How do we judge a successful missionary enterprise? How do we determine when a mission is complete? When can the missionary say, ‘My job is done here. Now I can go home’.
Is it when there are full churches? Or there is no opposition left? Is it when the main opponents – the Richard Dawkins, the local mufti, the Roman Catholic priest – are all part of the new congregation, and writing books about how their eyes were opened? Is it when the community is so thoroughly impacted by the gospel that there is no organized community opposition anymore?
The Mardi Gras organisers decide not to host the event because they fear God. The ABC local radio hosts invite Christian Ministers and bible college lecturers to do bible study on air?
Is it where lunchtime Christian groups at High School are full, not because of the chips the Christian teacher buys? Is it where the non-Scripture kids are begging to be let in to your classes, and the principals and teachers are begging you for chaplains and scripture teachers? There are no longer Big Rescue Bibles in the op shops, no Essential Jesus’ books left in boxes in church store rooms. Where local councils make it easy to build church buildings. Perhaps the Prime Minister even builds church buildings to stimulate the economy, to popular acclaim – what a genius move!
Or can a mission be said to be complete with a much more humble set of outcomes? The community is still divided. Pagan religion still continues. Substantial opposition from vested religious interests is still aroused by the gospel. The missionaries still suffer. They have difficulty getting into a place, or still have to flee. There are still risky places, at least for a time. They are insulted and beaten up and almost killed. And every Christian is told, even if they couldn’t see it in the missionaries' bruises, ‘Only through much trouble will we enter the Kingdom of God’.
When Paul and Barnabas arrive back in Antioch from their so called 'first missionary journey', they call a church meeting. They report all their doings. And Luke is able to say that their work is now completed (Acts 14:26). There is a sense where it is the end of the beginning, and they must move on to other places and to other work. But even if Paul and Barnabas have finished their work, that doesn’t mean there is nothing left to be done. That doesn’t mean that the Risen Jesus Christ has no enemy left to subdue and place under his feet. For the parable of the sower still pertains, as much as it did when Jesus taught in the flesh. Until all things are restored, the devil will still blind the eyes of unbelievers. Some will receive the word with joy, only to fall away because of trouble and persecution. The love of some will grow cold, because of the anxieties of life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things. And yet, the missionary work can be said to be complete where there is a functioning and fruitful set of believers in a place.
Acts Chapters 13 and 14 track Paul and Barnabas’ movements. It is their so called ‘First Missionary Journey’. Twice in this chapter, Paul and Barnabas are called Apostles (verse 4, 14). We know Paul is an apostle. He saw the risen Jesus Christ (See Galatians 1). It may be that they are Apostles because the Spirit of Jesus Christ has separated them and sent them out.
We saw last week that Paul and Barnabas evangelized the island of Cyprus. From East to West they shared the gospel with success. The word of Jesus reached the top eschalon of the Island, with the conversion of Sergius Paulus, the Roman Governor. It may be that Sergius determined the mission’s next port of call, because Sergius’ previous posting was in Psidian Antioch. He might have given Paul and Barnabas some contacts. In any event, the missionaries sailed away to the region of Galatia in modern day Turkey. John Mark left them there to return to Jerusalem. But Paul evangelised the synagogue of Psidian Antioch. He is by now the senior partner and main speaker.
Chapters 13 and 14 track their movement inland into what is now the Turkish mainland, and then back again to where they started. Their journey purposely wraps back on itself. In other words, Paul and Barnabas aren’t simply trying to get to as many new cities as possible, like a Contiki Tour. Nor are they taking the easiest way home. Rather, retracing their steps is part of their missionary strategy. (Cf 14:21-22; and also Acts 16:1-6; 18:23)
And consequently, this is reflected in the way their teaching ministry is described. They do evangelism, then discipleship, then follow up visits overseeing the churches, and then appoint local leaders, called 'presbyters' or elders.
First, they do evangelism, the sharing of the good news that Jesus is God’s King. Thus:
But wherever they were able, they went into greater depth. Dump the gospel and run wasn’t their choice. They sometimes had to do that to save life and limb. But they wanted to spend longer, much longer, with the disciples in any city. Only this way -- with extended contact -- could they adequately encourage and warn the new believers. We should call this discipling, or discipleship. This is the term that Luke uses for it in verse 21. They made disciples, or discipled. It wasn’t just sharing the gospel, it was shaping those gospelled. They spent time with the newly formed communities, modelling, teaching, correcting and urging. So we read:
First, evangelism, sharing the gospel. Then discipleship, strengthening and encouraging existing Christians. Which involves continual oversight, following up, chasing up, dealing with problems, in one sense a never-ending work.
Evangelism is necessary, and a first step. But it is only the first step. The second, third and fourth step is discipleship. So Paul and Barnabas doubled back to follow up, to see how the disciples were going.
But even Apostolic follow-up is insufficient. Paul and Barnabas develop local Christian leadership. Acts chapter 14 verse 23:
Paul 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. (NIV)
Presbyters needed to be appointed. And Paul and Barnabas took it very seriously. So there was prayer and fasting, seeking God’s wisdom. But it is also possible that the appointment of elders involved voting, for the word used refers to raising the hand.
Here is the pattern: evangelism, discipleship, follow-up visits, appointing local leaders. And only then do they commit them to the grace of God as they walk away. It is not dump the gospel and run.
Now, I would say most of our ministry as a parish is discipleship conducted by appointed leaders to do the settled ministry of teaching, exhorting and encouraging believers. This is the lion’s share of all of our work, as it was for Paul and Barnabas on their return journeys. Of course there is a place for ongoing evangelism. But the gospel has already reached our communities, though not every member of them. However, even though we have a functioning Christian community, there is a place for re-evangelising our communities. This is the work we need to do.
Now, the Apostle’s Paul and Barnabas left their new converts and churches and committed them to the grace of God. And then they were gone, until they returned. And the local Christians had to carry on the work alone. And that’s the situation we are in. The job falls to us to carry on the work without the Apostles.
But were the local Christians really alone? It is hardly Christian to think that! And Luke would never let us think that! Consider chapter 14 verse 3 again:
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. (NIV)
The risen Jesus Christ spoke through his Apostles. And the signs and wonders they did were Jesus’ seal of approval on his Apostle’s message. Because, as we’ve seen already, the Risen Jesus is running this mission, controlling it from Mission Headquarters in heaven at the Right Hand of God. The conquest of the word, the testimony to Jesus, is what Father, Son and Holy Spirit are doing in our world until the time comes for the restoration of all things.
Paul’s healing of the lame man serves the same purpose. It testifies that Paul and Barnabas are legitimate Apostles. Paul’s healing of the lame man in Lystra is similar to Peter’s healing of the lame man in the Jerusalem Temple. Yet another lame man, walking and leaping and praising God. So we rightly conclude that both Peter and Paul are Apostles, one to the Jews, the other to the Gentiles.
In the end, Paul and Barnabas can entrust the new disciples to the Lord whom they believe because it is the Lord Jesus who is in control of the mission (Acts 14:23). God is in control. Luke’s last word about this mission is about God, not Paul and Barnabas’. It was God, verse 27, who worked with the Apostles. It was God, verse 27, who opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. As Paul will say elsewhere to the Corinthians:
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7 NIV)
Friends, maybe God will give us signs, maybe he won’t. I’m not an Apostle, so I don’t expect them, and you don’t need them to believe the gospel. But one thing I do know. Jesus is still doing his mission. We can plant and water, but God is the one who makes it grow. And God who worked with the Apostles to open a door for faith among the Gentiles can likewise open the door of faith to our 5 townships. So lets pray and preach and expect God to work.
In Lystra, Paul and Barnabas were evangelizing polytheistic Greeks. They believed in Zeus, the King of the Greek gods, and Hermes, his son, who was the herald of the gods to men[1]. And they were only two of a huge pantheon of gods that the ancient Greeks had to manipulate and cajole, to placate and importune. And Paul and Barnabas will soon say how wrong and mistaken all this is.
So Paul appeals to a testimony God has left, and that the Lystrans have already seen and heard. The true and living God has left a testimony to all people. The creation itself points to God. Verse 17:
Yet he [the living God] 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. (Acts 14:17 NIV)
God sends the rain on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:44-46). God is loving to all he has made (Psalm 145:17). The eyes of all look to him, and he gives them their food in due season (Psalm 145:15-16). God sends the rain and makes the grass grow (Psalm 147:8-9). He’s certainly done that this summer, filling our dams, which some thought would never be filled. The grass is growing like crazy everywhere.
These realities, we are told, give us a way to bring ‘God talk’ to the non-Christian. This week I heard reference on the news to ‘the rain gods’. We can’t seem to think of some things without thinking of the divine. Even our avowedly atheist Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said ‘our prayers are with Kevin Rudd’ when he recently had surgery.
And rain is one of those things that should make us think of God. We cannot control it. We can only pray for it and catch it when God sends it. And then thank him for his love for us in sending it. We Christians have prayed for rain. We must also thank God for sending it.
How many of our fellow citizens have thanked God for the rain? I don’t know, of course. But this is not the normal human response to God’s good gifts. The normal human response is, of course, to take it for granted and whinge. Paul says in Romans chapter 1 verse 21:
...although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him (Romans 1:21 NIV).
Humans apart from the grace of God are sinful and suppress the truth about God by their wickedness. That is what human sin does. It means that people cannot understand and accept God’s gospel.
So the Lystrans declare that Paul and Barnabas are gods come to earth in the form of men. And they are preparing to worship the Apostles.
Notice how different the Apostle’s Barnabas and Paul are to Herod. Humans flatter them by saying they are gods. Herod delights in his glittering clothes. But Paul and Barnabas’ tear theirs – a symbol of grief and to show they are human.
Herod happily receives adulation as a god. It fits in with his world view of everything revolving around him. Paul and Barnabas do everything they can to reject the blasphemy. Because it doesn’t fit in with their world view of everything revolving around Jesus.
The Lystran’s see Jesus’ testimony in the miracle – the healing of the lame man - and they misunderstand it.
Why? Because of their sinful idolatry. Rather than see the testimony of Jesus in the sign, they misread it. Because of their sin, they sinfully misinterpret the sign to fit with their own vain imagination. They have programmed their minds to misread the evidence.
I know it’s not Politically Correct to say this about other people’s religions. In our society, everything is good, as long as it good for the economy and is consensual.
But the bible views idolatry, the worship of created things instead of the creator, as profoundly willful stupidity. False religion is not a sincere attempt to grasp out at God. It is a foolish attempt at running away from the God that is there. It is the nations going their own way and not Gods way. And they end up in an every worsening spiral of wickedness and sin.
The Lystran’s had a legend. According to this legend, the gods Zeus and Hermes had visited Lystra in human form. And no-one from the city had offered them hospitality except an elderly couple. So Zeus and Hermes then destroyed the houses of those who rejected them. But to the elderly couple, they gave the honour of hosting the temple of Zeus on their land.
The Lystran’s feared Zeus and Hermes. So they wanted to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. They see the sign of Jesus’ lordship. But they misread it, according to their sinful, idolatrous notions. Both God’s communication through the created order and the risen Jesus Christ's communication through the miracle are simply used to confirm their existing religious system.
Someone might explain the gospel as clearly as the Apostle Paul, as clearly as Jesus himself. But Satan still snatches the word away. The god of this age still blinds the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the glory of God in the face of Christ.
So something more is needed for someone to receive Christ, than merely God’s testimony in creation and a miracle, as good and clear as it is. God’s word needs to give us God’s explanation of the events AND God’s spirit needs to open our hearts to receive God’s word and accept that explanation, so fallen is our thinking. God must renew our minds, so that we see the evidence and make the proper conclusions from the evidence.
Well, if they’re not Zeus and Hermes, better stone ‘em!
Such is the thinking of the crowd in Lystra. At least, that’s what happens when the Jews from Iconium come a calling. Just like Paul’s mania against Christians drove him to foreign cities, so it was for the unbelieving Jews of Psidian Antioch and Iconium. Some of them travelled 160 km to be there. They turn what seems to be a country hick crowd from wanting to worshipping Paul to wanting him dead. Forgotten is the miracle of healing, forgotten are the words of the gospel Paul and Barnabas with pains explained to them. This stuff doesn’t fit into our religious system. So if we can’t worship you (as our religion says is OK), we’ll kill you (as is OK by our religion). The main thing is to preserve our idolatry. So we'll stone you.
But whether Paul foxes and stayed down, or he was unconscious and revived, Paul has yet another escape (as in verse 5, so in verse 19-20). So when Paul teaches us about persecution, it is not mere theory. He stands up in front of the disciples he has made, bearing the scars and cuts and bruises, and says to them and us in verse 22:
We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (NIV)
The Christian life is a better life. But that doesn’t mean it is easier or more comfortable. It is necessary – a divine necessity, a necessity imposed by God – that we go through hardships, many and varied. See grey hair, there have been hardships. See grey hair on a Christian head, and on top of the normal hardships, there are the additional hardships of concerns for Christ, the church, and the gospel of God in the world. Verse 22 again:
We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (NIV)
How is that encouraging? Why does that message strengthen believers? Is that what you got up this morning to be told? Life wasn't meant to be easy.
The reason that it strengthens and encourages is because it is true. An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips (Proverbs 24:26 NIV). It is what lies ahead. Jesus suffered. The Apostle’s suffered. And if we are to enter into their kingdom, we too will suffer. Right expectation prepares us for what lies ahead. There will be more than adequate compensations when we get there. But for now, let us remember, we are no better than Jesus or Paul.
We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (NIV)
Let’s pray.