The Acts of the Apostles- 93

Subtitle:  When the Serpent Bites

Acts 28:1-10.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 23, 2025.

There is a literal serpent bite in this passage, but it can also have a metaphorical lesson for us. 

Similar to how disease and the attendant viruses, prions, etc. can be a picture of spiritual problems, dangerous creatures, venom, toxins, etc. become pictures of spiritual attack.

Viruses work to get past our natural defenses and then commandeer the cells’ factories in order to replicate itself, rather than replicating what God made the cell to replicate.  Of course, spiritual truths can pop in our minds as we think about such things.  The enemy hates the fact that humans are made to be imagers of God.  He operates to erase any remnant of God in our image and turn us to imaging him.  Sin really began with the serpent questioning as such.  “Did God really say…?”  He also directly questioned the truth of God’s decree that they would die in the day that they ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

They were metaphorically bitten by the serpent that day, and a mind toxin was inserted into them.  Humans have never been well since, except by the touch of Jesus Christ..

Let’s look at our passage and get into the details.

They safely make it to land (v. 1-6)

We left the story last week as the crew and passengers abandoned a ship that was stuck on a sandbar with the wind and surf tearing the ship apart.  They all made it to land safely.  However, just as God had spoken through Paul, they all made it safely to land.  The New King James Version uses the phrase in verse 1, “And when they had escaped…”  In the New American Standard Bible, it is translated, “When they had been brought safely through…”  We tend to think of escaping in the sense of avoiding and not having to go through something.  However, this word reflects an escape from death, yet still going through the ordeal.  God kept them through the trial.  We see this in 1 Corinthians 10:31.  “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (NKJV).  We can see the idea of escaping, but also an enabling to endure temptation without succumbing to its allure.

Temptations can often be avoided.  We too often set ourselves up for difficulty through the things we say and do.  We can even make those temptations worse than they need to be.  Trials on the other hand are a difficult thing that typically “tempts” us to lose faith in God.  There are some trials that we can avoid, but in general, we will not avoid all trials.  We see Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, praying to God.  In the end, he trusts the Father to bring him through the trial into death, and back to life.

Thus, it is important to recognize that God can keep us out of trials.  However, if He kept us out of all trials, then we would be missing something big.  God can take us through trials and overcome them by faith.  God then uses the trial to develop spiritual maturity in us.

We are told that the natives (literally barbarians) gave them “extraordinary kindness.”  This is the same word that is used of the miracles done through Paul in Acts 19:11.  Yes, men and women can be kind at times, even unbelievers.  However, this was an uncommon, unusual kindness.  They went above and beyond what would be expected.

They take pity on these shipwreck survivors who landed on their shores.  Instead of hiding and taking on a defensive posture, they kindled a fire (probably more than one) for the survivors to warm up.  This is important because the water is cold, it is the beginning of winter, they are sopping wet and exhausted.  They could escape the waves only to succumb to hypothermia.

This brings up the question.  How do I respond to the tragedy of others?  Do we protect ourselves and watch the tragedy from a safe distance?  Christians are to be bold and show extraordinary kindness in such times.  Of course, we shouldn’t suspend our thinking and situational awareness.  At the same time, we should be led by the Lord in how to help others.  This requires us to be a praying people.

These natives are not Christians.  Yet, God has touched their heart to be kind to these men.  We should recognize that not all Jesus calls us to do is impossible for unbelievers to do.  We have just come through a time when several hurricanes devastated many parts of our eastern States.  Fires also consumed many places in California.  Many unbelievers gave money and helped out with recovery efforts, and this is commendable.  However, we tend to do good things for our own glory and justification.  Christians want to do these things for the glory of God and for His purposes.  Thus, a good work for the glory of God becomes a much better thing than helping people, as good as that is.  Good works can be done for the wrong reasons.  They cannot make a heart better, but they will flow from a good heart.

God may have put you in someone else’s tragedy for such a time as this.  The person you help may be a Christian or they may not be one.  Believers should be quick to help others.  Yet, a person who does not know Jesus has a big spiritual need on top of their natural tragedy.  May God help us to show extraordinary kindness in the time when tragedy strikes people around us.  May He help us to minister to their spiritual needs as well.

Paul was helping to gather sticks to put on the fire and had picked up a bundle to throw on the fire.  The heat from the fire causes a viper to bite him.  The natives watch as this snake fastens onto Paul’s hand and is dangling from him. 

Of all the guys on the ship, don’t you find it just a bit suspicious that it was Paul who was bitten?  Of course we can let that suspicion go several different ways.  We can become suspicious of God’s care for us.  “God, what do you have against me!”  Imagine the whole ordeal that they have just come through and then to be bitten by a snake.  How would you feel if it was you?

We should recognize that God’s dealings with Paul are not about how comfortable Paul is.  Sometimes the mission of God in our life will lead us into uncomfortable times.  It has nothing to do with God’s feelings towards you and everything to do with the difficulty of the task.

We can also be suspicious in the sense that we recognize God’s hand.  Paul is the one bitten.  He is the one that the natives watch, expecting him to swell up or drop dead.  God has brought this man to the attention of these natives.  Yes, he is just an earthen vessel, but there is a treasure inside of him, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are told that Paul shakes the snake off into the fire and goes about his task.  He never swells up and doesn’t drop dead.  I believe that these literal things teach us one thing, but that we can also learn something else metaphorically.  We don’t push one over the other.  Both are important.  Satan was not happy with how God was working through the Apostle Paul.  His witness to the people on the ship would now be expanded to the inhabitants of this island (Malta).  The attack of a literal viper is a picture of the attacks of the spiritual viper, the devil.  He seeks to take us out through the same things that take others out.  Yet, God’s hand of grace and power is upon Paul.  This doesn’t make him invincible.  Rather, it makes him to be in the hand of God.  He doesn’t have to worry about serpent bites.  If God is ready to take him to heaven, then so be it.  If not, then let’s get to work.  The devil is a threat, but he cannot really do anything to us that is eternal, unless we lose faith and let him.  There is coming a day when the viper will be shaken off into the lake of fire by humanity through the work of Jesus Christ.  Read Revelation 20:10.  We will go on unharmed by his bite over these millennia for the Lord will have healed us!

There is always a purpose behind why God allows such things to happen.  For Paul, God was going to use it to demonstrate His blessing upon Paul and aid the natives in listening to him. 

However, if God protected believers from everything bad that threatened them, how would that help the world?  You might say that more people would become Christians.  Well, more people might say they are Christians.  Do you not realize how things went with the Church when they didn’t have persecutions and trials like this?  It wasn’t good.  Yes, many joined the Church, but it was generally for all the wrong reasons.  It was in difficult and trying times that true Christianity grew the most.  It produced stronger followers of Jesus.

In some cultures, to become a Christian is to lose your job, family and sometimes even life.  Maybe, we should be thankful for difficult times because it is then that people can see God in you.  They see you going through the same kind of things that they go through, but with a different Spirit and a different purpose.  They see hope, life and joy in you when they expect to see despair, despondency and sadness.

At some point, the natives go from thinking that Paul must be a really evil man, for the snake to bite him, to thinking that he must be a god.  The world is used to being at the mercy of the “gods” and the fates.  They quickly make snap pronouncements about life that can be seemingly right, or self-fulfilling, and even wrong.  The demonstrations of God’s power are not given to believers so that others can think we are gods.  It is not about elevating Christians above others.  This is not the day of elevation.  This is the day lowering ourselves so that we can serve the lost with the Truth of God.

The mentality of people who are lost is that of being at the mercy of the “winds and the waves,” the many forces that push our life this way and that- forces we are unable to stop.  Christians are taught to make true judgments, and in fact, that we sometimes need to reserve judgment.

This jumping from thinking Paul is an evil man being judged by the gods to a man who is a god is a lot like our society.  We see people quickly judging others as evil, while others idolize the person as if they were a god.  People may even judge you as being the problem in America because you try to serve Jesus.  Don’t lose heart.  Even if God hasn’t done the amazing thing that He did with Paul through you, He is working through you to be a light to them.  Don’t ask God why He is doing things to you, but what does He want you to do in the midst of them.  God will shine through us as we embrace the things that He allows in our life and show people that His love is real.

Paul heals a man (v. 7-10)

The leading man on the island, Publius, takes care of them.  On one hand, we can see that God is assisting Paul through this man.  Yet, notice how the story turns to a blessing upon the man.  God also rewards people who unknowingly treat His people well.  Publius typifies the unbeliever who is nice to God’s man, and it produces a reward for him.  He is not saved by this act, but God’s goodness can lead him to salvation.  It gives grace to them, a witness of God’s love and purpose. 

We do not know the long-term effect on Publius, but we do know that a church was started on Malta because of this event.   The next time things go bad, don’t question God’s love for you.  Rather, ask for His presence and directions.  How can I serve Your purposes, Father God?

In the midst of talking with Paul, it becomes evident that Publius’ dad is sick.  Perhaps, the Lord spoke to Paul’s heart, or Paul may be recognizing that God is doing something amazing here, and so he steps out in faith.  Regardless, Paul prays for the sick dad, and he is healed.  This becomes the second thing that gets the attention of these natives.  When the people find out that Viper Man can also heal people, they bring sick people to Paul from around the island.  Paul prays for them and they were being cured.  It is wonderful to be healed physically.  Praise God!  He has designed our bodies to fight off sickness.  Yet, because of the fall of mankind and the presence of sin, our bodies do not work as efficiently as God originally made them to be. 

God often worked through Paul with miraculous healings.  However, Paul himself had a problem that he called a “thorn in the flesh.”  It is not detailed, but in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about asking God to cause it to leave him.  Yet, God did not heal him.  “My grace is sufficient for you.”  Paul came to realize that God was keeping him humble. 

What if I am not healed?  As great as physically healing is, it cannot replace salvation.  Our reward with a glorified, heavenly body causes any sickness and weaknesses we experience in this life to be small and only trifles in comparison.  Yes, God doesn’t relish in the sickness of people in this world, but even worse, He weeps over the spiritually darkened condition of the lost.

We are told that they honored Paul and well supplied the group when they left 3 months later to go to Rome.  We are not told exactly how they are honored other than the supplies.  I mentioned earlier that a church was started on Malta.  That would be a great honor for any Christian, to know that your witness caused a new church to spring up where one had not been before.

We don’t always know what God will do through us, but we can honor him before the world so that they will know that God doesn’t just heal the sickness of our bodies.  He can heal the sickness of our souls!  This is our greatest need.

Sometimes the devil (the serpent) uses people to try to harm us or draw us into temptation.  In such a way, he seeks to bite us.  God intends to demonstrate His power over the devil and his works through us.  Unbelievers are not our true enemy.  In the face of ugliness and persecution, Paul is being faithful to live for Christ and not for his ego.  May we serve God faithfully and diligently.  May a demonstration of the Spirit of God reach the heart of those separated from God as we faithfully serve His purposes.

Serpent Bites audio

The Character of God- Part 4

Subtitle:  God is Gracious

Exodus 34:6-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 29, 2024.

Today, we move to the second aspect of God’s character that is revealed in these verses.  He is Gracious!  What does that really mean?

The concept of God being gracious is closely connected to the previous word, compassion.  In fact, they are often connected as pairs throughout the Old Testament.  God is compassionate and gracious!

A definition of Grace

They are somewhat synonyms, but they have different connotations.  Much like comparing Nacho Cheese Doritos with Cool Ranch Doritos.  They are both Doritos, triangular chips, and made of corn meal.  However, they have a different flavor.  Similarly, synonyms can point to the same thing, but with a different flavor, connotation.

The word compassion has the connotation of an inner softening to the plight of another, which leads to helping them.  The same act can be described with the words grace and gracious.  Yet, the word for gracious here begins in a different place.  It has the concept of favor or delight.  The giver of grace favors the recipient, may even delight in them.  This leads to some action on their behalf, which is intended to delight the recipient.

Like compassion, the noun form, grace, can refer to what is happening in the giver, i.e., God has favor for us.  It can also focus on the act itself.  Jesus is the grace of God.  Yet, it may focus on the resultant effect upon the recipient.  Salvation is the grace of God.

In fact, grace does not require a context of the recipient needing help.  It may simply be a gift for the sake of causing delight in another.  This is typically what is behind gifts that we give around Christmas.  The recipient may or may not have asked for the grace.  The situation may or may not involve needing help.  Yet always, the response is about favor and delight rather than merit.

God is gracious in the Old Testament

In the immediate context of Exodus 34, we were told in chapter 33, verses 12 and 17, of God favoring, having grace for Moses.  It is clear that God’s favoring of Moses is not so much about the job he is given.  Moses does not seem to delight in leading 6 million plus stubborn people through the wilderness.  Rather, the grace is seen in the relationship that God has with Moses.  God is with Him.  God reveals Himself, His character, His designs and purposes, to Moses.

We must be careful that we don’t narrow God’s grace only to powerful works.  You see, God favored Moses, and he did powerful works by obeying the Lord.  But, Exodus 34: 6,7 shows us that this is part of His character.  His favor is not just for Moses, but extends out to the Israelites God sent him to.  However, His favor is not just for Israel, but extends to the nations before whom Israel is to be a witness and bring forth the Anointed One who would fix humanity’s sin problem.

Just as Moses found grace in the eyes of the Lord, so we read the same of Noah in Genesis 6:7-8.  In this situation, there is an immediate threat.  Humanity has become so wicked that the chosen line of the “serpent-crusher” (see Genesis 3:15), is being threatened, which threatens the salvation of humanity.  There is an irony in the Flood passage regarding this.  God has to bring destruction upon humanity in order to protect His plan of saving humanity.  This is how horrible sin is.  God must judge humanity, but Noah found favor, grace, in the eyes of the Lord.  God delights in Noah, and leads him to make an ark that allows his family and many animals to be spared the devastating effects of the flood.

This irony crops up in the lives of individuals as well.  Sometimes God allows the destruction of certain things in our life to protect the possibility of our redemption.

These stories are not about Noah and Moses being the “teacher’s pet.”  He does see a faithfulness to Him within them and it draws His favor, but His work of grace in their lives is all about His larger desire to help, favor, humanity in our current problem of sin.

We see a similar thing in the story of Abraham.  We don’t end up with a statement, “Abraham found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”  However, Genesis 18 implicitly says it.  The LORD and two angels have approached Abraham in the heat of the day.  He sees them and runs out to them.  “My LORD, if now I have found favor (grace) in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.”  We then see that they come and eat a meal with Abraham.  The LORD even reveals to Abraham that the time for Sarah to finally conceive has come.  Within a year, she will give birth to a son!  On top of this, the LORD also reveals to Abraham the coming destruction upon Sodom.  Abraham intercedes for the cities of the plain.  He is pictured as the man of God’s favor interceding for a people who are in the dark about His coming judgment.  The intercession doesn’t save the city, but it does save Lot and his family.  The whole passage is dripping with the answer to Abraham’s conditional, “if I have found favor…”  Abraham has found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Thus, the description of God as gracious has been highlighted throughout the passages leading up to this and continues on throughout all of the Old Testament.  Genesis three and the Fall of Humanity doesn’t have the words grace or gracious in it.  Yet, it is absolutely clear that Adam and Eve were dwelling in the favor of God in the garden.  It was His gift to them, a paradise.  Yet, the serpent tricks them into distrusting God and taking hold of their own benefit.  In the scene where all three of them are being judged before the LORD, it is clear that God favors humanity against the serpent.  Even the punishment upon Adam and Eve bears a grace in teaching them the goodness of God even in their unfaithfulness.

Thus, even though grace is simply a gift and doesn’t require the concept of help, this is and has been the true condition of humanity from the Fall to this day.  We are a world full of sin and distrust of God.  We are a world trusting in our own wisdom and our own ability to benefit ourselves.  If God doesn’t help us, then we are not going to make it.  The good news is that God has help us, is even now helping us, and will help us even more in the future.

Israel becomes a picture of God’s larger desire to help humanity in the face of our inability to trust Him enough to make that happen.  The chosen line, and then in Israel, the chosen nation, is not about those who obtain grace and those who don’t.  It is about God protecting the means by which He will give grace to all of humanity.  There are two more scenes of grace in the Old Testament that I want to visit.

In Genesis 33:10, Jacob has returned from what we call northeast Syria after being gone for 20 years.  He had taken advantage of his brother’s hunger to obtain the birthright (a double portion of their father’s estate, etc.), and then, through deception, stole the blessing that Isaac was going to give to Esau.  Jacob left because he knew Esau was angry enough to kill him.

Here, twenty years later, God has told Jacob to go back “home.”  He knows that he has to face Esau if he is to live there.  He needs Esau’s forgiveness, but can’t see how that is going to happen.  This verse is at the end of all that Jacob does to appease his very dangerous brother (who was coming with 400 very dangerous men).  Jacob is asking forgiveness.  “If now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.”  Notice that Jacob uses language of Esau as his master and lord, even as God.  This is how important forgiveness from Esau is to him.  Shocker of shockers, Esau gives grace to Jacob, and he is enabled to dwell in the land without fear of reprisals from his brother.  However, sin and forgiveness are not always at the heart of the recipient’s need for grace.  Let’s look at a part of the story of Esther.

Esther 8:5 has Esther approaching king Xerxes in order to ask for grace for her people.  The king has been manipulated by the wicked Haman to empower him to exterminate the Jewish people.  The king did not know that his queen was also a Jew.  Yet, Esther is not a queen like we might think.  She could not enter the king’s presence without a summons from him.  To do so carried the penalty of death, unless the king gave his grace, his favor, and forgave the offense.

The king does delight in Esther, and so, he is gracious to her and her people.  This gives a picture of the intercessor who approaches the king for the sake of their people, rather than for themselves.  We saw this intercession with Moses in Exodus 33.

This becomes a backdrop for understanding the person of Jesus, and ultimately his Church.  In Jesus, God has become a part of the human family.  Thus, he intercedes before God the Father on behalf of humanity, but particularly those who have put their faith in him.  Yet, it may be more proper to see Esther as a picture of the Church of Jesus.  Because God’s favor rest upon Jesus, He will grant him his requests, so our relationship with Jesus brings upon us the favor of the Father too.  We are to use that favor to intercede on behalf of our people who are in jeopardy of the judgment because we too were under a death sentence.

Jesus is the grace of God

This brings us to understanding Jesus as the grace of God.  John’s gospel presents Jesus as a gift from the King of Heaven.  In John 1:14-18, we are told that Jesus is “full of grace and truth.”  In verse 16, he is even “grace upon grace.”  The sense here is that Jesus is the capstone of a long series of God’s grace.  He is both the fullness of grace and the overflow of God’s grace.

In verse 17, the NASB says that Grace and Truth were “realized” through Messiah Jesus.  It literally came into being and came through him.  The body of Jesus began at a point of time.  Prior to this, the Word existed with God and as God throughout eternity past.  Thus, we can contemplate the man Jesus as the fulfilling of the grace of God through what he did.  However, as the Word, we understand that he was always the fullness of God’s grace set in the heavens where no devil could touch it.  Awaiting the moment when the Father would signal the time for incarnating into this world as a human.

When the Word took on flesh and became a human, it opened the door for a new relationship with God the Father that was not available before, at least not in that intimate sense.  Jesus is more than a vehicle of God’s grace.  Rather, He embodies the graciousness of God. 

This leads us to John speaking of the Son being given to the world as a gift in John 3:16-17.  Somehow, humanity has drawn the favor of God.  Yet, God has given His favor in such a way that we must believe in Jesus, trust in him, in order to receive that eternal life.  Imagine this.  The Bible presents both Israel and the Gentiles in a sinful fallen state, and yet, He favored us by sending a gift of His Grace, Jesus.  A gift is given as opposed to a paycheck.  We did not merit it.  Any of our works fell woefully short of accomplishing any salvation.  Yet, God gives us what we don’t deserve.

The Apostle Paul picks up on this in the classic verses on grace, Ephesians 2:8-10.  It says that we have been saved by grace (God delighting to do it) through faith.  If you look at the verses, they emphasize that salvation is a gift.  The work of salvation is entirely the work of God.  “Not by works, so that no one may boast.”  Yet, in verse 10, God does have works for us to do.

The point is that we are not to imagine that we can do a work that merits His grace.  Instead, we are to do works of thankfulness for His gracious salvation in Jesus.

Sometimes people over emphasize that it is faith that is the gift of God.  In other words, you couldn’t even trust God if He didn’t give you a gift of faith.  However, the gift of God refers not just to faith, but to the whole grace of salvation.  It is not just a gift of ability to trust, but of the whole grounds upon which trusting could obtain the grace of salvation.  It was the grace of God that created humans in a way that we could be redeemed.  It was the grace of God that sent a redeemer who would be faithful to do what we could not (would not, even if we could) do for ourselves.  It is the grace of God that our trust in Jesus is acceptable to him in our disqualified state.  It is the grace of God that we are able to believe even after a lifetime of being in bondage to sin.  This is the mystery of the immense grace of God lavished upon humanity.  All of it is grace; all of it is a gift from God.

John presents to us that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is offered as a generous gift of life that is more powerful than our mortality, than death itself.  We now have a relationship with the Father through Jesus in which He pours His eternal life into us each day.  This eternal life works to displace sin and fill us with the works of true righteousness out of thanks.  We can question if it is working, but God’s grace is working in our life.  We were saved when we believed in Jesus (from judgment), we are being saved (from sin and its effects), and we shall be saved on that day when He completes our redemption through the resurrection from the dead!  You can have assurance now because of the faithfulness of God Himself, not because of your perfect performance in the now.

This grace of Jesus is more powerful than our experience of life.  Imagine an Israelite who was a slave in Egypt, and had waited for God’s deliverance all of their life.  Imagine that they die the year before Moses comes out of the wilderness to confront Pharaoh with God.  Did that person miss out on the grace of God?  That is often how we picture it.  If such and such doesn’t happen in my life, then God doesn’t love me, doesn’t have grace for me.  The same is true for things that do happen.  God doesn’t have grace for me because I was born as a slave in Egypt!  These are the ways we tend to think about God’s grace.

But, the testimony of scripture is that God’s grace is bigger than our experience of life.  Of course, as Americans, we have had an experience of life that is better than most of humanity has ever experienced.  Yet, when you are in a problem, that line of reasoning doesn’t comfort you.  It is still the truth nonetheless.  The promise of the resurrection of the righteous will fill with delight even the most tragic of lives.  Countless numbers of people who were martyred via horrible methods will rise and shine like the stars.  They will bask in the favor and delight of God while being filled with delight themselves.  Their past lives of pain and sorrow will only cause the present glory to be all the more flavorful, all the more glorious!

Another thing we see in this story of God’s grace is that gifts only require a person to accept them.  We can also over-emphasize that God’s grace is a gift.  “You don’t do anything,” is the mantra of some.  Yes, but a gift does require someone to receive it, to take hold of it.  It happens every day that God’s offer of salvation is rejected by people.  “You can keep your ‘gift!’ I don’t want it.”  God is saying to the whole world that He has a gift of salvation for us.  However, He will not force us to take hold of it.  A person can spurn the gift of God, the grace of God, and miss it, walk away from it.  In fact, it is rare for those who do accept God’s offer of salvation to have not missed it throughout their life.  Few belief at the first presentation of God’s grace to them.

So, what makes us delightful and favorable in the eyes of the LORD?  Yes, Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD, but how will it ever be said that Marty (insert your name) found grace in the eyes of the LORD, to be favorable to Him?  We tend to look for merit.  Yet, this cannot obtain the grace of God.

In one sense, there is nothing we can do, should do, because we already have the favor of God.  He has favored humanity and made salvation possible for all, if they will only trust in Jesus.  He has done the heavy lifting and put the salvation of Jesus in front of you.  You don’t deserve it, but there it is.  God’s favor to you.  This is because of who He is and what He made us to be.  He made us to be His imagers.  He doesn’t crush failed imagers.  In His favor, He makes a way for us to be redeemed and image Him in truth!

Yet, in another sense, we do need to take hold of this favor.  If His current favor is to effectively bring me to favor at the final judgment, I must properly take hold of it.  We do this by owning our sin.  We quit making the case for our own righteousness (self righteousness), and we agree that it took Jesus dying on a cross to effect our salvation (my salvation).

Those who insist on their own works, and even deride the idea that Jesus paid the price for our sins, are being proud.  Their ego refuses to see the grossness of their sin.  Such pride and arrogance in the face of God’s grace is not lovely to Him.  But, humbling yourself and recognizing that you do not deserve the grace that He has lavished upon you, this is lovely and beautiful to God.  When we surrender and put our trust completely in Jesus and His wisdom, then the current favor of God becomes the same favor that will protect us when we stand before Him on the shores of eternity future.

Like the prodigal son who approaches the father only hoping to be a slave, we come to God knowing we really don’t even deserve to be His slave. Yet, He takes us in His arms and clothes us with robes of righteousness.  He slaughters the fattened calf and holds a celebration that, “My son who was dead is now alive!”

Our belief in Jesus is not just intellectual belief that he lived, or that he was resurrected.  It truly is a trusting in his work and his teaching to us.  Are any of us absolutely perfect in our trust?  Of course, not.  We often have times of doubt, selfishness, even choosing our way over the top of His.  Yet, God’s grace is not about perfect performance.  It is about trusting His character even in the midst of our own mistakes and failures.  Our goal is not to get away with sin, but to become like Jesus.  May God help us to see His great favor in our life despite all the things that we could point to in order to deny its reality.

God is Gracious audio

The Sermon on the Mount III

Subtitle: Jesus Opens the Door to the Kingdom II, also

Fulfilling the Torah and the Prophets of God

Matthew 5:13-16, 17-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 17, 2023.

We are continuing our look at Jesus, King Messiah, who was also The Prophet like Moses.  He is giving the good news to the poor and misfortunate of Israel that the door to the Kingdom of Heaven is in front of them.  They only need to enter by faith in Jesus as its king.

This sermon will finish the introduction of Jesus.  Thus, I have titled this first part “Jesus Opens the Door to the Kingdom.”  Verse 17 will begin the main body of the message Jesus is giving.  I have titled it as “Fulfilling the Torah and the Prophets of God.”

Let’s look at this first part.

Jesus Opens the Door to the Kingdom (5:3-12, 13-16)

Verses 3 through 12 are called the beatitudes, and they answer the questions of who God is planning to bless and how.  The surprise twist in these beatitudes show that God values things very different than we do.  None of these people would have thought of themselves as blessed, but rather cursed.  Jesus is not in the temple talking to the elite religionists of his day.  He is in the wilderness on a mountainside with the poor and afflicted of Israel surrounding him.  He tells them that they are blessed because God is opening up the Kingdom of Heaven to them.

We also pointed out last week that the beatitudes do more than tell them they are blessed.  They also create a composite sketch of Jesus himself.  Jesus is the ultimate poor and afflicted one whom God values, more, whom God loves.  Jesus is the ultimate person who is blessed of God to the ultimate degree.

This is exactly what Isaiah is prophesying in Isaiah 53:3-4.  Here is the text.  “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

Notice the intention is to show that our value system would be so messed up that we would think Messiah, the Servant of the LORD, was essentially cursed of God.  These people listening to Jesus would have been told by society (and believed it) that they were not blessed of God, otherwise their life wouldn’t be so filled with sickness and poverty.  Yet, Messiah would appear to be the most cursed of God, while all the time being the most blessed of God.  This is why Jesus not only puzzled people in the first century, but continues to puzzle them to this day.

Starting in verse 13, Jesus gives three metaphors that represent the purpose behind why God is blessing these unfortunates.  In other words, the blessings mentioned in the first part has a purpose that goes beyond those people.  Do you remember Abraham?  God blessed him above all others in his day.  Yet, that blessing was intended to be a blessing to all of the nations (Genesis 18:18; 22:18; and 26:4).

This is a principle with God.  His blessing to anyone is never intended to be only for their sake.  If you picture a reservoir behind a dam, then you will get the point.  We can be so fearful of the lack of future blessing that we dam it up and hold it to ourselves.  Yet, God has a purpose in blessing us that intends for us to find ways to release it to others in a good way.  He wants to bless others through the blessings that He gives to you, and He wants to bless you through blessings that He gives to others.  May God help us to understand this way of God so that we can be truly blessed.

The first purpose in our blessing is pictured by salt.  Those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven through Jesus are intended to be the salt of the earth.  Jesus doesn’t tell us what the salt represents, but he does give us a hint by emphasizing the flavor of the salt.  Through the years, two aspects have been pointed out about salt.  It makes things taste better, and it preserves things from rotting.

So what is the flavor?  Are we making the world taste better for God?  Or, are we to be making this life taste better for the lost, so that they will see God?  This is not explained.

A good principle to remember is to let Scripture interpret Scripture.  We can look for other places where the Bible talks about salt and see if it is used as a metaphor for anything.  You are going to find about 42 places in the Bible where it uses the word “salt.”  It almost always simply means salt.  However, there are a couple of references that are interesting. 

In Leviticus 2:13, we see that a grain offering was required to be salted, even referring to it as the “salt of the covenant.”  So whatever the salt represented, it was important to God.  We should also put on the back burner of our thoughts that Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt.  Jesus tells us to remember her.  The most helpful verse is given to us by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 4:6.  It reads, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”  From this verse, it appears that the salt most likely represents grace in Matthew 5.

Does this make sense in the story of Lot’s wife?  Notice that she had been the recipient of a lot of God’s grace, particularly being saved from the destruction of Sodom.  Being turned into a pillar of salt may represent the sad reality of her perishing over the top of all the grace that God had given her.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus, who is the ultimate grace of God, graciously opens the door of the kingdom to the poor and afflicted of Israel.  Yet, such grace in their lives, is intended to be spread, salted, on others in Israel, and even to the Gentiles, by extension.  This grace of God is what not only makes this life that He has given us flavorful.  Yet, for the lost, we become the flavor of God by being His grace to them.  Only some will like the taste, but it is God’s intention for us nonetheless.

If the salt loses its flavor, its grace, there is something missing.  Essentially, we are missing Jesus.  We are then not helpful for the purposes of God.  We will simply be trampled upon by men.  In this world, there will be trampling.  The trampling itself does not mean that you have lost your flavor.  Rather, if we have lost our flavor, that is the only thing that we would be good for.  Don’t miss that point.  In Jesus, any trampling that happens to His people will accomplish the work of God because we have the flavor of God in us, essentially Jesus.  They trample us over the top of being the grace of God.  This will open the eyes of some as they see that something is wrong.  On the other hand, the trampling of those who do not have the grace of Jesus only seems fitting to the world.

Jesus then gives two metaphors back to back because they essentially point to the same thing.  Believers are to be the light of the world and a city on a hill.  These are both about visibility.  Light enables people to see things that they couldn’t see before, and elevation helps whatever is on it to be seen as well.  Of course, Jesus is the light of the world, but because he is in us, we become the light of the world (like a lamp). 

We have no light in and of ourselves.  Rather, we become a container of light that is supposed to be made visible to the world around us.  A good metaphor for this is the earth, the moon, and the sun.  Only the sun makes light in and of itself.  However, the moon can reflect light to the earth because of its relationship to the sun relative to the earth.  Jesus is not on the earth, but our relationship with him makes us able to give light to them, i.e., information about God, His character, and His purpose.

God’s intention is that the truth, about who Jesus is and what he has done for those who will believe, will be made known to everyone.  If this is hidden, it is not done by God.  If our light is under a basket, it is because we are not cooperating with His intention for whatever reason.  In fact, a city on a hill has no say about it.  It will be visible.

The principle given in verse 16 is that we are to do good works, live out the righteousness of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, in such a way that those good works point them to our Father in Heaven.  God wants them to see true righteousness born of the Spirit and out of relationship with Jesus.

This will set up a later tension in the Sermon on the Mount between things that should be visible to others and things that should not be. The flesh tends to make things public that it shouldn’t and keep private what should be public.  In more simple terms, the flesh makes public what should be private, and private what should be public.  How do we know which should be?  We know through the word of God and relationship with Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  He leads us.  Nothing can replace true spiritual relationship with Jesus.

Fulfilling the Torah and Prophets of God (5:17-20)

In verse 17, we come to the main body of Jesus’ teaching.  It is going to come across as something totally new, as if Jesus was adding to the Torah, or even changing it.  Thus, Jesus begins by clarifying exactly what he is doing.

Jesus knows that his teaching will be misconstrued by some, whether purposefully or ignorantly, as anti-Law.  Paul had this same problem.  In fact, even in the Church, there are some pastors who basically tell their people that they don’t need to know the Old Testament.  It isn’t for Christians.  However, instead of destroying or abolishing the Law (the instructions of God given at Sinai), Jesus had come to fulfill it. 

This is Matthew’s 7^th use of the word “fulfill.”  It is easiest to see this with the prophets.  They often pointed to future things that God was promising to do in order to encourage the faith of people before they were fulfilled.  You might picture this as an empty glass, or a glass that is not completely full.  The presence of the cup, or rather many cups of prophecy, gives us hope that God will keep His word.  Past fulfillments encourage waiting for future fulfillments.  The Law also has aspects that need to be fulfilled, like an cup that is only partially filled.  An example of this would be the sacrificial system.  It begs the question of just how does the blood of an animal remove my sin from me.  The work of Jesus on the cross and at the resurrection becomes a fulfillment of the sacrificial system.  We now understand what it was trying to teach us.  And, herein lies the problem.  We too often think of the Law as a list of infractions and penalties.  However, it’s true purpose is to teach us about righteousness, sin, judgment, and the loving grace of God.

We should be careful of just thinking of Jesus as fulfilling some of the prophecies.  He is what all the Law and Prophets were pointing us towards.  Their whole purpose is so that we would recognize, embrace, and follow Jesus.

Paul explains this in Galatians 3:23-25 by comparing the Law to a tutor or a schoolmaster.  Israel was like a child who is under the rule of a governor or governess.  When the child becomes an adult, the job of the governor will be over, and the young adult enters into the next phase of life.  Jesus was too valuable of a gift to simply send.  God took precious time training and teaching Israel through the Law so that they could recognize Jesus for what he was, the ultimate servant of the LORD.

Jesus is coming forth as the Messiah to lead Israel into the Kingdom of spiritual adulthood.  “The Kingdom is here; it is time to step up, son!”

In verse 18, Jesus speaks to the certainty that every bit of the Law and the Prophets would be fulfilled.  To do this, he refers to the durability of heaven and earth.  This heaven and earth are not eternal.  They are destined to be transformed (melted down and reformed) into a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 20).  How are we going to survive that?  The answer is only by Jesus! 

Jesus explains that before the heavens pass away, i.e., the Revelation 20 event comes, every bit of the Law and the Prophets will be fulfilled.  In order to emphasize both the certainty and the attention to detail of its fulfillment, Jesus mentions two words that are strange to English ears.  The KJV and NKJV have the words “jot” and “tittle.”  The ESV has the words “iota” and “dot.”  The NIV doesn’t even try to come up with a word for them.  It has “smallest letter and least stroke of the pen.”  What is he talking about?

If you were in our church when I preached this, I walked us through the Hebrew letters and what these words are referring to.  In a shortened form for this article, the word “jot” or “iota” is a reference to the Hebrew letter “yod.”  It looks like an apostrophe but is a consonant that has the sound of /y/.  It is the smallest letter in Hebrew (at least half the size of the others).  The “tittle” or “dot” refers to a small protrusion on a letter that distinguishes it from another letter.  This is the case between the Hebrew letters Resh and Dalet.  The Dalet is not rounded like the Resh, having a protrusion on the upper right-hand side of the letter.  This small stroke on the letter is important to distinguish the letter.

Notice what this means.  It makes sense that God is going to fulfill all of the statements and promises that He made in the Bible.  However, this takes it deeper.  He is not only going to fulfill the statements, He is going to fulfill the words, the letters, down to the small distinctions between letters.  The detail to which God is fulfilling the Law and the Prophets will go to a level that we can’t even comprehend looking forward.  It is similar to the disciples after the cross.  Beforehand, they had trouble getting what Jesus was saying.  It seemed so contradictory to the Scriptures.  However, after the cross and after the explanations of Jesus, they look back at the Old Testament and it suddenly explodes with meaning that they did not see before.  They had been trained not to see it.

Verse 19 then moves to underline the importance of the commands and their fulfillment.  Jesus didn’t come to break the commandments, but some would.  Some would even teach others to break the commandments.  Breaking the commands is parallel with the earlier destroying the Law.

Now, if you read what Jesus is saying like a Pharisee, then you will think that we should still be doing sacrifices, and that the Apostle Paul really was a heretic misleading early Christians.  However, this is an uninformed application.  The Church does not teach that the Law has been destroyed so Christians can eat pork if they want, go to church on Sunday if they want, and skip doing sacrifices.  Rather, we teach that Jesus is King Messiah who sets up a new covenant in which we now fulfill the Law and the Prophets by obedience to him and the instructions that he brought down from God the Father (like Moses).  Jesus teaches us to accomplish the whole purpose of the Law.

This is what Jeremiah was getting at in 31:31-34 of his book.  The new covenant was not taking away the Law, but putting the Law (the Torah, instructions of God) in their minds and writing them on their hearts.  The new is absolutely connected to the old because the old was pointing to the new all along.  Israel was by and large stuck on the superficial aspects of the law but not understanding the deeper truths that it was pointing towards.

It would be similar to parents giving their children a bed-time.  They go to bed at a specific time, not because it is the inherently moral time to go to bed.  Rather, the bed-time teaches a discipline and greater lesson that there is a time to go to bed and a time to wake up.  All responsible adults who do not live like children, understand this and respect it in their lives, regardless of when exactly they go to bed.  Yes, some laws are inherently moral.  “You shall not murder.”  But, the sacrificial laws, dietary laws, and feast days, were illustrative, even prophetic, of things that they only typified.  They were training wheels to help us understand what Jesus was, and is, doing.  Through Jeremiah, God basically says that their penchant to focus on the superficial aspects of the Law had kept it from getting into their hearts and minds.

Yet, God was going to fix that.  How?  Verse 34 tells us that God would forgive their iniquity and their sin.  It is important to understand the power of God’s forgiveness of our iniquity.  Jeremiah doesn’t explain the mechanism that God would use to make it possible for Him to forgive our iniquity.  However, Isaiah 53 does.  When you are given forgiveness undeservedly, it can have a powerful transformative affect upon your heart.  It is not guaranteed.  Some are not seeking forgiveness and don’t believe that they have done anything wrong.  But, forgiveness powerfully affects the repentant heart that desires restoration of relationship.  This is what John the Baptist meant when he said, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). 

Jesus is instituting a new covenant, a covenant of the adult-children of God who are no longer under the tutor of the Law, but for whom the lessons of the Law point us to the ultimate fulfillment that God intended in it.

Lest we be arrogant towards Israel, let us remember that no one gets to adulthood without first going through childhood.  Don’t think of it as God loving one more than another.  Rather, it is God doing what is necessary to save humans.  In fact, the kingdom is first offered to Israel, and a remnant of Israel entered into the Kingdom, becoming adult-children of God.  The Church is founded upon the faithful work of Jewish men and women who took the Gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth, bringing Gentiles into the saving work of Jesus.

Christians do not throw off the Old Testament.  Rather, we fulfill it in our lives through faithfully following the instructions of King Jesus.

To slam this point home even further, Jesus gives a serious, even severe, warning.  Those who misunderstand his teaching here will be the least in the Kingdom as opposed to the greatest.  This is not a time to be humble.  Jesus is speaking about a judgment by God as to our service.  We can be saved by believing in Jesus, but still misconstrue some of the finer points of what he is doing.    It appears that a person can be in the Kingdom, but become hampered in our ability to truly serve Him.  The key is to stay humble, stay in the Scriptures, and keep prayerfully seeking the help of the Holy Spirit.

Yet, verse 20 gives us a more powerful warning.  Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  The idea of being shut out of the Kingdom is a fearful one.  All of Israel saw the Kingdom as the apex of God’s promises to us.  The Kingdom is perfect relationship into eternity.  To be shut out of the Kingdom is to be shut out of all that will come for those who are in relationship with Yahweh.

It is only the righteousness of Christ that saves us.  Yet, Christ wants to impact us by His Holy Spirit to live out that righteousness on this earth through a real relationship with our Maker, and Redeemer.

If we think of this warning in superficial terms, then we will be exasperated at the idea of doing more righteousness than the Pharisees.  However, we need to understand the heart element here.  A Pharisee may do a ton of things that he believes to be righteous because of the traditions of men.  His righteousness could amount to filthy rags before God.  But, one sinner who believes on Jesus and has even an ounce of Christ working in his heart can produce more righteousness, more true righteousness, than the other.  It is quantity, but quantity that first survives a hurdle of quality.

May God help us to be a people fulfilling with Jesus all that the Law and the Prophets are pointing towards!

SOTM3

The Acts of the Apostles 56

Subtitle: Pressing on with Jesus

Acts 14:1-20.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 24, 2023.

It is generally a given in any great work that hasn't been done before that there will be difficulties, obstacles, and resistance.  Learning to press on is an important skill (we could say), but it should never be separated from the Lord Jesus.

The story of the Church is just as much about the price that had to be paid by believers to spread the Gospel, as it is about the miracles and powerful moves of God.  Both were working together.  This interesting mix is demonstrated in the book of Acts.  God is moving, and yet, men like Peter, James, John, Stephen, Paul, Barnabas, and many others, pay a price in difficulties in order to spread the Gospel.

Most people would say to a man like Paul, "What are you doing here in the middle of Asia Minor?"  Of course, when we face difficulties and obstacles, we might ask this of ourselves.  What am I doing here?

Pressing on always has to be about Jesus.  We first do this with and for Jesus.  And then second, anything that is done is only done by His strength, His sustenance, and His power.  If Jesus doesn't go with us, then how will they know that God's favor rests on us? 

So, we want to be pressing on in the thing that Jesus is doing.  May God strengthen us and give us courage in this great mission that we are doing with Him!

Let's look at our passage.

They press on to Iconium (v. 1-7)

Though Paul and Barnabas ran into resistance, they continue on to another town.  We cannot let ourselves obsess on resistance.  If you are doing something with God, there is always going to be some resistance.

Even people who are working for the devil run into resistance in life.  Of course, I don't advise that. Yet, note that sinners and saints alike have to deal with resistance.  We can think that everything should miraculously go without a hitch if God is really with us, or at least, that it would be much easier.  However, if you have read your Bible for more than 5 minutes, then you know that this is not the case.

The problem is not that Christians don't know this, but that our "feeler" doesn't always check-in with the brain first.  Thus, we need to take possession of our inner life and not let our feelings push us in the wrong direction.

What matters in the end is that the work of Jesus is being done and that he is pleased.  Yes, they ran into resistance in Pisidian Antioch.  However, there was a group of believers in that town now!  The resistance moves them to a town called Iconium that is about 100 miles east of Pisidian Antioch.

In Iconium, a "great multitude" of Jews and Greeks believe.  Luke doesn't hand out this phrase generously.  "Great multitude is only used in one other place in the book of Acts.  Chapter 17 describes such a multitude in the Greek city of Thessalonica.  Now we should be careful of thinking that God is not moving if only a few people are saved.

They end up staying a long time in this city, preaching boldly, and discipling the new believers.  It also mentions that "signs and wonders" were being done by Paul and Barnabas.  Luke doesn't give us a particular example here like he does elsewhere. 

Yet, notice that it is Lord who "grants" signs and wonders as a witness to the word that is being preached.  When we are dealing with miracles, there are different issues involved.  It does involve the person who is speaking and being used of God.  But, there is also the place where you are and what God is doing there.  Miracles are ultimately an aid to faith, a help, a grace of God that He grants to us from time to time for His reasons. 

Thus, it shouldn't shock us that some places that have seen many miracles in the past are often not seeing those signs any more today.  People there might wonder where God is.  Or, they may think that "it doesn't work any more."  Some are inclined to think that it wasn't even real.  They are just stories by people who are easily tricked by charlatans.

God is faithful to move in powerful ways, but then He waits to see what we are going to do with that grace.  We need to walk those things out in faithful service to Jesus, whether he continues to grant miracles, or allows us to be tested in this area.

In the midst of signs and wonders, unbelieving Jews stir up the Gentiles of the city against Paul and Barnabas.  This creates a division within the city.  Verse 4 states that the division is between the Jews and the apostles, but in the context, Luke has emphasized belief.  This really is a division between unbelieving Jews and believing Jews.  This has always been the case from Cain and Abel on down to the modern era.  Some believe and many do not. 

Here, it is a hostile few who stir up and motivate the great middle, those who are unsure.  Be careful who you are stirred up by.  When God moves, it can divide not only people within a city, but it can also divide a denomination, a church.  You can find yourself in that strange place where sinners are believing you, and the "believers" are resisting and kicking you out of their church.

We are then told that a plot developed to stone Paul and Barnabas.  This causes them to flee to another city.  We are not told how, but God caused the plot to come to their attention.

It may seem strange that they "flee."  However, they are merely following the instructions of Jesus.  In Matthew 10:16, 23, Jesus told his disciples that he was sending them out among wolves.  They would need to be "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."  He then told them that if they are persecuted in one city, then they should flee to another.

We can misinterpret what is meant when Jesus says that "the gates of hell will not prevail against [his Church].  This doesn't mean that we as individuals are untouchable or invincible.  As an individual, or even as a whole, God may allow His people to be persecuted, and even martyred.  Our blood will only become the fertilizer to the growth of faith in the hearts of those who see it.

Yes, they flee to another city, but they are also pressing on in the mission of sharing the gospel with Jews and Gentiles.

They press on to Lystra (v. 8-20)

There is a lot in this passage, but it all involves pressing on with Jesus, and in the face of tough circumstances.  It involves keeping our eyes upon Jesus, but also, keeping focused on what part we want to do in that great work that Jesus is doing.

There is an aspect to this in which God has spoken some personal things to Paul.  But, there is also a sense in which we should want to do great things for God.  He laid his life down for me.  The least I can do is let go of my life for him and only live for his purpose.

The call of God is always challenging.  Some of that challenge we know about up front and some we do not know.  Yet, we can say "yes" to the Lord.  Mary was only a young teenager when she said to the angel, "Let it be unto me as you have said."  She is really saying this to God.

We can be guilty of over romanticizing the call of God.  It was great news that Mary would give birth to the Messiah.  Yet, the bad news is that it would be a miraculous birth, which few if any would believe.  Even Joseph thought that she had been ungodly, immoral, and was ready to put her away.  This is a tough ask, and yet Mary embraces it.

It is always easier said than done when the Lord calls us to something.  Later, she would be told by Simeon that a sword would pierce her own heart as the thoughts of many were revealed.  Further down the road, she would understand this meaning better as she watched her son being tortured to death in crucifixion.

There are some things that are a part of the call of God that He doesn't tell us about, as a grace to us.  Instead, He walks us up to the moment and prepares us spiritually for it.  He then enables us with His Holy Spirit to go through things that would seem to be unthinkable and more than we can handle.  There will be tears, but there will be the bonding that happens from joining Christ in his sufferings.

So, Paul and Barnabas press on to Lystra.  If there was a synagogue, they would have preached there, but Luke jumps right to a lame man who is in the crowd listening to Paul preach.  This was a man who had never walked from birth.  We are told that Paul saw that he had faith to be healed.  Most likely he is believing in the message about Jesus, though it is possible that Paul was also preaching about the healings that Jesus had done.  Yet, this is this lame man's day!  The Lord is going to heal him.

When Luke describes Paul seeing that the man has faith to be healed, we should be careful of seeing this as a theological statement, or the sum total of the theology of divine healing.  Paul could have gone over and whispered into his ear.  However, Paul publicly, loudly, (even rudely?), tells the man to stand up straight on his feet.  So we have two people here who have faith: Paul who is being used to administer the healing, and the man who is receiving it.

 At this point, it is probably not remarkable that Paul has faith.  However, this man is a different story.  Like I said earlier, he didn't get up that morning and see that being healed of his condition was on the schedule for the day.  It was just another day when he woke up. 

How many times do we wake up thinking that it is just another day, ho hum, until it isn't?  God can step in and change things in a moment.  We have need of endurance.  We should not become weary in the work of God, or at least, we should put our weariness on the altar before God in prayer and ask for strength.  We just don't know what a day may hold, and being faithful between such days is important.  It is the lion's-share of what we do in Christ, being faithful to what we know.

We have this man's faith and Paul's faith meeting up with the "granting" (verse 3) of God.  We could boil this down to the idea that God will do this every time if He really loves us.  However, too many saints, and even Paul himself, had things that were not healed, even when God was moving.  Paul prayed three times for God to heal him, but God said "no."  "My grace is sufficient for you."

We don't always know why God allows certain things like this.  It is part of a fallen world in the middle of being redeemed.  Yet, the grace of God is still with us!

At Paul's command, the man quickly stands up and realizes that he is able to walk.  Everyone there would hear the command and then see a man they absolutely know cannot walk get up and walk.  This is one of those jaw-dropping moments.

In their shock, the people think that Paul and Barnabas are gods.  They begin excitedly calling them gods, but in their local language, which it seems Paul and Barnabas do not understand.  To them a great hubbub breaks out, which would be normal under the circumstances.  Meanwhile, this people think that Zeus and Hermes are standing in front of them.

This is not really a shocker.  They are idolaters and have worshipped these gods and have stories of them coming down and looking like men, but being far more powerful.  The gods are also very immoral, but we will let that go by for today.  They are being careful to offer a sacrifice because you do not want the gods to be angry with you.

Once Paul and Barnabas figure out that the people intend to sacrifice to them, they begin talking the people out of such a blasphemous act.  When Paul tells them that God wants them to turn from these "useless things," he is referring to the idols and the gods they represent.  In Hebrew the term for idol basically means worthless, useless. 

These people have been steeped in ignorance and don't know any better.  The apostles assure them that they are only men, just like them.  The Living God wants them to turn away from these idols and towards Him.  This is the God who created the heavens and the earth.  God had turned away from the nations after the tower of Babel.  From then until the moment that day, God had overlooked the sinfulness and wickedness of these nations.  Yet, He was also working to bring the Gospel to them.  There time serving useless idols would be preparatory to them receiving the word of the Gospel.

Let me just say, it is incumbent upon any Christian minister to stop people from treating you like a god.  This is a real temptation.  When you are far from home, and the people are treating you such, you are tempted by your flesh to take advantage of it.

It is not just a temptation for missionaries.  It is a temptation when your ministry leads people to salvation.  They can have a tendency to look up to ministers and leaders as if they are something great.  We see this when large ministries have a huge moral failure, whether sexual, financial, or something else.  There are groups of people who will never believe the obvious truth, and others who are spiritually devastated to the point of walking away from Christ.  The problem is that they had put this person on a pedestal.  It may be good to honor and respect a person who brings you to the Lord and ministers to you.  However, only Jesus should sit on the throne of our heart.  He alone never fails!

Paul and Barnabas are barely able to restrain the crowd from sacrificing to them.

It is not clear when the Jews from Antioch and Iconium show up.  It was probably at least several days.  Yet, it ends up with the apostle Paul being stoned by the people of the city, dragged out of town, and left for dead. 

There are many questions about this we could ask.  Why would God help Paul escape a stoning in one town, only to turn around and let him be stoned in another?  Did Paul actually die, and God brought him back to life?  Or, did God protect him just enough for him to become unconscious, but not die?  Ultimately, it doesn't matter how God does what He does.

Most of us would call this a bad day.  Yet, let me point out some of the things that the Apostle Paul wrote to the churches that he had started.

Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

2 Corinthians 5-7, "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. ⁶ Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. ⁷ And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation."

Philippians 3:10, "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,..."

Colossians 1:24, "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, ..."

2 Timothy 1:8, "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,..."

Lastly, Hebrew 2:10, "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. "

If Jesus went through suffering to be perfected, will I do anything less?  Will we?

There is a glory that we share with Christ even in the midst of suffering.  However, this time of bonding will burst forth in an even more glorious unveiling when Christ comes back to the earth with his resurrected saints.  May God help us to be faithful to glorify him, and to do the work that he has for us, no matter what we face!

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