AT ICONIUM PAUL and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. 2But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. 4The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. 6But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7where they continued to preach the good news.
8In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” 18Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
21They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 23Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
26From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
Original Meaning
CHAPTER 14 RECORDS further activities of Paul and Barnabas in south Galatia, where they visit the cities of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. At the end of this chapter, they retrace their route in Galatia and eventually sail back to Antioch. They report to the church there the great things that “God had done through them” (v. 27).
Ministry in Iconium (14:1–7)
ICONIUM (MODERN KONYA) was and still is an important junction along which the east-west road from Syria to Ephesus passed. It was about ninety miles southeast of Pisidian Antioch, and Paul and Barnabas continued on the Via Sebastethat brought them to Antioch. Lystra was less than twenty miles southwest of Iconium. The sixty-three miles from Lystra to Derbe was on unpaved track.1 The story of how this chapter helped the great archaeologist Sir William Ramsay to come to believe in the trustworthiness of the New Testament is described in the Introduction.
Paul and Barnabas followed their “usual” practice of going first to the local synagogue (v. 1). Many Jews and Gentiles believed, which resulted in opposition from the Jews who did not believe (v. 2; cf. 13:50; 14:19; 17:5–9). But Paul and Barnabas persevered with the ministry of the word and of miracles (v. 3); the latter were a confirmation from God of the message preached. The confirmatory role of miracles is implied in the believers’ request to God in 4:30 to send miracles to their ministry and is illustrated in the conversion of Sergius Paulus after Elymas was struck blind (13:12), but here it is explicitly stated. The gospel caused the city to be divided (v. 4), and a plot against Paul and Barnabas forced them to flee to Lystra and Derbe (v. 5).
Ministry in Lystra and Derbe (14:8–21a)
THE HEALING OF the cripple with which the account of the ministry in Lystra begins probably took place sometime after Paul and Barnabas had arrived in Lystra, for it is clear that by the time Paul was stoned, there were already believers in the city who went to his aid (v. 20). The report of the miracle has remarkable similarities to the healing at the temple gate (3:2–10). Both the subjects were born lame. Paul looked directly at the cripple, just as Peter and John did (14:9; cf. 3:4). Both men jumped up after being healed (14:10; cf. 3:8). Both are said to have had the faith to be healed (14:9; cf. 3:16). In both cases the preachers had to divert the attention from themselves to God (14:15; cf. 3:12).
Identification of Paul and Barnabas with Zeus and Hermes (vv. 11–12) is understandable, for “Zeus was the most widely worshipped God in Galatia. . . . [and] was often linked with other gods. In the territory of Lystra there are carvings and inscriptions which show Zeus accompanied by Hermes.”2 The frenzied response of the Lystrans may be traced to an ancient legend retold by Ovid (43 B.C.–A.D. 17) in his Metamorphosis. Zeus and Hermes once visited the Phrygian hill country disguised as ordinary men. They were turned away from a thousand homes where they sought lodging, but were finally taken in by an elderly couple into their humble home. The gods turned that house into a temple and destroyed all the houses that had rejected them.3
Paul and Barnabas could not understand what was being said by the people since they were shouting “in the Lycaonian language” (v. 11). This accounts for their delayed response to plans to offer sacrifices to them. When they found this out, their response was swift and typically Jewish (v. 14). “Jewish people were required to tear their clothes when they heard blasphemy.”4 It was an opposite reaction to Herod when he was equated to a god (12:22–23).
Paul uses the situation to launch into a witness to the gospel, stating that he and Barnabas are presenting a much more sublime message than can be obtained from “these worthless things” (v. 15, i.e., either idols or the sacrifices being prepared). This is the first speech in Acts presented to an audience that has not been influenced by a Jewish synagogue and its beliefs. Thus, Paul has to start at the beginning with information that those influenced by biblical religion already knew. His approach is clearly to distinguish the Lord God from the pagan gods by pointing out that he is Creator of everything that there is (v. 15), whose influence as sustainer of creation is felt throughout the whole world (vv. 16–17). He is also the living God, who calls us to turn to him in repentance (v. 15).
But once again we find Jews opposing the ministry of Paul and Barnabas. This time they have traveled from Antioch, 110 miles away, and Iconium, 20 miles away, indicating the urgency with which they were ready to stamp out this work. In crisp language Luke reports an event that, when we think deeply about it, proves to be an amazing occurrence: “They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead” (v. 19b; see 2 Cor. 11:25).
In my study of this verse I considered the psychological factor behind it (though avoiding psychologizing) by meditating on what it must have meant to be treated in this way.5 What must Paul have felt as he was being stoned? The results of my meditation were shocking. We usually hurry through this passage to look for some devotional or theological application. But in order to enter into the spirit of Acts, it may help us to sense what the early Christians went through, for that will give a key to how the gospel went out in its first few decades. When a person is stoned until he becomes unconscious and is then dragged out of the city, perhaps deeper than the physical pain is the mental anguish and the pain of utter humiliation.
Yet at this dark hour, there is support from the new believers of Lystra, who “gathered around” Paul and “went back into the city” with him (v. 20). What a source of comfort this must have been to him.6 He and Barnabas leave the next day for Derbe. The pain of being wounded and humiliated does not dampen enthusiasm for the mission God has given them. The message they preach in Derbe is still “the good news,” even though it has caused bad experiences. The Lord blesses their efforts with “a large number of disciples” (14:21), and there is no mention of opposition here. When we note Paul’s faithful perseverance at great cost, we can perhaps understand his impatience with Mark, who deserted them at the start of this leg of their journey.
Return Visits to Churches and Antioch (14:21b–28)
THEIR RETURN JOURNEY took Paul and Barnabas through the three towns they had just ministered at: Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch (v. 21). They had been expelled from one of them (13:50) and had fled from the other two (vv. 6, 20). But this time they went in a new role in follow-through care of the converts rather than in pioneering evangelism. Four important truths are given about this ministry of follow-through care. (1) They strengthened the disciples (v. 22a).
(2) They exhorted (parakaleo) them to remain in the faith (v. 22b, lit.).
(3) They warned them about approaching hardship in a statement that implies that hardship is a necessary requirement along the path to the kingdom. It literally reads, “Through many tribulations it is necessary (dei) for us to enter the kingdom of God” (v. 22c). The word “many” (pollon)“expresses not mere quantity or number but variety.”7 This idea of variety in suffering is more clearly expressed in James 1:2, which uses the word poikilois (“various kinds of”) with trials. The word for “trials” (thlipsis) means “trouble involving direct suffering.”8 Paul implies that Christians will not sail through trouble with consummate ease. Rather, they will struggle with difficult hardships of various kinds.
(4) Paul and Barnabas helped the new churches get organized by setting up a leadership team (v. 23). The leaders are called “elders” (presbyteros),a word that occurs sixty-six times in the New Testament. It was used originally for the Jewish leaders, and it occurs with this meaning in Acts (see 4:5, 8, 23; 6:12; etc.). Without explanation the word is suddenly used for the elders of the Jerusalem church in 11:30. The next use within a Christian context is the present passage, after which it appears in Acts eight more times to refer to the elders of the church and three more times to refer to the Jewish elders. The elders appointed by Paul and Barnabas are committed to the Lord, and once more the commissioning of leaders is accompanied by prayer and fasting (14:23b; cf. 1:24–25; 6:6; 10:9–16; 13:2–3).
The journey of Paul and Barnabas back to Antioch takes them through Perga, from where they had started their journey up to the mountains of southern Galatia. We do not know whether they had preached there on their earlier visit, but they definitely did so on this return visit (v. 25a). From there they went to Attalia and finally sailed back “home” to Antioch, having completed the task they were commissioned to do (v. 26). The church must have been thrilled to hear the report of their mission (v. 27) and happy that “they stayed there a long time with the disciples” (v. 28). The Greek word for “disciple” (mathetes, lit., “learner”) has now become a favorite term to refer to Christians, appearing four times in this chapter (vv. 20, 21, 22, 28) and twenty-eight times in Acts (it appears over 250 times in the Gospels).
Bridging Contexts
RESPONDING TO OPPOSITION. This chapter gives us several features about the opposition early Christians faced that can be instructive to us today. While many things have changed since the first century, there are many similarities between the way people opposed the gospel and its proclaimers then and the way they do so now. The way the church responded to opposition can also be instructive to us. (1) Just as the people of Iconium were divided over the gospel (v. 4), communities today can also become divided when we share the gospel with them. This is in keeping with the words of Christ, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34).
(2) We see the powerful way in which a mob can be swayed from adoration to contempt in such a short time (vv. 11–19). The sudden change in the attitude of the mob is reminiscent of the change that took place in Jerusalem when the crowd that had welcomed him as they would a king (Luke 19:37–38), shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (23:21) less than a week later.
(3) We find these bold proclaimers of the gospel taking evasive action and fleeing from places of danger (v. 6; cf. v. 20). They were certainly not timid, for even after the Gentiles were stirred up and their minds poisoned (v. 2), Paul and Barnabas “spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord” (v. 3). But when staying on would do more harm than good, they left the area. Though Paul left Lystra, we know that the church there survived the ordeal so that he visited them on his way back (14:21), and then visited them again on his next missionary journey (16:1). He recruited his beloved assistant Timothy from there (16:1–3). Though he left the place, he seems to have made arrangements for the survival of the church. All this suggests that while boldness is a prerequisite for effective evangelism, there are times when wisdom suggests that we move away temporarily from an explosive situation.
Sensing faith to heal. Luke comments that Paul “saw that [the lame man] had faith to be healed” and that this was what made him call out to him to stand up (vv. 9–10). Apparently Paul had a special gift that enabled him to discern whether he should pray for healing or not. The fact that he decided to do so in this case because the man had the faith to be healed suggests that even Paul did not pray for the miraculous healing of every sick person he encountered.
Is an abiding principle to be gleaned from the fact that Paul prayed for the lame man only after he saw that he had faith to be healed? Can ordinary Christians also see this? Or is this an ability given to those who have received the gift of healing? I tend to think that Paul was given a special ability in keeping with his gift of miraculous healing. But that does not eliminate others without this gift from praying for healing. Spiritual principles operate with heightened intensity in those who have special gifts, but many of these principles are open to all believers. Those who do not have the special gift of faith also need to exercise faith in their daily walk with God. But they may not be called to lead God’s people into special exploits where they launch out in faith to do the impossible. In the same way we may not sense faith the way Paul did here, and thus we may not at a public meeting suddenly call out to a lame person to stand up. But we still can pray for the sick.
Proclaiming the gospel to the totally unreached. This passage contains the first report of a message given to a group that did not have a preparatory influence from the Jewish faith (vv. 15–18). It gives us an important key to ministering with such a group: Begin at the beginning by explaining who God is. This principle and others appear in more detail in Paul’s ministry in Athens (17:16–31). We will look at this topic in greater depth there.
Four features of follow-through care. Acts 2:42 gave four basic practices of follow-through care of new converts in the Jerusalem church: teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Luke’s summary of what Paul and Barnabas did when they revisited the cities of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch presents four more items in the process of follow-through care (14:21–23). Actually the first three items in this list can be considered amplifications of 2:42. “Strengthening” is what happened through all four items in 2:42, and the “encouraging” (exhortation) and warning about coming hardship in 14:22 can be included under “teaching” in the earlier list. The fourth feature in this list, the appointing of elders, was not necessary in the Jerusalem church because it already had the twelve apostles as its elders.
It is possible that the three points that follow the first feature—“strengthening” (v. 22)—describe how the strengthening was accomplished.9 This brings us to Luke’s statement “encouraging them to remain true to the faith.” While the word used here (parakaleo) can mean encourage, the encouraging would have included exhortation. “Exhortation” is another way to translate parakaleo. Charles Carter explains that exhorting “was primarily hortatory, and its appeal was mainly to the emotions and will.”10 This activity reminds us of what Barnabas did when he came to the new church in Antioch: He exhorted them to adhere to the Lord with all their hearts (11:23). An aspect of this exhortation would be the warning about hardship (14:22b; cf. above), but they would have exhorted about other things as well.
The third feature of follow-through care here is warning the converts about hardship. Not only does Acts 14 tell us about the necessity of suffering, it also illustrates that by showing how Paul suffered. We referred earlier to the mental anguish and humiliation that Paul must have experienced when he was stoned and dragged outside the city of Lystra. Luke suggests that this message about suffering was an important part of his ministry of “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith,” for immediately after he records their teaching: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (v. 22b).
Hardship is a key ingredient of discipleship. Paul also teaches this in his letters (Phil. 1:28–30; 1 Thess. 3:3), and Jesus mentioned it in his basic call to discipleship (Luke 9:23–24). Acts 14:22 goes further, however, suggesting that suffering is a condition for entrance into the kingdom of God. Paul says the same thing in his letters: “We share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Rom. 8:17; see 2 Tim. 2:12).
The fourth feature of follow-through care is the appointing of elders. Because so much of the growth and life of the Christian takes place in community, it was necessary for Paul and Barnabas to ensure that the communities were well organized. Thus he appointed elders in these new congregations (v. 23). A comment of Paul to Titus shows that this was a practice consistently followed by Paul: “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you” (Titus 1:5). Shenk and Stutzman observe that “Paul never left his congregations with a lack of clarity as to who was in charge.”11
As the word “elder” was already in use in the Old Testament and in Israel in the first century, “the office of the elder in the New Testament cannot be fully understood without the background of the Old Testament local elder, an office still functioning in New Testament Judaism.”12 The Old Testament elders had the “twofold task of judging and discipline generally, and of ruling and guiding the people in an orderly way.”13 In the New Testament the same people who are called elders are also called bishops (episkopos). The two names are used interchangeably in Acts 20:17, 28 and Titus 1:5, 7. While the name elder points to the seniority of the person, bishop (meaning overseer) points to the role. We will discuss this role in greater detail in our study of Acts 20:1–38.
The plural is always used in connection with the appointment of leaders. While it is true that one person must emerge as the key leader in a group, biblical leadership operates in the context of a team. Paul uses the word used for the Jewish council of elders, presbyterion (Luke 22:66; Acts 22:5), for the gathering of the elders (1 Tim. 4:14). It is from this word that the ecclesiastical term presbytery comes.
Leadership and prayer. The process of appointing leaders was accompanied by prayer (v. 23), and we pointed to several instances where this has already happened in Acts. On two occasions the prayer was accompanied by fasting (13:2–3; 14:23). Once the prayer was for guidance in the choice of leaders (1:24–25); on three occasions God spoke about the mission of the leaders during a time of prayer (10:9–15; 13:2; cf. 9:11; 22:15); and four times the praying was during the commissioning or sending off time (6:6; 13:3; 14:23; 21:5). We can add to this list the times we find the people praying for the leaders (12:5, 12; 21:5).
Outside Acts too are many references to prayer for leaders. In eight of his letters Paul asks his readers to pray for him.14 Before Jesus chose his twelve apostles he spent the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12). The only time the Gospels refer to him speaking about his own prayer life, it was about his prayer for Peter (Luke 22:32). Paul says he prayed night and day for the young leader Timothy, whom he left in Ephesus (2 Tim. 1:3). In other words, not only should Christian leaders be people of prayer (see comments on 6:1–7), they should also be people who are prayed for. Prayer must back their selection, their commissioning, and their ministering.
Contemporary Significance
WISDOM IN RESPONDING to opposition. This passage contains three keys to understanding and responding to opposition. (1) The first is a sad one, in that the gospel does sometimes divide communities. Well do I remember being at a Buddhist temple facing the wrath of the monks and their lay supporters in an area where we had started an evangelistic work. Our accusers said to us that they had lived in peace for so many centuries and that now we had come and ruined the peace of the community. And we knew that this was partly true. It was a hard accusation to take, for Christians seek to follow Paul’s advice: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Rom. 12:18). We who aim to be instruments of peace had become agents of disharmony.
In much of the discussions on social harmony today, evangelism with conversion as a goal is considered a major hindrance. In earlier generations, people viewed evangelism as taking the gospel to those who had forsaken the path of human righteousness.15 But today we realize that the living religions of the world also advocate human righteousness. Thus, some view our evangelism as disrupting the harmony of religious people who pursue righteousness.
For this reason even some Christians are not enthusiastic about evangelism. They feel conversion is desirable, but if it is going to cause so much disruption to families and societies, they ought to downplay its importance. For example, some evangelists in Sri Lanka went to an area and won many Buddhists to Christ, provoking opposition to Christianity. Then other Christians, who were doing joint social projects with the Buddhist temple nearby, tried to discourage the evangelism because it was disrupting their program.
Yet when we realize the supreme worth of an individual and of his or her salvation, and when we realize that we are carrying the message of ultimate importance from the Creator to his creation, we are challenged to persevere despite the cost. When we take the gospel to primitive tribes, we are criticized for disrupting the “pristine beauty” of cultures that have not been affected by the ravages of modernization; but the message of the gospel is so important that we must take it to them. However, as Donald McGavran used to say, we must aim at conversion with minimum social dislocation.16
(2) We must also take into consideration the mood of the people, realizing that sometimes unnecessary harm can be done by our staying in a situation where a mob mentality has taken over and reason will not prevail. Note how twice in this chapter Paul and Barnabas leave an evangelistic situation because of the hostile environment. Boldness and wisdom combine to produce an effective evangelistic strategy. Because of the ethnic conflict in our land, there are some places where YFC works that I cannot visit, even though I would dearly like to go to those places. But if I go there, I would be putting my colleagues at risk. Similarly, we may sometimes need to let someone else do what we like to do if we sense that our presence there will not help.
(3) It seems that when Paul and Barnabas came back to these cities where opposition had developed, they came in a new role—to strengthen believers. This may be the role that foreigners have in certain sensitive missions situations: let the locals preach the gospel and train them to do it. Nevertheless, there are other times when the presence of a foreigner may be more effective in evangelism than that of a local. In our ministry we generally do not use Westerners for evangelism among the Easternized people, who speak only the local languages. But we have found music and drama teams and preachers from Western countries can be effective in evangelism with the Westernized youth of our land. All this indicates that we must be wise in our strategizing so that what is most effective will be done to get the gospel out.
Praying for healing today. Though every Christian may not have the special gift of healing, all of us can pray for the sick in faith. James gives us a general principle about healing that seems to apply to the ministry of those without the gift of healing: If someone is sick, “he should call the elders of the church to pray over him. . . . And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up” (5:14–15). James refers here to the faith of the elders of the church. Then he says something that extends beyond the elders to all members: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (5:16). Thus, the same principles that are expressed with spectacular intensity in the lives of those with special miraculous gifts are seen in the day-to-day life of the church in less spectacular ways. All of us should pray in our personal ministries for healing for the sick.
Giving exhortation its due place. In the exhortation that forms an important part in the follow-through and strengthening of believers, the need to prepare them to suffer in order to enter the kingdom is an essential ingredient (v. 22b). Paul’s letters suggest that he and Barnabas exhorted these Galatian converts. They urged them to resist Satan and false doctrine, to put away the old lifestyle and put on the new lifestyle, to pray and give thanks always, to give primacy to love in all they do, and to have a biblical attitude to possessions. In order that Christians receive such exhortation early on, we should teach those parts of Scripture that lend themselves to these elements (e.g., the Ten Commandments; the Sermon on the Mount; the practical sections of Paul’s letters, such as Rom. 12–15; Gal. 4–6; Eph. 4–6; the book of James).
Today some people shy away from exhortation, perhaps because of the influence of our pluralistic culture, which is skeptical of any dogmatic approach; because of the entertainment orientation that dominates much Christian proclamation today; or because of the loss of credibility of preachers through moral failures. Yet many sections of the Bible that teach believers are exhortational. Surely, then, Christian leaders should be exhorting Christians today.
Perhaps one way we can win back the credibility that will enable us to exhort freely is being examples of sacrificial living. When Paul talked to these Galatians about suffering, his message was credible since they had seen how he suffered for the gospel. Paul occasionally appealed to his sufferings when he wrote something difficult to accept (cf. Gal. 6:17). In Ephesians 4:1 he said, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Being a prisoner gave him credibility to exhort people. Similarly, today, when our hearers know that we are truly committed people who have paid a big price because of our commitment, they have no choice but to take note of what we say.
Giving sufferings its place in discipleship. Like Paul, two of my colleagues have been painfully assaulted by the very people they were sacrificing to share the gospel with. Several of my colleagues have been assaulted by defense personnel just because they happened to be in a certain spot at a time the personnel were venting their anger. Others have spent nights in police cells, having being taken in as terrorist suspects for no other reason than the fact that their identity card indicated they were born in a place deemed as a terrorist breeding ground. They have all told me that the emotional pain of humiliation and the anger that welled up within them over the unjust way they were being treated were more difficult to endure than any physical pain or discomfort. Like Paul these colleagues had been model citizens. This is not the romantic death we think of when we hear the term martyr. It is sheer humiliation, which can cause great shame and anger.
Do all Christians go through such experiences of hardship today? Though our experiences may differ in detail, the clear testimony of Scripture is that all Christians must suffer in some way if they are true believers. Note Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:12: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” In addition to persecution, general hardship will also be the lot of all Christians insofar as we will have to go through struggles (cf. v. 22). The struggle may be with temptation, sickness, economic reversal, a difficult neighbor, or the costliness of the stand taken for Christ.
Why then do some Christians not experience such hardships today? Perhaps those who taught them the basic principles of discipleship did not teach much on suffering. Thus when these believers should have embraced suffering for the sake of Christ, they avoided it. The preachers may not have taught much about it because they did not themselves have much experience in taking on the cup of suffering. Perhaps a reason why they have not suffered is that they are being disobedient to God. My point is that the cross of suffering is something that we take on through obedience or something that we can avoid if we wish.
Actually, one reason why the Galatian churches were able to survive even though the original evangelists stayed such a short time may have been the suffering they encountered. Churches born in suffering are strong churches. The converts are forced to thrust themselves upon God in earnest desire for his help, and that has a way of strengthening our faith and purifying our motives. While we all come to Christ seeking help for ourselves, some come out of motives quite alien to the heart of the gospel. Some come only for healing or even for the prospect of financial gain. When suffering comes, such may leave the church or lose their enthusiasm for Christ; or they may have an experience of going through the refiner’s fire, through which their faith is strengthened and their motives purified.
A common reaction of Christians when they see a fellow Christian suffer is to look for something wrong that the sufferer has done. They seem to think that these persons are suffering because they have done something that is not in keeping with God’s will. They may advise the sufferers or even rebuke them. If a person is tired because he has done God’s work along with his job and family responsibilities, he is rebuked for working too hard. When a person is unpopular in the workplace for taking a stand for Christ, she is rebuked for being unwise. When someone gets assaulted and ends up in the hospital for trying to make peace in a conflict, he is criticized for trying to act like a messiah, not minding his own business. Those who should be encouraging sufferers end up discouraging them and adding to their pain.
These well-meaning rebukes can be helpful. Sometimes we may indeed be suffering because of our folly, and rebukes help us see that. Rebukes can sober us and force us to ask ourselves and others whether what we are doing is right. Such grappling always helps us to be wise in our behavior. Sometimes we may not change our course of action, but we may do what we are doing in a better way because of the criticism. Criticism can be a blessing.
We can, of course, avoid the cross of suffering, but usually only out of disobedience. If Paul had not preached when it was dangerous to do so, he would have avoided suffering. But he followed a Master who asked his followers to love their neighbors as themselves. Thus, he had to go out with the gospel, which met their deepest need. Similarly, if we remain quiet about Christ in our workplaces, we may avoid suffering. We can avoid fatigue if we refuse to assist our aging neighbor who is sick and in need of help. We can avoid inconvenience and pain if we refuse to care for the member of our small group who has had a nervous breakdown.
Paul could also have avoided anguish and stress if he had not troubled himself over the false beliefs of the Galatians (Gal. 4:19–20) and over the weaknesses and sins of other Christians (2 Cor. 11:28–29). Similarly, we too can reject or ignore someone who is going astray or is weak, saying that it is none of our business. Paul’s listings of his hardships shows how inconvenient Christian ministry was to him. He spoke of “troubles, hardships and distresses . . . hard work, sleepless nights and hunger” (2 Cor. 6:4–5). It is amazing how many Christians today consider convenience when deciding about what service they will be involved in. Should one who believes that the cross of suffering is basic to Christianity do that?
Those who miss the hardships of the cross will also miss the prizes of the kingdom. It was in connection with entrance into the kingdom that Paul presents the necessity of suffering (v. 22; see Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2:12). But many Christians hardly think about the heavenly reward today. Certainly it is not one of the major motivating factors in their lives, the way the New Testament portrays it as being. After Jesus urged his disciples to lay up treasures in heaven, he said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). Paul said, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col. 3:2). That this is not true of many supposedly evangelical Christians shows how far we have moved from a biblical attitude toward life. In his memorable essay “Joy Will Come in Its Own Time,” A. W. Tozer writes:
Christ calls men to carry a cross; we call them to have fun in his name. He calls them to forsake the world; we assure them that if they but accept Jesus the world is their oyster. He calls them to suffer; we call them to enjoy all the bourgeois comforts modern civilization affords. He calls them to self-abegnation and death; we call them to spread themselves like green bay trees or perchance even to become stars in a pitiful fifth-rate zodiac. He calls them to holiness; we call them to a cheap and tawdry happiness that would have been rejected with scorn by the least of the Stoic philosophers.
. . . We can afford to suffer now; we’ll have a long eternity to enjoy ourselves. And our enjoyment will be valid and pure, for it will come in the right way in the right time.17
Remember that the clear teaching about the inevitability of suffering comes in a section that describes the follow-through care of the new converts. This leads us to the conclusion that teaching on suffering should be considered part of the basic follow-through training given to new converts. Some years ago I was involved in a group that edited, for an international audience, a follow-through guide for young new believers produced by Singapore Youth for Christ. The third of the eight studies in this guide is called “Strength in Difficulties.”18 A chapter like this should be included in all basic follow-through guides.
Leadership in the church. Sometimes we hear Christians proudly affirming that in their small groups, there is no one as a leader and all are equals. Leadership is actually not a factor that influences equality; rather, it is a matter of function. There is a lot of talk today about the “tall poppy syndrome” and how we like to “cut down to size” anyone who emerges as a leader. This is not a biblical idea for, according to the Bible, leaders have an important place in the life of God’s people. For groups to be guided aright they must have leaders. The appointment of leaders was an important feature in the life of the early church. This is why their commissioning was accompanied by prayer and fasting (v. 23).
When the leaders operate as a team or a group of elders—which is what the Greek word presbyterion means—some of the abuses that can happen when a single individual has absolute authority can be avoided. We are not saying that any one system of church government is the only acceptable system. Advocates of each system can give scriptural reasons as to why they feel that theirs is “the scriptural system.” Whatever system we adopt, we must have biblical principles in place. Among these are the principles that leadership is an important function in the church, which must be taken seriously and backed with prayer (see below), and that leaders should operate within the context of a team, not alone.
Saturating leadership with prayer. Every step of the leadership process should be accompanied by prayer. Prayer went into the selection of leaders in the New Testament. Today this should be the major strategy of choosing leaders. Those involved in the leadership selection process need to meet for extended times of prayer, possibly with fasting. This opens the selectors to the mind of God and increases the chances of the choices being in keeping with the will of God. It should be commonplace in Christian meetings, when a decision is being taken, to stop everything and give ourselves to earnest prayer for guidance.
During a time of sensitive deliberation a leader recently suggested to the highest body of a denomination that they should stop and pray; everyone seemed confused, not knowing what to do! This sort of automatic shifting from deliberation to prayer is something we should get used to. In addition, we should have special times for prayer when making important decisions. When an election or appointment is going to be held, we should write and announce it far and wide, asking for prayer for guidance. Many people may ignore the appeal to pray; but some will pray, and “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b).
Similarly, when we send people off on an assignment or when we commission, induct, or ordain them, the meeting should be saturated in prayer. Today’s commissioning services are often public relations exercises with a little prayer included, and they are often followed by a time of refreshments. The biblical services were accompanied by fasting (13:2–3; 14:23) and were saturated in prayer (6:6; 13:3; 14:23; 21:5). Perhaps we should redesign our commissioning and ordination services to include these features.
Finally, leaders should ensure that people pray for them by asking for prayer for themselves and their ministries. Some leaders do not like to become so vulnerable as to make known their weaknesses and needs so that people can pray for them. I was at a service when a visiting minister took offense at the fact that the preacher conducting the service prayed for his health. He had been sick and was close to retirement. Perhaps he did not want to show that, like Paul, he was wasting away outwardly (2 Cor. 4:16)! But biblical leaders know that all of their ministry is done through God’s mercy (2 Cor. 4:1). Therefore they should do everything they can to have that mercy mediated to them by the prayers of God’s people. Some may laugh at them and others gossip about the weaknesses they acknowledged in their prayer appeal. But others will pray, and God will use those prayers both to help them overcome the darts that Satan flings at Christian leaders and to receive a powerful anointing from God for their ministries.