Tag: Paul

Episode NT51 – Iconium, Lystra and Back Home

Story 51 – Iconium, Lystra and Back Home

Based on Acts chapter 14

Nearly 100 miles away to the south-east of Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas eventually came to the town of Iconium where a very similar thing happened to what they’d just experienced in Pisidian Antioch!

The habit of Paul and Barnabas when arriving in a town was to go the Jews and preach in their synagogues. The reason they did this was that, if they’d started by going to the non-Jews, or Gentiles as they were known, then the Jews would never have listened to them or allowed them to visit their synagogues. So, to ensure their message would be heard as widely as possible, they always started at the Jewish synagogues. And, as in Pisidian Antioch, there was a strong reaction to their preaching, as a large group of both Jews and Gentiles believed their message. Also, as in Pisidian Antioch, there was a resolute group of Jews who refused to believe the message and set out to gather others to their way of thinking and poison their minds against Paul, Barnabas and the new believers.

The opposition to Paul and Barnabas and their message was both intense and persistent, but they didn’t run away. Instead, they stayed in the city for a long time and spoke boldly about all the wonderful things the Lord had done. And, to confirm that the message they brought was from Him, the Lord gave them power to do miraculous signs and wonders – outstanding evidence that their message was true! Yet even that wasn’t enough to change the minds of those who’d decided to reject the message. Instead, these disbelieving people worked hard to convince others to dismiss the message, until the whole town was divided, with some following the disbelieving Jews and others following Paul and Barnabas!

After a long stay in that divided city, those who hated the message and who especially hated Paul, got some of the city leaders on their side. With those leaders, they gathered a mob with the aim of attacking Paul and Barnabas and stoning them to death. Stoning is a Jewish form of execution reserved for people who blaspheme, which means to speak falsely about God!

Thankfully, somehow the believers and Paul and Barnabas heard about the attempt on their lives and fled, managing to escape to the smaller backwater town of Lystra. And, even though their experience had been tough at both Iconimum and Pisidian Antioch, they continued to tell everyone the Good News about Jesus.

When they arrived in Lystra, things seemed to go very well at first. There probably wasn’t a synagogue in Lystra, or many Jews in the town, and so Paul and Barnabas started telling the locals about Jesus. And, as they spoke of Jesus, Paul and Barnabas came across a man whose feet had been crippled from birth so that he’d never walked. This man sat and listened to Paul preach and, as he listened, Paul realised this man had the faith needed to be healed. So, in a similar way to how Peter and John had spoken to the crippled man outside the temple in Jerusalem all that time before, Paul called out to the man in a loud voice, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that word from Paul, the man leapt to his feet and started walking around!

As you can imagine, when the crowd saw what Paul had done, they were completely amazed and started shouting out in their local Lycaonian language (a language neither Paul nor Barnabas understood), ‘These men are gods in the form or human beings.’ Now, it just so happened that there was an ancient local story about the so-called gods of Zeus and Hermes having come to earth as mortal men and being refused shelter by everyone except an impoverished older couple. And, as a result, the older couple had been rewarded, but everyone else who’d refused to give them shelter – a 1000 households or so – were destroyed by a flood. So, when the locals thought that the gods had come down in a similar way to that old story – thinking Barnabas was Zeus and Paul, the chief speaker, was Hermes – they sprung into action, no doubt wanting to make sure they didn’t suffer the same fate as those who’d refused to shelter the gods in their ancient story. And, because neither Paul nor Barnabas spoke the local language, they had no idea what was happening.

You see, no sooner had the man been healed and someone said that the gods had come down in human form, than someone else hurried off to the local temple of Zeus, which was located just outside the city, to pass on this important news. Within no time at all, the priests from the temple of Zeus arrived, intending to sacrifice a bull to Paul and Barnabas!

Of course, as soon as Paul and Barnabas realised what was happening, they were horrified! Tearing their clothes as a sign of their horror and running out among the people, they shouted to the crowd, trying to convince them to stop what they were doing. Now, this crowd was made up of Gentiles who knew nothing of the Jewish Scriptures and so, instead of telling them about things from the Scriptures which they wouldn’t have known about or understood, Paul started reasoning with them about things they did understand – the natural world around them that God had created.

‘Friends,’ he shouted. ‘Why are you doing this? We’re human beings just like you! We came here to bring you the good news that you should turn away from these kinds of worthless things and instead turn to the living God. Look, in the past God permitted all nations to go their own way while, at the same time, never leaving them without evidence of Himself and His goodness. That evidence includes things like the rain He sends and the good crops you harvest so that you have food and joyful hearts…’

But, even with all their efforts, it was touch and go, and they only just managed to hold the people back from sacrificing to them.

That was when things took a turn for the worse, because Jews from the two cities Paul and Barnabas had previous worked in, Pisidian Antioch and Iconium, arrived in Lystra.

Whether they’d specifically travelled to look for the two men or whether they just happened to be in the city at this crucial moment we don’t know but, when they saw what was happening, they realised they had a chance to get their revenge on Paul and Barnabas and immediately sprung into action – no doubt enraged to find the two men carrying on their work of telling people about Jesus, even after all they’d gone through previously. So, seizing their opportunity, they spoke to the crowd, turning the fickle bunch who, just a short time before, had been intent on worshipping Paul and Barnabas – into a wild mob that wanted to do what they’d failed to do in those other towns and stone Paul to death! So, the stones started to fly, fuelled by the hatred of those who’d rejected the message of Paul and Barnabas about the love of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I wonder what Paul thought as the stones came flying towards him? Did he remember the time he’d watched Stephen being stoned to death because of his love for Jesus? Did Paul pray for those who were trying to kill him? We don’t know, but we do know that he remembered this event, referring to it in later letters.

So, the vicious and angry mob stoned Paul until he wasn’t moving and then dragged his apparently lifeless body out of the city, leaving him for dead.

What were Barnabas and the new believers to think? Was this to be the end of their missionary journey to tell others about the love of God in Christ Jesus? They must have been devastated as they gathered around the apparently lifeless body of Paul, no doubt praying and seeking the Lord for mercy – which they got. For, as they stood around him, Paul got up! And, in an act of great courage and boldness he walked back into the city – back among the group of people who’d literally just stoned him and left him for dead. Returning with the believers, he stayed the night in the city and then, the next day, he left with Barnabas on a 60-mile trek to Derbe.

Finally, once they’d told the people of Derbe about Jesus and seen many become followers of Jesus in that city, they returned to Lystra, then to Iconium and back to Pisidian Antioch. As they visited each of these cities, they encouraged and strengthen the ones who’d become followers of Jesus, those who’d believed their message. They encouraged them to continue their relationship with Jesus and to trust in Him, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.

While they met with the believers in each of these cities, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders or leaders for each church. And with much prayer and fasting, they committed these new elders into the care of the Lord Jesus.

From there, the two men travelled back through Pisidia to the area of Pamphylia, and specifically to the town of Perga – a place they hadn’t visited or had maybe bypassed when they’d arrived in that area because of their rush to reach Pisidian Antioch, probably because Paul had been ill and needed a healthier climate. However, now Paul was a lot better, so they preached about Jesus in Perga, and then went down to Attalia.

When they’d done this, the eventually returned by ship to Antioch of Syria, back to the city and church they’d originally set out from – the place where believers had first been called ‘Christians’. It had been the church in Antioch of Syria who’d entrusted the two men to the Grace of God to do the work which they’d now completed. So, arriving back in the city, they called the whole church together to tell them about everything God had done through them and how He’d opened the door of faith to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. After that, they stayed in Antioch of Syria with the believers for a considerable time.

Episode NT50 Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch

Story 50 – Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch

Based on Acts chapter 13 verses 13 to 52

It was time for Paul (who used to be known as Saul) and Barnabas, along with John Mark, to move on. So, leaving Cyprus, the place Barnabas knew so well, they decided to head up to the area Paul was from. Sailing from the Cyprian port of Paphos, they took the 100 mile or so sea voyage up to Asia Minor, probably landing at Attalia, and then travelled about 12 miles inland to Perga. However, when they reached Perga, they suffered a painful setback, as John Mark abandoned them and left for Jerusalem.

Quite what was happening, we don’t know. Maybe John Mark missed his home and his mother? Or maybe he didn’t like the way things were changing, as Paul took more and more of a leading role and his cousin Barnabas less? It could have been that they’d come to a new and potentially dangerous place and John Mark felt worried? We’ll never know but, even as they suffered this loss, it seemed that other things were also going wrong as, instead of staying in Perga, they quickly left that area and headed north. It seems that Paul may have been quite ill, as he talks about that in one of his letters at another time. So, instead of staying in Perga, they went on quite a long and arduous journey on dangerous roads and through mountain passes that were well known for being infested with robbers and bandits. But the advantage of the journey, especially if Paul was ill, was that it took them away from the heat of the south Galatian plateau and up to the cool and no doubt bracing air of the Taurus plateau, about 3,500 feet above sea level. And so, they eventually came to a place called Antioch. Obviously, it was a different Antioch from where they’d originally started, and was known as Pisidian Antioch, to distinguish it from the Antioch that had sent Paul and Barnabas out on the mission they were now on.

On their arrival at Pisidian Antioch, and no doubt when Paul was well enough, on the Sabbath day – the day when Jewish people always gather together to worship, and which is our Saturday – they went to the Jewish synagogue in town.

The service followed its usual pattern and it was a custom that, if a visiting Rabbi or Jewish teacher came to the synagogue, they’d be asked if they’d speak to the gathered people. Now, Paul was a teacher and they would’ve probably known that from the type of clothing he wore. So, at the appropriate moment in the service, the leaders of the Jewish synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas to ask if they had a message to encourage the people and, if so, to speak in the meeting. Well, as you can imagine, Paul and Barnabas did have a message, all about the wonderful news of God’s love through Jesus, and were more than happy to share it with them.

It was Paul who did the actual preaching and he was a man who knew how to preach and had lots of experience. Starting by standing and making a hand gesture to let the people know that he had something to say that was worth listening to and, knowing that he was talking to mainly Jews, he began by talking about a subject close to their hearts, Jewish history.

‘Men of Israel and everyone else who fears God, listen to me,’ he started. Then, Paul skilfully pointed out how Jesus was the Messiah that Jewish history had always been pointing towards. He talked of their ancestors and of the time the people of Israel had lived in slavery in Egypt and how God had saved them from their servitude. He reminded them of God’s patience with the Israelites while they’d spent 40 years in the wilderness after they’d left Egypt. Then he talked about how God had helped them destroy seven mighty nations so that they could have the land of Israel as their inheritance and that all this had taken 450 years – no doubt adding together the 400 years in Egypt, 40 in the wilderness and 10 to take full possession of Israel. Paul then reminded the people of how Israel had asked for a king and how God had firstly given them King Saul and then how God had removed him. And, after that, God had given them King David, who was a man whose desire was to do what God wanted and from whose descendants the promised Saviour was to come.

Paul then moved on to talk about John the Baptist, who had clearly told everyone that he wasn’t the promised Messiah and had, instead, pointed to Jesus. Then, Paul talked about the fact that the leaders in Jerusalem hadn’t understood who Jesus was and had asked for him to be killed by Pilate, who’d had him executed. But, in doing so, these leaders had actually fulfilled the very things God had said in the Scriptures would happen to the Messiah, such as the Messiah’s body being placed in a tomb and not thrown into a mass grave.

Paul then talked about something even more amazing, that, after the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem had had Jesus killed and He’d been buried in the tomb, God had raised Jesus from the dead and, for many days after, Jesus had appeared to His followers who had come with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These people included the Apostles, the likes of Peter, Andrew and John, who now witnessed to the truth of Jesus’ resurrection to all the people.

And Paul told them that the purpose of his visit was to bring them the Good News about Jesus. He explained that, in raising Jesus from the dead, God had shown that Jesus was even greater than the great King David of old. For King David had died and his body had been laid in a tomb and, like everyone else on earth, his body had decayed away. But the same was NOT true of Jesus, because God had truly raised Him back to life and so He would never experience decay.

The final part of Paul’s sermon was probably unexpected and given as a word of warning to the people listening to him. You see, Paul was talking about things that were so important that they shouldn’t be ignored or left until later but, instead, should be acted on at once. He was talking about God reaching out to us, and sending His Son to die for us, so that we could be forgiven and become children of God. He was showing them a New Way that was different from the way they’d been following. Their old way to try and get right with God was by trying to obey a series of laws. However, if they failed to obey even one, they would remain guilty in God’s eyes and subject to punishment. But now, he explained, through Jesus, a New Way was open to God that could make them clean and forgiven in the eyes of God in a way that the old system simply couldn’t. However, and this was the warning, if they ignored what God was offering them in Jesus then, like their ancestors of old, who’d refused to believe that God was going to punish Israel and hadn’t turned from their evil ways and, as a result, had suffered great loss and death, they too could suffer great, eternal loss if they ignored Paul’s message. Put simply, this message was too important to ignore.

Paul’s sermon set the whole synagogue alight with discussion and excitement and, as they were leaving, the people begged Paul and Barnabas to come back the following week so they could hear more about all these things. In fact, many of the people present went after Paul and Barnabas as they left and the two of them urged those who had believed their message to continue to rely on God’s grace.

And so the next Sabbath arrived, but the people who’d been their the previous week had been so excited about all that Paul had said that they’d told almost everyone in the whole city about it. As a result, pretty much the entire city turned up to hear Paul and Barnabas preach about Jesus.

That’s when the problems started for the two men. Because, when the Jews saw all those people attending the meeting, they became very jealous. They were jealous that Paul and Barnabas had been so powerful in their message that so many people had turned up to hear them, but they were also jealous to think that God would save anyone other than Jews and those who’d become Jews. As a result, when the meeting started, the Jews said all kinds of lies about Paul and argued with everything he said.

Paul and Barnabas understood what was going on, and were no doubt very sad to see it happen, as the incredibly important message they were bringing to these people was rejected by the Jews, in a similar way to how Jesus’ message had been rejected by the leaders in Jerusalem. So, with great boldness, undaunted by this new opposition, they declared to the Jews, ‘It was necessary that we started by preaching the Word of God first to you Jews. But since you’ve rejected it, and in so doing have judged that you aren’t worthy of eternal life, we will take this message and offer it to everyone else who isn’t a Jew, that is, to the Gentiles. For the Lord Himself gave us this command. He said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the furthest corners of the earth.’’

Of course, when the non-Jews or Gentiles heard this, they were overjoyed and thanked the Lord for His message. Everyone who was chosen to receive eternal life became a believer and the Lord’s message spread throughout that region.

However, the Jews were NOT happy with this situation and wanted their revenge on Paul and Barnabas. They stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city to create a mob to grab Paul and Barnabas and violently run them out of town. It’s probable that Paul and Barnabas were badly beaten as they were thrown out of the town (again, something Paul talks about later on in one of his letters). So, as a sign against those Jews who’d refused the message, and in the same way that Jesus had told His disciples to do when their message was rejected, Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet as a sign of the rejection they’d experienced and went to another town called Iconium. Jesus had warned His disciples that, if they got to the point of having to shake off the dust from themselves when rejected, like Paul and Barnabas had just been, then the judgment of God against those who’d refused their message would be very severe. But, in the meantime, those who had believed were filled with joy and also with the Holy Spirit.

A Prayer for Power – Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3: 14-21

While this isn’t a story, I hope you’ll find it helpful as we think about all God wants to do in us and for us. This podcast looks at Paul’s prayer for POWER and tried to understand what that POWER was for and how it is supposed to function in our lives. It is one of the greatest prayers in the Bible and one that when answered will bring great glory to God while at the same time changing us completely. Have a listen and see what you think.