enabled the men to perform signs and wonders to authentic that these men were speaking for Him (v. 3).

The results were mixed in Iconium. The city was divided (v. 4). Christianity unites us with other Christians, but Christianity also divides families and in this case, cities.

The threat of persecution came upon the Christians here in the form of public disgrace and stoning. Obedient to the Lord’s counsel in Matthew 10:23, they (v. 6) "fled to Lystra and Derbe."

Lystra And Derbe - A Place Of Delusion, 14:8-20.

Lystra and Derbe were also in Galatia, only about 18 miles from Iconium. This was the first of three visits that Paul made to this city. On his second missionary tour, it was here that Paul enlisted Timothy (16:1-5). He also visited Lystra on the third missionary journey (18:23).

Here, again, there are a variety of responses to the preaching of the gospel. Verses 8-10 records a crippled man’s response of faith. His lameness had not been caused by disease or accident, it was from birth so that the reader knows that what takes place here is miraculous.

In verses 11-18, the crowd responded to this miracle with superstition. They interpreted these events in light of their on mythology. They identified Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul as Mercury (Messenger God). The crowd would have deified these men at this point. Jupiter was the patron god of the city and so the priest of Jupiter took the lead in honoring their god.

How easy it would have been to have accepted worship and to try to use the honor as the basis for teaching these people the truth, but that is not the way God’s true servant ministers. Paul and Barnabas refused to be worshiped and boldly told the people to "turn from these vanities unto the living God."

When preaching to a Jewish audience, Paul had presented Jesus as the Messiah, on the basis of the Old Testament. That would not work with this pagan Gentile audience. And so he started with the witness of God in creation. There is one God - the living God, the giving God and the forgiving God.

Paul was a god one minute, but when the Jewish crowd arrived from Antioch and Iconium, he was quickly a criminal to be slain. He was stoned, dragged out the city and left for dead.

Suddenly, while the new converts grieved and watched, Paul stood up, went back into town and then on to Derbe. (See II Corinthians 11:25; 12:1ff).

Beginning in verse 21, Paul and Barnabas start working their way back home, retracing their steps (teaching, confirming, exhorting, ordaining, commending.

Antioch At Syria, A Place Of Declaration, 14:26-28.

Finally, they reported to their sending church on the work which God had done (2 years). Here is perhaps the first missions conference. God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, v. 27.

We see some important missionary principles from these two chapters.

1. Missions are sent out by the local church and responsible to that church.

2. God opens doors of opportunity. Souls are saved. Churches are established.

3. A foreign missionary keys on population centers and challenges the believers there to take the message to the more remote areas.

4. Different methods are required for different people but the finishing point is always the same - faith in Christ.

5. Not everyone steps through the open door.