Acts 14:11

The same heard Paul speak... and perceiving that he had the faith to be healed, he said with a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. He leapt up and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lyconia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men... Sirs, why do you do these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and we preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all the things that are therein... Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven in fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. (Acts 14:11–18)

When the crowds mistook two missionaries for gods, Paul preached a message about the living God that our culture still desperately needs to hear.

The Miracle and the Misunderstanding

Paul and Barnabas are on their first missionary journey, now in the city of Lystra in Galatia. As they preach the gospel, we see a great miraculous healing of a man who had been lame his entire life. Verse 8 says he was disabled in his feet, a cripple from his mother's womb, and had never walked. Paul beheld this man intently—God giving him a word of knowledge, I believe—and said, "Stand up on your feet." The man leapt to his feet and walked. An absolute miracle in the presence of all who were gathered.

But in verse 11, when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices in the speech of Lyconia and said, "The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men." Paul and Barnabas very likely did not understand the language of Lyconia. They were probably preaching in Greek, which the people of the region would have spoken, but they also had their own dialect. There was just this great excitement. No doubt Paul and Barnabas were excited too—the healed man is jumping up and down, and now all the people are excited. I'm sure Paul thought, "This is great!"—until they saw what the people were really excited about.

The Gods Come Down—Ancient and Modern

This may seem odd to us, but it was not abnormal to the Greeks. There are many such legends among ancient peoples where gods or beings from another place came down among the people. You might think that sounds strange 2,000 years later, but there are still people today who think such things. I did a search on Amazon this morning and found over 316,000 books about aliens and alien abductions. Even in our day we have this idea of extraterrestrials coming down among men.

The ancient Greeks called these beings gods, and this brings up a discussion the Bible actually addresses. Many people sincerely believe alien abductions are real—the very things the ancients may have called gods. Often these ancient legends are grounded in some wrinkle of truth. I do believe such things probably exist, but I would say they are demonic, not extraterrestrial.

Consider Genesis 6. Verse 4 mentions "giants"—an interesting word in Hebrew, nephilim, hard to translate. Most Bibles say "giants," but it could be rendered "fallen ones" or "those causing others to fall." The term "sons of God," ben Elohim, is applied elsewhere in the Old Testament to angelic beings; nowhere else is it applied to people. Some in the church say these were the godly descendants of Seth, but many ancient Jewish rabbis taught that these were fallen angels who came down and procreated with women, producing a corrupted line, the "men of renown," these giants. Interestingly, the Greeks and other ancient civilizations have similar legends about beings from above having children with the daughters of men, creating superhuman demigods.

In Jude verse 6, we read that God has reserved a special judgment for angels who left their first estate, the place He created for them to dwell. Verse 7 compares them to Sodom and Gomorrah, who gave themselves over to fornication and "strange flesh." This unnatural union produced unnatural offspring that corrupted the earth so deeply that God determined to destroy mankind with the flood. We often think the flood came simply because man went off toward sin, but this incident in Genesis 6 seems to play into it. And even today, those alien-abduction documentaries often describe very immoral things—demonic and immoral. In my opinion, it's the perfect setup: if in a moment we're all gone in the twinkling of an eye, the world will say the aliens abducted them.

The Problem with Trusting Miracles

This intrigues me: the one true God performed an awesome miracle, yet the people of Lystra attributed it to their foolish false gods. We often imagine that if God would only perform a miracle, our skeptical friend or family member would believe. I believe that to be wrong. We are very prone to misinterpret the awesome works of God. These people applied the miracle they saw with their own eyes to the gods they already worshipped. If your skeptical loved one saw God do a great miracle, they would say it was a natural phenomenon and attribute it to what they already know. Miracles are awesome and show the glory and power of God, but they are often misinterpreted by men.

The people called Barnabas Jupiter—some translations say Zeus—and they called Paul Mercury, or Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. In Greek mythology Zeus was the father of the gods, and Hermes was the herald, the speaker. The people already knew these two gods because of a legend that Zeus and Hermes had once visited their land disguised as mortals, and the people showed them no hospitality. In their anger, the gods wiped out the entire population of Lystra except two people. So you can see why these people were insistent on being hospitable now—the last time, they messed up.

We Are Apostles—Sent with a Message

The priest of Jupiter brought oxen and garlands to the gates and would have offered sacrifice. When Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and ran among the people crying out. Tearing one's clothes was a common Jewish way of showing grief or anger, but here they were saying, "We're just flesh and blood like you. We're just humans."

Notice verse 14 calls them "the apostles, Barnabas and Paul." This is an important concept. We usually reserve the title for the Twelve (minus Judas) and Paul, yet here Luke ascribes it to Barnabas as well. The word apostolos means "one sent with a message"—in one sense, a modern-day missionary. But not just overseas missionaries; God has called each of us and sent us out with a message. In that sense you are an apostle—not with authority to write Scripture, but as one God has called, equipped, and sent into the world. We are ambassadors of Christ.

When we gather on Sunday morning, we are not customers seeking good music, a cracker, some juice, and a pat on the bottom before being sent out the door. We gather to be equipped through the Word of God and prepared to go out into the ministry He's called us to. Jesus said, "All authority has been given to me... go into all the world and make disciples." You may say, "I don't have enough strength." That's okay—Jesus said, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." In Acts 2, when the body gathered, the Spirit was poured out and they went out preaching with boldness. We come together to be empowered by God's Spirit—because we leak—built up through fellowship, and then prepared to take the Word into the world. Ephesians 2 says God created good works beforehand that we should walk in them—good works prepared for this afternoon, tomorrow, next week. But we can only fulfill them if we are thoroughly equipped.

Turn from Your Vanities

Paul and Barnabas are ministering among a predominantly Greek culture, and in 2009 America and the modern world are shifting back into that same first-century Greek mindset. So Paul's message here is important for us. In verse 15 they cry, "Sirs, why do you do these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and we preach unto you."

First, Paul says: turn from these vanities. The word "vanities" means devoid of force, lacking truth and purpose—ultimately useless. Today there are thousands of worldviews and so-called truths, and those moving toward secular humanism look for something to create meaning and purpose for themselves. But their truth is devoid of force, purpose, and power. It's no different than what Isaiah saw 2,700 years ago.

In Isaiah 44, God speaks against the foolishness of idolatry. A man goes into the forest, finds the strongest tree, cuts it down, and while he's out there becomes cold and hungry. So he kindles a fire with part of the wood, bakes his bread, roasts his meat, warms himself—and then takes the rest of the same tree, fashions it into a god, falls down before it, and prays, "Deliver me, for you are my god." Where's the logic? Absolute foolishness. As the prophet says, "He feeds on ashes."

Psalm 115 says the same: "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but they do not speak, eyes but they do not see." Then verse 8: "They that make them are like unto them, and so is everyone that trusts in them." Every person in this world has devoted their life to something. The god you worship will become the god you serve with your time, money, and effort—and the god you serve will become the god you become. If your god is a foolish, dead, temporal thing, you will end up foolish and temporal, and you will die, and your god will profit you nothing. But this works the other way too: if you worship the one true God, you become more like Him, more like His Son, Jesus Christ.

Turn to the Living God, the Creator

For a person to turn from one thing, they must turn to another. So Paul says, "Turn from your vanities unto the living God." Paul and Barnabas make a clear contrast: the gods of Lystra were empty and dead, but the God they preach is alive, and His vitality is provable. Francis Schaeffer wrote a book years ago called The God Who Is There—God is there, and He is not silent.

Then Paul expounds: the living God "made heaven and earth and the sea and all the things that are therein." He is the Creator God. The very first thing we learn about God in the Bible is that He created (Genesis 1:1). People often ask how we can know the true religion among millions; yet only three religions believe in a creator God. And if science is honest, it proves creation. They won't tell you that in school, but physics proved years ago that the universe had a beginning. Evolutionists had to fit that proof, so they proposed a big bang. But what banged? Where did all that matter come from? Even Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, got tongue-tied in the documentary Expelled, admitting intelligence had to be involved—perhaps aliens "seeded" the earth. Time out: wouldn't you call that God?

Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of God; day unto day they utter speech, night unto night they show knowledge. David, 3,000 years ago, looked at the stars and said, "There's a God." Whether you look through a telescope at the immensity of space or through a microscope at the smallest things, you see God's handiwork. And verse 3 hits hard: "There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." Skeptics say it's unfair that not everyone has God's Word in their language—but God has given evidence through creation that every person, in every language, can see. Creation cries for man's attention and his devotion.

The Long-Suffering God

Fourth, verse 16 says God "in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways." He is the long-suffering God. Some wonder why they should turn to God, reasoning that if He really had a problem with how things are going, He would intervene—so He must condone it. Is that true? This is the mindset of the deist. The two most famous deists in our nation's founding—Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin—are always pointed to, while the other 54 signers (more than half of them seminary graduates, many of them preachers) are ignored. The deist believes God wound up the clock and walked away.

But Scripture says God is long-suffering. I think the God of the Old Testament often gets a bad rap. Christians say the Old Testament God was different—like some punk high-schooler looking for something to destroy. But if you actually read the Old Testament, you find Him merciful, gracious, and long-suffering. Enoch, fifth from Adam, prophesied that when his son died, judgment would come; so he named him Methuselah, whose name meant "when he dies, judgment." Methuselah became the oldest man in the Bible—969 years. That's God's grace: for nearly a thousand years he was a living testimony that judgment was coming. Yet nobody repented; only eight survived the flood.

God sent Israel into Canaan to destroy its peoples because of their sin—but He first gave them over 400 years to repent. Exodus 34 reveals God as merciful, gracious, and long-suffering, forgiving iniquity, yet by no means clearing the guilty. How many of you are thankful that God has been patient in your life? Peter says in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is "not slack concerning his promise... but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance."

The Revealed God

Fifth, verse 17 says, "He left not himself without witness." He is the revealed God—knowable, and desiring to be known. He didn't wind up the clock and twiddle His God-thumbs on the other side of the universe; He revealed Himself so we would know Him.

Paul expands this in Romans 1. The wrath of God is revealed against those who suppress the truth, "because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen... so that they are without excuse." God reveals Himself two ways: through the internal conscience—the moral law written on every heart that even a five-year-old feels when he knows he shouldn't kick the cat—and through creation around us. You have to nearly destroy yourself to silence that conscience; some have seared theirs with a hot iron, and that is a scary place to be.

Together, conscience and creation are sufficient evidence to leave man without excuse. But what does man do? Verse 21: "When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Verse 22 stands out in our education-obsessed culture: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools," exchanging the glory of God for images of corruptible man. Man is created to worship; idolatry is simply misplaced worship. When man rejects God, he doesn't stop worshipping—he worships something else. The debauchery, sin, and sickness in our culture is the result of rejecting God and misplacing worship.

The Loving and Benevolent God

Finally, verse 17 says He "did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." He is the loving and benevolent God. Look at the creation He's given—science can't even duplicate what it manufactures for us—and He gave it freely to all mankind, not just to a select few He liked.

This was crucial for Paul's audience. The Greeks served a multiplicity of gods, but for what they could get. Going to war, you'd sacrifice to Ares or Athena; for a good harvest, to Demeter; for health, to Apollo; for wealth, to Hades. But Paul reveals that the living God has already given in abundance, that we would recognize Him as the Giver and turn to Him in loving devotion. One author called it learning to worship like dogs. You feed your dog, clothe him, wash him, and what does he conclude? "You are God—you take care of me." Feed and care for a cat, and what does the cat conclude? "I am God." We have a loving and benevolent God.

Sadly, many bring this Greek mindset into their Christianity: "If I pray, go to church, and read my Bible, then God will do A through E for me." When things aren't going well, they think, "I just need to fast more," or even, "God, you're not doing this, so I'll go on a hunger strike until you do." But God is not one of those foolish, empty Greek gods to be ordered around. He is the living God who delights to give good gifts to His children so that we would seek Him—and He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. When you seek the one true God, you discover you are a sinner in need of salvation, and He has supplied that provision too, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Gospel Doesn't Guarantee Wholesale Repentance

We sometimes assume that if we simply preach the gospel, everyone will turn. But verse 18 says these sayings "scarce restrained" the people from sacrificing to Paul and Barnabas. Paul's preaching had power, yet it did not bring wholesale repentance in Lystra; it only barely kept them from offering sacrifices.

Worse, verse 19: certain Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, persuaded the crowds, and stoned Paul, dragging him outside the city and supposing him dead. Budding politicians, take note: public opinion changes fast. One day the crowd cries, "Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," and the next, "Crucify him." One day they wanted to sacrifice to Paul; soon after they stoned him. But as the disciples stood around him, he rose up and went right back into the city. I lean toward calling that outright boldness. The next day he and Barnabas wisely departed for Derbe.

Endurance Through Much Tribulation

After preaching in Derbe, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch—"confirming the souls of the disciples." Notice it doesn't say converts, but disciples—exhorting them to continue in the faith, "and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." That's probably not a top memory verse, but the Bible teaches that following Jesus is not easy. Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Paul wrote that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed in us—yet in this life we enter the kingdom through much tribulation.

Throughout Acts we see in Paul a man of extreme endurance for the cause of Christ. It amazes me how much we will endure in this life for things of little or no eternal value—jobs, sports, hobbies. If we'll commit wholeheartedly to those, how much more should our lives be devoted to the cause of Christ? They eventually passed through Pisidia and Pamphylia, preached in Perga, and sailed back to Antioch, "from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled." They finished the work the church had sent them to do, gathered the church, and rehearsed all that God had done and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

The Same Message for Our Day

We live in a similar Greek-cultured society today, and Paul's message is the very one we must study, commit to our hearts, and speak boldly. People have devoted themselves to vain things with no force, purpose, or ultimate end. But we know the living God, the Creator of all things—long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, who has revealed Himself that we might know Him, loving and benevolent, desiring that we come to Him. That's the message we carry.

It may not bring wholesale repentance from everyone you talk to, but many people out there need to hear the Word of God and to recognize that the God of the Bible is not a quid pro quo God. Every other religion says, "Do these good works, and then He'll save you." Not the God of the Bible. All He desires is that we would seek Him and follow Him.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank you for your word. We thank you as a church that you sent your Son—you spared not your only Son—that we would have fellowship with one another, but ultimately fellowship and peace with you, the one true God. Lord, would you give us boldness as we prepare to go from here to speak the truth to everyone we come in contact with, that they also may know the God who is there. We praise you and we thank you. And I thank you for forgiving me for going over, and I pray the church would as well. In Jesus' name, Amen.