2022-08-14 It's Not A Popularity Contest

IT'S NOT A POPULARITY CONTEST (Acts 14:1-7) August 14, 2022 Read Acts 14:1-7 - Typically, a new believer has an instant desire to share their newfound faith with others. They want them to experience new life, and have their eternal destiny settled as well. Why would one not want that?! So it can be disillusioning when some reject this message. We don't get it. But it's no surprise to God. II Cor 4:4: "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." They don't get it. Peter Kreft says, "A God who did not abolish suffering - worse, a God who abolished sin precisely by suffering - is a scandal to the modern mind." And so we should not be surprised. But neither can we withdraw. We must desire to share the gospel, even when it costs to do so. John Stott writes, "Either we are unfaithful in order to be popular, or we are willing to be unpopular in our determination to be faithful. I very much doubt if it is possible to be faithful and popular at the same time. I fear we have to choose." So, it's not a popularity contest. And if our faith costs us some friends, some prestige, even some physical attacks, we must be willing to go there. Ultimate victory is assured in Him. We get a glimpse here of how this played out in Paul's life. I. Reception In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas have just been driven out of Pisidian Antioch - yet they did not allow that to steal their joy. Acts 13:52: "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." It was a choice, and they allowed the HS to govern their outlook, not the crowd. They just moved 80 miles east to Iconium where they stayed longer than anywhere else on this journey. It brought them close to Paul's native area and Cilician churches. Iconium was a thriving town surrounded by fertile plains and verdant forests. The name derived from a Greek myth which claimed Prometheus and Athena recreated mankind after a devastating flood by making images of people from the mud and breathing life into them (distorted biblical truth). The Greek for "image" is εικον, hence, Iconium, a prosperous city of great natural beauty. P&B followed their normal pattern going to the synagogue first. Two reasons. As God's chosen people, the Jews were still to receive the gospel first. AND they knew the OT, giving a common starting point for preaching Jesus. We are told they "spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed" (1b). This would indicate that some of the Iconian Gentiles had shown interest in, or even adopted, Judaism and so attended synagogue. So what did P&B preach? Paul tells in Acts 20:21. He was "testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." The 2 elements of saving faith. Repentance of sins and faith in Jesus. That message is the same, then, now and forever. It never changes. Paul would have shown how Jesus of Nazareth, fit hand-in-glove with the messianic prophecies of the OT. A deliverer was promised and a deliverer came. He fulfilled precisely the message of Isaiah 53:5-6: But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." In his death, he had taken upon himself the sins of all who would believe. And in His resurrection He fulfilled precisely the message of Psa 16:10: "For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption." His death was an atoning death; His resurrection was the proof of its acceptance by God. That's the message, and "a great number of Jews and Greeks believed." This is our message, too. When we worship well, unbelievers will ask, "Why do those people sing with such enthusiasm? Why do they listen so attentively? Why do they speak to God with such devotion? Why do they live moral lives and have an eternal focus? Why don't I have such appetite for God or His Word or His ways?" Let us share Christ starting right here, every way we can by word and deed knowing some will receive; some will believe. II. Rejection But some reject. Mt 7:14: "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." That is sobering. A few believe; many reject. So it was for Paul. 2 "But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers." The unbelievers set out to undermine the message. I often wonder why unbelievers are so often antagonistic. Why? Why not just say, "Okay, you believe; I don't and that's the end of it." Why seek to undermine the message? Why the urgency to sabotage it? It's not hurting anything, so why get exercised over it? The answer is hidden in the text. See "unbelieving Jews"? The word used (ἀπειθέω) literally means to disobey. The gospel requires a decision. If true, and you reject it, there are eternal consequences. It's not like me saying, "This dress is taupe," and you saying, "No, this dress is gray." No harm being wrong there. But the gospel isn't like that. This message has teeth. If true, consequences attach. Rejecters get that, so it is of critical importance to them that it not be true. They must undermine it bc they choose to disobey it. Do they reject bc it is intellectually indefensible? No! They disobey because they want their way more than God's. It's not mind-driven; it's will-driven. They disobey because they don't want it to be true. If true, it would require lives to change. Jesus put His finger on the issue in Jn 3:19: "And this is the judgment: the light (gospel) has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." People hate the light, not bc it is wrong, but because they choose self over God. Thomas Nagel is an atheist, disobedient to the gospel. Bc the gospel is provably untrue? Not at all. Listen: "I want atheism to be true and am uneasy that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally, hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that." He hates accountability. He wants to answer only to Thomas Nagel. That's why unbelievers aren't just apathetic; they are aggressively anti-Christ. It's a heart, not a head, issue. III. Ratification 3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord." Fascinating! Billy Graham extended crusades in New York, London and LA - why? Success! Paul and Barnabas - they stuck around because of persecution! Their message was being trashed, so they extended their stay. They were in for the long haul and the hard haul. While opportunity existed, they were in. In 1742, Geo Whitefield was speaking near London. A crowd quickly formed, but soon a small army of drunken, bare-chested fighters with blood in their eyes approached. His wife Elizabeth saw them and saw him hesitate. She cried out, "Play the man for God, George." The men tried to topple his stage. Then they began throwing rocks, rotten eggs, handfuls of manure, but he kept preaching until the opponents melted away. He was a modern-day Paul! In Paul's case, God ratified their message. 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." Apostolic miracles authenticated the credibility of God's messengers. The miracles sent a message: "These men are genuine. You had better listen to them." Today, we have something better. We have the Word. Our authority is not our clever speech. It is the Word. Heb 4:12: "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit." The Word self-authenticates. The Book is our authority. We need no other authority. Jesus thought it was better than miracles! Really?! Lu 16:31: "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." I have no authority on my own; neither do you. But the Word is all; we must get people into the Word. Martin Luther was once asked what he did to bring on the Reformation. He replied, "I simply taught, preached and wrote God's Word. Otherwise, I did nothing. The Word did it all." We must never forget that. The Word is its own power. So give someone a Bible, a New Testament, get them into a Bible study. Get the Word in front of them. God will take it from there. IV. Reprobation Even with the miracles, "the people of the city were divided." Amazing, isn't it? Some simply refuse to believe. The famous British atheist, Richard Dawkins, said in a debate with Cardinal George Pell that even if "a great big giant 900-foot Jesus strode in a said, 'I exist. Here I am,' my mind would still not be changed." Nietzsche said, ""If you could prove God to me, I would believe Him all the less." This is the world we live in, Beloved. In Iconium, it got physical. 5) "an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them." The division that the gospel inevitably provokes has gotten dangerous. We've long been protected in our great country. The number of Xns is increasing; so is the number of secular people. The big change is the erosion in the middle. That has led to the disappearance of the "Christiany" culture we've long enjoyed. The umbrella of protection is breaking down. Tim Keller says, "What is changing is for the first time a growing group of people who think the Bible is bad. It's dangerous, it's regressive, it's a bad cultural force . . . . And now the devout suddenly realize that they are out there, that the umbrella is gone, and they are taking a lot of flak for their views." The division is now happening not just on an individual basis, but on a cultural basis. We can no longer assume a favorable hearing even from unbelievers. But that's not all bad. As Al Mohler says, "We will soon know where everyone stands." The half-in, half-out will be exposed for the unbelievers they really are. And the gospel will march on whether or not tax deductions go away or pastors are jailed for hate crimes simply for preaching the Word. The gospel has always divided. Nothing new here, just new to us where we live. V. Recalibration With the threat to their lives, P&B act: 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." So P&B hightail it out of town to another place to preach. There are a couple of things worthy of note here. First, Luke indicates Lystra and Derbe are both in the province of Lycaonia. That's a problem bc archaeologists had found a boundary marker indicating Lystra and Derbe were in different provinces. But Sir Wm Ramsay discovered that the boundaries sometimes changed and that between AD 37 and AD 72, these cities were indeed both in Lycaonia! After years of study, Ramsay said he could not find a single historical error in Acts and called Luke the most reliable historian in the ancient world. Luke was right; the critics wrong. 2nd, note the disciples escape trouble here; other times they don't. Paul escaped Damascus in a basket when they tried to kill him. He was spirited out of Jerusalem when they tried to kill him. But he was beaten in Philippi and stoned in Lystra. What gives? Is God sometimes asleep at the switch? Of course not. Two things are at play. First, the danger was clear and known. Common sense says, "Get out," so they maneuver to escape. They did not presume on God's mercy when they could help themselves. Second, they were Spirit-led men. "Stay or Go" was ultimately His decision, not theirs. In this instance, they left. The knew God's protection doesn't guarantee immediate safety; it guarantees ultimate safety. Paul expresses in I Cor 3:21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-all are yours, 23 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." For those "in Christ", even physical life or death is not the issue. Obedience is the issue! Conc - So, Beloved, as Xns, we're not in a popularity contest with the world. We've already lost that. The cross will forever be foolish to unbelievers. One news article said it this way: "Promoted by the likes of John Calvin, and Billy Graham, penal substitution was long the default position in Western Christianity. But in recent decades it has come under challenge by theologians who regarded as divine child abuse." That's who the world views us. But we can embrace that bc we know something they don't know! I Cor 1:18-19: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19) For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Better to suffer a little criticism now and vindication forever than to gain popularity now only to suffer loss forever. The cross is not a metaphor; it's where grace and mercy meet for those who believe. Let's pray. DONE 7