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Morning Thoughts |
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Morning Thoughts |
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Acts 14:19,
"And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the
people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been
dead." This morning, we live in a world of ever-changing and sometimes fast-changing emotions. As a father of young children, I am always amazed to see children act emotionally distraught one moment and giggly the next. Sadly, though, adults can exhibit such fleeting moments of good emotions running to bad. Due to the compulsions of modern day society, fast changing emotions are sometimes a by-product from a lack of long term contentment and peace. Every day, people want more, more, more. Therefore, any moments of contentment, peace, and happiness are quickly dashed into moments of unhappiness, malcontent, and strife. One of the gospel's functions is to promote and proclaim peace to those that have been delivered from the bondage of sin. As the message is heralded, peace and contentment should be stuck in the hearts of the hearers to know that justice is served for them in God's sight, mercy and grace freely given and extended to them, and bright hope for the future expounded. However, the message of grace and peace must be repeated over and over as we become either forgetful of the good news or caught up in the rat-race of discontent in the conversation circles of the world. As we progress through the pages of the book of Acts, one of the themes that comes up time and again is the event of the gospel going to places it had never been before. Starting in Acts 10 with Peter preaching to the household of Cornelius, the gospel begins to sound in the ears of Gentiles who rejoice in the wonderful news of salvation in the Person of Jesus Christ. As Paul's ministry begins to blossom and bear fruit, he travels to many regions preaching for the first time, and he encounters both believing and unbelieving Jews and believing and unbelieving Gentiles. In Acts 14, Paul and his company have to flee from Iconium due to persecution from the Jewish populace there. They end up in Lycaonia, and the people there rejoice in their coming and the message that they bring. (Acts 14:1-7) Later, Paul heals a man lame from his birth, which starts quite a stir among the people there. (Acts 14:8-18) The people try to worship Paul and Barnabas for the miracle performed, claiming that these men were gods come down to them in the visage of men. Paul and Barnabas further preach the power and glory of the One, True God and barely keep the people from offering up sacrifices to them: men of like passions and sorrows. What is interesting about our verse from above is that it follows on the very heels of this whole scene. Consider if you were amongst people that thought you to be a god, considered you worthy of honour and sacrifice, and tried to laud you with praise you knew that you did not deserve. If such a thing were to happen, how persuasive would someone have to be to completely overturn this mindset? Paul and Barnabas had to labour hard to keep the people from doing these things (scarce restrained they the people). Yet, how long did the people's adulation of these men continue? How easy are man's emotions turned! Paul goes from being worshipped as Jupiter himself to being stoned and left for dead. What did it take for this gambit and spectrum of emotional uproar to occur? Being reverently worshipful of someone and enraged enough to stone that same person are polar opposites on the spectrum of emotion. All it took was persuasion from those same envious Jews in Iconium to encourage the men of Lycaonia to commit this act. They followed the apostles down to this new area and region and affected the purpose that they had intended earlier in Iconium (Verse 5). So, they very quickly enrage people that are one moment praising Paul to kill him the next. Now comes the relevant point for today, as we beg the question, "What is our relevance in this time?" The relevance is simply this: man's emotional processes and buttons have not changed since that time. Man's lack of emotional self-control, capability for mob-like mentality, and free-swinging (and fast-swinging) reversals of feelings are just as real and alive today as they were then. Is it not amazing that people rejoice in the preaching of the gospel today but are completely "turned off" by it tomorrow? How many times have ministers (myself included) preached a funeral to someone who had family not in the church say, "Where do you preach? I want to come hear you, and I'll be there next Sunday." Most of them have yet to ever come visit even after making such bold declarations. How many of us, like Peter, have vehemently said that we would never doubt again or deny our knowledge of our Saviour only to be quickly found doing the very thing we sincerely said that we would not? How many times do troubles arise that cause our minds to be evil affected against those we once thought tenderly of? Unfortunately, all of us can attest to personal witness of these things. Yet, there is generally (though not always) a common thread to these situations (as it was with Paul's). One of the main things that affects these things is that those of fair speeches, eloquent tongues, and polished manners come in very persuasively to turn the hearts and minds of the simple. (Romans 16:18) The book of Acts shows men rising up against the apostles and early ministers that were men of this caliber: Tertullus in Acts 24:1 is a good example. These fair talkers were called upon to speak to magistrates and those in authority to exact punishment upon those meek and lowly ministers of the Lamb. We further know from Scriptural record that Paul himself was not a good speaker. (II Corinthians 10:10) It is not hard to imagine these envious Jews coming in to Lycaonia to dissuade the people there against the rough talker that they once worshipped. Today, most of our ministers are not fair talkers, eloquent speakers, or prim and polished men of notoriety (though there are a few notable exceptions, of which I am not one). Most of our ministers do not have the natural grace of public speaking to stand up against the mighty debaters of the world on emotional force alone. To be successful at convincing the gainsayers, they have to boldly and convincingly display sound doctrine, good exhortation, and faithful conduct to show forth behaviour and thought that cannot be justly condemned. (Titus 1:9, Titus 2:8) However, even with such Godly conduct and honest speaking, hearts and minds can be turned as the fair talkers have ground that they can latch onto that is common to man: natural emotion. Since all of us have to fight the extremes of natural emotion, all of us can fall susceptible to their eloquence cleaving to us on emotional force alone. Truly, it is disheartening to see a little lamb rejoicing in the good news of the grace of God but quickly fade. Sometimes, they are heard to say, "I am going to come hear you preach more of that" one day only the next to say, "My pastor said that you are wrong and only a fool could believe as you do." While the discouragement should be focused on the hearer's well-being and not the personal attack on us, it is still disheartening to see this happen. Turbulent emotional uproar can leave tragedy and destruction in its wake, but so many are capable and successful at affecting such to the expense of many of God's people rejoicing in the message of a Saviour's love to His people. While I have never had people seek to offer up sacrifice to me, I have felt the measure of reproach and scorn by those that were at one time at least enamoured by the message that I attempted to preach. What is our course? First of all, our course is to take stock in our own lives to ensure that we ourselves do not fall victim and prey to this behavioral tendency. The second thing to do is not become surprised when it happens (knowing that man is capable of this very thing). Lastly, and certainly very importantly, we need to be as Paul and soldier on in the cause of Christ undeterred no matter what may befall us along the way. Paul did not writhe and moan about being stoned to the point of death. Paul simply stood up and went back into the city to continue in his service to Christ. (Verse 20) May our lives be consistent, persevering service to Christ with the understanding that our message is centered around honest substance of doctrine, exhortation, and faithful conduct and not the presentation that latches onto emotional upheaval (though we should try to polish our presentation to make it as palatable as possible). With a focus on honest substance, we are less likely to fall victim to or be discouraged by emotional outbursts that turn to devour ourselves and one another. In Hope,  Bro Philip |