Through Many Tribulations

Acts 14:19-28

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"Well, the deeper we get into the Christian life, the more we should see our faithful Heavenly Father conforming us to the likeness of Jesus. This is the promise of Romans 829. For those whom He four knew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. It is the will. It is the intention. It is the work of God for us in this life that we become more and more like Jesus."
"But how does that happen? How does he do this work? God conforms us to the image of his son in many ways, and one especially that plays out throughout this book of acts that we've been studying. Believers become more like Jesus by experiencing what Jesus experienced when he lived on this earth in our passage today, and more so as we get deeper into this study of X and we will see some striking parallels between the experiences of those who choose to follow Jesus and the experiences of Jesus himself."
"And yet we don't have to move forward. In the Book of Acts. We have seen this already. We've seen it. This being conformed to the likeness of Jesus at work in the Apostles. If you recall, early on they were like Jesus, unjustly accused, unfairly tried, even physically assaulted because of their faith, and they were not dissuaded from doing what was right."
"Most recently in our journey through the Book of Acts, we have seen the well-meaning gospel preaching apostle Paul and his friend Barnabas, driven out of one town and their lives plotted against an another. And in today's passage, Paul is stoned and dragged away for dead. Wouldn't you expect those who are engaged in the service of the Lord should be better protected?"
"Doesn't God have some sort of obligation to spare His obedient servants from hardship? Commentator Juan Sanchez says most of us have been brought up with and bought into a notion that if we just live righteous lives, if we go to church, if we read our Bibles, if we give generously, then we're not going to suffer. In this view, he says, righteousness and suffering are incompatible."
"The answer to suffering is to be more righteous. We don't understand that righteousness can and does lead to suffering. The more righteousness we have, the more suffering we will face. It's only when we embrace a theology of righteous suffering that is rooted in the gospel that we will be able to prepare ourselves for such eventualities and endure the suffering when it comes."
"Turns out righteousness and suffering actually go together. Far from living a troubled free existence, our Scripture today offers a timely truth for all who believe and all who may be contemplating belief in Jesus. It is through many tribulations that we must enter the Kingdom of God, our Father. As we come to your Word this morning, we do so humbly."
We do so openly. We are grateful that you speak to us. We pray that we will listen to what it is you have to say. Help us to make sense of the texts. Help us to apply it to our lives. Help us to leave. This place changed for your glory. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. So the journey from city in Antioch and Iconium to Lystra apparently wasn't far enough for Paul and Barnabas to escape trouble.
"They thought it might be if they made their way of those 18 miles or so that they would be out of harm's way. But that's not the case. Having been driven out of the first town plotted against and another. Paul and Barnabas fled. But as we pick up our Texas Morning Acts chapter 14, verse 19, we see that Paul and Barnabas are followed just as Saul, who we now know, as Paul once hounded the early Christians and sought to eradicate them."
"Now the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. And having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city. Supposing that he was dead, the crowd, you may recall in this verse of the same people who just last week we saw were ready to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, were ready to bow down to them, were ready to worship them."
"The crowds who wanted Paul killed were the same, who previously thought he was a god. The crowds in Lystra, unlike the crowds in Jerusalem, went on one Sunday. They hailed a conquering Jesus. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord in just a few days later, they demanded his execution. Crucify him. Crucify him. You see, Jesus experienced the fickleness of human beings."
"Maybe you have to. Maybe you've noticed how quickly human beings can turn, how easily we can be misled, even ginned up to violence. Jesus experienced the fickleness of human beings in following Jesus. So did Paul. And so may you. To be a disciple, one must be prepared to experience hostility for the name of Christ. Indeed, as Jesus has told us, this hostility is a sign of the coming of the end of the age, he said in Matthew recorded it in the 24th chapter of his gospel."
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you'll be hated by all nation. For my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. You see, our Lord wasn't kidding when he said to his disciples, The world hates me, so you can expect it will hate you."
"Also, the world here in the form of these Jewish zealots pursuing Paul and Barnabas comes to Lystra. It's on the offensive and Paul is on the receiving end of their aggressive hate."
"You know, it's kind of sad, but however long we humans have been on the planet, in some ways, we haven't changed much. We like to think we've evolved, don't we? We like to think we're getting better. I think the data indicates something different. The the popular solution to those who oppose still seems to be geared to get rid of them."
"Have you noted that that's the popular solution? If somebody opposes you, what you need to do, they're your enemy. You need to get rid of them. In today's culture, I suppose you could cancel them. This was this was a lot more a violent way of canceling. But it's the same idea. Somebody is in my way and they've got to go kill the one who stands in your way."
"That's what these Jews have come to do to Paul. That's what the Pharisees plotted against Jesus with. That's what they pulled off against Jesus kill the one whose message is inconvenient. Kill the one that you disagree with, and then you won't have to listen to it any more. This is what Saul intended for the Christian church before his conversion to Christianity."
"This is what he wanted to do. Kill people. Get rid of them. Stop this, squashed this now following Jesus. See, Paul also is the target of the murderous intent of his countrymen. And in the traditional Jewish method of execution, Paul is stoned. Clearly, he is knocked unconscious. He thought to be dead. He's unceremoniously dragged out of the city, verse 20."
"But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote about the challenges of Christian ministry that he endured, and he said, We are struck down but not destroyed. And so was the case here. Literally, Paul is struck down, but he didn't stay down. Jesus also was struck down. But he didn't stay down either."
"He rose in a much grander way. It seems obvious from our passage that the mob who stoned Paul thought that he was dead. But Luke is very careful not to make that claim. We want to jump there and say this is this is a resurrection type of story. Maybe it is, but the text doesn't say that. So we can't say that."
"We can't say that Paul is rising from the dead here. We can't even say from this text why his disciples have gathered around the body. We can confidently surmise that they are probably praying for him. Maybe they've even encircled his his beaten body. So to protect it from further abuse. All we know, though, is that when the disciples gathered about him, the man, this man who shortly before commanded a crippled to stand up on his feet himself, rise is up, battered, and we might assume bloodied but alive to the Galatians."
"Paul would summarize the suffering he endured by saying this. I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Some of those marks were very likely from the stones thrown at Lystra. Paul wakes up and Paul rises up and undeterred. The next day, Paul and Barnabas begin a six mile trek to the town of Derby, where again they meet with evangelistic success."
"The Bible tells us many came to accept the Lord in that place. And then the two missionaries decided they would retrace their steps. They went back to Syria and Antioch. Now, we should note here that it would have been a lot easier here if their goal was just to get to Syrian Antioch, for them to continue through Derby to Paul's hometown of Tarsus and to go from there down to Syria and Antioch."
"But their goal wasn't just to get to a home base. The goal was not just to return to the church that had sent them. They chose instead the harder way so that they might serve others. They chose the harder way so that they would discharge their pastoral duties to those who had come to believe through their ministry. They chose a harder way so they could go back around and check on the new Christians, similar to the way that Jesus set his face resolutely to go to Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets in order that he might give his life a sacrifice for many."
"So Paul and Barnabas turn and they head straight into danger. They don't know what's going to happen. They have no guarantees of any sort of outcome. They enter again the city where Paul was stoned and left for dead, and then the town where their lives were plotted against, and then the city that they were driven out of by an angry mob."
"I want you to notice here, friends, that Paul and Barnabas would rather be faithful than safe. They would rather be faithful than safe. You understand, sometimes those two don't go together. They just sometimes faithfulness and safety don't go together. And when they don't go together, let me encourage you in this way. Choose faith and choose faith. Because safety is overrated and safety is overrated."
It was indeed a risky route that Paul and Barnabas chose by retracing their steps. And yet it has been said that anything worth living for is worth dying for. And that's what the gospel is for Paul and Barnabas. It's worth dying for. What is the gospel to you and what is it worth? They had a glorious message of hope and they were going to share it no matter what it was worth to them.
"Any risk. You see, Paul and Barnabas have a big view of the gospel, a big view of the gospel of the power of God to say they believe in it and they've given their lives to it. So let me ask you, Christian, how big is your view of the gospel? How prevalent is it in your thoughts morning, noon or night?"
"This past Friday, we enjoyed a Good Friday service. Is there anything like a look at Christ on the Cross to help us think and feel rightly about God and ourselves? There's nothing better than that to give us the perspective we need. The cross is a sight for us to keep in mind regularly. Fanny Crosby knew this. She knew this when she prayed to God for a daily glimpses of Calvary in her hymn."
"Near the Cross, Near the Cross. So LAMB of God bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day with its shadow or me. Oh, don't scamper away from the cross, Christian. And don't think that what that transaction that took place on the cross was sort of a a once and done. And now you can move on from there."
"You want to find yourself regularly at the foot of the cross because it is there where you will see the amazing love of God who gave his only son for you. It is there that you will come face to face with the awful reality of the miserable sinner that you can be, but the overpowering love of God for you."
"Near the cross court, of course. Paul and Barnabas had a big view of the gospel, not just the cross, but the whole of it. The whole of the gospel. The life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus. The empty tomb, the risen and reigning Lord who's coming back for his own. The assurance of forgiveness of sins, the promise of everlasting life."
"Oh, the love of Jesus. This is what Paul and Barnabas know. This is what Paul and Barnabas are going to share no matter what. This is what they're going to do. They have a big view of the gospel. Milton Vincent has written a short and helpful book called The Gospel Primer, and I recommend it to you. If you have any interest whatsoever in cultivating the habit of regular reflection on the Gospel, then I encourage you to get this book a gospel primer."
"And by the way, I have two copies of it up here. If you really want one. Not now. But at some point they're for you. They're not to augment your library there for you to grab and say, You know what? I think it is important that I have a bigger view of the gospel. I think it is important that I daily spend time in the gospel."
"This book will help you and it's yours if you like it. Of course, you don't have to read a book to get in the habit of creating gospel reflection, do you? Paul Tripp says this. He says, Before you begin your busy day. Take a few moments to focus the eyes of your heart on the stunning glory of the Lord and the awesome glory of His grace."
"Each morning, allow your self glory to melt in the redeeming heat of divine glory as you bask in the splendor of the glorious beauty of who he is. Plead with your Lord to rescue you from you throughout the day. Then get up and determined to keep His glory in view in every conversation, whether digital or personal, and look for opportunities to be gracious, merciful, righteous and generous in your interactions, your reactions and relationships."
"Jesus lived, died, and rose again, so these characteristics would be our potential. May each of us talk. Text, tweet, email. Share. Like comment and hashtag with God's glory in view. His grace makes this possible message of the hope that is in Jesus meant so much to Paul and to Barnabas that they knowingly and willingly put themselves in harm's way to preach it and to see that those who had received it were holding fast to it."
"They not only had a big view of the gospel, they had a sincere dedication to the church that Jesus was building versus 21 and 22 when they had preach the gospel to that city. That's Darby. And it made many disciples. They returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."
"These two verses right here show us what we believers intuitively know. To be true. Christians need strengthening. Christians need encouragement, and Christians need a category for understanding their suffering. Christians need strengthening. The word translated strengthening is to restore abolition, to render more firm. So Paul and Barnabas, going back where they had been to firm up what they started building in their first visit in Christians."
"We need this kind of shoring up. I don't know, maybe you have an old camp or something that every once in a while decides it wants to navigate away from its foundation. Around here, that's not uncommon. Building stuff on clay and rocks and stumps and every once in a while you have to go and you have to shore that thing up."
"You have to make sure it is solid because it has a tendency to tend to move away from that which is subtle. And that's what Paul environments are doing. They've begun these communities of faith, they've begun these churches. They planted the seed of the gospel in the hearts of these early Christians. Now they're going to make sure, Are you okay?"
"Are you still solid? Do you have it? What do you need from us? Christians need strength, Anthony, because we are prone to slide off the foundations of our faith. And we are often weak, which is probably different than how some people who don't know a lot of Christians view Christianity think, Oh, you are the people who have it all together."
"You're the people who figured it out, and you're the people who are telling us all what to do. We are weak people. Every one of us is human and we are weak and we need strengthening. That's why we need the practices, the disciplines of scripture reading and regular prayer. That's why we need to come to worship faithfully and be with fellow believers."
"That's why we need some sort of Christian connection outside of the worship context through the week. We've got to fellowship with fellow Christians because we need this shoring up. We need this strengthening. This is why we encourage people to serve others. It at some point through the throughout the week, do something for somebody else. Is part of your the shoring up of your faith."
"It's what it means to be a disciple. All these are ways of strengthening our faith because we aren't perfect and because we do drift and because we're not always as strong as we want to be. Christians need strengthening and Christians need encouragement. We need encouragement to run the race. We need encouragement to finish the course. Whilst anybody can start, it's tough to finish."
We need encouragement to stay the course. We need encouragement to stand firm. We need encouragement to persevere. Why do you think those new believers would need some encouragement? Do you suppose the rising up of violent opposition had some of them intimidated? Might some of them been a wee bit discouraged when they saw the man who led them to Jesus pelted near to death for his beliefs?
"Understanding the same thing may be coming to them. They needed encouragement to say whatever you might face, whatever you might endure for Jesus, it's going to be worth it. They need that encouragement. Why would believers today need encouragement? Have you looked around? Might some today see the rising tide of anti-Christian sentiment and be tempted then to turn back to fall away?"
"The Bible warns us that as we near the end of the age, it's going to get harder, not easier. You know that right? Believer. So gird yourselves, sure yourselves. Understand this is what's going to happen. We need encouragement because the threats and the persecution and the hostility and the hardship and the tribulation that is coming is going to be difficult."
"And it has a way of discouraging us, of discouraging belief, especially if if one does not have a category for righteous suffering. Christians need a category for understanding their suffering. So Paul provides the category. The trials that we endure serve a purpose, he says. It is through many tribulations. We must enter the kingdom of God. Don't be surprised, Peter wrote at the fiery trials among you, as if something strange were happening to you."
"Don't be surprised by that. That's the way it's supposed to be. That's the way it's going to be. The word translated tribulations here refers to difficulties or suffering, the sort of which come from persecution for loyalty to one's faith. It's so. So I just want to be clear, friend. Being a follower of Jesus means you must be prepared to endure hardships."
"And I want to tell you straight up that the road to eternity with Jesus may very well be a rocky one for you, and it may be a lonely one. Just the way his road to secure eternity for us was. Has anyone ever been more misunderstood, more mischaracterized, or more mistreated than Jesus? And if we want to follow him, should we expect that we would escape those things?"
"No. It is just the opposite. If we're truly following him where he goes, we should expect these things. So are you encouraged this morning to become a Christian? Evangelists who are counting decisions may downplay, downplay and often do downplay this side of what it means to be a Christian. But gospel preachers who are making disciples will be clear about it."
"Just as Jesus was following Jesus can lead to suffering. You don't want to suffer. Don't follow Jesus following Jesus can lead to suffering. It certainly is not a guarantee of an easy life. Now, none of us would necessarily choose a path of suffering, would we? None of us would be very excited about the prospect of suffering, to be honest."
"Quite naturally, we resist suffering. Sometimes we even resent it. I don't know if you've ever been in that place. I know I have. I suspect you have. And when you are suffering and you're angry about it yet what if our suffering, what if our challenges, our trials, the pains, the betrayals, the disappointments, the losses? What if these are the means God chooses to help us become more like Jesus?"
"Could there be a silver lining in the storm cloud of our suffering? Could it be that God really does work all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to his purpose? In politics, the saying is don't waste a crisis. John Piper wrote a book, Don't Waste Your Life. I think Paul might encourage us here."
"Don't waste your suffering. Don't waste your suffering. Be like the apostles and rejoice to be counted worthy, to suffer for the name of Jesus. As a discouraged young pastor, Art Azaria once asked a pastor of 30 years, How have you made it in ministry this long? The old pastor replied, You know, Art, my dad once told me, never decide to leave the ministry when you're tired or depressed."
So I've never left the ministry.
"Naturally, serving Jesus faithfully isn't all about exhaustion and depression, but there will be seasons of it. Yeah, absolutely will be seasons of it. There's going to be tough times, and we should anticipate having to share in the sufferings of Christ. That's how Paul put it. Sharing in the sufferings of Christ. I'm learning through my tribulations to be more and more like my Savior."
That's what God wants for me. That's what's best for me. That's normal for a Christ follower. It is through many tribulations that you enter the Kingdom of God.
"Perhaps one of the reasons, if not the reason Paul was able to persevere through so much tribulation was his ability to keep things in perspective. You see, he did not fear what man could do to him because he knew what God in Christ had done for him. Did you catch that? He did not fear what man could do to him because he knew what God in Christ had done for him."
"So there's nothing to be afraid of. There is no reason to fear not. Not even to fear death. He could go into those places where death could be imminent. Death could be the outcome. Eventually, Paul did go to Rome and had his head lopped off. And he did that without being afraid. Why? Well, because he'd had an encounter with some guy named Jesus who was dead and then was alive."
"The resurrected Christ taught Paul that death no longer holds a sting, and death does not have the final word. And there will be no victory for death. Christ is conquered in Christ is conquered. Sin, crisis conquered death. Trusting in him, there is no cause to fear. That's what That's why Paul could turn around and retrace his steps and go right back right back into the fierceness because he walked there with Jesus, writing again to the Corinthians in the fourth chapter of his second letter to them, he said this, and we've closed with this passage Second Corinthians chapter four, beginning in verse eight, Paul says, We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but"
not driven to despair. Persecuted but not forsaken. Struck down. But not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus sake. So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
"So death is at work in us, but life in you, since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed. And so I spoke. We also believe. And so we also speak knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence, for it is all for your sake so that his grace extends to more and more people."
"It may increase Thanksgiving to the glory of God. That's why Paul gave himself away and it is all for your sake. Why do we retrace your steps? It's all for your sake that the glory and grace of God might abound. And then he says this. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is renewed day by day for this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory."
"Beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen or transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."