Introduction
There
is a lot of geography in the book of Acts, a lot of dates. It’s a coverage of a
thirty-year period from the death of Christ in about 33 AD lasting through the
first thirty years of the Christian church. I promised a timeline, here it is.
I have referred to a lot of these dates as we have gone through this book, but
I think it is helpful to have it all in one place as we move into this next section
of the book. One hard date we have is the death of Christ in 33 AD. That is a
pretty firm, accepted date for the crucifixion and resurrection and ascension
of Christ.
Now, to
fit the events that Paul talks about from his life, both from Acts as well as
biographical statements that he makes in Galatians 1-2. There is a lot going
on. Really, the conversion of Paul has to happen sometime within a year or so
of the death and resurrection of Christ. Probably late 33 or sometime in early
34. We also read that he spent his first years of his Christian life in and
around the area of Damascus from around 33-36 AD or so. We saw that in Acts 9.
Finally, in 36 he goes down to Jerusalem. He meets the apostles. There is a
threat on his life and so he has to get out of Jerusalem, and he goes back to
his hometown in the area of Tarsus. This is what we talked about last week, the
lost years of Saul’s life. What was he doing during this time? Christian work,
learning how to serve God under the New Covenant. 46 AD or so, we said last
week, that is about when he arrived in the city of Antioch. Barnabas went and
got him, and they served the Lord together, leading for about a year in the
city of Syrian Antioch. Galatians says it’s about fourteen years from his
conversion to when he went to Antioch. Counting part of a year as a full year
(as they often did) we land right around 46 AD. They spent a year at Antioch
before going over to Jerusalem with that money for the famine before heading
back. The event we are going to study in Acts 15 has to happen around 49 AD
because of some events and some historical figures that we learn about on the
second missionary journey.
Part of
the way we do chronology, sometimes the bible will mention secular figures that
we know about from other historical sources. For example, when it mentions
Gallio at Corinth, we know Gallio, we know who he was, and we know when he was
at Corinth and we know that it was a very short time. We date backward from
there and forward from the date we know of the death and resurrection of Christ
and we have to fit all of those events in the meantime there. What that leaves
us with is a window of maybe less than a year, maybe a year and a half or so
for this first missionary journey that we started studying last week and that
we are going to finish up with this week.
The events of tonight are going to take place somewhere around 47-48AD
and they are going to end up where they started back in the city of Syrian
Antioch.
Just to
remind you of our geography; they started last week as well, they went down
through Cyprus and up through another city, Pisidian Antioch. Last week we saw
them go from Antioch to Antioch. And they ended up there, in Antioch, preaching
the gospel at the synagogue and that is where we left our adventurers last week
and we will pick up where we left off at the end of their speech. They entered
the Jewish synagogue, he was invited forward to speak, and he gave a long
speech recounting the prophecies, the Old Testament, leading right up to Jesus
Christ and called on them to do this,
“Brothers,
listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is
forgiveness for your sins.
That’s the
heart of the Christian good news; because of what Jesus has done, because he
died on the cross, we don’t have to pay the penalty for our sins because he
paid it for us. And he offers you forgiveness.
Everyone
who believes in him is declared right with God—
That’s not
something you can earn, but you have to put your trust in him, it’s by faith
alone that we are forgiven, and God declares you to be right. And he says
that’s,
something
the law of Moses could never do.
There’s no
amount of good works, like religious says to do good works to be right with
God. Christianity says, ‘No! The law could never do this.’ It’s faith alone. And
that is what he calls his audience to do, he is talking both to the Jews and to
the God-fearing Gentiles who had shown up at the synagogue. And then he ends
his sermon on kind of a downer. He says,
Be
careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said, ‘Look, you
mockers, be amazed and die!
He says,
‘you mock this message? There are two things that will happen to you: you will
be amazed and then you are going to die. God says,
For I
am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if
someone told you about it.’”
The
prophet Habakkuk 1:5, if you want to mock this message you are going to regret
it. Instead, you should receive this message and put your faith in him. If you
are sitting here tonight the same thing applies to you, receive this message,
this good news, place your faith in Jesus.
As Paul
and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about
these things again the next week.
They were
loving it, they couldn’t get enough of this good news that Paul and Barnabas
were preaching. Imagine someone getting gup and giving a long sharing during
the teaching and people want them to come back and talk next week, and then you
go home, and you tell all your friends. It says in the meantime,
Many
Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas,
They had a
number of people receive Christ right there, during that week, and what did
Paul and Barnabas tell them to do?
and the
two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.
They told
them not to turn back to works, they need to put their full weight behind the
grace of God. That’s going to be an issue in the Galatian churches. If you read
the letter to the Galatians, you see that this is exactly what Paul is arguing
in our New Testament.
The
following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word
of the Lord.
Imagine
how I would feel if someone shares at CT and they thought that guy was awesome,
and the next week I show up and there are 20,000 people at CT. I think I might
feel a little jealous. I think that is how they felt as well.
But
when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous;
This guy
talks once and now everyone wants to come to synagogue to hear them? They felt
threatened by what Paul and Barnabas were saying.
so they
slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
He can’t
talk because he keeps getting interrupted with slander and arguments. Finally,
they have had enough of this,
Then
Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we
first preach the word of God to you Jews.
That was
their strategy, they went to the Jews who knew the scriptures and were
expecting the Messiah,
But
since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal
life, we will offer it to the Gentiles.
God has
got good news for anyone that wants it. Notice what he says, how do you become
worthy of eternal life? By being a good person? No. But by accepting the
message. How can you be declared unworthy of eternal life? By rejecting the
good news, by rejecting Christ and his offer of forgiveness. That’s the only
unforgiveable sin.
For the
Lord gave us this command when he said, [in the prophet Isaiah] ‘I have made
you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the
earth.’”
Even
Isaiah said that we were going to go out to the far corners and tell the
non-Jews about the light of God, turns out to be Jesus Christ.
When
the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his
message;
They’re
happy to receive Christ, they can’t believe it, they can’t believe that this is
such good news.
and all
who were chosen for eternal life became believers.
You see
statements like this in the New Testament. This is the doctrine of election,
the doctrine of chosenness, the doctrine of predestination. You also have to
look at the other statements about pre-destination in the New Testament which
say that God chooses people from before the foundations of the world, but it says
that he chooses them according to his foreknowledge. I guess when you’re God,
you have foreknowledge. You know the end from the beginning, he can see your
whole life before you have even lived it, before you were even created, before
he created anything. Somehow based on his foreknowledge of you, he will either
choose you or not choose you. I imagine it is because he knows how you are
going to respond freely to the offer of forgiveness. If you’re a Christian here
tonight, if you have received Christ then that’s how you know that God chose
you from before the beginning of the world. Think about it. Some of us has
never really been chosen for anything, and now we have the creator God choosing
us before the foundation of the world, it feels pretty good.
So the
Lord’s message spread throughout that region.
Not only
did they reach this city, and this implies they spent some time here. They
reach the city but then it begins to trickle out into the whole surrounding
region. We will see this from Paul later in his ministry. They will reach a
city and that will become their base for reaching the cities and villages in
the countryside. You can see Paul’s missionary strategy forming here.
Then
the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the
city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out
of town.
One thing
we can learn from Paul is, sometimes when they get a mob together against you,
that’s how you know it’s time to leave. He didn’t always stay and fight.
Sometimes wisdom says get out of there, and that’s what they did.
So they
shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection
That’s
exactly what Jesus told them to do. They told them the message, they didn’t
want it, so they left it all there with them and they can do what they want
with it. Paul and Barnabas did their job.
and
went to the town of Iconium. And the believers were filled with joy and
with the Holy Spirit.
Even
though they had to leave, they had been there long enough to leave behind a
healthy Christian community, full of joy, full of the Holy Spirit.
Iconium
Here’s
Iconium. You can see they were at Antioch and then they walk another 90 miles
down to Iconium, down the main east-west road through there, the emperor’s
road. They end up, it would have been a several days journey, in the city of
Iconium, which was also a major cultural center, much like Pisidian Antioch.
At
Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue.
There
they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.
They are
reaching not just Jews, but Gentiles again!
But the
Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their
minds against the brothers.
You’ve got
real receptiveness and serious opposition and so, it says,
So Paul
and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord,
Good
harvest, big opposition, that means that they are going to stay there for a
while. God then,
confirmed
the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.
Again,
like we see in Acts, the miracles are giving credibility to the message. They
are not just miracles for the sake, or miracles, but they are miracles to
confirm the truth of what they were speaking. Well again,
The
people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.
You’ve got
this polarizing message, we see this today when you tell people about Jesus
(even Jesus had this, he would go teach and some people would think it was
amazing and other people would call him and idiot). Same message, very
different responses. It depends on the person. I don’t know what kind of person
you are, are you going to stand with the message of Christ or are you going to
reject it? Well they found out,
There
was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to
mistreat them and stone them.
Stoning.
Typically, fatal. They would drag you outside of town to a high place, they
tossed you off, and the hope was that you would fall and break your neck and
die right there, but if not, you need at least two witnesses, they would both
toss a heavy stone on top of you, and everyone else would throw heavy stuff on
you until you were dead. Paul and Barnabas heard that plans were being hatched
to do that very thing to them. What do they do? Stay and fight? Nope.
Lycaonia
But they
found out about it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe,
and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the gospel.
At this
point we come to an important historical note. This used to be thought as one
of the many inaccuracies of the book of Acts. That it was some sort of fiction
made up about the early church by someone in 150/200 AD. Ajith Fernando talks
about Sir William Ramsey. He was one of the pioneers of modern archeology who
spent many decades in the early 1900s exploring Turkey and the ancient
Mediterranean area trying to learn about the history of that area. Here is what
Fernando says about William Ramsey,
When
Ramsay came to Acts 14:6, he thought he had found a predictable error by the
author. It read, “They … fled [from Iconium] to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra
and Derbe and to the surrounding country.” The common view among scholars at
the time, based on material by Cicero and Pliny the Elder from about a century
before the New Testament era, was that Iconium was a city in Lycaonia.
So how can
you leave Iconium, to go to Iconium, when Iconium is in Lycaonia]
Ramsay
thought that the author of Acts had used Xenophon [4th c. BC] … Ramsay assumed
that Luke, not knowing about the region, took this information and transposed
it to the first century, by which time the boundaries had shifted so that it
was no longer true. It was, says Ramsay, like “speaking of going from Richmond
to Virginia or from London to England…”
They left
London and went to England, only an idiot would write that.
But
as Ramsay investigated the matter further, he found out that Acts was entirely
correct. In the first century Iconium was indeed a city in Phrygia, not
Lycaonia.
For only
about 35 years, from 36-72 AD, but that is when this narrative takes place.
He
notes too that the author of Acts mentioned that the people of Lystra spoke “in
the Lycaonian language” (14:11)…Inscriptions demonstrated that Phyrygian was
spoken in Iconium until the end of the second century…Ramsay goes on
to note the description of the gods of the people of Lystra as Zeus and Hermes
(14:12), and through his research realized that “Zeus and Hermes were
commonly regarded in that region as associated gods.”
Fernando,
Acts: The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1998), p. 24-25
He even
got their gods right. Witherington elaborates on this Zeus and Hermes point.
An
inscription has been found near Lystra with a dedication to Zeus of a statue of
Hermes, another inscription speaks of priests of Zeus, and even more telling is
a stone altar found near Lystra dedicated to the hearer of prayer (i.e., surely
Zeus) and to Hermes.
Witherington,
Ben, The Acts of the Apostles (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 422.
Keep that
in mind. Lycaonian language. Zeus and Hermes. Keep this in mind too; Ovid’s
Metamorphoses, a collection of short stories written in 8 AD talks about an
incident in the Phrygian hill country, right in the area of Lystra, where Zeus
and Hermes pretended to be this old couple and they went around going from door
to door asking for somewhere to stay. People rejected them. Finally, someone
took them in, and they revealed themselves and then they destroyed all the
people that turned them away and rewarded the guy who let them stay there.
Remember that when we read this story. Anyway, Fernando writes,
Ramsay
was impressed! He began to realize that Acts might be a valuable source of
historical information. He titles the chapter describing what happened to him
through this study of Acts 14, “The First Change of Judgment.” …
He starts
unearthing these finds and looks at the book of Acts and starts thinking that
it might be actual history.
Ramsay
writes: The more I have studied the narrative of Acts and the more I have
learned …, the more I admire and the better I understand. I set out to look for
truth in the borderland where Greece and Asia meet, and found it here [in Acts].
You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian’s, and
they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment”
Fernando,
Acts: The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1998), p. 24-25
That is
what we are reading here, actual history. Woe to those that come across a
passage and say, ‘this is why the bible is wrong about everything.’ No, people
have said that and then it turns out they were wrong, and the bible was right.
When I come across what seems to be a contradiction, I research it, if I really
can’t find a good answer, I come back to it later, but the bible has been right
too many times for me to doubt it.
Lystra
They
travel another 20 miles southwest to Lystra. This was off the main road that
went through that area. This was a little more of a backroad that he took. Some
people wonder why he chose Lystra. Why did he run there from the group that was
trying to kill him? Well, Darryl Bock writes that ‘the area of Lystra had the
reputation for being somewhat rustic and the people not very learned.’ So, they
go from these cultural centers of Antioch and Iconium to Lystra. It was like
Paul went from Cincinnati, to Columbus, to Circleville. It’s a different kind
of town. Why Lystra? Well, God obviously had a message for the people of
Lystra. There were probably a lot of reasons, but one of the things he is doing
here that we won’t find about until later, when we come to Acts 16 on the
second missionary journey,
Acts
16:1 – Paul went … to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named
Timothy.
Isn’t that
interesting. In this backwater town was a very not influential Jewish
population, these were pagan, very little knowledge of the scriptures. There
was a young man in his early teens with a Greek dad and a Jewish mom and
grandma who was learning his word. Paul came along and led him to Christ. It
says in 2 Timothy, ‘my true son in the faith.’ He led him to Christ on his
first missionary journey. His lifelong best friend, ministry partner, co-author
of 9 or 10 of the 13 letters Paul wrote in the New Testament. Look what he
writes to him,
2 Tim
3:11 – You know … all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and
Lystra.
Timothy
saw Paul suffering that he is going to undergo here at Lystra, and he is going
to hear about the other places as well. This is why our ministries need to be
led by the Holy Spirit.
In
Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had
never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at
him, saw that he had faith to be healed
He gets
some kind of word from the Lord. I don’t know how he knew this.
and
called out, “Stand up on your feet!”
This guy
who had never walked, this is a lot like what Peter did in Acts 3. And like the
guy in Acts 3,
At
that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
So this
dudes legs work now.
When
the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language,
Which Paul
and Barnabas couldn’t speak, which explains why they didn’t know what was
happening. All of a sudden, the people are so excited, they break out into a
language that Paul and Barnabas don’t know.
“The
gods have come down to us in human form!”
Remember
the story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses? They see Paul and Barnabas and they’re
like, “They’re back!”
Barnabas
they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.
It’s even
the same two gods. Barnabas may have been a little older than Paul and Paul did
all the talking.
The
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.
Paul and
Barnabas don’t know what’s happening because they don’t speak the language but
at a certain point, they start to figure it out.
But
when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and
rushed out into the crowd,
These
primitive people think the gods are here, it’s like that scene in Return of the
Jedi where the Ewoks start worshiping C3PO. Instead of taking advantage of the
local natives and taking some advantage for themselves, here Paul and Barnabas
deny the deity attributed to them. They started tearing their clothes, which
would have gotten their attention, it was a sign of grief.
shouting:
Friends, why are you doing this?
What we
are going to see here is a summary of Paul’s first speech to a non-Jewish audience.
Very different from the speech in the synagogue. In this one, he doesn’t
mention the scriptures, he doesn’t even mention Jesus. He needs a different
starting point because they had a different starting point. And he starts with
their shared humanity, there is a difference between us and what they call the
gods,
We too
are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn
from these worthless things to the living God,
There is
no ‘gods, there is God. And your religion and these sacrifices, what does he
call it? These worthless things. Not very politically correct. And that’s
exactly what they are. They thought Zeus was the one who hurled lightning bolts
down, hardly anyone believes that today. That is not where lightning comes from.
He tells them they’re wrong. There’s no Zeus, no Hermes, offering sacrifices to
them is offering sacrifices to a figment of your imagination. And, you’re
putting your eternal destiny in their hands. Why don’t you put your hope in the
Living God? The God who does something, who has acted in history?
who
made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
He goes
back to creation. He says,
In the
past, he let all nations go their own way.
This is
the best explanation I know for the problem of evil. God created people to
follow him, but he has given us choice. He says we don’t have to follow him. He
won’t force us into the relationship against our will. He has given us choice.
And that is the explanation for evil in this world. God is going to make things
right at some point, but it says,
Yet he
has not left himself without testimony:
God’s
Testimony: External Evidence
Even
though you guys didn’t have the Old Testament, God has still left a witness on
the stand to testify to his existence, his presence, and you can even learn
some things about him through this witness that he has left. This witness is
what is referred to as General Revelation. We have Special Revelation from God
in the scriptures. But we also have General Revelation that is available to
anyone who has ears to hear, who looks at the created order.
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.”
Where do
you think all that rain came from? Why do you think there is such an
orderliness to the seasons? Where do you think the heavens and the earth and
all that is in them came from? That’s God and you know it. He has not left
himself without a witness.
What is
this testimony that God has left? He has not left himself without testimony. He
really points in two directions. One direction that he points to is out at the
creation. Scripture teaches this in other places as well. We can look out and
see that God is there. We can learn not just that he is there but that he is
powerful, personal, and moral (Because we have a sense of right and wrong). We
look out at creation and we can see that God is there.
I wish I
had several weeks’ worth of CT to elaborate on this. We are in the middle of a
class right now where we just spent five three-hour classes going into detail
on evidence for God. 15 hours. I am not even going to have 15 minutes to spend
on this. I am just going to give you a little something to whet your appetite,
an argument that I really like and also that is short. One of the most recent
advances in the argument from design.
[Three-minute
video on the fine-tuning argument]
These
numbers are kind of mind-boggling that they throw around, that our minds cannot
fathom. Roger Penrose talks about the last number they talked about there. Here
is what he says,
[Explaining
“1 part in 10 to the power 10123”] a number which would be impossible
to write out in the usual decimal way, because even if you were able to put a
zero on every particle in the universe there would not even be enough particles
to do the job
Penrose,
Roger, The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 203, cited in Lennox, God’s
Undertaker (Oxford: Lion Books, 2009), p. 71
Particles
are smaller than atoms, atoms are made up of subatomic particles. If could take
every one of those and put them in a giant hopper, turn the crank to randomize
them all, pull out a single particle, and you just happen to pick the right on.
That is what we are talking about with just one of the constants. The
likelihood that it would be just what it needed to be for God to exists, and
there are dozens of these constants. Some people say that evolution explains
this, but it can’t because what we are talking about are factors that had to be
present at the point of the big bang, at the beginning. This is not survival of
the fittest and species reproducing and the fittest one survived and adapted,
no. This is from the very beginning unless somehow you have universe mating
with one another having baby universes, which would also be a finely tuned
process, I would think. Even if you say there are trillions of universes and
one just happened to be right, where would we get a universe generating
mechanism? The chances are so low here, and what I like about this argument, I
think there are a lot of arguments from science and the creative order that are
creative, but I like this one because it is new, persuasive and because some of
the typical arguments around this and judgment calls related to evolution are
not in play here.
God’s
Testimony: Internal Evidence
Let’s take
another one. He not only points to creation but Paul also says that God is the
one ‘that fills your heart with joy.’ I imagine he probably talked a little
more about this point as well. Scripture says we don’t just look out at
creation, but we can look into our own hearts and mind and see evidence of a
creator. There is internal evidence. When we look into our own minds, we
realize some things.
We realize
that we are conscious of someone called, ‘me.’ In a world that is just physical
and chemical reactions, there would be no such thing as ‘you.’ Your brain is
just a complex, evolved, series of reactions, physical reactions.
I can
think, I know that there is such a thing as right and wrong, that is something
we all know, that I am having thoughts, thoughts that correspond to reality.
Our conscience, that we might have different definitions of what is right and
wrong, but everyone has some sort of a concept for right and wrong. God says,
‘where do you think that came from? I am a moral God. I defined right and wrong
and I gave you a deep-down sense that there is a such thing as right and wrong
and guilt.’
God says
there is something special about humans, this is why we believe in human rights
and equality. This is why we afford privileges and rights to humans that we
would not extend to mosquitos or rocks. Humans says humans are made in the
image of God.
My choices
are real. In a purely physical world, there is no such thing as choosing this
or that in any sense that we think of that. Just like if I dropped this pack of
gum, it falls to the ground, there was no choice on the gums part as to whether
it was going to do that. I had a choice about whether to drop it, but the gum
was just responding to the laws of physics. A lot of thought by atheist
naturalists, people that believe the material world is all that there is, a lot
of thought has gone into this whole concept of free choice and the basic
conclusion is, there is no such things as free choice. It is all an illusion,
in spite of what everything inside of us tells us. Check out Nancy Pearcey on
this,
Even
the great Albert Einstein was caught in the same dilemma. On one hand, he
writes, “human beings in their thinking, feeling, and acting, are not free but
are as causally bound as the stars in their motions.”
They are
just responding to physical laws, and we are just the same way, we are not
really choosing, and yet what does he say?
Yet
on the other hand, he said, “I am compelled to act as if free will existed
because if I want to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly.”
He’s got
his theory of how he has explained away all evidence God has left within him,
and then he has the reality of how he is actually living his life.
Consider
Marvin Minsky of MIT. He is best known for his pithy phrase that the human
brain is nothing but “a three-pound computer made of meat.” Obviously,
computers do not have the power of choice; the implication is that neither do
humans. Surprisingly, however, Minsky then asks, “Does that mean we must
embrace the modern scientific view and put aside the ancient myth of voluntary
choice? No. We can’t do that.” Why not? Minsky goes on: “No matter that the
physical world provides no room for freedom of will; that concept is essential
to our models of the mental realm.” We cannot “ever give it up. We’re virtually
forced to maintain that belief, even though we know it’s false.”
He has
explained away the evidence that God has left within him, and then you have the
way he actually has to live in the real world.
False,
that is, according to Minsky’s materialist worldview.
Nancy
Pearcey, Finding God: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other
God Substitutes (David C. Cook, 2015), 153.
There is
one other thing we see when we look into our own minds, we realize that we long
for meaning, purpose, and love. That is another thing that God has left for us,
the so-called God shaped hole. Again, a few quotes from Pearcey,
[Quoting
from Flesh and Machines by Rodney Brooks, professor emeritus at MIT] Brooks
writes that a human being is nothing but a machine—a “big bag of skin full of
biomolecules” interacting by the laws of physics and chemistry. In ordinary
life, of course, it is difficult to actually see people that way. But, he says,
“when I look at my children, I can, when I force myself, … see that they are
machines.” Is that how he treats them, though? Of course not: “That is not how
I treat them.… I interact with them on an entirely different level. They have my unconditional love, the furthest
one might be able to get from rational analysis.” … How does he reconcile such
a heart-wrenching cognitive dissonance?
He doesn’t. Brooks ends by saying, “I maintain two sets of inconsistent
beliefs.”
Let that
sink in. I appreciate his honesty, but what he is really describing is
hypocrisy. He is an honest hypocrite, as are so many of us. In his mind he has
his theory, which declares that we are big bags of skin full of biomolecules,
and if he forces himself, he can look at his kids that way, but at the end of
the day he is maintaining two sets of inconsistent beliefs. The one he has come
up with to explain away with God, and the one has to have to live in the real
world, because God has made him that way.
He
has given up on any attempt to reconcile his theory with his experience. He has
abandoned all hope for a unified, logically consistent worldview. He has no
defense. This is the tragedy of the postmodern age. The things that matter most
in life, that are necessary for a humane society—ideals like moral freedom,
human dignity, even loving our own children—have been reduced to nothing but
useful fictions.
Nancy
Pearcey, Finding God: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other
God Substitutes (David C. Cook, 2015), 164-165.
I think if
Paul was going to re-give this talk today, he might update it a little bit. He
might say something like this,
‘Yet he
has not left himself without testimony:
He has given you the gravitational constant, the cosmological constant, and he
has perfectly distributed the initial mass and energy of the universe, not to
mention the couple dozen other finely tuned constants. He’s put the earth the
perfect distance from the sun and caused it to spin and rotate at just the
right speed.’
‘Yet he
has not left himself without testimony: He’s shown you that you are really “you”,
that you really have the power to choose, that there is such a thing as right
and wrong, that there’s something special about humans made in the image of
God, and that love isn’t just a chemical reaction in your brain. And he’s given
you a longing for your Creator, such that you won’t be satisfied until you come
back home to Him.’
Our
telescopes and microscopes are declaring the glory of God. Our super computers
are declaring the glory of God, and your own soul. Look inside yourself and
there is plenty there to see the truth that God has revealed. He has not left
Himself without a witness.
Even
with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to
them. Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over.
Some of
these guys had travelled over 100 miles to find Paul and Barnabas. That’s how
threatened they felt and how upset they were about the impact they were having
in their communities. What did they do?
They
stoned Paul
Paul says
in 2 Corinthians that ‘one time he was stoned.’ This is the bad kind of
stoning, the kind I referred to earlier. For Luke to write this so abruptly is
terrifying.
and
dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
He must
have been really messed up, unconscious. I don’t know where Barnabas was during
this but imagine how the believers felt when they thought they saw him get
killed. He looked dead enough for the guys who walked 110 miles to kill him.
But
after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up
I guess he
wasn’t dead yet. And what does he do next?
and
went back into the city.
That’s
what you call tough, not backing down. It also might have been too late in the
day to leave. He did leave the next day.
The
next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
After
setting things in order in Lystra.
They preached the gospel in that city and won
a large number of disciples.
They head
the 35 miles east to Derbe, an unpaved road. At Derbe, they have come to the
end of their journey, it’s time to go home. Do they take the nice road on the
way back? No, instead, they went back to the places they had been before.
Conclusions
Then
they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch
Where they
stoned him, wanted to stone him, and ran him out of town. It was an extra 170
miles on their journey just to hit those cities on foot. Why would they do
that? Because they wanted to take care of their people.
strengthening
the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.
Paul would
write to the Galatians, ‘I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus.’ They saw
him suffer. And they said,
“We
must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
Let’s not
forget the suffering that Jesus promised to his people. ‘You saw it in us, not
go and do likewise.’
Paul
and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church
Paul never
left a church without knowing who was in charge. He recognized spiritual
leaders, charged them with the care of the flock.
and,
with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had
put their trust.
There
is a certain point where you have to pray and leave things in God’s hands.
After
going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, and when they had preached the
word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
They
preached the word there, and then they caught a boat back to where they
started.
From
Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to
the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
Over 1400
miles on this first missionary journey. That is a long way. That’s a lot for a
year and a half’s worth of work.
On
arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had
done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
And
they stayed there a long time with the disciples.