Acts 14:1

And it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude, both of Jews and also Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren... But the multitude of the city was divided... And when there was an assault made... to use them despitefully and to stone them, they were aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lyconia, and unto the region that lies round about. And there they preached the gospel. (Acts 14:1-7)

What does it really mean to believe—and why does the gospel always meet opposition?

Ruined for the Normal Christian Life

My good friend David Guzik says something I love. Every time they hold orientation at the Bible school in Germany, with all those new students gathered from America and across Europe, he tells them that the primary goal of the Bible college is to ruin them for the normal Christian life. That is one of my goals for our church as well. As the word of God is sown into your heart—Sunday morning, Wednesday night, the women's ministry, the men's ministry—I want you so changed that you could never settle for coming to church for an hour and then going about the rest of your life unchanged.

In Acts 14, we meet two men who were ruined by God's word: Paul and Barnabas. They are continuing their first missionary journey. In chapter 13 they were in Antioch of Pisidia, but persecution arose and they were essentially kicked out of the city. So they dusted themselves off, just as Jesus instructed His disciples in Matthew 10 and Mark 9, and traveled a hundred miles east on foot to the city of Iconium.

What It Means to Believe

There they went into the synagogue of the Jews, as was their standard practice. Both came from Jewish background, and Paul could even put on the Pharisee clothes and stand up to preach. The people would say, "Brother Saul, share with us." And he did, so powerfully that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed.

Circle the word believed in verse 1. Belief is a word thrown around in Christian circles—we believe belief is important. Romans 10:9 says, "If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." But we need a good understanding of what believe means.

In our culture, "believe" usually means simply accepting something as true—a mental belief. The Greek word pisteo has a much deeper meaning. Yes, it means to accept as true. When you ask someone, "Do you believe in Jesus?" they may accept that a man named Jesus lived 2,000 years ago, that He was a good teacher, even a prophet who healed people. But pisteo means more—to place one's confidence in, to entrust oneself to. The better question might be, "Have you trusted Jesus?" That elicits a very different response. Often we would do well to replace "believe" with "trust" as we read the Scriptures.

The Unbelieving Jews and the Reality of Opposition

Verse 2 tells us there was a group that were unbelieving—the unbelieving Jews who stirred up the Gentiles. This does not mean they denied a man named Jesus existed; Paul was an eyewitness. They may even have accepted that He performed miracles. To be "unbelieving" here means they refused to trust Him.

What was Paul preaching? Verse 7 tells us they preached the gospel—that salvation comes only by Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection; that He died for our justification and rose for our glorification. Yet a group of Jews rejected it. They said, "We are children of Abraham. We have the law of Moses. We don't need Jesus." They refused to yield, and instead stirred up a group of Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren.

There is always opposition to the work of God. We have seen it throughout Acts—Saul's persecution in chapters 8 and 9, the Sanhedrin in chapters 4 and 5, even the internal problem of Ananias and Sapphira in chapter 5. We wrongly assume that if God is working, everything will be perfect, so when opposition comes we conclude this must not be the road God wants. That is not the case.

A Great Door and Many Adversaries

In 1 Corinthians 16:9 Paul writes, "A great door and an effectual one is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." For many of us Western Christians, when opposition comes we say, "I guess this isn't what God wants me to do." I thought He wanted me in children's ministry, but those children—God must not want me there. I thought He wanted me on the mission field, but you might get malaria. We assume difficulty means God is not in it. But Paul says a great and effective door has opened and there are many adversaries.

In Paul's ministry there was constant opposition. It was on this first missionary journey that Paul began to experience what he calls in 2 Corinthians "a messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh." We don't know exactly what it was—some think a physical infirmity affecting his eyes, some think opposition from the Jews. As we go on we will see him beaten with rods at Philippi, imprisoned, shipwrecked, whipped. The opposition often came from his own people. In chapter 13 it came from jealousy; the Jews in Antioch were jealous because people followed Paul and Barnabas. It also came from zealotry—Paul had once been a zealous Pharisee persecuting the church, and now he faced persecution from zealous Jews.

Perhaps those obstacles you face are not a sign that God is absent, but an indication that God is in the work and the enemy is seeking to destroy it.

Trusting in the Wrong Thing

In 2004 Gallup found that 81% of Americans believe in heaven. Eight out of ten people you interact with believe in some afterlife, and every one of them is trusting in something to get them there. For these unbelievers in the synagogue at Iconium, their confidence was in being children of Abraham, having the law of Moses, being circumcised. Ask one of those 80% of Americans, "When you die, are you going there?" Nearly all will say, "I think so, I sure hope so." Ask why, and they answer, "I'm a pretty good person." They are placing their confidence in their good works.

Millions of people are banking on their good works, yet the Bible reveals there is only one way, and it is not good works. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one gets to the Father but by me." That sounds narrow. It sounds divisive in a pluralistic society where we're told we're all God's children and all going to heaven. But that is not what the Bible teaches. And because you believe and follow what the Bible teaches, there will be opposition—and I believe growing opposition in our nation.

Boldness in the Face of Division

Notice that these unbelievers made the minds of the Gentiles "evil-affected"—they tainted their minds against the Christians, calling them narrow, wicked, perhaps prejudiced. That doesn't happen today, does it? Interestingly, Jews typically had no dealings with Gentiles, yet their opposition to the gospel became a uniting force with their normal enemies. People they would never associate with gathered together to get rid of the Christians.

So did Paul and Barnabas leave? No. Verse 3: "A long time, therefore, abode they, speaking boldly in the Lord." The opposition didn't dissuade them; if anything, it caused them to speak more boldly, more clearly, more loudly. And God confirmed their message with miraculous signs and wonders. Notice it says God granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. I am leery of anyone who says, "I have the power of God and I wield it." No—God granted these signs to substantiate the message. And the message was "the word of His grace." It was not the word of Paul's healing ministry or his reputation; it was the word of His grace, for it is God's grace and God's work that saves men's souls.

The Gospel Brings Division

Verse 4: "The multitude of the city was divided." The gospel, wherever it goes, brings division. Jesus said in Luke 12:51, "Do you suppose that I come to bring peace on the earth? I tell you no, but I come to bring division." Isn't He the Prince of Peace? Yes—He came to establish peace between God and man. But as 1 Corinthians 1 says, the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. They call it stupid, and it causes division—even within homes, setting father against son and mother against daughter. Some of you have lived this; you trusted Christ and your family said, "You're nuts, we don't want anything to do with you."

The multitude was divided, part with the Jews and part with the apostles. Then an assault was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers—now the politicians got behind it. Their plan, with political backing, was to despitefully use them and stone them—not a mild rebuke, but to kill them with rocks.

Boldness Mixed with Wisdom

Verse 6 tells us that when they became aware of it, they fled to Lystra and Derbe. On first thought that might seem like a lack of faith, but I would say it is an exercise of wisdom. The mixture of boldness and wisdom in the lives of Paul and Barnabas is extremely important. Some of us know what it is to be bold and a little brash, yet here they exercise both boldness and wisdom. They recognized God was moving them on, likely dusting off the dust again as in chapter 13, and went to the next cities. And in verse 7, "There they preached the gospel."

The Central Act: Preaching the Word

Highlight verse 7. The disciples in Acts 8:4, scattered by persecution, went about preaching the word. In Acts 11:19, scattered again, they went forth preaching the word. It was Paul's custom, Acts 17:2, to reason from the Scriptures and preach. He exhorted Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season."

The word "preach" appears in 134 verses in the New Testament and 37 verses in Acts. The book is called the Acts of the Apostles, and one act more than any other is preaching. Yes, they had the gifts of the Spirit, spoke in tongues, and saw healings—all true—but their primary focus was the preaching of God's word, and that should be the primary focus of every church. Jesus commissioned His church in Matthew 28 to go and preach the gospel. Some churches get sidelined onto a single aspect—the spiritual gifts, social justice—and whatever it is, if it is not preaching the gospel, it is secondary.

Scripture is full of preachers: David in Psalm 40:9, Jonah in chapter 3, John the Baptist in Matthew 3, Jesus in Matthew 4, the disciples in Matthew 10, Peter at Pentecost and at Cornelius's house, Stephen unto his own death, Philip in Acts 8, Paul throughout Acts. We too need to preach the word of God.

Beautiful Feet That Carry the Word

But this is not only about a preacher who stands up an hour a week. Look at Romans 10:13-15: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?... As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace."

In a few minutes you will be sent out of these doors to people who think they have heard but have not heard the word of God. Tomorrow you will go to workplaces I could never enter—places where you scan a security card to get in. You interact with people every day at work, school, the soccer field, the gym, people I will never see. God has brought you here to hear His word so you can carry it out as treasure in earthen vessels, that they might hear. God has called every one of us to be that vessel.

"How beautiful are the feet of those that preach the gospel." Most of you are wearing sandals, and we will admit feet are among the not-so-lovely things—we cover them with socks and shoes. To the Jews in the ancient Middle East, feet were dirty, vile, the most disgusting part of the body; washing them was the job of the lowliest servant. Yet Scripture says the feet that carry God's word are beautiful. God's word is so magnificent that it beautifies the dirtiest part of you when you carry it to others.

You may say, "I can't preach God's word; I'm wretched and dirty." Yes, you are, and so am I. Yet God's word is so beautiful that it beautifies even an earthen vessel. That is why we go to Africa, why we go to China, and why in a few minutes we go out these doors. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts—Escondido, San Diego, California, the United States, the uttermost parts. Wherever God takes us, may we carry His word, because the path is narrow and there is only one way.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You that although the path is narrow, You desire that all men would know where that path is, and so You have given us Your word, a light unto our feet to guide us in the way. As we prepare to leave this room, I pray You would pour out Your Spirit upon each one here, that we would be equipped and empowered to go out taking Your word to the highways and the byways—Your word of grace that has transformed our lives. Lord, give us boldness even in the face of opposition. We face nothing like the opposition Paul endured, so with whatever opposition comes, would You give us boldness. We ask it in the mighty and precious name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen.