This sermon will be a study of Acts 14:1-28. It is entitled: Through Many Tribulations. In this next stage of Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey, they travel from Pisidian Antioch to Iconium and then, on from there to Lystra and then Derbe. What we will see is that the gospel, this great news of God’s saving grace for both Jews and Gentiles, frequently receives a mixed response. In fact, I think we could fairly say that the gospel receives both a beautiful response and a brutal response. It's beautiful because many people come to faith in Christ and churches get established through this journey. It’s brutal because the apostles repeatedly have to flee for their lives. Paul almost loses his life on this leg of the trip.
Patrick Schreiner writes “Luke demonstrates how the opposition to Paul and Barnabas grows as their ministry grows. Triumph is accompanied with persecution. Victory through suffering is the contour of their ministry.” That’s quite the line, “victory through suffering is the contour of their ministry.” Suffering and salvation go hand in hand.
I think all of us as Christians recognize that we live in an extremely polarized world. What is helpful for us to realize is that this is not something new. In fact, the gospel polarizes people whether it is in our cities, our workplaces, our schools, or our families. Especially when the gospel advances into new territory, it often encounters strong reactions both positively and negatively. Whatever the reactions are, we need to remember that the goal of gospel mission and ministry is not popularity. It is faithfulness. All of us have people in our lives who need to hear the gospel. However, as we share the gospel and live out the gospel, we need to realize opposition and hostility is not uncommon and neither does it end our ministry. It just means that we need to learn how to remain faithful to the calling no matter what the response is or how strong the reaction to the gospel may be.
Come and join us as we consider how to serve the Lord faithfully when victory through suffering is the contour of our ministry.
