An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 14:11-23, titled “The Truth, for Sunday September 15, 2024. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: You might start your lesson this week by sharing a mission update: perhaps your church sponsors a missionary overseas, or you have someone on a mission trip, or are planting a mission church. If so, take this opportunity to share the most recent report of what they are up to. If you need help with that, I’m sure your pastor or missions director would be glad to get you some info to share in your class Sunday.

You might even ask your group members to share if they have any relatives or others they know who are serving on mission, and if they can give a brief report of their work.

However you open, then you could say: this week we get a “mission report” on the work of Paul & Barnabas in Acts 14.

CONTEXT

Paul & Barnabas are still on what we call their “First Missionary Journey.” In Acts 13 we saw how they were called on mission and left Antioch, and went through Cyprus, and landed in what is now Turkey. Last week we saw how they ministered in Pisidian Antioch (the city of Antioch which is in Pisidia, distinct from the Antioch they left to go on the mission).

Now in Chapter 14 they have come to Iconium. 

Again, I’d make sure to have a good MAP you can use with your class so they have an idea in their minds of where all this is — otherwise they may just be confused by a bunch of “city names” that they can’t really envision where they are. 

At the end of Chapter 13, Paul & Barnabas had been driven out of Pisidian Antioch by the jealous Jews and those they incited against them, and it says they came to Iconium. They experienced a similar thing there, and were driven out to the area of the cities of Lystra and Derbe (which I would show on the map.) This is where we find them this week, in Acts 14:11-23. I would definitely include :8-10 in your introduction, as it is the precursor to all that happens: Paul healed a lame man when they got there at Lystra. That is where our focus passage opens this week.

OUTLINE

I. Deflecting the Glory (:11-15a)

II. Preaching the Gospel (:15b-18)

III Experiencing the Persecution (:19-20)

IV. Establishing the Churches (:21-23)

TEXT:

I.  Deflecting the Glory (:11-15a)

“When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.” 12 And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, [h]Hermes, because he was [i]the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was [j]just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out 15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you …”

It seems to be part of our fallen nature as human beings to make idols out of people 

Romans 1:22-23 talks about this: “Professing to be wise, they became fools, (:23) and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

ONE of the things that verse says we “exchange” for the worship of God, is “corruptible man.” We have a tendency to idolize people, and “put them on a pedestal.”

Upon George Washington’s re-occupation of New York City after the defeat of the British in 1783, “An anonymous versifier penned an overcharged ode celebrating the occasion, printed on handbills and to be sung to the melody of the then familiar Moravian hymn, ‘He Comes! He Comes With A Trumpet Sound!’:

… He comes! ’Tis mighty WASHINGTON!

Words fail to tell all he has done;

Our Hero, Guardian, Father, Friend!

His fame can never, never end …’”

(Stanley Weintraub, General Washington’s Christmas Farewell, p. 47)

Putting these words about George Washington to a Christian hymn about the coming of the Lord is awfully close to, if not outright idolatry! 

??? IN what ways do people today make idols out of other people??? (Or are there some ways that we might come dangerously CLOSE to it?!)

— military heroes, like they did Washington

— sports heroes 

— movie actors and actresses

— politicians

— even doctors (think they will heal them/have all the answers)

— pastors/preachers/ministers of all kinds: put them up on a “pedestal” as if they were perfect — and none are! “We are but men …”

So what was Paul & Barnabas’ response to this attempted worship of them: 

:14 “tore their robes”

+x other places in scripture where this action is employed:

— II Sam. 1:11-12 “Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so also did all the men who were with him. 12 They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan …”

— II Kings 2:12 “And he (Elisha) saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.”

— Job 1:20 “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.”

— Matthew 26:65 “65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed!”

So we can see in all these instances (and there are more) that “tearing robes” is an expression of mourning.

This shows how Paul & Barnabas did NOT take this lightly. It was no small thing to them to be thought to be gods by these people. It was horrifying. It led them to mourn and tear their clothes.

We may need to be reminded today that receiving adulation from people is not “fun;” or a “neat” thing; it is not to be cultivated or enjoyed, but absolutely refused, like Paul & Barnabas did here.

We see more from the scripture regarding this tendency to idolize men: earlier in Acts 12, Herod gave a speech to the people of Tyre and Sidon, and following his speech, it says in :22 “The people kept crying out, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’” And the next verse says “And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”

So there’s a CLEAR CONTRAST between the responses of Paul, and Herod, to the attempted adulation of the people:

— PAUL shut them down, telling them, “We are but men …”

— HEROD on the other hand, did NOT give God glory — and he suffered the consequence of it! 

So this is a warning to us today: NEVER LET ANYONE PUT YOU ON A PEDESTAL. And do not seek to GIVE that kind of adulation to anyone either. ONLY GOD is to be worshiped: that’s the First Commandment in Exodus 20, “You shall love the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” All of us are merely men. And if you put somebody up on a pedestal, you are setting either yourself or them up for a big fall — and perhaps both!

THEN notice that he says “We are but men OF THE SAME NATURE AS YOU.” Paul & Barnabas did not even consider themselves to be inherently better than these people were. They were of the same nature as them: a SINFUL nature. This is one of the most fundamental truths of scripture: the fallen nature of man into sin

Baptist Faith & Message 2000 statement, Article III on the doctrine of Man:

“By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation.” 

Ever since the Garden, we have all been born with a sin nature

And of course this episode is one example of that! Here are people with that sin nature, so ready to worship man instead of God. 

II. Preaching the Gospel (:15b-18)  

“… and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; 17 and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even saying these things, with difficulty they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

Several things here:

— First Paul said, we “preach the gospel to you.” “Gospel” of course literally means “good news.” It’s good news that you don’t have to try to bring out costly sacrifices for every god that you think is coming to town, to keep the rain coming, or to prevent catastrophe from raining down on you. It’s good news that we don’t have to work to earn our salvation, but that God has GIVEN it to us as a free gift, through Jesus’ death on the cross! This is good news! 

And this Gospel is what we need to share with people. Remember, our message is NOT:

— that we have a good church

— that we have friendly people

— that we can teach them American values and economics

Or any other thing. Remember Paul elaborated on what the Gospel was in I Corinthians 15:1+, and centers on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sin: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” THAT is the heart of the gospel. That is what we should seek to share. We can say good and encouraging things to people, and build bridges — and those things are good; do them — but I never feel like I’ve shared “the Gospel” unless I’ve mentioned the death of Christ on the cross. That is the heart of the Gospel. 

— Also here we see that the Gospel involves repentance: he emphasized “you should turn from these things.” You can’t keep worshiping men and other false gods, and serve the one true God. You must turn from these to serve Him.

India is called the Land of 100 million gods, in Hinduism. Someone said it is not difficult to talk them into worshiping one more God named Jesus! What’s 100 million and one! But when you tell them you must turn from the others, that is the difficulty!  I heard of one young Hindu man who asked a Christian: “Does this mean I have to take my idol off my mantle?” What’s the answer to that? YES! We see that here in Acts 14. “You should turn from these things. There must be repentance from our sinful ways, including false gods and everything else. Emphasize that repentance is absolutely required in the Gospel. Remember Acts 20, “repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

This is a good reminder to people today: Christianity is not just a matter of “adding Jesus to your life.” No, He comes in to be the one and only God of your life! No other person, possession, or priority is to take His place. “You shall have no other gods before Me,” the First Commandment says. So we need to emphasize this when we speak to people today, just like Paul & Barnabas did here in Acts 14. 

— Paul does not actually get to the cross of Christ in this brief message (probably because he is so busy trying to restrain them from worshiping him!) but he does begin to point them to the one true God, as opposed to the idols and false gods they’ve been serving:

— He tells them to turn from these “vain” things (word literally means ….) “to the LIVING God.” Idols are dead. But God is alive. He’s the One true, living God, not one of these dead idols.

You could the story of a state Baptist leader I know who told about time he was on mission. His taxi driver had a little Hindu god on his dashboard. He asked the man to tell him about his god, and he did. Then the drive said “Tell me about your God.” This man said: “Well, for one, He doesn’t fit on the dashboard!”

We don’t serve vain, empty idols. We serve the God who made heaven and earth with a word. He spoke it into being and all the angels shouted for joy. 

— Also: Paul’s not just making a general statement about Creation either. When he said, “He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens,” he was QUOTING Jeremiah 10:11 from the Old Testament. So he was using scripture to witness to these people — important for us to do. This is why it’s important for us to memorize scripture; so that we can use it when we share with other people as God opens up doors for us. 

— In :17 Paul refers to the providences of God that we all enjoy on earth: “He did good, and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

He’s saying, all these things that you enjoy? They come from God. And not just “any” god, the one true living God, the God of the Gospel that Paul is preaching. 

James says “every good thing and every perfect gift comes from above.” It’s not “luck;” it’s not “karma;” it’s GOD. Thank HIM. Point people to HIM.  That’s what Paul & Barnabas did here, and through their mission work. They pointed people to God. They shared the gospel. We need to remember that is what WE are here to do as well: point people to God. Share the Gospel!

III.  Experiencing The Persecution (:19-20)

:19 “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. (:20) But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe.”

Weren’t these Jews really zealous: think about it: not only did they persecute the missionaries in THEIR city, they followed them to other cities and persecuted them THERE!

Sometimes we Christians could take a page from the zeal of other religions. Not that we should hunt down and persecute other religions. But often the care and the zeal people in false religions demonstrate in serving a lie, is far greater than what most of us show in serving the truth.   

We’ve talked about this before in the Book of Acts: the Christians continually experienced persecution. Paul later wrote to Timothy (who was saved on one of these mission trips in Lystra, by the way) that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (II Tim. 3:12)

This still happens today in much of the world:

— Our church supports Acts India Mission, which trains pastors in India. A few months ago, six of the pastors were arrested and charged with “proselyting,” or converting Hindu and other religions to Christianity. This kind of persecution is common there in this land of over 1 billion people. 

— My sister returned this week to the mission field in a country I can’t name in Asia. A young man there, she called “Mr. S,” had been saved. But when he shared the gospel with his family, he told them that worshipping their ancestors was wrong, and this greatly angered his family.  Many members came to him individually afterwards and tried to convince him to leave his new faith. His father told him that he must choose between following Jesus, and his family.  He said that he loved them both. His father then told him that he was not allowed to return to the capital city to study. But a few days later, his mother sent him back. But his parents will no longer help to support him financially anymore.  She asked for prayer for Mr. S to continue obeying God — and also that his family might come to know Jesus.  

But these kinds of persecutions go on all over the world — and we may begin to experience them more commonly here in days ahead as well. 

You might ask your group for discussion: ??? Have any of you, or someone you know, experience persecution for sharing their faith???

Another question maybe not so much for “discussion” as for personal introspection: ??? Has there been any persecution or threat that has ever kept me from sharing the gospel??? (Or that tempted you not to share the gospel?) Let’s ask God for the same kind of courage to continue to share, that Paul and Barnabas showed.

IV.  Establishing the Churches (:21-23)

“After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” 23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

One way to approach this section would be to ask your group:

??? What all things do you see in this section, that Paul & Barnabas did to establish and strengthen the new churches???

— :21 “after they had preached the gospel to that city.”

This is one of THE single most important things we can do in any ministry setting: preach the gospel. We saw earlier that Paul & Barnabas did that — they preached the gospel in Lystra. They do that again here. 

Churches today should seek to share the gospel in their city too! It’s not only important for the people who need to HEAR the gospel, but also for the people who need to share it. Some time ago I heard someone say the best effect of the old EE and CWT visitation programs was not necessarily the “decisions” they rendered, but the theological training it built into all the people who share it. Looking back I think that was true for me. It strengthens a church, and an individual Christian, to share the gospel.

We need to be reminded that it’s not only the lost who need to hear the gospel. We ALL need to be reminded of the gospel, every day. Pray the gospel in our prayers: remind yourself that you’re a sinner, only saved by God’s grace; thank Him for that.

Jerry Bridges made famous the expression: “preach the gospel to yourself every day.” We all need it, every day. Like the old hymn says:

“I love to tell the story, for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, ’twill be the old, old story, that I have loved so long.” 

— “and had made many disciples”

DISCIPLES not converts. “mathetes” — learners — the same word Jesus uses in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20

Teaching God’s word to people is one of THE most important things we can do to strengthen our churches. One of the biggest problems of this generation is Biblical illiteracy. Teach the word! Thank God you are doing this in you Sunday School class or Life Group. Keep it up.  

— We see more of what this involves in :22 “strengthening the souls of the disciples”

The word “strengthening” here means to “prop up,” “uphold,” “support.” The first thing that comes to my mind regarding this word happened this week, when my wife Cheryl had a stroke. At first we did not know she had had a stroke, she had been taking some medication and we thought that she was just weak. So when she needed to go down the hallway, I put my arm around her shoulder and walked her down. She could hardly do it on her own; I had to “prop her up;” “uphold her;” “support her.” 

This sheds a lot of light on this word in my view. A new Christian can barely keep themselves upright. So they need someone to come alongside and “prop them up” and “uphold them.” 

Look around your church. Is there someone the Lord would convict you to “prop up” and “support” in their faith? Maybe a new Christian? Maybe a struggling older Christian. Help “strengthen their souls” and “prop them up”!

— “encouraging them to continue in the faith …”

The word “encouraging” here is “parakaleo” in Greek, one of the great Bible pictures: “one calling alongside” — like a football coach running down the sideline while his running back sprints down the field, calling, “Go! Go!” That’s what we should do for each other in the church. Encourage them. 

Again, I have seen in my wife Cheryl this week, being encouraged by so many people in our church who have sent her messages, called, came by, brought us things. And as she started rehab, those folks were just SO encouraging for every little thing she did. Once she said, “I function off of praise.” I think that’s true for a lot of us. We need encouraging words. Our churches should be the most encouraging places in the world. People should leave encouraged — not just by the music and the message — but by all of God’s people who are just “running alongside” encouraging them to run the Christian race.

— Then it says: “they appointed elders in every church, having prayed with fasting.” Leadership is vital. Here’s another balance (I’m working on that book on “Balance in the Christian Life”!) On the one hand, we don’t want to put our pastors on pedestals — but on the other hand, leadership in our churches is extremely important. We need God’s men to lead our churches. How do we find them? There’s one important thing in this verse, isn’t there, and we talked about it in Acts 13: it says they “prayed with fasting.” Again, as Baptists we are good about eating — and there’s a place for it; the disciples in Acts ate together a lot — but there is also a place for fasting. If you are searching for a pastor, do what the Bible models here: “pray with fasting.” God may just give you that breakthrough that way. 

— Finally “they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” The word “commended” means to “place before,” like you would set a meal before someone. This is the best thing we can do: set that person before the Lord. PRAY for them. Bring them to Him. We should do everything we can do — all of the above things we’ve been talking about — but ultimately it is GOD’s power, not ours, which will make the difference in the lives of people. 

This is true for disciples in our church — as well as family members: spouses, kids, grandkids — the most important thing we can do for them, is to “commend them to the Lord.” “Set them before Him,” that He might pour out His power and blessing upon them. “Set them before Him!”

___________________________________________________

— I hope that you will set my wife Cheryl & I before the Lord this week — we need it! And if you’ll write something in the Comments section below, I’ll be sure to pray for your and your group and any specific requests you mention, by name this week. It is one of my greatest joys to do that.

— If you’ll type your email in the “Follow blog via email” blank on my blog home page, WordPress will automatically send you next week’s video and you won’t have to search for it.

Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

— Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com  and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

— If you have questions about Explore the Bible resources you may send emails to explorethebible@lifeway.com