Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

When you have gospel conversations with your family members, what are you aiming for?

Do you want them to promise to attend church next Sunday?

Do you want them to admit that they’ve sinned?

Do you want them to say that they “really do believe in Jesus,” so you don’t have to bring it up anymore?

When missionaries cross geographic and language barriers, what should they be aiming for?

Should they invite people to “make decisions” for Christ?

Should they confront false religious beliefs and practices?

Should they authoritatively preach and teach from the Bible, or should they spend most of their time on social programs, disaster relief, and community relationships?

How about local churches in East Texas?

How about FBC Diana?

How will we measure the success of our church at the end of this year?

Will we be successful in ‘22 if we start at least one new ministry program?

Will our success be measured by the amount of money we take in?

The number of visitors we see?

What about the number of baptisms we observe?

Will we be successful if we’ve gained 10 new church members in ‘22?

What if we only gain 4? What if we end up with a net loss of 10?

And what if we (missionaries, churches, and everyday Christians) aren’t getting the results we want?

Should our method of evangelism and discipleship change in order to produce better results?

Is that what we see the earliest Christians doing when we read the New Testament?

In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were sent on a missionary journey by the church in Antioch… and, of course, by the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-3).

Paul and Barnabas came first to the island of Cyprus, where they preached the gospel from coast to coast (Acts 13:4-6).

Luke doesn’t say much about the responses they got, except that a Gentile government official “believed… the teaching of the Lord” while a Jewish false-prophet stood against it (Acts 13:6-12).

Next, Paul and Barnabas traveled to Perga in Pamphylia (Acts 13:13) and then to a town named Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14)… not to be confused with the Antioch in Syria, where they had first begun their mission trip (Acts 13:1-3).

Now, it’s been a few weeks since we were last in Acts, but do you remember how Paul and Barnabas left Antioch in Pisidia (the last town they’d visited)?

They preached the gospel there, and they were even invited to come back to preach again on the next Sabbath day.

But how did it go?

Look at the last few verses of Acts 13.

Verse 48 says that some rejoiced and glorified God, “and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

But v50 says that at least some of the Jewish folks in that town “incited devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city” to persecute Paul and Barnabas “and [drive] them out of their district.”

One commentator said that Paul and Barnabas had “an unprosperous and unlucky beginning… not only [having been] expelled out of Antioch, but also forced… to shake off the dust from their feet.”[1]

The leaders of Antioch condemned Paul and Barnabas, and so too did Paul and Barnabas show a gesture of God’s judgment on those who expelled them!

So, what would they do next?

Verse 51 of Acts 13 says that they “went to Iconium,” but what would they do there?

Would they change tactics?

Would they lay low for a while?

Would they make plans to head back home?

Well, let’s find out!

Let’s stand together as I read Acts 14:1-7.

Scripture Reading

Acts 14:1–7 (ESV)

1 Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

4 But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.

5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, 7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.

Structure of the Sermon

Main Idea: The Christian mission is to live as faithful witnesses, expecting opposition and even division, and wisely avoiding the worst, if possible.

Outline:

1.

The Mission and the Method Continued 6

2. Opposition Continued 9

3. Divinely Endorsed Division 12

4. Prudent Faithfulness 17

Sermon

1.

The Mission and the Method Continued

When Paul and Barnabas left Antioch, because of persecution, they came to the town of Iconium.

Verse 1 tells us that they did the same thing in Iconium that they’d done in Antioch: “they entered… the Jewish synagogue and spoke…” (v1).

And we are to assume that the speaking they did in Iconium was the same kind of preaching that they’d done in Antioch.

So, right out of the gate, we see that persecution seemed to have had absolutely no affect whatever on either their missionary efforts or their methods.

They had been sent from their home church as missionaries, and their mission – their purpose and aim – was to preach the gospel to those who did not understand it or believe it.

When they faced persecution, they didn’t feel sorry for themselves or even try to establish some form of political protection.

Instead, they seemed to expect that some would receive the gospel well, while others would aggressively reject and oppose it.

Friends, we’re far enough away from the earthly life and ministry of Jesus that we can sometimes forget that He was wrongly accused, scandalously condemned (by a form of mob-justice), and shamefully crucified as a disturber of the peace among Jewish and Roman society.

First-century Christians had no illusions that they would be treated better than their Master, but we tend to expect the opposite!

If we’re honest, many of us expect a warm welcome and a happy embrace from the worldly culture around us.

Brothers and sisters, there is no promise in the Bible that your worldly friends will love you just because you love them enough to talk about Jesus.

In fact, the Bible promises Christians that their worldly neighbors, their unbelieving political leaders, and the earthly economic movers-and-shakers will generally express hatred for them… especially when it becomes clear that Christians are citizens of an other-worldly kingdom with loyalty to an other-worldly King.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, saying, “it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Phil.

1:29).

Suffering for the sake of Christ is not just the lot of someChristians in some places; it is the biblical expectation of every Christian everywhere.

No doubt, some Christians suffer more for following Christ in this world than others, but we will all endure at least some hostility from the world when we set our aim to live not merely as Americans… not merely as conservatives or liberals… not merely as Republicans or Democrats… but to live as faithful Christians.

This reality not only shaped the early Christians’ perspective– they expected persecution – it also shaped their method of evangelism.

They did not change their methods simply because they got bad results in one town and good results in another.

Rather, their methods stayed exactly the same wherever they went, because they knew that the means by which God has designed to bring about the conversion of sinners is the preaching of the gospel!

And, of course, v1 tells us that “a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.”

There’s so much more that we will consider today from our passage, but let’s just notice the simple and profound truth that’s already staring us in the face.

Paul and Barnabas faced persecution in Antioch because they preached the gospel there; then they went to Iconium, and they set up shop doing the exact same thing.

Why?! Were they gluttons for punishment?

Were they contentious Christians, just looking for a theological fight?

No, they were followers of Jesus Christ who knew that the Messiah had come, and they knew that this changed everything!

They knew that Jesus purchased the salvation of sinners at the cross, and they knew that Jesus was the only Savior of guilty sinners… and they also knew that Jesus had been raised as the victorious King of kings and Lord of lords, and they knew that Jesus was coming soon to judge the living and the dead.

So, they preached the gospel, and they called all people everywhere to repent and to believe!

Brothers and sisters, don’t we know the same truths they did?

Don’t we know that Jesus is both Savior and Lord?

Don’t we know that Jesus saves repentant sinners and judges unrepentant ones?

Don’t we know that Jesus lived and died and rose again… and don’t we know that Jesus is coming soon, both to rescue and to condemn?

Then, brothers and sisters, may God help us – knowing the same truths they did – to preach and talk about and call our own family and friends to repent and to believe… regardless of what opposition or ridicule or even persecution we might face.

Paul and Barnabas set for us a great example of Christian witness in the world, even as they faced opposition in Iconium just as they had in Antioch.

Let’s look now to v2, and let’s consider the ground or basis of this gospel-opposition.

2. Opposition Continued

Verse 2 tells us that there were some “unbelieving Jews” who “stirred up the Gentiles… against the brothers.”

The word “brothers” here is likely referring not only to Paul and Barnabas, since they are designated specifically as “apostles” in Acts 14 (v4, 14), but to all those – both Jew and Greek – who “believed” their message (v1).

Indeed, Luke tells us in v4 that the whole city became “divided” along the lines of those who believed (i.e., the “brothers”) and those who did not.

We will explore the division in just a bit, but let’s notice here just how bizarre unbelievers can sometimes act when they are defending their unbelief.

The Gentiles of Iconium were typical Greek idolators.

The Phrygians believed that Iconium was founded by the mythological Perseus when he “defeated the city’s ancient enemies using the head of a Gorgon, which turned to stone anyone who looked upon its eyes [think of the 1981 movie Clash of the Titans].”[2]In

other words, they embraced the full pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses, and they even had specific gods which were nearest and dearest to their own city.

And the city itself was named Icon-ium (εἰκων is the Greek word for image or idol)!

First-century Jews, on the other hand, were no friend of idolators.

Most of them weren’t too concerned about most of the Mosaic covenant, but they did maintain observable customs like the Sabbath and social conformity to the other Commandments (though not actual conformity).