Continue in the Face of Opposition

The Gospel cannot be ignored. It exhorts people to choose. Once heard there can be no neutrality about it.

This reality has been true from the start.

Jesus made it clear: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; none comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

The power of the Gospel to both win and also to offend was demonstrated for us in Acts 14. Showing up in three towns in the Roman region of Galatia, Paul and Barnabas saw success and faced opposition.

In Iconium, they spoke the Word in such a way that a “great number” believed. Brothers and sisters were made by the Message. They continued in that place for a good season. They spoke boldly and signs and wonders accompanied their words.

However, there was an element in the community that could not stand to see this movement take root among the people. This crowd was made up of unbelieving Jews, a group that once counted Paul among its most significant members.

Those who refused to believe grew more and more agitated. Minds were poisoned with slanders. As the city became divided, the rulers were drawn into the fray. A plot was hatched to mistreat and stone the missionary duo.

Once they heard of this plan, Paul and Barnabas headed to the hills, to the countryside towns of Lystra and Derbe. “There they continued preaching the Gospel” (Acts 14:7).

Mob Rule

Again the power of the Word was present to change hearts and heal bodies. A lame man listened and obeyed when Paul shouted to him: “Stand up on your feet!” The sight of him walking around attracted an energized throng. People eventually began proclaiming, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas was said to be Zeus, and Paul, Hermes because of his way of oration.

A priest of the nearby temple, trying to take advantage of the frenzy, sought to sacrifice bulls and pass out wreaths in honor of the miracle work witnessed. It took all that Paul could do to prevent the pagan practice from going forward.

“We are people just like you and we are proclaiming good news to you; that you turn from these worthless things to the living God. …” Paul argued.

Real men talking of the one true Lord produced wonders. It is the great mystery of salvation. That’s one of the points I want us to take from Acts 14. And those wonders do get attention. However, not all of the attention is profitable.

Real men talking of the one true Lord produced wonders. It is the great mystery of salvation. Share on X

People deceived by years of idolatry can be wowed by something spectacular. Such responses can lead to more trouble than good.

Before long, a group of agitators from  Iconium arrived in Lystra. They came just in time to amp up the mood of the mob.

Public opinion being a fickle and skittish thing, angry outbursts turned into something more sinister, something that was almost deadly to Paul. The worst-case scenario was avoided because the hand of the Lord was at work.

“… They stoned Paul and dragged him out the city, thinking he was dead. After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe” (Acts 14:19-21).

This wasn’t the first time Paul had been hunted down and harassed and beaten up. Still, he refused to quit. He purposed to move along. The apostle, after all, did write these words: “And if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwells in you; He that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, shall quicken also your mortal bodies” (Romans 8:11).

Even more surprising, Paul and Barnabas returned to the scene of this violence. Why? Because the Gospel did, in fact, take root in spite of the opposition.

Paul’s near-death experience was no surprise to him. He had watched Stephen perish with his faith intact and his heart full of love, so much love was in him for his enemies that he pleaded with God to forgive them for stoning him.

The Wealth of Affliction

The earliest believers in Jesus were nearly always in trouble and yet incorrigibly joyful. I think Paul told this story of Lystra again and again to encourage and strengthen the small churches that formed in difficult circumstances. “… Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God” was something that Paul taught (see Acts 14:22).

Hardship was part of the package then as it is now. We cannot learn how to be kingdom people without facing troubles. “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ shall be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

This was something that the writer of Psalm 119 understood. He was a man who lived during the days of Israel’s exile in captivity. The sins of the chosen people and their kings brought judgment upon them. In this midst of this time, the psalmist wrote these profound things:

“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Your Word” (Psalm 119:67).

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” (Psalm 119: 71).

“I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that You in faithfulness have afflicted me” (Psalm 119:75).

“This is my comfort in my affliction: for Your Word has quickened me” (Psalm 119:50).

“Unless Your law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction” (Psalm 119:92).

God, by the power of the Scriptures, provides our shelter in the storms.

The close of Acts 14 reveals that Paul and Barnabas just kept moving in the purpose of the Lord. They kept traveling and setting up church groups. They would instruct and ordain leaders. By the Spirit, they were led into seasons of prayer and fasting. These practices strengthened their faith and the faith of those who watched them and learned from them.

These men did not carry this load on their own shoulders. Every believer that they encountered was commended to the Lord.

This is the thing that we can never lose sight of – we and every believer like us are the workmanship of the Lord. By His Spirit, we were made alive unto God.

Just the fact that we have became members of Him who saved us makes us strangers in a world made mad by the devil. Yes, we can expect tribulation.

But we can be of good cheer, because in tribulation shall come His comforts to make us exceeding joyful for the glory of the Savior.