Dear Student of the Word,
It's been two weeks since I sent the last installment so it's time to get back on track with your study of the Acts of the Apostles. In still part, we look at another incident from Barnabas and Paul's first missionary journey to the Gentiles. Here is what I wrote in part seven of this seven-part study, the remainder of which you can download below:
Study Seventeen, Part Seven
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14:11 – As stated earlier, the crowd had no biblical background for Paul’s message or this miraculous healing. They were Gentiles, so they attributed the miracle to their gods. If you ever travel to Israel, you will be where everything is so exciting because it is so biblical. If you ever go from there to a place like Athens, you will be where everything is spiritually insipid with statues of false gods everywhere! This scenario must have provided Paul with something of the spiritual “shock” as he left the comfort of Judaism to embrace his work in and among the heathen. Yet Paul never complained and embraced his purpose and call with vigor, even though it must have been tough for him to do.
While your purpose is exhilarating, where and how you express it may be the work of the cross in your life. You do what you love, but in ways and with people that you’d rather not be with!
14:12 – The people did what they knew to do: They inserted their current experience into the mental framework or worldview they had. This was of course a worldview that included the Greek gods, which they believed had come down to them in the form of these missionaries. What foolish thinking! Yet this is the power of what’s called a paradigm—a model for understanding the reality around you. Not only did Paul have to preach salvation; he had to teach his converts a whole new way of thinking, which is called discipleship. Have you been discipled, or do you still have old ways of thinking that you are trying to fit the new things of God into?
14:13 – In some ways, this was a test for Paul and Barnabas, and of course they passed the test. Would they receive any of the glory for what they had done, or would they give it all to Jesus? The crowds were ready to designate them as gods. The priest was ready to incorporate what they did into the framework of their local religions. Paul was always clear that what he did was for Jesus and Him alone. He wrote the Corinthians:
For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake (2 Corinthians 4:5).
Paul was far away from “home” and could have allowed some of the glory to be attributed to him and his ministry, but he did not! That is why God used him so powerfully, for Paul was a true servant of God. He saw his calling in the context of the Old Testament prophets. He was continuing their work and message, but to an expanded audience of Gentiles. What a great man Paul was! Jesus was even greater and Paul’s legacy is that we worship Jesus the Lamb while doing greater things than Jesus did, which Jesus had promised would take place for anyone who believed in Him (see John 14:12-14).
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the unpublished volume of The Faith Files.
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KENYA UPDATE: I posted the latest pictures and update from Kenya, indicating that
Pastor Peter signed the lease and is ready to prep the space for the library. You can read about it here and then please give generously here to make this project and others like them (described here) a reality when I return next year. I can't do this without you, so don't delay in sending your financial help. The children pictured here (click on them to enlarge) need you to help them prepare for a succcccessful future through reading and studying. Thank you!
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