Doug Van Pelt

Pastor Bob is NOT God!

Acts chapter 14 shows some interesting details.

"At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed."

It's pretty interesting that going into the Jewish synagogue was their usual custom. You don't see that sort of thing happening these days, do you? Paul was a Jew, and one with pedigree, so they didn't have much of a problem going in there and teaching. I guess anyone with a "voice of authority" could be heard by those curious and anxious to hear the Word of the Lord. It's amazing how they preached "so effectively" that people believed. It puts weight behind the thought that a preacher should pursue speaking the Word with skill and knowledge of the Word with excellence -- just as an artist is compelled to seek excellence. It also puts some weight into persuasion, and maybe the "art" of arguing and presenting a point (or presenting a "case" like a lawyer would).

"But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 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. The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles."

The unbelieving ones stirred up others, so no one else would believe. It wasn't enough for them not to believe, they had to make sure no one else did either. It's a powerful description: "poisoned their minds." Have you ever seen the impact of one person's influence over another? I certainly have. It's kind of like that. One person who's turned against a certain person sets the minds of others against that person as well -- so now this person not only has one to try to "win back," but two. And once a mind is poisoned, it seems there is no reasoning with them. It's over. The matter has been decided. It's kind of a hard-headed thing and it's usually mixed in with bitterness. It's almost impossible to turn such a person back.

God "confirmed the message" by "enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders." There is a debate that says signs and wonders stopped when these apostles died and the purpose of miracles was only to confirm God's Word, His message. The thinking behind this, I imagine, is two-fold:

One, these people don't see a lot of miracles happening around them;

Two, the Bible is God's eternal Word, and now that we have it, we don't need human messengers and God's confirming miracles. We have the "Perfect" (Word), which signifies the passing away of tongues and such (a reference to 1 Corinthians 13).

I don't quite buy that argument. The reference to the "Perfect" is Jesus Himself, not His Word (It says we'll see "face to face," and it's not the faces of the pages of the Bible text it's refering to). I think miracles happen many times out of compassion for the suffering person (specifically, the miracle of healing).

"In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, 'Stand up on your feet!' At that, the man jumped up and began to walk."

In some cases, the sick person keeps calling out and sometimes even annoys the person that heals him (whether it's Jesus or one of the apostles). According to the text, Paul just noticed him/looked at him and then commanded his healing with a word. He wasn't asked if he had faith to be healed, but somehow Paul noticed that he did. It must've been a look in his eye, the glow on his face, or perhaps just a "secret knowledge" from God that this was the case. One conclusion I come to from looking at several healing accounts in the Bible is that there is no set formula (save for the simple, "Ask God what to do and then do what God says to do") for healing. God does it a bunch of different ways.

"When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, 'The gods have come down to us in human form!' Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them."

This is crazy. I wonder how this would make most missionary teams feel. Would there be any pride? Any thoughts like, 'Yeah, I'm like a rock star, baby!' I don't know. Perhaps when the priest of another (false) religion shows up with bulls to slaughter and sacrifice to you, maybe then the weight of the matter would settle in and you would protest. This is what Paul and Barnabas did. They tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd. It wasn't easy to convince them that they weren't gods.

Earlier in the chapter we read about a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. "But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the good news."

Sometimes we place a bravery or boldness onto missionaries, pastors, and even the apostles. But the practical truth is these guys took off when they heard about a plot to beat them up and possibly kill them. Self preservation is a good thing. There are stories of incredible bravery and maybe we can assume that God spoke to these people prior to their decision to stay and face danger and (sometimes death). In Iconium Paul was stoned and dragged out of the city, thinking he was dead. "But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. 'We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,' they said. 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."

It was important that the apostles set up some structure to keep the faith grounded and growing. The funny thing about people is we are like sheep and tend to stray. I mean, look at the "charismatic" side of the body of Christ. Most would not argue that there has been some error and/or some excess. None of us have it all together and we can be misled. That is why some people believe that miracles don't need to happen any more because the Bible is all we need -- these people have seen problems, the way people stray, and they understand the importance of a rock solid and un-changing foundation. The Bible is completely important and paramount to our faith, but we need more. We need prayer. We need the Living God. We need His interaction in our lives. We sometimes need miracles and healing and exorcisms. It really seems obvious (to me) that there is a balance. If we just read the Bible and didn't pray, we would turn into something unhealthy. If we just prayed and never read the Bible, same thing. We need God. We can rely on the Bible and trust that it keeps us healthy, but maybe it's kind of like eating AND exercise. We need to get out there and live our faith, too.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at November 29, 2005 08:57 AM