Acts 14:1-28: “Left for Dead in Lystra” - Enduring Tribulations

Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to Acts 14:1–28, as we continue our verse by verse series through the book of Acts. 

Here’s the key word for us today. Everyone listening? This word if you embrace it and love it and consider it as essential to your Christian life will serve you well. Here’s the word—Endurance. Endurance. Turn to your neighbor right now and say, “Endurance.” That’s what we’re going after in our passage this morning.

Have you ever asked yourself: “How much would I be willing to endure for my Savior, Jesus Christ? How much?” “If someone insulted me, would I abandon Christ? If someone threatened me, would I renounce my faith? If someone started to harass me or started beating me… If someone started whipping me or pummeling me or started throwing stones at me, would I endure through that in the power of the Holy Spirit?” “Or would I forsake my Lord and Savior in an act of self-preservation?”

My fear is that a lot of people who call themselves “Christians” would say in a moment of persecution, “I didn’t sign up for this; I’m out of here.” And they would renounce Christ.  My fear is that a lot of “Christians,” when they find out that Christianity isn’t “vote for Jesus and all your wildest dreams will come true”… when they find out that Christianity isn’t just “a walk in the park” like they were promised, they get disillusioned. They get discouraged. And instead of pressing through those trials and pain and suffering (which Jesus promised us, by the way), they bail. 

Or they retreat to a life of ease and comfort. They close themselves off from the world and from any potentially difficult relationships, thereby blocking any potential fruitfulness. But is that what we were put on this earth for? Is that what God wants from us?

These are good questions to ask ourselves, because the biblical model that is presented to us in the book of Acts is that Christians suffer. Forget what that TV Evangelist told you. An essential aspect of the Christian life is endurance. Or here’s another word—perseverance. But here’s the good news about endurance. As we endure, as we persevere through the difficult things in the world, God produces fruit in our lives. That’s his pattern. God calls. God sends. Opposition hits. We persevere through that opposition and then there’s fruit. 

  So what are some things that we are going to have to endure as followers of Jesus Christ? I’ll give you three things today from the text.

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But before I get to that, let’s set the context for Acts 14. As many of you know, our passage today continues Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey through part of the first century Roman Empire. Here’s a quick review of Chapter 13. Paul and Barnabas (and John-Mark) leave from the city of Antioch.

[The First Part of Paul’s First Missionary Journey]

The church prays for them and sends them out in the power of the Holy Spirit. They travel first to Cyprus and preach the gospel there. They plant churches. People get saved. And they come face to face with a magician who opposes them, some sorcerer guy named Elymas Bar-Jesus. And Paul gives him a Holy Spirit smack-down. If only all opposition was defeated that easily. 

And after overcoming that opposition, God unleashes even more fruitfulness on their mission. Then these missionaries travel by sea to the port of Perga in Pamphylia. And it was there that the work got too difficult for John-Mark and he heads home to Jerusalem. John-Mark hasn’t yet learned the discipline of endurance. We’ll come back to him later. 

But Paul and Barnabas soldier on and they travel by foot over treacherous terrain to Pisidian Antioch. And there, once again they preached the gospel, and people get saved! And nothing bad happens to them whatsoever, right? No. Paul and Barnabas get opposed. They get reviled. Look at Acts 13:50. A persecution gets stirred up against them in the city and they get driven out of the district. If you tell people about Jesus, nothing bad will ever happen to you, right? No, that’s not true. 

But look at the fruit in verse 52, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” God calls. God sends. Opposition hits. We endure through that opposition. And then there’s fruit. 

Well, here we go again in Acts 14. And we’ll see that same pattern again. Watch what happens here. Look at verse 1.

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. 

So they get thrown out of Pisidian Antioch. They were rejected. So what happens next? “Hey Paul, maybe you should take a break, buddy. Maybe you should disappear for a while. Wait for the heat to die down a little bit.” Nope, Paul and Barnabas shake the dust off their feet and go to the next town and keep preaching the gospel.

Here’s the map again. Here’s where they go next.

[Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe]

Paul and Barnabas travel about a hundred miles south of Pisidian Antioch to Iconium. And you can see on the map the other cities of Lycaonia are close by, Lystra and Derbe. We’ll get to those cities in just a second. 

And the Bible says as soon as they get to Iconium, they go into the synagogues and start preaching. And a great number of both Jews and Gentiles believe. Good things are happening again. People are getting saved. And we know by now, or at least we should know by now, that opposition is coming. It’s coming. When people start getting saved, it’s only a matter of time before Satan mobilizes his forces to impede gospel preaching. 

So verse 2,

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

So what’s Paul going to do now? “Hey Barnabas, let’s get out of here, man. These guys don’t like us.” Is that what Paul’s going to do? Does that sound like Paul? Do you think Paul’s going to say, “Whoa whoa. We don’t want to step on any toes here. We’ll just mosey on … no harm, no foul… thanks for your time”? Is that what they’re going to say? 

Look at verse 3.

3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord,  

“O you don’t like what I’m saying? How bout I stick around and say it a little more boldly. How about I turn up the volume a bit.”

[and the Lord] bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 

Here’s the first point from our message today. What’s the key word for our message today? Endurance! 

1) Endurance means persevering through opposition (14:1–7)

Faithful followers of Christ cannot allow themselves to be intimidated by people who don’t like their message. They’ve got to endure opposition. Paul was bold. He was resolved. He was unafraid. He didn’t get testy. He didn’t get violent. But he didn’t acquiesce to the pressures of the world. He didn’t back down when opposition cranked up. Endurance… in the Christian life… Endurance … in the preaching of the gospel means pressing on through resistance.  

Now I don’t know how long Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium, but verse 3 says it was “a long time.” Everyone see that in verse 3? Probably they stayed six months or a year. Maybe two years. But I know that they stayed long enough to plant a church. In a few verses, we’ll read about how they come back to Iconium sometime later and strengthen the church and appoint elders. So they stayed long enough to start a church. They stayed as long as they possibly could enduring opposition and making disciples. But eventually it became impossible for them to stay.

Because look at verse 4.  

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

Remember what I said last week—truth polarizes. You’ve got to dispense with the notion that there’s some way that you can frame the gospel so that it won’t offend people. Dismiss with the fiction that you can somehow soften its edges or make the gospel so palatable for an audience that they won’t reject it. That’s not how this works. Truth polarizes. There’s something liberating about knowing that. “O people don’t like what I have to say. That shouldn’t surprise me.” Some people didn’t like what Paul had to say either. Some people didn’t like what Jesus had to say.

Look at verse 5. 

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, 

Lystra is about twenty miles south of Iconium. Derbe is about fifty miles east of Lystra. And as they travel this route they would have encountered even more danger. More mountains, more robbers, more hostility. This missionary journey is like Frodo and Samwise Gamgee travelling to Mordor. People are opposing them at every turn. 

But notice this. Verse 7.

7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.

They never stop preaching the gospel. It’s all gas and no brake for the Apostle Paul until he gets done with this first missionary journey.

By the way, these cities: Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe are all in the region of Galatia. Luke uses the older term Lycaonia in verse 5. But when Paul writes to the churches that he planted in this region later, he uses the newer term Galatia. And that letter that he writes to those churches is one of our books of the Bible, the book of Galatians. That’s the letter that Paul writes to the churches he started in Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.   

And it’s interesting because Paul usually writes his letters to “a church,” like the church in Ephesus or the church in Philippi or the church in Thessalonica. Or he writes to “a person,” Timothy or Titus or Philemon. Galatians is the only one of Paul’s letters that he writes to a plural group of churches. Not “to the church of Galatia.” But “to the churches of Galatia” (Gal 1:2).  

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Now watch what happens when Paul and Barnabas come to Lystra. Here’s where things go off the rails for them. Verse 8. 

8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 

Not “he tore his ACL playing basketball with his friends.” Not “he fell off a horse and sprained his ankle.” This guy was “crippled from birth and had never walked.” Why is this guy being mentioned in the Bible? You get the sense here that something amazing is about to happen, right? Paul’s an apostle, and sometimes apostles are empowered to do amazing miracles!

9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul [I don’t know, sensing that God wanted to do something amazing], looking intently at him

Remember that’s what he did with Elymas Bar-Jesus just before he supernaturally blinded him. 

 and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And [watch what happens here] he sprang up and began walking. 

Now this is nothing less than a supernatural miracle. This was “Holy-Spirit power” being put on display in front of these Lystrans. This was an awesome display of power! 

It wasn’t like Paul said, “You’re healed, now go jump on the bike for six months of rehab.” Paul healed him instantaneously and completely. Consider the fact that this guy had never used his legs before! He probably didn’t even have the muscle mass to begin walking, even if his legs did work properly. Nevertheless God healed him so remarkably and so completely that his first step wasn’t a step. It was a leap! 

he sprang up and began walking. 

And I’m guessing that after he was healed his first words weren’t, “Gee, thanks.” This guy had been listening to Paul preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this guy had faith to be healed. And so he probably leaped to his feet shouting, “Hallelujah! Jesus is awesome! Hallelujah! Jesus heals!” This was a life-changing, God-glorifying, awesome miracle of the Holy Spirit!

And now we’re thinking, “Well, these Lystrans in Lycaonia are  all going to get saved, right? Surely this is the start of a revival in this town.” Remember when Peter healed the crippled man at the temple in Acts 3? He went walking and leaping and praising God. That was a lot like this. And people got saved afterwards. 

And remember when Peter raised Tabitha from the dead in Acts 9? People got saved then too. Remember when Paul blinded Elymas Bar-Jesus in Acts 13? Sergius Paulus, the most powerful person on the island of Cyprus, got saved. Typically when there’s a miracle like this, people respond with faith in Christ. And so you would think, after this great miracle in Lystra, these guys are going to get saved. The people of this city are going to turn to the Lord en masse. 

But instead of that, look, something terrible happens. What happens here in Lystra is one of the saddest things that happens in the whole book of Acts. Look at verse 11. 

11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 

What? What in the world are they talking about? Where did that come from? 

“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 

What is that? Paul didn’t preach that to them. That’s not the gospel. That’s a weird, superstitious, variant of the gospel. 

And it gets worse. Look at verse 12.

12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 

So instead of giving glory to God and receiving the truth of the gospel, they deify Paul and Barnabas. They totally misunderstand what Paul and Barnabas are there to do. It’s almost comical what happens here. It’d be funny, if it wasn’t so sad. Their ignorance and their superstition gets the best of them.

Zeus and Hermes were two of the gods of the Greek pantheon. And by the way they weren’t particularly honorable gods. According to Greek myths, these gods were powerful. But they were also sinful.  They were capricious. They were petty at times. They were completely ungodly. 

Here’s the thing, Paul and Barnabas weren’t in the Jewish synagogue anymore. I guess I buried that lead. They aren’t dealing with Jews and Gentile God-fearers. They are in the Roman hinterland. They are in the pagan backwaters. And these Lycaonian Gentiles react to Paul’s miracle by resorting to their own superstitious paganism. They identify Paul and Barnabas with their stupid Greco-Roman religion. And instead of having a great breakthrough with these pagan people in Lystra, this missionary venture turns into a nightmare. 

It gets worse; look at verse 13.

13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 

This is getting out of control. They’re going to have a worship service right here. They are going to worship the messengers, Paul and Barnabas, instead of receiving the message about Jesus.

Now, Paul and Barnabas are caught in this ridiculous scenario. And they’re trying to stop it.  

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 

 Let me just point out a few things here. First of all, the Lystrans were speaking in Lycaonian. Everyone see that in verse 11? Part of the confusion involves Paul and Barnabas not understanding what they are saying and what was going on. Most people in the Roman Empire spoke at least two languages. So Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Greek, but the Lystrans responded by calling them gods in Lycaonian. This must have caused massive confusion. And you get the sense here that Paul and Barnabas weren’t completely sure at first what’s happening. But when they finally figure out what these Lystrans are doing, they tear their clothes and beg them to stop. There’s nothing more terrifying for a messenger of God than to be mistaken for a god. That’s a nightmare. That’s the exact opposite of what they hoped to accomplish.

 Secondly just a bit of background here. There’s a famous legend that circulated in this area, in first century Galatia, that Zeus and Hermes had visited homes while disguising themselves as men. And since they weren’t received hospitably, they punished the people. This was a myth that circulated in this area. And in this myth, there was one couple who did receive the gods hospitably, and they were rewarded greatly. Probably this was in the back of the minds of these Lystrans and they figured, “The gods have returned. Zeus and Hermes are back! This time we’re going to honor them not just with hospitality but with worship!” 

Thirdly notice how Paul preaches to them. He appeals to them not with OT Scripture references like he’s done in the past. But he appeals to them with general revelation. He says, “we are men like you. And there is one living God who created the universe. He gives you rain. He grows your crops. Every good thing in this world is from him. You’ve got to turn away from these foolish superstitions.” 

He doesn’t quote Isaiah 53. He doesn’t quote Psalm 2 or Psalm 16 like he did in the synagogues. These guys don’t know those Scriptures. Instead he goes back to the very beginning and alludes to Genesis 1. He says, “There’s only one God who created the Universe! And it’s not Zeus and Hermes! And it’s not me and Barnabas!” And he’s also saying, “You’ve got to give this stuff up! You’ve got to embrace the one true God, the Living God.” 

Yet despite these petitions, look at verse 18. 

18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. 

Here’s a second point from our message today. Write this down. Endurance! That’s our key word. Endurance means persevering through opposition. But also….

2) Endurance means confronting and defying superstition (14:8–20)

You might say, “O those silly, superstitious pagans in Lystra. I’m so glad we don’t have anything like that in America, Pastor Tony.” You sure about that? 

Have you ever heard stuff like this before? (1) “You know, I’m basically a good person. God will allow me to go to heaven after I die.” Have you ever heard that before? You know what that is? It’s silly, presumptuous superstition. 

How about this one: (2) “As long as my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, I’ll go to heaven.” 3) How about this one: “God’s a loving God, he would never send anybody to hell.” 

How about this one: 4) “All roads lead to heaven, and all religions lead to God.” How about this one: 5) “All religions are basically true. It’s not a matter of truth; it’s a matter of sincerity. As long as you are sincere, God will accept you.” Heard those before?

Look, not all superstition is rabbit’s feet and seven years of bad luck for breaking mirrors. Even though we’ve got a fair amount of that kind of stuff in our country too.  

Here’s Merriam Webster’s definition of superstition, “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.” What’s an accurate conception of causation, you might ask? Here it is. You ready? God causes. God is sovereign. And God has chosen to save us through his Son, Jesus Christ. And if you’re going to testify to this truth, you need to be ready to press through some of these common objections, which are really nothing more than modern-day superstitions. 

Here are some superstitions that I think a lot of Christians have to battle through as well: (1) “God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and comfortable.” I’m not so sure about that. (2) “If you read your Bible and pray every day, then nothing bad will ever happen to you.” Is that true? “God will just make everything hunky-dory. And your life will rock.”

Now I do believe God will bless. And some of those blessings include peace and joy and contentment. But that’s not contentment without a storm. Sometimes that means contentment in the midst of a storm. Everybody understand the difference? (3) Here’s another common superstition among Christians. “If you faithfully witness for the Lord, people will love you, and no one will ever oppose your message. And if people do oppose you, you’ve done something wrong. You haven’t been winsome enough!” Is that what the Bible teaches? We know better, don’t we, after studying Acts.  

Now watch what happens to Paul. These missionaries can scarcely restrain these Lystrans from worshipping them. They plead with them to turn away from their pagan superstitions and embrace the Living God. And then this happens.

Look at verse 19.

19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, 

These are the two places that Paul and Barnabas have been chased out of. And these people hate the gospel so much… they hate Paul’s message so much… that they travel several miles over several days to another city to continue persecuting Paul. Antioch is almost a hundred miles away!

and having persuaded the crowds [these are the same crowds that were just previously worshipping Paul and Barnabas], they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 

“Hey, hey, I got him. I cracked his skull with my rock. He’s dead for sure.” 

“Alright, well get him out of here. Drag his lousy body out of the city. We don’t want his corpse rotting and stinking things up around here.” 

And that’s what they do. They take Paul. They drag him out of the city. I can only imagine how much blood he was covered in. And this guy who they wanted to worship as a god, now they stone him and leave him for dead. I guess he wasn’t a god after all. He tried to tell them.

You know what I wonder about when I read this account of Paul’s stoning? I don’t know why Barnabas wasn’t attacked with him. It seems as if the Jewish antagonizers had it out for Paul. So he’s the one that takes the punishment here. But I wonder if Paul thought of Stephen as the rocks were flying at his face. I wonder if Paul remembered the part he played in persecuting and torturing Christians as these Lycaonians were torturing him. I wonder if while the people were dragging him out of the city, supposing that he was dead, and he was half-conscious… I wonder if he remembered how he used to drag Christians out of their houses and away from their families and put them into prison! 

Remember Acts 8:3, “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” By the way that word “dragged” in Acts 8:3 is the same Greek word (σύρω [syrō]), that’s used in Acts 14:19, “they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.” I wonder if Luke used that same word consciously to describe both “draggings.” 

And I wonder too, if Paul, lying outside of Lystra, humiliated, rejected, his body broken, bruised, bloodied, scarred, his ego wounded, his confidence shot… I wonder if he thought of his Savior in that moment. I wonder if he thought of the wounds that Christ endured in order that he (a murderer, a persecutor of Christ’s bride, the church) might be saved. 

And I wonder if he thought in that moment. “My time on earth is up. I’ve finished the race. I’m going to die early, just like Stephen. I’m heading home to see my Savior.” 

But God had different plans for Paul.   

20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up 

“Live to die another day, Paul!” 

he rose up 

I wonder if this is where Paul first crafted those famous words, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. … My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account” (Phil 1:21–24).

20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, 

Wait, what? He went back into the city? The city of people that just tried to kill him? “Hey Paul, take the day off, buddy! Go back to Antioch for some R&R.” Maybe his body’s too broken to travel just yet. I don’t know. But for whatever reason, with absolute defiance towards those who would oppose him and try to kill him, he goes right back into the city. 

This is like a scene right out of Rambo. Paul, probably had some broken limbs. He was probably bleeding profusely from different places on his body. He’s probably limping as he returns to the city. And instead of ducking for cover or waiting for reinforcements, he just goes right back into the city.

and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 

If I was a painter… which I’m not… If I was an artist, I would take canvas and some paint brushes and try to recreate this scene. Paul, bloodied and broken, limping back into the city that just stoned him. And I would paint this look of humble and self-effacing determination on Paul. I don’t know how I’d capture that. But I’d try. 

And I would paint this group of people, Barnabas and these new believers, which the Bible calls “disciples” in verse 20… did you catch that?... I would paint them closely following after Paul with this look of bewilderment on their faces. “Is he really going back into that city?” 

And I would hang that picture on my wall. And every time I was having a bad day, every time I preached a sermon that I thought didn’t connect with the audience, every time I shared the gospel and got rejected by someone, I’d look at that painting. And I’d say to myself, “could be worse!” “If Paul could press on in the midst of adversity, I can too!” 

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Now watch what happens as they come to Derbe. 

and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, 

What? No sorcerers? No stonings? No verbal and physical attacks? It’s like God gives them a little reprieve after all the drama in Lystra. People get saved, and they make disciples, and that’s it.

21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

Let me show you something quickly here. Check this out. Look at the map again. 

[Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe and Tarsus]

Here’s all the places where they’ve traveled, going as far as Derbe, which is in Lycaonia. Paul and Barnabas are in Derbe. And Antioch (Syrian Antioch), where they started, is just a couple hundred miles east of Derbe. And after they leave Derbe, they make their way back home to that Antioch. We’ll read about that in a moment. 

But they could have easily traveled east from Derbe and returned home. That’s a much quicker route than going back through Lystra and Derbe and all these other places they’ve visited. Look at the map, they even could have stopped over in Tarsus which is Paul’s hometown. Surely they could have stayed with someone there. 

But instead of doing that, instead of going the quickest way back home to Antioch, they decide instead to backtrack. They go west through Lystra (where Paul got stoned and left for dead by the people) and Iconium (where they almost got stoned by the people) and Pisidian Antioch (where they got driven out of the city). Are these guys nuts? Do they have a death-wish or something? 

Are these guys just gluttons for punishment? No. Here’s the thing. They know that these new, young converts to Christianity are vulnerable. And their missionary journey wasn’t just about evangelism. It wasn’t just about making converts. It was about making disciples. And it was about planting churches. 

So they go back through these cities where they had made converts and they do three things. Look at verse 22. They (1) “strengthen the souls of the disciples.” “God is good. He loves you. Read his word. Believe his promises. Keep gathering as a church. Serve Christ until you die.” Probably something like that to strengthen the souls of the disciples. (2) “They encourage them to continue in the faith.” “Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t go back to your superstitious paganism. Don’t indulge your flesh. Grow as a disciple. Grow as a follower of God. Pray. Read Scripture. Gather for Worship. Encourage one another.” They encouraged them to continue in the faith. These are the same things I’m doing with you right now.

And one more thing. What’s the third thing that they do? (3) They encouraged them to endure by telling them “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” They encouraged them to persevere in the faith. And they encouraged them to endure through tribulation because, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” 

Let me ask you a question, church. When was the last time you encouraged someone by telling them “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God”? 

Write this down #3

3) Endurance means carrying on through tribulation (14:21–28)

Endurance, right? Endurance! Perseverance! Finishing! Finishing! Not just starting. Not just beginning. Life’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon. And faithful followers of Christ finish. They endure through tribulation and they finish. 

through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

Paul’s already encouraging this group of believers to finish well, and they’ve only been Christians for like ten minutes!

Can I just read you something really quickly? This is an excerpt from a commentary on Acts written by Ajith Fernando. Fernando is a longtime missionary in South Asia. And he has served Christ faithfully in a hostile location. I found this statement incredibly convicting. Listen to this. 

“A common reaction of Christians when they see a fellow Christian suffer is to look for something wrong that the sufferer has done. They seem to think that these persons are suffering because they have done something that is not in keeping with God’s will. They may advise the sufferers or even rebuke them. If a person is tired because he has done God’s work along with his job and family responsibilities, he is rebuked for working too hard. When a person is unpopular in the workplace for taking a stand for Christ, she is rebuked for being unwise. When someone gets assaulted and ends up in the hospital for trying to make peace in a conflict, he is criticized for trying to act like a messiah, not minding his own business. Those who should be encouraging sufferers end up discouraging them and adding to their pain.”

Can you imagine telling Paul, “Paul you need to tone it down a bit. That’s your problem! If you would just dial down the boldness a little bit, you wouldn’t be in this mess.” Yet, we do that kind of stuff with each other all the time, and the stakes aren’t even as high here as they were for Paul two-thousand years ago. 

Listen, we’ve got to get to a place as Christians where instead of avoiding tribulation or trying to theologize our way out of it, we embrace it and encourage one another through it. Otherwise we can start to believe something about life and trials and struggle and opposition that is not biblical. 

Jesus said, “in this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). Paul said, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). The Greek word used in both of those verses is the word θλῖψις (thlipsis) meaning “tribulation.” You will experience this! And Paul said at the end of his life in 2 Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (3:12). We need to come to grips with this as Christians.

And look what else they do in verse 23. This is strategic.

23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. 24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. 25 And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, 26 and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. 27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

Can you imagine what that conversation was like in Antioch? “We battled a sorcerer and struck him blind. We travelled for miles and miles throughout the empire preaching the gospel. We got kicked out of some of those cities. The Jews opposed us. The Gentiles opposed us. Paul got stoned and left for dead in Lystra. And then he went right back into the city.” 

“Say what? Seriously?” 

“And we just kept on preaching.” “And we endured.” “We endured, and we didn’t quit.”  

28 And they remained no little time with the disciples.

… back in their home church… in Antioch. 

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I’ll close with this. Endurance. Endurance. Endurance. God give us endurance. God give us long obedience in the same direction. Augustine of Hippo wrote once that, “The Church through the lowliness she now endures is winning the sublime station she is to have in heaven.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote once,  “There is nothing which so certifies the genuineness of a man’s faith… as his patient endurance, his keeping on steadily in spite of everything.” Dietrich Boenhoeffer said once, “Just as Christ maintained his communion with the Father by his endurance, so his followers are to maintain their communion with Christ by their endurance.” Charles Spurgeon said once, “By perseverance [even] the snail [eventually] reached the ark.” May God give us endurance in the Christian life. Amen? God help us with that. Let’s pray to that end right now.