Session 3
Acts 14:11-23
Memory Verse: Acts 14:15
Acts 14 finds Paul and Barnabas continuing to extend the reach of the gospel. At each stop, their ministry pattern was similar to their process in Pisidian Antioch: visiting the synagogue; preaching God’s gift of Jesus to both Jews and Gentiles; seeing a mixed response; and experiencing opposition. In Lystra, they went from being seen as gods one minute to Paul suffering his first stoning the next. Paul survived, of course, and the ministry continued as they came to Derbe and returned to the cities where they had ministered earlier.
Their return to these cities marked an important lesson for those who share the gospel. New converts need nurturing and support. As Bible study leaders, we have the opportunity to positively influence the lives of those we teach. As you prepare to guide this session, pray that the Lord will show you the best ways to be His hands and feet to the adults in your Bible study. And pray that they will be intentional in finding ways to declare Jesus in their lives.
What is the most volatile subject in modern society? Many would say politics. Perhaps the greatest dividing line in history has been the nature of Jesus. Was He merely a healer and teacher, or is He indeed the Son of God and only Savior? Jesus warned His disciples that even families would be divided by their faith or lack of faith in Him (Matt. 10:21-22). (PSG, p. 28)
After Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas made three additional stops on this first missionary journey. Three themes encompassed the missionaries’ work as they retraced their steps and returned to Syrian Antioch where they had been called. One of these themes was their concern and care for the fledgling Christians in each city. The missionaries taught the people about bearing suffering and persecution. This encouragement was part of their pastoral ministry.
Another pattern in their ministry was a focus on cities with large populations. For example, Acts 14 is primarily concerned with the mission to Lystra.
Finally, a common theme was how Paul and Barnabas started with the Jews. Though he had a clear call to preach to the Gentiles, as a Jew, Paul would not abandon hope for the conversion of the Jews. This is one of the reasons Paul and Barnabas always went first to the Jews in the synagogue.
In each city, new believers came from among the Jews, the Gentile proselytes, and other Gentiles. Many Gentiles were especially interested in Paul’s message of inclusivity. They were grateful that the gospel was available to all who would believe in Jesus.
Often, problems could be traced to Jews who did not believe the gospel. They rejected the message, but they were not content to leave the situation alone. Jewish leaders actively sought allies in opposing Paul and Barnabas.
But the conflict didn’t always originate with Jews. In Iconium, for instance, the missionaries faced a different challenge. This culture included both Greek and Roman traditions that dated back many decades. The strong worship traditions of the Greeks and Romans led many Gentiles to resist Paul’s message.
Of course, some Jews and Gentiles accepted the message of Paul and Barnabas, despite the opposition that poisoned many minds and caused a spirit of rebellion among the people. Believers today should not be surprised by such a response to the gospel. Nor should they be surprised by the response of Paul and Barnabas. Not only did they continue to preach Jesus, but they stayed in the geographic area for many days.
Even in the face of a persecution and divided audiences, the missionaries were not swayed from their calling. Paul and Barnabas continued to share the Lord’s word and perform many signs and wonders. Eventually, their enemies plotted to drive them from the city. But they still refused to stop. They simply continued to declare that Jesus is the living God, the Messiah, and the world’s only hope for salvation.
As you read Acts 14:11-23, identify reasons the crowds so quickly turned on Paul and Barnabas. What life lessons can you take away from Paul and Barnabas’s experience? (PSG, p, 29)
>!--Prepare: Display Pack Item 1 (Map: Paul’s Missionary Journeys), and Pack Item 3 (Poster: Key Cities on Paul’s Journeys) on a focal wall. Prepare enough copies of Pack Item 9 (Handout: Why Zeus and Hermes?) for everyone in the group.
Introduce: Write the following question on the board: In your family, what topics are considered out of bounds at holiday meals? As adults arrive, encourage them to share some topics in response to the question. Talk about why some topics may be relatively trivial (favorite sports teams) while others are more serious (politics or family grievances).
Ask: Has your family ever been divided on the topic of Jesus?
Examine: Enlist a volunteer to read aloud the opening paragraph on page 28 of the PSG. Call on volunteers to explain why Jesus’s identity can be controversial in our culture.
Ask: What differing opinions about Jesus are commonly heard today? How have your convictions about Jesus caused conflict with people who hold different beliefs? (PSG, p. 28)
Transition: The gospel has always been divisive in some ways. While it offers peace and salvation, it also challenges our sinfulness. Today’s study considers how we should prepare to demonstrate that Jesus is the living God-and how we can deal with the various responses we will face.
Distribute hymnals or copies of the hymn “Worthy of Worship” (Baptist Hymnal 2008, No. 3). Lead the group to examine the lyrics and to share words or phrases that stick out to them. Ask: What makes Jesus worthy of worship? Discuss responses. Lead the group in singing the first verse as an opening prayer for the session.
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11 When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended, with the crowds, to offer sacrifice.
(v. 11) What Paul had done: Paul and Barnabas had been ministering in Iconium before opposition forced them southeast toward Lystra and Derbe. In Lystra, Paul had healed a lame man (Acts 14:8-10). The story is similar to the encounter Peter and John had with a lame man in Jerusalem earlier in Acts (3:1-9).
(v. 11) Lycaonian language: Luke made a rare point of identifying the language or dialect used in his accounts of Paul’s travels. The significance of the dialect reflected the distance of Lystra from other major cities. Since the crowd spoke in their own dialect, Paul and Barnabas may not have understood their words initially or grasped exactly how the people planned to show them honor.
The gods have come down
Lystra was primarily a Greek city, and the people worshiped Greek gods. The long-held traditions among those who worshiped pagan gods included stories of the gods taking on human form and visiting people. Zeus, the chief god, and Hermes, the messenger of the gods, were two of the false deities who were thought to visit earth (v. 12). The people believed that these gods would provide or withhold blessings based on how they were received.
The people of Lystra did not understand that gods had not come as men. Instead, men had come to them empowered by God and guided by His Spirit. They recognized that a strong authority had intervened to make the lame man walk, but they attributed the miracle to their pagan gods. Of course, the God of Paul and Barnabas was and is far more powerful than any pagan gods because He reigns as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
(v. 12) Chief speaker: As noted, the people were confused about the identities of Paul and Barnabas and gave them names of their known gods. Not wanting to offend these deities, the people of Lystra went to great extremes to ensure the missionaries felt welcome and honored.
Luke did not explain why the Lystrans associated Barnabas with Zeus, the chief god in the ancient pantheon. It may have been because he was older (or maybe physically larger) than Paul. Because Paul did most of the talking, it made sense that the people assumed he was Hermes, the god of oratory.
Their names may have related to the fable that Hermes and Zeus, once visited Lystra and established a priesthood for its temple (v. 13). According to this legend, those who rejected the gods were killed in a flood.
(v. 13) Bulls and wreaths: Paul and Barnabas got the full picture when the priest of Zeus arrived with bulls and wreaths. The items were brought to the city for sacrifice in honor of Paul and Barnabas. Sacrificing bulls was common, but the bulls brought into town on this day were decorated with wreaths, signifying the special sacrifice.
Believers today know that the sacrifice made by Jesus is the only sacrifice that makes a difference in our lives. The people of Lystra attributed the miracle of the healing to Paul, a man they thought was a god. However, the credit for this miracle rightly belongs to Christ, God who became a man for us.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
14 The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting,
15 “People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own way, 17 although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.” 18 Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.
Apostles
This English word is derived from the Greek term apostolos, which means “one who is sent.” Jesus used the term to refer to His original disciples, the Twelve. Paul is generally included as a later addition to this group. However, the early church also used it to describe an individual sent to complete a task by a local congregation or by Christ Himself. Barnabas may have been an apostle in this sense. See also Acts 14:4.
(v. 14) Tore their robes: Upon hearing of the people’s proclamation of them as gods, Paul and Barnabas expressed their disagreement and anguish by tearing their clothes. The ripping of clothes is a sign of mourning in other passages of the Bible. The action was also used to communicate intense sorrow or when blasphemy has occurred. Paul and Barnabas were determined to correct the Lystrans misunderstanding. They saw the sacrifice of the bulls to honor them as deities as blasphemy.
(v. 15) Worthless things: The Greek wording indicates something unreal or unproductive. Such things add no benefit and serve no useful purpose. They are empty and profitless. Anything related to false gods has no genuine value. In contrast, the missionaries shared a message of infinite value (vv. 15-17).
(v. 15) The living God: Once order had been established, Paul and Barnabas explained their protest. The sermon that Paul preached in Lystra was one of only two sermons to an entirely pagan crowd. Paul did not appeal to the Old Testament since the pagans at Lystra had no concept of one true God or the Hebrew Scriptures like a Jewish audience would. Instead, Paul shared good news about the living God. Jesus was the reason for the good news.
Before Paul could explain the good news, he had to make the point that he and Barnabas were normal men, just like the people in Lystra. Helping them understand such a paradigm was difficult since their entire culture was based on the worship of many gods. Paul pointed out that the practice of worshiping many gods was flawed if it included worshiping mortal men.
(v. 16) Past generations: Paul described God’s relationship with the world’s nations. Except for the Jews, God allowed nations to go their own way. Yet, God’s love prompted Him to provide for the people in the world. Gentiles had failed to recognize God’s hand at work through nature (v. 17), attributing this provision to the gods. Paul had to dismantle such thinking and insisted that those gifts came from the one true God.
(v. 18) Barely stopped: The crowd’s reaction was not what Paul had desired. The people failed to grasp Paul’s words and continued to assert that he and Barnabas were gods. Changing the long-held belief in many gods was challenging. Like other crowds in other cities, the Lystrans rejected the gospel by refusing to turn away from their pagan gods.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
19 Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. 20 After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
(v. 19) Antioch and Iconium: These cities were earlier stops on Paul and Barnabas’s missionary journey. In Pisidian Antioch, they had been welcomed initially before jealous Jews opposed them over Gentile salvation (Acts 13:42-50). In Iconium, a group of Jews again opposed them. They escaped the city before the crowd was able to follow through on its threat to stone them.
(v. 19) Stoned Paul: As in the stories of other cities, a once responsive group of people turned away from Paul and Barnabas and rejected their message. The people of Lystra anticipated blessings and gifts from the men they styled as gods. When Paul and Barnabas refused to accept the honor, the Lystra crowd was offended.
At the same time, visitors agitated the people against Paul just as they had in their own cities. The local people of Lystra were joined by the Jews from the other cities as the uproar among the mob reached a critical-and violent-point. As noted, Paul had avoided being stoned in Iconium. He could not escape it in Lystra.
Paul’s positive experiences in Lystra
Paul and Barnabas certainly did not enjoy the opposition and persecution they faced in Lystra. No one wants to be attacked by a murderous mob, dragged out of a city, and left for dead. But not every experience in Lystra was negative for Paul. In Acts 16, Luke mentioned that Paul later met a young man from Lystra named Timothy (Acts 16:1). In time, Timothy would become one of Paul’s most trusted ministry partners.
Also, in his second letter to Timothy, Paul highlighted Timothy’s grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice (2 Tim. 1:5). It is reasonable to assume that each of these ladies were natives of Lystra and had come to faith in Christ under Paul’s ministry. Then, they raised Timothy in the faith, as well.
(v. 19) Thinking he was dead: After stoning Paul, they dragged him out of the city and essentially left him for dead. Acts 9:16 reported that Jesus had shared with Paul that he would suffer a great many things for Jesus’s name. In addition, Paul had already endured a great deal of suffering in other cities. So, this conclusion probably was not a surprise for the apostle.
(v. 20) He got up: Some of Paul’s friends went outside the city and circled the spot where Paul had been left. If they believed that he was dead, they likely were mourning for him. If they had a sense he was hanging on to life, they may have been protecting him from further attacks.
In either case, God demonstrated His power. Paul simply got up and went into the town. The one true God who was responsible for the healing of the lame man either raised Paul from the dead or gave him the strength to recover from this vicious attack. Either way, God performed a miracle, and Paul was able to continue sharing the gospel of Jesus.
(v. 20) The next day he left: Paul demonstrated incredible courage by reentering the city after he had been stoned and left for dead. However, it was clear that Lystra was no longer safe for Paul and Barnabas. So, the next day, they prepared to move on to their next mission site in Derbe.
Opposition to sharing God’s Word will come. Believers can prepare for that opposition by developing strong relationships with other believers. Such relationships can provide support, as well as helping believers understand God’s call on their lives. It is likely that the believers in Lystra encouraged Paul to leave the city and go to Derbe.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
21 After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” 23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
(v. 21) Preached the gospel: Paul and Barnabas traveled to Derbe, approximately sixty miles southeast of Lystra. The journey likely took several days on foot. As they preached the gospel in Derbe, they enjoyed great success with many converts. Unlike previous cities, they faced no recorded opposition or resistance.
(v. 21) Lysta . . . Iconium . . . Antioch: After serving in Derbe, the missionaries then set their sights on return visits to Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch. It may seem strange that Paul and Barnabas would return to cities where they met so much persecution, yet they were following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Despite the difficult times and people they faced in those cities, they also built relationships with new believers. They did not want to conclude their trip without making sure those Christians were building their faith on a solid foundation.
(v. 22) Continue in the faith: A primary mission of Paul and Barnabas in returning to these cities was to assure the churches of their love and God’s continued care for them. As new churches, their condition was somewhat unstable, and a pastoral touch from Paul and Barnabas was just what they needed. The apostles spent time strengthening and encouraging their friends, even as they warned them about many hardships they would face.
The disciples in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra had watched as the apostles were expelled violently from their cities. Paul and Barnabas advised them that they also would suffer for the name of Jesus before they shared in the reward reserved for the kingdom of God.
(v. 23) Appointed elders: The return visits to the churches included more than encouragement and care. The apostles also provided some practical aid to the churches. The churches lacked leadership to provide spiritual guidance, so Paul and Barnabas remedied that situation.
Much like the practice of the Jewish synagogues, the apostles appointed elders to teach and protect the congregations. The young and tender churches needed the insights of the apostles to choose men who could provide strong leadership in a pagan culture.
(v. 23) Prayed with fasting: The Holy Spirit had called Paul and Barnabas after a time of praying and fasting in Syrian Antioch (Acts 13:2-3). So, the missionaries followed the same pattern with the new congregations. They prayed with fasting to seek God’s wisdom for the churches’ leadership. It is not clear what form this fasting took, but Paul and Barnabas were teaching the young believers that sometimes it is wise to set aside something of value temporarily in order to remove distractions and hear God’s voice.
(v. 23) Committed: The Greek wording used suggests a trust or a deposit set aside and protected. Paul and Barnabas had to get back home, but they were leaving the new believers in the safest and strongest place imaginable-the hands of God.
Reinforce the session by texting or emailing the group during the week. Challenge them to be sensitive to opportunities God provides to share His love and salvation with others. Remind them they have the prayerful support of others as they seek to remain faithful to God and His gospel, even in times of hardship.
God
There is one and only one living and true God. (See 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; 1 Timothy 1:17.)
Reflect on verses that relate to a similar theme in Scripture.
As you consider ways to encourage fellow Christians during adversity, study the following Scripture passages: Matthew 11:28; John 14:27; 16:33; Romans 8:31; 1 Corinthians 15:58; 16:13, 2 Corinthians 1:3-5; and 1 Thessalonians 5:11. On a piece of paper, write the Scripture reference for each of the passages and beside the passage, write one or two keywords that will help you recall the verses. Use these verses to guide prayer for the strength to encourage fellow suffering Christians.