The Church that Celebrates

Jan 25

We have been reading about Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey in our family time each night this week. It’s perfect timing in how it lines up with our series about the church after God’s own heart, because it is out of the church at Antioch that Paul and Barnabas were sent on their first missionary journey. We actually were going to talk about that calling and sending out today, but God had different plans, and I thank Him for it.

Friday night, something stood out to me while I was reading the text to the kids. Paul and Barnabas felt compelled to go back to Antioch to tell them all that God had done on their missionary journey (Acts 14:26-27). What stood out to me was we had just got done talking to our kids about what stoning was. Paul was stoned and left for dead, and they asked what that meant, that the people stoned him (Acts 14:19). It seemed to not fit to me, that Paul and Barnabas would be so excited to bring such a great report back to the church that sent them out because they faced such harsh opposition.

There are so many things that went wrong from a missionary perspective on Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey.

A sorcerer fiercely opposed them. Elymas the sorcerer did everything he could to block the Roman proconsul from believing, trying to wreck the huge open door God had just given them. (Acts 13:6–11)
John Mark deserted them. Their teammate suddenly bailed in Perga and headed back home to Jerusalem, leaving Paul and Barnabas to carry on short-handed right in the thick of things. (Acts 13:13)
The Jews became violently jealous and abusive. They got so jealous seeing the crowds that they contradicted Paul’s every word and threw insults at him in front of everybody. (Acts 13:45)
They were driven out of the region. Jewish leaders rallied important women, city officials, and leading men until persecution broke out and Paul and Barnabas were forced to leave the whole area. (Acts 13:50)
Their message was deliberately poisoned. Unbelieving Jews worked hard to turn the Gentiles against them, making it really tough for anyone to listen or respond openly. (Acts 14:2)
The city divided against them. The whole population split right down the middle. Some people sided with the Jews, and a large group turned hostile toward Paul and Barnabas. (Acts 14:4)
A plot formed to stone them. Gentiles and Jews, along with the city leaders, got together and planned to mistreat them and stone them to death, so they had to slip away fast in order to save their lives. (Acts 14:5–6)
The crowd tried to worship them as gods. After a healing in Lystra, the people decided Barnabas was Zeus and Paul was Hermes, and they came close to offering sacrifices to them, putting Paul and Barnabas in a really difficult and spiritually messed-up spot. (Acts 14:11–18)
Paul was stoned and left for dead. Jews came all the way from Antioch and Iconium, stirred up the crowd, stoned Paul until he collapsed, dragged his body outside the city, and left him there thinking he was dead. (Acts 14:19)
They faced many hardships everywhere. Even as they went back through those same dangerous towns to encourage the new believers, they straight-up told them, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)

You look at those negatives and think, "Wow, how did they even keep going?" Any missionary who faced those would think, “What are we doing here? I think we made a wrong decision.” Or “We’re the worst missionaries of all time!” Desertion, stonings, getting run out of town. The difficulties are constant from start to finish. But the crazy thing is, the same journey that had all that pain also had some of the most incredible God-moments in the early church. God was moving powerfully even while the opposition was intense. That’s how God works.

Here's the other half of the story. The part that made it all worth it. The part that drove Paul and Barnabas to say, “We’ve got to go back to Antioch to tell them all that has happened!” And the “all that has happened” wasn’t all the bad stuff.

The Holy Spirit sent them out. While the church in Antioch was worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly: “Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work I’ve called them to.” After more prayer and laying on of hands, the whole church sent them off. (Acts 13:2–4)
They started strong preaching in the synagogues. Right away in Salamis they got into the Jewish meeting places and shared the word, with John Mark right there helping them. (Acts 13:5)
A high-ranking Roman official believed. Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus (a smart, influential guy) asked to hear the message, saw God’s power shut down the sorcerer, and put his faith in Jesus. He was blown away by the teaching. (Acts 13:7, 12)
Paul shut Elymas down with a miracle. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul called the sorcerer out and struck him blind for a season. That cleared the way and showed everyone God was backing them. (Acts 13:9–11)
The synagogue leaders invited Paul to speak. After the Scripture reading, the rulers basically said, “Brothers, if you’ve got any word of encouragement for the people, go ahead.” (Acts 13:15)
The crowd begged them to come back next week. As they walked out, people kept pressing them: “Please say more of this next Sabbath!” (Acts 13:42)
Lots of people followed and continued in God’s grace. A solid group of Jews and God-fearing Gentiles tagged along with them, and Paul and Barnabas kept urging everyone to continue in God’s grace. (Acts 13:43)
Almost the entire city showed up. The next Sabbath the word got around so fast that practically everybody in Pisidian Antioch came to hear the message about the Lord. (Acts 13:44)
Gentiles were thrilled and believed in droves. When the Gentiles heard they were included, they were overjoyed, praised the word, and everyone God had appointed for eternal life trusted in Jesus. (Acts 13:48)
The gospel spread across the whole area. The message didn’t stay in the city. It broke out and reached everywhere around the whole region. (Acts 13:49)
New believers overflowed with joy and the Spirit. Even with trouble stirring, the fresh disciples were filled with real joy and the Holy Spirit’s presence. (Acts 13:52)
A large crowd believed in Iconium. They went straight into the synagogue again, spoke so clearly and powerfully that a huge number of Jews and Greeks believed. (Acts 14:1)
God backed them with miracles. The Lord gave them power to do signs and wonders among the people, proving the message of His grace was true. (Acts 14:3)
A lame man was instantly healed. In Lystra, Paul looked straight at a man who’d never walked in his life, saw faith in him, told him to stand up, and the guy jumped to his feet and started walking around. (Acts 14:8–10)
They won a large number of disciples in Derbe. After getting out of the danger zone, they went to Derbe, preached the good news, and saw tons of people become followers. (Acts 14:21)
They went back to encourage the new churches. They bravely returned through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples, telling them to press on, and reminding them that we enter God’s kingdom through many tribulations. (Acts 14:22)
They set up leaders in every church. In each place they’d planted believers, they appointed elders, prayed and fasted with them, and entrusted them to the Lord they’d come to trust. (Acts 14:23)
They reported God opened the door to Gentiles. When they got back to Antioch, they called the whole church together and told them everything God had done, but especially how He’d opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. (Acts 14:27)
They stayed a long while with the believers. After all that, they settled in Antioch for a long while, spending time with the disciples there. (Acts 14:28)

Looking at both lists side by side, you see the pattern. There was hard opposition almost everywhere, but God kept pushing the gospel forward anyway. Lives were changed, churches were started, and the message of the gospel reached people who’d never heard it before. That’s what made the journey worth every difficult moment.

Y’all, it’s the same with us. We have been gifted the gospel. What a precious, undeserved gift. And we’ve also been entrusted with the gospel. Even amidst difficulty, we must go forward in faith and with grace.

Antioch was a church where the good news was lived out and celebrated. We must be the same. Quit looking at the negative. If you don’t, you will never see how God is at work right now all around you.