The Gifts of the Holy Spirit- 1

1 Corinthians 12:1-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 31, 2026.

We are going to look at how the Holy Spirit helps us through spiritual gifts within the Church.  Our passage today is not given to explain each spiritual gift and its function, like a how-to guide.  Rather, Paul is writing to correct errors and abuse within this area of spiritual gifts.  This chapter combats pagan thinking by giving us God’s thinking about spiritual gifts.  Proper understanding will go a long way to helping us correct abuse in this area.

It is common today to respond in two different ways.  One response is born out of fear.  It shuts down all spiritual gifts, whether declaring them invalid today or simply declaring that no one is doing it correctly.  Another response is to embrace them.  However, that embrace runs the risk of raising our subjective experience and desires above what the Holy Spirit is actually wanting to do through spiritual gifts.

Passages like this one are written to help us navigate this area in step with the Holy Spirit.

Let’s look at our passage.

The contrast between Christians and the world (v. 1-3)

Paul begins by noting that they weren’t always Christians.  Most of them had a prior life of worshipping the Greek gods (this is Corinth, Greece). They had been led astray to these mute idols.  Because their religious understanding had been informed by paganism, they were not recognizing the difference of worshipping and serving the One True God.  They lacked understanding of the reason for spiritual gifts and how they should be exercised.  Their whole prior experience came from a world that was in rebellion to God and His ways.

This sets up a baseline contrast between the false religions and truth.  They had been led to these idols in a number of ways.  Some were simply born into it.  Others may have encountered human and (or) spiritual deception involving manifestations and signs.  The ancient world was filled with prophecy from these so-called gods.

In our culture today, most are born into materialism that does not worship literal idols.  However, materialism simply replaces the Creator God with something within creation, i.e., money, sex, power, humanity, or even self.

Those who are not following God are not led towards Jesus.  The spirit of this world, whether in materialism or false religion, points us away from Jesus.  However, the Holy Spirit always leads us towards Jesus, and him as the blessed Lord over all things.

Paul establishes this up front.  The spirits of this world lead us to a position that sees Jesus as cursed, something to avoid.  Those who exercise spiritual gifts in the Church must be led by the Holy Spirit and not the spirit of this age.  One is poison and the other is eternal life.

The reason for diversity of gifts within a unity (v. 4-11)

The Corinthian problem was a particular fascination with one of the spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues, i.e., an unknown language.  It was pushing out all of the other spiritual gifts and creating division among the believers.

Paul emphasizes that the diversity of gifts comes from the same Holy Spirit.  Yet, he also emphasizes that God Himself is a unity of plurality (e.g., the mention of “Spirit (v. 4) Lord (v. 5) and God [the Father] (v. 6).  We may not completely understand the nature of God, but we do know that there is a unity within plurality.  It is the unity within God that sends the Holy Spirit.  He manifests that unity of purpose in a variety of spiritual gifts, spiritual ministries, and spiritual workings.  These always manifest within or through an individual, but it is for the benefit of all (for the common good).  Paul then states that this is as He (the Holy Spirit) wills.  The emphasis is not on the individual being gifted or having a gift.  It is upon the Spirit manifesting through them as the Spirit of God wills.  Of course, individuals will have to cooperate with the Holy Spirit.  That cooperation needs to be not only in the exercise of the gift but also in the way it is exercised.

Our flesh can get in the way of the Holy Spirit in this area of spiritual gifts.  It can get in the way by blocking it, first in your own life, and then in the life of others.  However, our flesh can also get in the way by using spiritual gifts for our own desires and purpose.  The Corinthians appear to be guilty of both.  They are blocking the purpose of the Spirit and a multitude of spiritual gifts, while overly pursuing one gift for their own aggrandizement.

Paul gives a list of spiritual gifts: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.  This is clearly not exhaustive since we have other gifts listed elsewhere.  It is not even entirely clear that Paul is trying to say that a word of wisdom is a separate spiritual gift from a word of knowledge.  This list is couched in the language of an individual being given something from the Spirit of God, which is then shared with the Church.

Essentially, this diversity of expressions are coming from the same Holy Spirit who gives these individually as He wills.

The illustration of the human body (v. 12-26)

Paul uses a popular illustration of the human body to demonstrate how spiritual gifts are meant to operate in the Church.  The Church is pictured as a body of Christ.  This means that Christ is the One who operates the body.  Yet, each Christian is a part of this body.

A human body has many parts to it, but it incorporates one body and acts as a whole to accomplish what the mind of the body desires (hint: this is Jesus!).

It would be ludicrous to imagine body parts dividing over one another in envy or rejection, but this is precisely what makes Paul’s illustration so powerful.  In verse 15, he imagines a foot saying it is not a part of the body because it is not a hand.  Similarly, he imagines an ear saying it is not a part of the body because it is not an eye.  Whether this is out of a sense of inferiority or not, Paul emphasizes that, even if a foot and an ear were to say that they weren’t a part of a body, it would not thereby make it so.  In fact, a body implies a multitude of different body parts doing different things.  You can’t have a body that is only one big eye, one big hand, etc.  It is a body precisely because it has all of these different capabilities working together to accomplish the one thing purposed by the mind.

In the area of spiritual gifts, this is important.  If we were all the same or trying to be the same, we would be missing valuable and necessary spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit is trying to supply through us.

Paul gives a variation on this argument in verse 21.  He imagines an eye saying to the hand, “I have no need of you.”  Similarly, he imagines the head saying to the feet, “I have no need of you.”  In verses 22 and 23, he adds the ideas of weaker body parts and less honorable body parts.  Notice the idea of division here is driven by looking down on certain spiritual gifts and pushing them out.  Of course, there are individuals behind these spiritual gifts.  The pressure within the group was to conform to some irrational vision of what was intended by spiritual gifts.

God is the one who has placed you within the body of Christ just as He has willed.  He is also the one working by the Holy Spirit to express a variety of spiritual gifts.  In fact, it is ludicrous to imagine only one spiritual gift.  The same God of Creation who expressed His creative ability in a vast panoply of a variety of creatures, is the one who is behind the spiritual gifts.  It stands to reason that it must have variety if He is the one behind it.

Paul undercuts this tendency to uniformity by the Corinthians by pointing them back to the Spirit.  It is the Spirit who manifests these various spiritual gifts.  If we think some gift, or person, is more honorable, valuable, than another, it doesn’t matter.  Our estimations can be quite horrible at times, especially when we are not thinking biblically. 

Instead of dividing over the different spiritual gifts, we should work together for the common good that the Spirit intends.  Honor is not determined by the body part, but by God who has made it and given it a particular function.

Paul then adds to the argument.  If one body part suffers, all the body parts suffer with it.  If one body part is honored, the whole body rejoices with it.  In fact, the Spirit of God honored the apostles (Peter, John, Paul, etc.) with the power and position to establish the church in doctrine and in practice.  It would be foolish for modern day “apostles” to envy that position and try to improve on it or replace it with something better.  Instead of kicking against God’s function through these men, we must learn to let the Spirit work through us in a way that works together with the Spirit’s work in them.  When we honor them, we honor ourselves because we are all together the body of Christ on this earth!

Concluding statements (v. 27-31)

Though Paul has already given some connections from the illustration of a body to the reality of the body of Christ, the Church, he then brings home the illustration in some concluding statements.

We are all together the body of Christ and members of it.  Regardless, what you may think or feel, God has made a place and function for you.  By faith, we must embrace that place and seek that function (or those functions) that the Spirit wants to manifest through us while harmonizing with what the Spirit is manifesting through others.

Of course, all of this assumes that we are not letting the spirit of this world manifest in and through us. 

God has appointed various ministries (apostles, prophets, teachers) and various works of power (miracles, gifts of healings) and various other gifts (helps, administrations).  He ends the list with the spiritual gift that fixated the Corinthians, “various kinds of tongues.”

We do not all have the same ministry, and no one person has all of these ministries happening through them.  However, we all do have the ministry and gifts, that the Holy Spirit so desires.

Paul concludes with two statements that seem contradictory.  “Earnestly desire the greater gifts.”  This thought will be picked up again in chapter 14.  By desiring tongues alone, the Corinthians were displaying their ignorance about what makes a spiritual gift greater or not greater than another. 

Yet, the second statement declares that there is a more excellent way.  This segues to chapter 13 and a treatise on why love is the foundation to any exercise of spiritual gifts.  It is interesting that he does not call love a spiritual gift.  It is a way, the way of Jesus, that we are called to travel with the Holy Spirit and our fellow believers.

Why do we let spiritual gifts divide us?  It all comes down to ignorance of God’s purpose and refusal to be led by the Holy Spirit.  May God help us to work together with the Holy Spirit for the common good of the Body of Christ!

Gifts of the Spirit 1 audio

The Glory of Jesus the Christ

1 Corinthians 1:26-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Resurrection Sunday, April 5, 2026.

Today we are going to contrast the glory of this world with the glory of Jesus who is the Christ.  You may or may not have anything glorious about you, at least by the world’s standards.  What you are currently doing may never be praised by other people.  But God sees our life like a Father watching over a child.  He helps as needed but also wants us to choose and grow to be like Him.

The glory of this world hits us at a very young age.  Who are the smart kids in class?  Who are the strong kids or the beautiful kids?  Most of us are somewhere in the middle of that experience.  You could say that nothing about us stood out from the rest.

The word glory (as a verb glorying) is synonymous with the idea of a boast or boasting.  At its root, there is the idea of something either worthy of praise or something that is simply praised by people.  Thus, to obtain glory in this world is to obtain something that is praise-worthy by the world’s standard.  A person who glories in their own accomplishment is praising themselves.

Paul challenges us not to boast in ourselves but to boast in the Lord Jesus.  Of course, God is not against our gifts and achievements per se.  He is the God who made muscles, but He did not make them for a muscle-bound man to praise himself and use those muscles only for selfish ends.

I said earlier that most of us are probably average.  However, we are quite innovative when it comes to this area of boasting.  Glory has a sphere to it: global, national, regional, local, my family, etc.  This area can be fraught with a driven pursuit that feeds upon that glory which is not healthy.

When people have a lot of glorious things in their life, it is hard for them to see the glory of Jesus and believe in him.  We might even see that it is impossible with a man, but all things are possible for God.  The problem for a rich man is not that he is rich.  His problem is that he boasts in himself and sees the riches as proof of how great he is.  He will idolize those riches to the exclusion of a relationship with God.

The glory of Rome and empires

Rome represents the glory of this world that is in ignorance of God’s Word.  They were an empire that ruled over a large region of the world.  They were able to project their power long distances from Rome, their capital city.  The Romans may have run into some Jews, but in the end, they did not know God.  They did not know His Word.  This ignorance was due to the rebellion of their (and our) ancestors at the Tower of Babel. 

Those first generations were in rebellion to the truth and knew it.  They purposefully rejected God and so were rejected by Him.  Of course, another generation grows up that begins to listen to justifications by their rebellious fathers.  This continues until a generation arises that is not even aware of the earlier rebellion.  They become ignorant that there was a time in which their ancestors lived and believed differently.  There is also a spiritual dynamic to this justification.  Many false religions have their roots in deceiving spirits that lead men into error and into permission-systems that give them power over whole societies.

In seeking a way different from God’s command, they followed the same path of Adam and Eve.  They (we) listened to the serpent’s lie and follow a path of false hopes and false glory, a glory that ignores and is ignorant of God.

Such a path is precarious.  The Romans were not always the empire.  Before them, there was the Greeks, and the Persians, and the Babylonians, and the Assyrians, etc.  All nations lust after this kind of glory, the glory of dominating others and being the head of the nations. 

The glory of Israel

In some ways, Israel was no different, but it was not as far down the path that the nations had gone down.  God had kept a remnant among them, and His Word was still prevalent if not followed.  Israel represents a glory that arrogates and twists God’s Word to itself.  Thus, many gave lip service to God’s glory, but in the end, they were only concerned with their own glory.

God’s work among Israel was glorious.  Somewhere along the line, the glory of God became mixed up with their own glory.  To arrogate is to presumptuously appropriate to oneself without right or authority.  This is a subtle rebellion that masks itself under a thin veneer of righteousness.  The religious leaders as a whole had twisted the system to their purpose and their glory.  This essentially ignored God’s Word while continuing a sick insistence that they were adhering to God’s Word faithfully. 

The glorious construction of temples and palaces within the people of God was not wrong.  God had told them to build the temple and make it glorious.  However, this was to point to God’s glory.  Even boasting in a temple is beneath our calling.  We can glory in all the wrong things about what God is doing in us, missing the purpose for which He gives the gifts that He does.

Idolatry and the altar of self

This is what Paul is talking about in this passage.  Christians were not generally from the great of Rome or Israel.  Yet, God had chosen them, the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

When our glory is self-seeking, it becomes an idol, idolatry.  Few people obtain the heights of worldly glory.  However, everyone glories in something.  It is because we were made by a glorious God in order to dwell within His glory.  We were made to be in relationship with the ultimate glory, God Himself.  When we cast off God, the glory within in us is simply a mark of His purpose.  Detached from God, this kind of glory is destined to fade and decay, like a corpse without a spirit.

There are pitfalls to glory that Christians must learn to navigate.  It is a mistake to glory in lesser things to the exclusion of the greater.  It is a worse mistake to glory in shameful things.  The only antidote to such pitfalls is to remain in humble relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ.  Another pitfall is to be corrupted by personal glory, thinking that we are its source.  Such vainglory causes people to be entitled, over-protective, immoral, and arrogant.

God’s Word warns against all of these things and shows us that all humanity is in a slavery and a bondage to sin.  We are unable to break free from its tyrannical hold and step into the purpose for which God made us, at least without Jesus.  This brings us to the glory of Jesus the Christ.

The Glory of Jesus the Christ

The glory of Jesus is that he is the only human who perfectly lived in connection to the Glory of God the Father.  He perfectly lived out the purpose of God.  What was that purpose?  It was to restore humanity to its intended place at God the Father’s side.  It is to be His image-bearers, imaging His purpose on the earth through our lives.

Does this mean that Jesus has failed?  Jesus has not failed.  He has and is accomplishing all that the Father desires.

Paul ends this passage (vs. 31) by quoting Jeremiah 9:23-26.  “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.  It pictures a person who understands and knows God the Father.  The knowing here is not a knowing of information.  It is a knowing of experiencing life with another.  Jesus is the only one who truly understood and knew God.  He heard the words of the Father and lived them out, speaking them exactly.  He never gave up believing in the will of the Father, even when it lead to a cross.

In Jeremiah, we are told that such a person discovers some things about God.  He is full of faithful, covenant-keeping love.  His judgments are all just and true, dependable.  Finally, His dealings are all right and good with everyone.  Jesus taught us to trust the Father no matter what.

Such a person also delights in the purpose of the Father.  Jesus delighted in God’s purpose to redeem humanity.  He delighted in the covenant-keeping love of God, not just for himself, but he imaged that love to the world around him.  He delighted in the just and true judgments of God but also imaged such to the world.  He delighted in righteous dealings with all.

It may be strange to think of Jesus delighting in going to the cross.  The Father did not so much delight in the cross as He delighted in what the cross would make possible.  And so Jesus delighted in the joy that was on the other side of the cross, not avoiding it, but going through it.

We can shrink back from difficult paths that God sets before us.  However, such difficult paths only enhance the glory of God and our knowledge of Him.  It is often the price of intimacy.

Jesus laid down his life as a sacrifice to pay the price for our sins.  He did so to make it possible that we could be forgiven and restored to the place intended for us at the Father’s right hand.

Let’s end with contrasting the glory of the cross with the glory of the resurrection.  The resurrection is a glorious and overcoming glory.  It is shocking in its power against an enemy that appears to be invincible (death).  It is similar to the glory of God to bring forth all of creation by His Word.  A part of us wants God to simply speak a word and fix everything.  This would be a fix that doesn’t require me (you) to change.  God will change us, but it cannot happen without death.

The glory of the cross is that Jesus sacrificed his mortal life to save us.  He is not throwing his life away because it is worthless.  Rather, he is laying down something of supreme value.  He was using it for the Father’s good purpose, to redeem humanity, you and me.

Jesus did not cling to the lesser glories that he could accomplish in his mortal flesh.  He did embrace the greater glory of one who knows the Father and trusts Him.  On the other side of laying down the false glories and the lesser glories of this world is the resurrection glories of Christ.

May we go forth and live for the glory of Jesus the Christ alone.  May we understand these two poles of the glory of God.  The glory of the cross involves pain and isn’t desirable in our flesh, but it leads to the glory of resurrection which involves great joy!

Glory of Jesus audio

The Acts of the Apostles 67

Subtitle: The Unknown God

Acts 17:16-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 2, 2024.

Today, our problem is not that God is unknown, but that we have not taken time to know the God who is now known.  However, in first-century Athens, the One True God was all but known to them.

Athens was full of idolatry, temples and shrines.  We are not sure who made the first idols, but we do know that false gods were part of the Tower of Babel.  The people of the earth were rebelling against the instructions of God to Noah and his sons.  They built a city and a tower called Babel, which means “gate of god” or “a god gate.”  Since they are in rebellion to the One True God’s instructions, we know they are attempting to connect with fallen “gods,” which are not really gods.

They end up being judged by Yahweh and scattered through the confusing of their languages.  He also casts them off and gives them over to those spiritual beings that they were seeking.  He then turns to Abram and proceeds to make a new nation for Himself.

Being cast off is a theme within the Old Testament.  Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden eastward.  Cain was later cast out even further east.  This is most likely the reason for the orientation of the Temple of God.  It has him seated in the temple looking to the East awaiting the return of His wayward children.  Of course, the Holy Spirit is out there working on the hearts and minds of the lost to bring them back.

It is in this environment that the nations develop false religions that involve idols and sacrifices to spiritual beings that are actually demons, and or, fallen spiritual beings.  Most likely, these are the result of the “doctrine of demons” talked about in Scripture.  False religion and idolatry is not truly religion.  It is actually a permission system that allows spiritual beings to manipulate and control the individual.  If enough people follow these systems, then they can manipulate whole cities, nations, even a whole world.  Remember this.  When Jesus came, it wasn’t just the Gentiles who were completely manipulated by these fallen spiritual beings.  Even Israel had been corrupted and harnessed to do the work of these beings.  Yet, these spiritual beings are merely creations of God who are in rebellion to Him.

Let’s look at our passage.

The Gospel comes to Athens (v. 16-21)

Paul had left Silas and Timothy in Berea and sailed 300 miles south to Athens.  It appears that he planned to wait for them.

Athens was home to the Acropolis, a raised area within Athens that had the Parthenon, a large temple to the false goddess Athena (for which the city is named).  To the northwest was a smaller, rocky hill that was called the Areopagus (Greek for Mar’s Hill).  The Areopagus was an open-air forum for the philosophers of Athens.  They would gather there to present new idea and to debate.

While Paul is waiting for Silas and Timothy, he notices the heavy idolatry and false religion that it has.  Of course, this is no surprise for a city named after a false goddess.  Yet, let’s recognize that Paul preferred to minister with other people, rather than doing so alone.  We could imagine the help of the gifts of the Holy Spirit through others.  We could also imagine the encouragement in ministry when one labors with other believers.  Still, Paul’s default is to minister in groups, as opposed to going solo.

We are told that the city was “given over to idols.”  The words give the picture of being covered in idols, or inundated with idols.  They were everywhere he looked.  There were not only temples to the various gods that were recognized by the Greeks, but there were also shrines to these gods throughout the city to enable convenience in worshiping these false gods.

We are told that Paul was “provoked” by this heavy idolatry.  He is not provoked to anger.  Perhaps, if he saw such in Jerusalem, there would be cause for righteous anger.  This is a provocation to action that would be similar to waiting for the EMTs to arrive while noticing that the wounded person is bleeding out in front of you.  You would be provoked to action.

Such spiritual provocation is an evidence of the Holy Spirit within us.  These people have been lost for centuries, even millennia.  They are in dire straits and desperately need the good news about Jesus the Christ.

Have we become so anesthetized to the sin of the world around us that it no longer provokes us to action?  Is it not a big deal to the Church anymore?  We should desire and pray for the Holy Spirit to provoke within us a heart for those who are lost.  We need to have enough of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit within us that we cannot help but be provoked to evangelism.

Thus, Paul begins preaching Jesus.  It wasn’t the ideal situation, but something had to be done.  He was alone as a human being, but the Lord Jesus was with him through the Holy Spirit.  Paul first goes to the synagogue and reasons with the Jews and the Gentile God-fearers that were there.  However, he was also going into the marketplace each day and reasoning with the people there.

I love the phrase in verse 17, “those who happened to be there.”  Have you ever just happened to be somewhere, whether for good or for bad?  Perhaps, it was just the normal day that they went to the market, or perhaps, something had happened to change the day, delay the time, etc.  Regardless, some people “just happened” to meet a man named Paul in the marketplace, and he struck up a conversation with them.  Such coincidental meetings are not by accident.  The intersection of a Spirit-filled believer’s life with the lost is never by chance.  God works through such “chance” meetings.  We need to be quick at recognizing this.

At this point, several philosophers run into Paul.  Philosophers love to talk, to hear themselves talk, and to hear new ideas.  Luke mentions two different philosophical schools that he interacted with: the Epicureans and the Stoics. 

The Epicureans were materialists who saw happiness as the highest goal in life.  Though this meant they were into the pleasures of the flesh, they also recognized that such pursuits in excess always led to diminished happiness.  Thus, they promoted a moderated pursuit of pleasures that involved self-restraint.

The Stoics are best known for their great control under pressure.  Someone could be screaming and spitting in their face, and yet, they would remain calm, cool and collected.  They valued self-control, wisdom, justice, and courage.

Luke mentions two different responses to Paul by these philosophers.  Some said, “What is this babbler trying to say?”  This is a negative response.  “Babbler” was a term that referred to a small bird that would flit around the marketplace grabbing seed and food from whatever happened to fall on the ground.  When used of a person like Paul, it pictured him as a guy who traveled around and had gathered a large amount of curious ideas from other places.  He is not an original thinker, or the adept of a particular philosophical school.  He is just like that little bird picking up whatever has happened to fall in front of him.  They are clearly dismissively putting him down.

The second response is just on the positive side of zero.  They believed him to be proclaiming some foreign gods.  Thus, they wanted to hear more of what Paul was talking about.  A marketplace is not conducive to learning about new things, so they invite Paul to the place in town where such ideas could be heard and debated, the Areopagus.

However, notice that verse 18 ends with this, “because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.”  Paul did not change his message because he was in Athens.  He doesn’t water-down the message to make it more appealing to them.  He was telling them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

We must never lose sight that all people need to hear about Jesus.  We can debate with people on the demerits of idolatry and false religions, but more than this, they need to hear about Jesus and what he has done for them.  No matter what culture the person you address comes from, the Gospel of Jesus has a way of cutting through to the heart of them all.  The life, death and resurrection of Jesus hits home on the great questions of life that all cultures can understand, even though the noise of that culture can make it hard to hear the truth.

Paul preaches at the Areopagus (v. 19-23)

We won’t get into the meat of Paul’s sermon today.  I will leave that for next week.  However, let’s recognize that God gives Paul the opportunity to address some of the most important thinkers of Athenian society, and Paul doesn’t hold back.

If you are worried about what gives you the authority to stand up within foreign cultures and call them to believe on Jesus, then understand this.  We are authorized by Jesus who has been given all authority over the heavens and the earth.  We don’t force people as individuals, nor do we seek to use the power of government to force the masses to conversion.  No amount of force upon the flesh can change the heart of a person.  Christians are not to operate in the power of the flesh, but rather, to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul first points out their high degree of religiosity.  Cities like Athens would have temples for each of the main gods of their pantheon, along with multiple shrines throughout the city for convenience.  This would be multiplied greatly in the cities that had a long history of rich commerce, and military stability.  Paul is not really complimenting them, but they most likely took it that way, at least at first.

Instead, Paul is trying to connect with their mindset.  He had been doing some reconnaissance while waiting for Silas and Timothy.  He noticed that they were so religious that they even had an altar with the inscription, “To the Unknown God.”  Apparently, six to seven hundred years earlier, a plague had come upon the city.  The elders were perplexed at what to do.  A man named Epimenides counseled them to release a flock of sheep.  Wherever the sheep would stop, they would then be sacrificed at the nearest temple or shrine.  Of course, some of these sheep did not stop within town and went into the country.  These were then sacrificed to “the unknown god,” in the hopes that it would be accepted as a humble entreaty.  The plague came to an end, and sacrificing to “the unknown god” became a part of Athenian culture.

Paul uses this to gain a better hearing from them.  They clearly do not know about Yahweh.  Yahweh is not just the God of Israel.  He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and everything that is within them.  He tells them that he plans to reveal who this God is that they have been ignorantly trying to worship.  Sometimes, it is better to find a place of common ground that can serve as a vehicle for gaining a hearing and delivering the truth.  We should not “find common ground” in order to dilute the Gospel.  This is not what Paul is doing.

In the end, no one can come to faith in Jesus, but by the help of the Holy Spirit.  Thus, a brute-force attack on people and their ideas is generally not effective.  It just riles up their flesh, which is already hostile to the things of the Spirit of God.  Paul is led by his love for Jesus, and the love that Jesus has for these Greeks.

There were good reasons why these Athenians didn’t know the One True God.  Their ancient fore-fathers had rebelled against Him at the Tower of Babel.  Even following their judgment, they refused to repent and wait for God’s salvation.  Rather, they cast off restraint and were led by demons into false religion and idolatry.  Later generations would be born into darkness without any true idea about how these religions had come about in the first place.  The truth of these false religions is that they are permission systems that enable spiritual beings to manipulate whole societies.

Notice verse 21.  “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”  We are not much different today.  Our culture is always seeking something new.  With the rise of the internet, we are able to drop into the modern equivalents of the Areopagus and hear all the latest and greatest trinkets from around the world.  In truth, we can become the babblers that the philosophers accused Paul of being.  We have become a people trapped in our sins and trapped within philosophies that do not give us the truth, but rather, give us a lie.

Instead of being a person trapped in bondage to sin and to philosophies, Jesus calls us to be a free person used by the Holy Spirit to set such slaves free.  May God strengthen our hearts to rise up courageously in this generation to share the Good News about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and what it means for our future!

Unknown God audio

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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