Dwell in the Word: Acts 14:1-18

Consider these questions as you dwell in Acts 14:1-18:

1. In this passage, Paul and Barnabas find themselves in a situation where they are mistaken for gods by the people of Lystra. Despite the opportunity for personal gain, they firmly deny divinity and redirect the focus towards the true God. What can we learn from their response about humility and the importance of pointing others to the living God?

2. The concept of common grace is highlighted in this passage, where God's goodness and provision are extended to all people, regardless of their faith. How can recognizing and appreciating God's common grace in our lives lead us to a deeper understanding of His character? How does this tie into our mission to share the Gospel with others?

3. The passage emphasizes the persistent efforts of the people to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, even after they clarified their humanity. This underscores the challenge of communicating the Gospel in a way that transcends cultural and religious barriers. How can we effectively communicate the message of salvation to those who may have different beliefs or worldviews? What strategies can we employ to ensure that the focus remains on Christ?

Transcript:

 The story continues to be the same here in Acts, doesn't it? The gospel is going out to the Gentiles, but they're still preaching in the synagogues. And so, we see here at Iconium, there were both who believed, but then there were those who stirred up people to try and get them to not believe. There was persecution.

There was people who were trying to stop the advance of the gospel. But no matter what happened, what we see here from what happened at Iconium is this last little, short, few group, this little group of words at the end of verse seven, they continued to preach the gospel. They did not stop. They kept the word of the gospel on their lips, even in the face of persecution.

How important is that for us to remember that despite what's going on around us, we do not forget that message of Christ and him crucified? Well, this has Paul and Barnabas going to Lystra and we see what happens here. They. Uh, they think because of the healings that are done, and the signs and wonders that are being done, that they are not men, but they are gods.

And so, they call them Hermes and Zeus, and they try to offer sacrifices to them. Now, can you imagine this scene, and can you imagine being Paul and Barnabas in the midst of this? You know, people are coming to sacrifice to you. Uh, they're really, really missing the point, right? And we see that Paul and Barnabas respond in a really amazing way here.

Uh, men, why are you doing these things? We are also men. You know, they have the opportunity to do whatever they really want to do with these people. They're willing to sacrifice to them. They think they are gods. They could manipulate them. They could get what they wanted. Money, uh, whatever they wanted.

They can more than likely get it from them, right? But instead, what are they saying? No, we're just like you. We're just bringing you good news.  Sacrificing to the gods isn't good news. The fact that Christ has sacrificed himself for you, that is good news. So, hear the word of the Lord. They tell them about the living God, not these dead ideas, these myths of Zeus and Hermes, but instead, the living God.

And they tell them that he made everything, the heavens, the earth, the sea, all that is in them.  And then we see something interesting here related to this idea of the gospel going to the Gentiles. Verse 16, In past generations, he allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. God gave them over. Remember Romans 1.

He let them do that. God gave them over.  He let them walk in their own ways.  He still left himself a witness. Again, we go back to Romans 1, right? God has made himself known. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

Now, The idea here is this idea of common grace, that while there is a saving grace that God shows to his people to bring them to salvation, there's also the idea of common grace that  people all over the world, regardless of whether or not they are saved by God's grace, they have food, they have rain, the sun shines on them, the, the, rain.

Falls on the just and the unjust, that's the idea here. God showed his common grace to them But now his saving grace is coming to them. They are hearing the word of the gospel through Paul.  They're just men.  Their mission is to proclaim Christ. Because they have received the good news of salvation, and so they want to proclaim it to others.

But, we see as the passage closes up, even with these words, they scarcely restrain the people from offering sacrifice to them. They were still trying to do it. The wonders that they were doing were amazing to these people. It was hard for them to understand the message of the gospel.  But we know from the history of Paul and Barnabas, what did they do?

They continued to proclaim Christ. And so we have the opportunity ourselves to daily proclaim Christ. To have the opportunity to, to tell others, to tell our children, to tell our friends. To remind those who already have faith of the story of the gospel that they might be built up and given comfort and peace And hope and we know that we have god's special grace because we have faith We've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We trust in the salvation of our God.  We see common grace in the world everywhere and maybe we wonder sometimes why do people who don't obey God Why do they have it so good sometimes right? Well, that's God's common grace The better good that we desire is his saving grace And so we desire to not be well off just because we desire to have We desire to have that peace and that comfort that peace that passes all understanding  That we have Christ.

That we have been forgiven of our sins. And no matter what happens, whether difficulty comes or not, that is, that is not changed because we are in Christ. We have the eternal gift of salvation. So, we put our hope in that. And we trust that God will continue to give that gift to his people as his gospel is proclaimed.