The Acts of the Apostles 81

Subtitle: Showdown in Jerusalem II

Acts 21:31-40.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 22, 2024.

Last week, we ended with Paul being seized in the temple and dragged outside into the surrounding courtyard.  He was accused of bringing a Gentile into the courtyard, which would defile it.  This was a capital crime.

The temple building had warning signs along with a fence around it.  This warned Gentiles not to come any closer or their death would be upon their own head.

Paul of course is a Jews and has the right to be in the Temple.  Yet, the accusation is that he is against the Temple and has brought a Gentile into it on purpose in order to defile it.  We can notice that no one has seen this Gentile in the Temple, and no one has this “Gentile” in custody as proof of Paul’s alleged actions.  This is all angry speculation against one that is viewed as an enemy.

Well, let’s look at our passage.

Paul is arrested by the Roman Commander (v. 31-40)

From this point forward in the book of Acts, Paul is going to be under some level of arrest.  He has been sharing the truth of Jesus Christ for at least 20 years.  As best we can tell, this is around A.D. 57 to 58.  For perspective, we know that Nero is Caesar.  The Jewish revolt that will begin in A.D. 66 is only 8 to 9 years away.  The destruction of Jerusalem that will occur in A.D. 70 is only 12 to 13 years away.

Even though Paul is not in control of where he goes, God is orchestrating this to give Paul opportunities to share the Gospel in places that were opened up by his arrest.  His imprisonment is ironically accompanied with more freedom than most prisoners.  He is generally allowed to receive any visitors, as well as sending and receiving letters.

Of course, at the moment, we have Paul being beaten in the Temple courtyard.  The Jews from Asia have stirred up a mob, and one would presume that it is they who have taken the lead in beating him.  They have a vested interest in this.  Paul had been an annoyance to them back home.  He had  come into their synagogues and preached Jesus as Messiah.  This had ended up splitting many of the synagogues, causing the converts to Jesus to leave.  They also wanted to look zealous in the eyes of the Jerusalem Jews who would see them as sub-par.

Meanwhile, the Romans had a military compound that connected to the north wall of the temple.  It was called the Antonia Fortress.  It had towers that enabled the soldiers to look down upon the Temple courtyard and surveil its activity.  It also had two large bridges that connected to the northern porch.  This porch  went all they way around the Temple Courtyard had a flat roof that allowed soldiers (Roman soldiers) to quickly surround the area and back up any troops going down to the courtyard level via stairs.  Thus, at the time that Paul was being beaten, news of a disturbance had reached the commander of the fortress, and he quickly descended upon the scene with a show of force. 

We will see later that the governor is currently in Caesarea, which is the Roman headquarters for governing Judea.  Thus, this commander is responsible for the peace of Jerusalem while the governor is gone.

Those who are beating Paul stop once they are surrounded by Roman soldiers.  But, I would note that Luke describes them as “seeking to kill [Paul].”  This isn’t explained completely.  It is possible that they had sent people to the high priest in order to get permission to kill Paul.  However, it is also possible that they were in the act of beating him to death.  These are not men who are accustomed to killing another.  Though they are passionate and in a large group, there was probably enough fearful restraint to give time for the soldiers to arrive.

The commander immediately puts Paul in two chains.  A chain in such a situation would normally be connected to a Roman soldier.  Even if a riot occurred, Paul wouldn’t get far.  The two chains demonstrates extreme security.  It would signal to the Jews that Paul is not going to get away.  However, it would also signal to the Jews to calm down.  To strike Paul now would be to strike the Romans themselves because they have taken custody of him.  He belongs to them now.  The commander does this to dissolve the commotion.

We should recognize that the Romans are not wonderful, God-loving people who just want to “give peace a chance.”  The Pax Romana was a Roman boot in the face of other nations.  When the boot is removed, the people are expected to remain in a subjected attitude and activity.  If you do not, the boot will return quickly and harshly.  As long as you respected the Roman rules and decrees, you would have “peace.” 

One of the reasons that the Romans didn’t allow any mercy for riots is that riots often were the start of military uprisings.  Their job was to keep everyone in line so that there was no uprising.  Thus, their jobs were on the line.  If Caesar thought that they couldn’t keep things under control, he would have the leaders removed.  On top of this, there was always someone working to make you look bad so that they, or their man, could be put into the position of authority.  It was a dog-eat-dog world.

When he questions the people about the commotion, there is no clear answer from those who respond.  The commander decides that the best course of action is to bring Paul back to the fortress and question him there.  It would remove the “fuel” from the fire of this riot.  Yet, as he takes Paul along, the Jews are continuing the disturbance and shouting, “Away with him!”  By this, they mean that he should be killed.

Let’s take a moment to speak about being a person led by the Spirit of God rather than our flesh.  Both the Jewish crowd and the Roman’s are being led by their flesh, by the spirit of this world.

The crowd is led by passionate emotions, which generally overwhelm rational thought and righteous judgments.  There is no sense of a trial and evidence, only of lynching.  They have heard stories about this scoundrel, Paul.  Have you been hearing stories about people in our society?  It is easy to get worked up in our emotions and be led by the flesh to do wickedness.  God’s people should never be involved in such things.

Paul’s annoyance of these Jews of Asia Minor is more about Jesus than it is Paul.  Jesus is a polarizing individual.  The cross is an offense to those who are full of self-righteousness.  However, others realize the powerful truth behind it, and they learn to embrace the One who went to the cross for them.  Self-righteousness is not a Jewish problem, it is a human problem.  We all have it to one degree or another.  Jesus is the test to whether it rules us or not.

Communism loves to pit two groups against each other.  One is called the victim, or oppressed, and the other is called the victimizer, or oppressor.  Of course, they don’t just stop with one group dynamic, such as the poor versus the rich.  They continue to work their discontent between group after group.  At this point, you can have people who are members of a greater number of oppressed groups versus someone who is a member of a greater number of oppressor groups.  Of course, most of these distinctions become yours at birth and require no choice from you:  women and men, black and white, poor and rich, 3^rd world country and 1^st world country, transgender and cisgender, and it continues ad infinitum.  The goal is to keep us divided and subjugated.

Yet, this battle regarding what the Bible calls sin is not about these groups.  You might be in one of those groups and don’t understand how others see you in only one way.  But, the brights, the brilliant ones, of our society use these dividing lines to manipulate us along the path of their designs.

Do you want to know where the real dividing line is between victim and victimizer?  It is right down the middle of each and everyone of our hearts, your heart and my heart.  The question is always in front of our heart, “Am I going to follow my flesh, or am I going to follow the Spirit of God.”  The Spirit of God comes and convicts us of our own sin, but we too often only shout louder about the sins of others.

The person and work of Jesus confronts every single one of us with this question.  Am I going to be me, living for my selfish self, or am I going to die to my selfish desires and live for the righteous purposes of Jesus? 

Well, we see how the Jews are following their flesh, in their emotional rage against Paul.  However, passionate emotions are not the only way to follow your flesh.  We can also follow our flesh by being extremely rational and using our power to exercise our will upon others.  Of course, this describes the Romans in this passage.

The Romans are used by God to spare Paul’s life in the moment, but that does not mean that God thinks they are righteous.  Yes, we must guard against being a person who is easily manipulated through our passions.  Yet, we must also guard against being a person who is captured by the rationales of the spirit of this world. 

There are rationales going on throughout the Church, lots of them.  The fact that many of them are contradictory shows that it is not all led by the Holy Spirit.  The spirit of this world does not care about you being a Christian.  It only cares that you don’t actually follow Jesus.  Think of it.  In the name of following Jesus, a person can have a rationale that is actually self-serving, or serving some other brilliant, religions genius.  If you don’t see that, then think about the high priest Caiaphas.  In the name of following Yahweh, he worked to put Yahweh to death.

So, how can we guard against becoming such a person?  You can only do this by becoming a person who studies the word of God, prays daily for wisdom,  seeks the leading of God’s Spirit, and then walks out by faith what He is saying.  This is what Paul was doing.  He was a man being led by the Holy Spirit.

Our flesh will protest in such moments.  Surely, if God was leading me, it would end up in a bad place, would it?  Our flesh loves to be at the Red Sea and have God split the waters and drown the armies of Pharaoh.  However, it hates to be in line for crucifixion on a cross.  In Christ, we are to learn the joy of dying to ourselves and living for Christ by His Holy Spirit.  In fact, following the flesh only brings pain and sorrow in the end regardless of momentary pleasure up front.  Suffering is the reverse of this.  Our sufferings are only for this moment.  However, we shall have joy in the presence of God for eternity!

Paul has had a bad day.  Yet, in a beaten and arrested state, he has the wherewithal to speak to the commander.  In this moment, God provides him the opportunity to give one last testimony to his people in Jerusalem.

Paul speaks to the commander in polished and polite Greek.  This obtains a double-take from the commander.  He was operating under the working assumption that Paul might be an Egyptian Jew who had led 4,000 men against the Romans previously.  Josephus mentions this story.  The men were destroyed by the Roman legions, but the leader was never caught.  The commander’s response is more of a recognition that Paul isn’t this Egyptian. 

In this moment of being caught off guard, Paul asks to address the crowd.  He tells the commander that he is a Jew from Tarsus of Cilicia and wants to address the people who are even then shouting, “Away with him!”

It is not clear why the commander permits Paul to speak to the crowd.  It could be that he is caught off guard by Paul’s demeanor.  In the end, I believe that it really was God who helped him to do it.

Paul as a person caught a lot of people off guard.  He was Jewish, but also Roman.  He was schooled in all the ways of the Pharisees, and yet, he could speak in Greek.  Paul is going to address the crowd and the same way that the commander lets him speak, the crowd quiets down and let’s Paul speak.  What is he going to say?

When tough things happen, when we are treated unjustly and brutally, we can be too focused on challenging God.  Why is this happening to me, God!  Really, we should be looking for opportunities to share the Gospel and glorify Jesus.  Paul could have been wrapped up in fighting for himself.  It is very hard to let people publicly lie about you.  Yet, there is no sense that Paul, and his companions for that matter, were fighting back against the crowd.  He was surrendered to God and had an awareness of what God could do in the situation.

A person led by the Holy Spirit will not be about justifying themselves.  They will be about pointing others to Jesus.  May God help us to do the same.  The noise and the fear in our society is used by the enemy of our souls to capture us in differing modes of living for our flesh.  God help us to reject them, no matter how tempting they are.

Let’s live for Jesus!

Showdown II audio

The Acts of the Apostles 77

Subtitle: Farewell to the Ephesian Elders I

Acts 20:13-24.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 25, 2024.

Paul is on a ship traveling from Macedonia to Jerusalem by ship along the coast.  It is on this trip that Luke gives us several fore-warnings that Paul is to be taken prisoner at Jerusalem.  Of course, this should be expected at some point because of what the Lord tells Ananias about Paul in Acts 9:16.  “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Back in Acts 19:21, we were told that “Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, ‘After I have been there, I must also see Rome.’”  Added to this resolve that Paul has to go to Jerusalem, will be this farewell speech to the Ephesian elders.  Paul spells out that persecution and tribulations await him in Jerusalem.  Thus, he may never make it back to see them.

There is a time for farewells.  Even when they are for God’s purpose, they are never easy.  Realizing that you may not see loved ones again has a sobering effect, and leads people to focus on what is important to say and do.  We don’t always know when our last time with someone will be, and so wisdom teaches us to treat every interaction with others as extremely important.  We should be better at not leaving things unsaid until it is too late.  Farewells happen for a variety of reasons, but the Christian never needs to fear them.  God will never separate from us all.

Let’s look at our passage.

Paul travels from Troas to Miletus (v. 13-16)

These first four verses simply lay out Paul’s itinerary from Troas to a town called Miletus.  If you look at a map from the first century of the coastal area of Asia Minor, you will see that their ship travels along the coast and inside of the shelter of various islands.  Miletus was a town on the southwest coast of the province of Asia.

We are also told that Paul is hurrying to get to Jerusalem by the feast of Pentecost.  Previously he had left Philippi after the feasts of Passover and Unleavened bread.  There are 50 days between those spring feasts and Pentecost.  Paul had used 12 days getting to Troas and staying there for 7 days.  Thus, he only had 38 days left when he left Troas.  This leads to Paul calling for the Ephesian Elders to come to him at Miletus, so that he can say goodbye.

Paul exhorts the elders of Ephesus (v. 17-24)

When they had gathered, Paul addresses them by first reminding them of his past example before them, especially “what manner I always lived among you.”  Paul did not act in a variety of ways, as if he was not sure about the Lord Jesus Christ.  He did not have a compartmentalized life, nor was he manic in his devotion to Christ.  He was an example of faithfulness to the Lord Jesus in his manner of living.  He lived the way that Christ had commanded his disciples to do.  His manner always pointed back to Jesus. 

Now, it is one thing to be faithful.  Some people are faithfully selfish.  But, it is quite another thing to be faithful in the good thing of living out the commands of Jesus.

Paul had not come to Ephesus to increase his ministry, to make it global.  He was not trying to increase the number of churches sending money to him every month.  In fact, the Holy Spirit had forbade Paul to go into that area when he first tried to go there.  He went around the area and only came back when the Holy Spirit gave him leave to do so.  Paul wants these elders to remember that all that he did  was about doing the work of Christ, in the way that Christ desired.  He honored Jesus in everything.

In verse 19, he fleshes out what that example was exactly.  He had been among them as a servant of the Lord Jesus.  We are not called to serve our own interests, but to serve the interests of Jesus. When we serve others for the purpose of Christ, it makes us better husbands, wives, sons, daughters, church members, employers, employees, and every relationship.

Paul particularly served Christ with all humility.  This word emphasizes an attitude of mind that then impacts the way one lives among others.  He was lowly of mind.  This doesn’t mean that Paul saw himself as the worst worm in the room, but that he knew how badly he had messed up in his own flesh.  He knew how much he needed Jesus every hour and every day.  Jesus had saved him from the grotesque depths of sinfulness.  Jesus had then given him a job.  Paul did not see himself as the great apostles, but as a person who owed Christ everything.  He would faithfully complete the task that Jesus had given him because Jesus was worthy of Paul’s whole life.

Paul was not ministering for reputation or material gain.  He was seeking the approval of Christ.  To serve Jesus is to serve others.  Like Christ going to the cross, the apostle Paul suffered things so that others could receive a good hearing of the Gospel.  Yes, there will be a day of judgment for all people, but until then, our job is to serve people with the good news of Jesus.

Paul also served the Lord Jesus with many tears and trials.  These trials are various in nature.  There were trials of difficult travels and the dangers that went with that.  There was the trial of facing wicked people with ulterior motives.  There were arrests, imprisonments, beatings, public shame, and shipwrecks.  Each one of these tested Paul’s endurance.  “Will you keep going now?  Or, will you now quit.”

These difficulties not only tested Paul’s endurance, but they also brought tears to the apostle.  Yes, he knew they were tests, but that doesn’t make it any easier when someone you have ministered to begins to persecute you.  Imagine Jesus Christ looking over Jerusalem and weeping because he knew that they would ultimately reject him.  The question that is asked in these times is this.  Are  you going to remain faithful to the hard work that God has given you to do? 

That same question should be answered every day, even if you aren’t the apostle Paul.  Grandparents and parents have to answer that question.  Believers in a local church have to answer that question.  Christians who are to be the light of their culture and generation have to answer this question.  All of the difficulties that you face in following Christ are testing you.  Yet, your tears are precious to the Lord.  Just as he knows the number of hairs on your head, he knows the number of tears that you have shed.

Thus, we see Jesus asking his disciples in John 6:67, “Do you also want to go away?”  Yet, Peter answers that this world had nothing for them.  The world was empty, but Jesus was full of life.  They would carry the burden of the heavy things, the burden of sorrowful things, in order to remain with the one who was life itself. 

Thus, our tests and trials bond us to the Lord Jesus.  He too shed tears.  When you feel like quitting, let the fact that the Lord didn’t quit on you give you strength to continue on.  Turn to him in prayer and ask for strength to crucify your fleshly desire to avoid suffering, and then strength to carry out God’s will.

The response of our flesh, whether tears or fears, is generally not a chosen thing.  Like a gag-reflex, it comes rushing to the surface in the moment.  Yet, we can then take those emotions and those fears and put them at the feet of Jesus, on the altar.  “Lord, I am going to keep serving you even though this difficulty is in my way.”

All of us need to get to the broken place where it is tough to follow Jesus, and yet, we know that this world has nothing for us.  Each test is a way for us to say to the Lord, “Even this, I will go through for your sake, in order to remain faithful to the work that you have given me to do!”

Paul also mentions that he had proclaimed to them everything that would be helpful, or beneficial, to them.  They were not in need of something better from some charlatan that would come along later.  There were many itinerant teachers looking for itching ears in those days.  We can become weary of doing the good thing that God gives us to do.  Then, we become susceptible to the misdirection of the enemy of our souls, the devil.  He will seek to pull you off the course that Christ has given you to walk.

Paul had given the Ephesian Christians everything they needed for life and godliness, to live a life that was faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.  In verse 21, Paul explains the greatest good thing that he had given them.  The most beneficial thing we can gain from the Scriptures is the call to have repentance towards God and to have faith towards Jesus.  Many of the Jews had given up on waiting for Messiah.  Repentance called them to turn back to Yahweh with a whole heart and believe upon Jesus whom He had sent.

Of course, not everything we say or do is beneficial to one another.  May we become quick to change course, quick to repent, quick to forgive one another, so that the Lord will be pleased with this assembly.  If you think you are missing something, the truth is that you are only missing it because you haven’t opened up your Bible and taken it seriously.

In verses 22 to 24, Paul speaks to them about his present example to them.  He is a man who is “bound in the Spirit.”  Through prayer and communion with Christ, through the help of the Holy Spirit, Paul has committed himself, tied himself, to a difficult work that Christ wanted him to do.  We too often give up on difficult works that Christ has for us to do because we don’t spend the time in prayer to gain his vision for it, and then commit ourselves to it in faith.

God will not force you to do anything.  He wants you to catch His vision and volunteer for it, to say Yes to it.  Prayer is that place where His burden switches to ours, where His vision becomes ours.  Part of you may be saying that you can’t do it.  Yes, in your flesh, you can’t do it.  However, in Christ, you can do all things because Christ will strengthen you (Philippians 4:13).

Paul doesn’t know exactly what awaits him, but he does know that it will be difficult.   Verses 22 and 23 tell us that the Spirit of God testified in every city where Paul was going that trials and tribulations awaited him.  Notice first that it is the Spirit who was testifying.  This happened in Paul’s personal times of prayer, but it also happened through others such as prophets within the church gatherings.  We will see an example of this in Acts 21.

This raises the question.  If God warns us about persecutions ahead, does it mean that He wants us to avoid them?  Perhaps, there are times when this is so.  However, Paul knew he needed to march into those trials, at least this time.  Such a resolve can only be determined in prayer before God, seeking His will.

Luke has not described these warnings “in every city.”  However, this helps us to understand why Paul would preach past midnight and into the rise of morning.  He knew that he would most likely not be coming back.

What would you do if you were continually told by the Spirit, and by other people, that the path ahead was full of tribulations?  In general, Jesus has told us exactly this.  In 2 Timothy 3:12, we are told that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  Are we blessed in these United States of America, or are we spoiled?

Sometimes God warns us of pain ahead because He wants to know if we are ready to be like Jesus.  He is preparing us and testing us to see if we will keep going out of love and devotion to Him.

In verse 24, Paul states that this revelation of the Spirit doesn’t move him.  He doesn’t mean emotionally.  He is talking about the path, or course, that he is on in going to Jerusalem to suffer.  Paul is doing something difficult for the lord, and it would be easy to stop, turn back, and to avoid it.  However, none of these things have changed Paul’s mind and his resolve to go to Jerusalem.

Do you realize that the devil often uses resistance and difficulty to get us discouraged from God’s path for us?  He is doing all he can to change your mind, as he did with Eve in the Garden.  He was successful to get her off of the course that God had given to her, at least for a little while.  You can choose to follow Jesus at a point in time, but you will need to keep choosing Jesus over the top of difficulties in order to actually do it.

In fact, Paul states that he doesn’t count his life as precious to himself.  It is not that our lives are not precious, but that they are precious to God and for His purposes.  If God asks me to suffer, even as a martyr, then it has great value to Him.  However, I will have to lay my life down to do it.  My life cannot mean more to me than glorifying the Savior who died for me.  This is one of the major sins of life.  We take our lives that are precious to God, and made for His purposes, and we ignore Him.  We take what was intended for holy purposes and use them for common purposes, and sometimes even for profane purposes.

Paul is reiterating what Jesus was talking about in Luke 14:26-27.  “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” 

Why do people not pick up crosses to follow Jesus?  Sometimes it is because we are afraid of losing relationships with the people and things around us.  We can refuse to carry a cross in trying to keep from hurting our family, but the best thing you can do for your family is to carry the cross that God gives you.  You will do the most damage to them by refusing to pick it up.

It is not that He wants us to hate anyone, even ourselves.  Rather, when it comes to choosing between Jesus, his work, and my selfish desires, we would choose him every time!  If my life is to end early in Jerusalem or Rome, then so be it.  Jesus is worthy of such a sacrifice of love!

Paul refers to the path ahead as a “race” in the NKJV.  It is probably better thought of as a course, a particular path that he must travel full of hardships and obstacles.  A person is not given all the details of their personal course, but we can walk forward in faith by His daily help.  He leads, corrects, comforts, encourages, and does many other things to help us along our course.

Paul knew that he had a duty to walk out this course before him.  Yet, all duties can be done as a mere hardship that a person resents, but does anyways.  Duty can be a drudgery, and all parents know this.  There is something powerful in learning that there are duties that we should do in this Christian walk.  Duties that are for Christ and towards other people.  Yet, it is even better to find the joy that God has for you in doing them.  Paul doesn’t just want to finish his chores.  He wants to do them with joy!  Why did Jesus go to the cross?  Not just because he had a duty to do it.  He did so for the joy that was awaiting him on the other side, relationship with the Father and those who would believe upon Jesus for eternity!

Wrestling in prayer, the Holy Spirit will help you to find the joy of fighting the devil and being used of God to impact the lives of others eternally.  To be in the presence of God is peace eternally, but we can tap into that peace even today.  In the midst of the trial, the joy of the Lord can fill your heart and strengthen you far more than the knowledge of any duty can.  May the Lord help us to serve Him with all our hearts!

Farewell I 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!

Pressing On audio

The Acts of the Apostles 41

Subtitle: Peter Continues to Minister

Acts 9:32-43.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 21, 2023.

We are picking back up where left off several months ago.  At this point in the book of Acts, Luke has detailed the beginnings of the Church in Jerusalem and its spread.  He has also introduced Saul, his persecution of the followers of Jesus, and his conversion to faith in Jesus as Messiah.  After an attempt on his life, Saul left the area and went back to Tarsus, his hometown.

Luke's narrative now turns back to the Apostle Peter.  Today, we will look at two miracles of healing that were done through Peter.  All of this is leading up to an important event in Acts 10.  It will be the first time that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes upon Gentiles who believe in Jesus.

Let's look at our passage.

The healing of Aeneas (v. 32-35)

Here is a link to a map of the area in our story today.

In Acts 8:40, we are told that Philip, a deacon of Jerusalem, had preached in all of the cities from Azotus to Caesarea.  God worked through Philip to do miracles, healings, and exorcisms.  Lydda and Joppa would fall within this area.  Thus, Philip would have seen healings and salvations in Lydda, and there had been ministry in the name of Jesus already.

Verse 32 tells us that Peter was going throughout all of the area and visiting believers.  He is being faithful to the Lord's command to him, "Feed my sheep."  Just as Peter and John followed up on Philip's ministry in Samaria, so Peter is now coming into these areas after Philip.  It could be as much as a year or two since Philip has ministered here.  Some of these saints in Lydda may also have fled to there from the earlier persecution in Jerusalem under Saul of Tarsus.  Regardless, Jesus intended his disciples, apostles, to be a gift to the early Church, helping it to be established firmly upon His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 33 tells us that Peter "found" a certain man named Aeneas.  He had been bed-ridden from a paralysis for eight years.  We know very little about this man.  It doesn't say that he was a believer like it will mention with Tabitha in the next event that Luke relates.

It also begs the question.  Where was Aeneas when Philip ministered in the area earlier?  Why wasn't he healed and saved then?  However, we could ask the same question about people who were healed by the apostles.  Jesus had ministered throughout Israel for three and a half years, healing people and casting out demons.

There seems to be a certain accident of timing in many things in life.  The timing can be affected by the person.  Were they gone when it happened, or unreceptive at that time?  It can be affected by circumstances outside of the person's control.  Why are some reached quickly and others take a great length of time?  On this side of eternity, our lives are filled with questions that will most likely remain unanswered.  Our walk and experience with the Lord is not dependent upon having all of the answers.  What matters is that a person comes to faith in the work of Jesus as their Anointed Savior, and submit to him as their Lord.

You may notice that your conversations with some who are not Christians can devolve into one question about detail in the Bible after another.  However, at some point, you have to move a way from questions that are the theological equivalent of "Did Adam have a belly button?" and  press the issue.  Can you now put your trust in Jesus as God's answer for your sin and the sin of the world? 

We are never going to have all of the answers.  Even if we did, you may think about whether or not it would actually help us.  Peter's power came from a trusting relationship with the Lord and not from having all of the answers.

I love how Peter says to Aeneas, "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you."  Peter wants to make it abundantly clear just how this healing is happening.  We shouldn't turn this into a kind of mantra that always works to perform healings, and yet, we shouldn't rush past it.  God does use people in different ways, and we should recognize that.  However, we can never see that person as our source.  God is our source.  He is the giver of ever good and perfect gift.

Peter then tells Aeneas to arise and make his bed.  It was most likely a bed roll so making it is most likely rolling it up.  Yet, we are told that he arose immediately.  The cynic may cry foul, and call it a long con, but that just doesn't make sense.  He is not going to convincingly pretend to be paralyzed for 8 years in order to make the disciples of Jesus look good after Jesus himself was crucified.  However, Aeneas was initially paralyzed, God touched the underlying issue and he was healed in an instant!

The spread of this story among the people of Lydda and the area around it called the Sharon led to an influx of believers into the faith.  Just like this paralytic not being healed, we see that there were still people who needed to be saved.  They had resisted, or missed out, earlier, but now they have finally believed.  Oh, the grace of God to not give up on us!

The phrase "turned to the Lord" reminds us that salvation is not just a matter of intellectually faith in Jesus and a change of life-style.  It is also a relationship with the Lord Jesus who is the master.  They have changed their mind and become his students.  They have believed on Jesus and have been born again by the Spirit of God into His family as a child of God.  They have said "Yes" to Jesus and have taken their place among the bride of Christ.  God is always working to bring us into proper relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

They had been resisting, but now they believed.  What if God was as easily miffed as we are?  God's grace kept sending people their way.  Yes, for all people, there is a last time that the gospel is brought to our minds and hearts, but even then God loves us to the very end.

The raising of Tabitha (v. 36-43)

At this point, our story segues to the nearby coastal city of Joppa, modern-day Tel Abib-Yafo.  The news of the healing of Aeneas spreads so that the believers in Joppa hear that Peter is nearby.  While this good thing is happening in Lydda, there is trouble in Joppa among the believers.

A woman named Tabitha becomes sick and dies.  Luke notes for his Greek readers that her Aramaic name of Tabitha is equivalent to the Greek name Dorcas.  Both of the names mean "gazelle" in their respective languages, and she was a graceful woman.  She was a very industrious doer of charitable works among the people of Joppa.  Verse 39 gives us an idea of at least one thing that she did.  It speaks of the widows weeping and showing the tunics and garments that Tabitha had made for them while she was alive.  Apparently, Tabitha was able to afford making and giving away these garments to the less fortunate in town.

We could contrast this with a man like Peter.  We should not put down very natural gifts of helps like Tabitha displayed in relation to the supernatural gifts that were displayed through Peter.  We can be guilty of diminishing the importance of simply using the natural gifts of God in our life to bless others.  It reminds me of Moses when God sends him to go to Egypt and deliver the Israelites.  Moses is very intimidated by the task.  However, God asks him, "What is that in your hand?"  It was a simply staff, but it was all Moses needed as long as the Spirit of God was with Him.  The Spirit of God used Tabitha to bless people, but not through healings and raising people from the dead.  It is not that Peter had no natural abilities either, and Tabitha no spiritual ones.  Both of them upon their deaths would find people weeping over their passing.

So, Tabitha became sick and died during the time that Peter was at Lydda.  Tabitha is the kind of person that we can struggle with their deaths.  She is not dying of old age.  Why would God allow her to die?  We need more people like her.  Why don't you take a bad person?  Many are the questions that people have of God. 

Clearly, not all believers are healed from disease, and even less are raised back to life from death.  There are only a few stories from the Old Testament.  Jesus himself raised three people back to life: the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus.  There are only two stories of someone raised back to life in the New Testament.  Peter raising Tabitha here, and Paul raising Eutychus, a young man who fell out of a window and died- probably breaking his neck, or blunt force trauma.

In all of these cases, it is probably best not to use the term resurrection.  They are brought back to life, but into mortal bodies.  This is different from the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of resurrection to believers (1 Corinthians 15).  At the resurrection, believers receive a glorified, immortal body.  The story here is more on the level of an impossible "healing." 

Lazarus was raised from the dead after being in the grave for four days.  Yet, he went on to grow old and die.  When he died, Jesus did not come down out of the heavens and raise him back to life, or send an apostle, nor should we see his later death as some kind of failure with the spiritual power of the Church.  Lazarus would die a second time and, though it too would be sad, it would be the grace of God.  He can let go of this mortal body knowing that he shall have a glorified one in the resurrection.  This is not to discount this mortal life.  It is in this mortal life that God teaches us about Himself, and we can do exploits for His glory.   It is where we learn to trust Him!

Some think that God should have made us powerful like the angels.  They seem to see our weakness as an argument against the goodness of God.  But, it seems that a perfect world is one in which we face the exact kind of difficulties that will enable us to become like God enough to understand His heart.  I'm reminded of the classic problem of a man who creates a business from scratch from hard work and over the top of great adversity.  No matter how good of a man he is, his kids, and then grandkids, will not have as much adversity as he did.  They will only know a life of being born with a silver spoon in their mouth.  This doesn't guarantee that a kid will be spoiled and not like their grandfather, but it tends towards that.  It appears that a world in which nothing can ever go wrong would more likely ensure that none of us truly understood God and became like Him.  We would never truly be able to have a deep relationship with Him.

Christians have a greater hope than having someone pray for us and being healed, or raised from the dead.  The God that can heal mortal bodies and raise them back to mortal life, can do even greater things than that!  He is able to do far above what we often are wanting from Him at the time.  Let us learn to trust the Lord.

Back to our story, we are told that the disciples send for Peter and urge him to come without delay.  This seems to imply that she wasn't dead yet when they sent for him.  I say this because they would have no expectation that Peter would raise her from the dead.  None of the apostles had done such a thing.  Yet, she passes before Peter comes.

Verse 39 describes the scene as Peter shows up in Joppa.  They brought him to the room where Tabitha's body has been prepared for burial.  There are women weeping, mourning her death, and explaining what a special woman she was.

However, at verse 40, something changes.  Peter has all of the weeping women and others leave the room.  We then see a scene similar to the time that Jesus healed the daughter of Jairus in Mark 5.  Peter was there and saw all that Jesus did.  Surely, this is not he first person in the Church around Peter to die.  What gives rise to this coming raising of Tabitha from the dead?

This is conjecture at this point, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit put it in Peter's mind and heart.  Something about this scene gave Peter the faith, or belief, that God may want to raise this woman back to life.  First of all, we are told in Mark 5:41 that when Jesus healed the girl he said, "Talitha, cumi."  Talitha is an Aramaic word that simply means "little girl," and cumi means "rise."  Talitha sounds the same as Tabitha, but is different by one letter.  I think that, upon hearing that her name was Tabitha, Peter remembered Jesus saying "Talitha, cumi."  This may have put the question in his mind.  Does the Lord want to raise her?

Thus, Peter does the same thing as Jesus did by putting the people out of the room.  In Mark 5, Jesus was clearly bolder than Peter.  He told the people the girl was merely sleeping and that he would wake her.  They began to ridicule her.  Thus, for Jesus, it appears that he is removing the doubters, not just so that he could perform the miracle, but also because this was a holy thing and they were not worthy to witness it. 

We can become stuck in a group that is not speaking and walking in faith in Jesus.  Even if it is not spoken, people can be cynical and doubtful.  God's people will not thrive in an environment of doubt.

Peter does something that Jesus didn't.  Peter gets on his knees and begins to pray.  Jesus prayed all the time, but he didn't need to pray on the scene to do a miracle.  Jesus was already prayed up, and knew the will of the Father.  But, this is just Peter.  I think Peter is praying for understanding from the Lord.  Lord, are you really wanting to heal this woman?  Do you want me to command this dead body to rise? It doesn't say how long he prayed, but at some point, Peter says to the body, "Tabitha, rise."  Luke doesn't say what language Peter used, as Mark does with Jesus.  However, I tend to think that Peter said, "Tabitha, cumi."  It is not the language and the words that brought Tabitha back to life, it was faith in Jesus and trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit that healed her that opened the door for the Lord to heal her.

We want to avoid two extremes that exist today.  Some point to a passage like this and attempt to make it normative for every Christian at all times.  To them, the Church should be raising people back to life all over the place, and when you really have Jesus, you will do this too.  This is in the face that the whole New Testament only lists twice that this happened in around 30 years of ministry.  It was a rare thing.

On the other hand, some go to the other extreme and say that God doesn't heal or raise people from the dead anymore.  It is one thing to say that raising from the dead is rare, but quite another to say that God doesn't do this any more, to say that God doesn't heal anyone any more.  What does the Word of God say?  It tells us that, when someone is sick, we should call the elders together, anoint the person with oil, and pray for them.  Whether God grants a miracle or not is up to Him.  My part is to be a person on his knees seeking God for what His will and purpose is, and then do it.

Just as God used Tabitha to dress some widows in Joppa, so He can use a doctor to help you, i.e., through natural means.  However, God is able to use anything.  He still has the creative power to turn dirt into a body, and a broken body into a healed body.  We will never be able to put God's power into a Petri dish.  God is not jumping through our hoops to satisfy our fleshly mind, or curiosity.  But, He does care about your soul, and He does want a relationship of trust and faith with you.-o

When you think about it, Tabitha's raising back to life is a mercy to the people of Joppa rather than to her.  She was in the presence of the Lord.  There can be a level of selfishness in our mourning and crying out to God about His purpose in taking someone "too soon."  If they knew Jesus, then they are in a better place.  However, the answer is not to "de-supernaturalize" our faith and walk with God.  Rather, He is the one that we always need, and it is to Him that we should always look.  Lord, what do you want me to do in this moment?  Help me to honor you.

In these stories, the tragedies are reversed by God, or at least, they are ameliorated, improved by His grace.  However, let us know that, even if these people had not been healed or raised from the dead, God still would love the people of Lydda and Joppa.  He would still love Aeneas, and Tabitha.

Luke does not describe the shock and joy when the people see Tabitha alive.  She responds immediately to Peter's command to rise.  She sits up and he helps her out of bed, presenting her to the people.

News spread about this amazing miracle, leading many to believe on Jesus.  Luke ends this story with the note that Peter stayed at Joppa for many days at the house of Simon the Tanner.  The influx of people who heard about the miracle provides a great springboard to sharing the Gospel of Jesus.

God gives miracles from time to time, but they are not the emphasis.  The emphasis is people turning to the Lord Jesus because they see that he is truly the one who can forgive sins, and make us right with God.  May God help us to be a people of faith! 

Let us not make anything become an ultimatum to the Lord because we don't understand.  Instead, let us trust Him because He has proven trustworthy.  If you challenge God to heal someone, or do a certain thing, as a condition of faith, He may simply not do it.  He loves you too much to jump through your hoops on demand.  His purpose is bigger than this mortal life, even eternal in scope.  Trust God because He loves you and is fitting you even now for an eternal relationship with Him.

This generation needs people who are trusting in God.  Even those who ridicule you for your faith do not understand just how much they need you to stand firm.  They will never see it, or admit it, until the day that they come to faith in Jesus.  May we be God's blessing to the people in our life in the ways that He determines.

Peter ministers audio