Introduction
I want to focus our thoughts today on one verse from the passage which we read a moment ago. And it’s verse 17 where Paul said to the people in Lystra: ‘Yet he [i.e. God] 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.’ By giving us rain from heaven and by giving us crops in their seasons and by providing us with plenty of food and by filling our hearts with joy, God bears witness to all people everywhere of his kindness. But before we get into that verse, let me go over the background.
Background
Paul and Barnabas are on a missionary journey, having been sent off by the church in Antioch at the beginning of chapter 13.
The two of them first went to Cyprus where they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. In one of the cities of the island, they confronted a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet, who was trying to oppose them. And the man was struck blind for a time by the Holy Spirit. Then Paul and Barnabas travelled to Pisidian Antioch and once again they went into the Jewish synagogue and proclaimed to the people the good news of Jesus Christ who died and who was raised in fulfilment of the Old Testament Scriptures. And they proclaimed that everyone who believes is justified. That is to say, they are pardoned for all that they have done wrong and they are regarded by God as if they had done everything right. Having heard these things, the people invited Paul and Barnabas to return the following week to tell them more. Others couldn’t wait a week and they followed Paul and Barnabas to find out more about the grace of God to sinners. And on the next Sabbath day, the whole city gathered to hear the word of God from Paul and Barnabas. The Jews were filled with jealousy, however, and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. But all those who were appointed by God for eternal life believed the good news. And the word of God spread through the region. However, the unbelieving Jews continued to stir up trouble for Paul and Barnabas so that they had to leave the area.
And so, they moved on to Iconium where something similar happened. Some Jews and Gentiles believed the good news, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up trouble for them and they fled to Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding country where they continued to preach the good news.
And in verses 8 to 20 of Acts 14, Luke — who wrote the book of Acts — tells us about what happened in Lystra. There was a man who was crippled in his feet so that he was lame from birth and had never been able to walk. He was listening to Paul, who was no doubt preaching about the Lord Jesus, because that’s what Paul did everywhere he went. And Paul noticed this crippled man and saw that he had faith to be healed. Luke doesn’t explain how Paul knew this, but perhaps there was something about the man’s appearance which made it clear to Paul; or perhaps the Holy Spirit revealed it to Paul. Either way, Paul realised this man had faith to be healed. And so, he commanded the man to stand up on his feet. And immediately, the man — who had been crippled and lame since birth and have never walked — jumped up and began to walk.
When the crowd who was there saw the miracle which Paul performed, they shouted out in their own language: ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!’ This tells us that these people were not Jews. Jews would not talk about ‘the gods’ in the plural, because they believed that there was only one, true and living God. And so, this tells us that the people who were there were Gentiles, who believed in many gods. And they now believed that the gods were visiting them. They believed that Barnabas was really Zeus, the king of the gods in Greek mythology. And they believed that Paul was really Hermes, who was regarded as the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. And Luke tells us that the priest of Zeus, whose temple was nearby, brought bulls and wreaths so that they could offer sacrifices to them.
One of the commentators recounts a legend told by Ovid, the Roman poet, that Jupiter and Mercury — the Roman equivalents of Zeus and Hermes — disguised themselves as humans and visited an area near Lystra. According to the legend, an elderly couple welcomed them into their home and were subsequently blessed by the visiting gods, whereas all the other households that did not welcome them were destroyed. So, perhaps because of that legend, the people of Lystra wanted to make sure that they gave these gods a proper welcome.
It probably took a while for Paul and Barnabas to realise what was going on. The reason I say that is because Luke was careful to tell us in verse 11 that the people were talking in their own language. And presumably Paul and Barnabas didn’t speak Lyconian. And so, they may not have understood what the people were saying. But when the priest of Zeus arrived with bulls and wreaths and presumably a knife to slaughter the animals, it became clear to Paul and Barnabas what was going on. And they were horrified. They tore their clothes, which was a sign that blasphemy was about to be committed. And they rushed out into the crowd and began to shout so that everyone could hear them. And they asked the people why they’re doing this. After all, they said, we are only men. We’re not gods, but humans like you.
And then Paul went on to say that they had come with good news so that the people will turn away from worthless things. He’s referring to Zeus and Hermes and all the other gods they believed in. They’re worthless because they’re not real and they cannot do anything. So, turn from these worthless gods who cannot do anything; and turn to the living God. Their gods are dead, because they can’t do anything. But the true God is living and he’s the one who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. The living God has given life to all things.
And Paul explained that in the past — and so, up to that point in time — the living and true God let the nations go their own way. He let them go their own way so that they made up all these false gods for themselves and worshipped them instead of worshipping the one, true and living God who made them. He let them do that. However, it’s not as if God had not revealed himself to them, because didn’t he display his kindness to them by giving them rain from heaven and by giving them crops in their seasons and by providing them with plenty of food and by filling their hearts with joy? Didn’t he do all of that for them? And so, they had ample evidence of God’s kindness. But instead of worshipping him, they went their own way and made up all these false gods for themselves and worshipped them instead of worshipping the true God.
So, come on now, Paul is saying to them. It’s time for you to turn from these worthless gods and to turn to the one, true and living God.
Luke tells us that Paul and Barnabas still had difficulty in keeping the crowd from making sacrifices to them. They did not accept what Paul was saying.
No doubt Paul and Barnabas would have kept at it and persevered with their message. But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and turned the crowd against them. They stoned Paul and dragged him from the city and dumped his body there, thinking that he was dead. But he was not dead and the next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
God’s self-testimony
That’s the background to verse 17 which I want to focus on this morning. Paul is telling us in this verse that God is continually bearing witness to the world about himself. He’s continually giving testimony to himself. He’s showing the world that he’s real and that he’s kind and good. And he’s showing the world that he’s real and that he’s kind and good by causing the rain to fall from heaven which enables the crops to grow in the fields, because without sunshine and rain, the seed will not grow. And God is showing the world that he’s real and that he’s kind and good by providing us with plenty of food and by filling our hearts with joy. He fills our hearts with joy by providing us with plenty of food and by filling our lives with good things to enjoy. So, the farmer rejoices when he sees the rain because he knows the seed needs it to grow. And the farmer rejoices when he harvests his crops and fills his barns with grain. And we rejoice when we sit down at the table and enjoy our lunch and dinner and everything else that God provides.
And by caring for us in this way the Lord is revealing himself to us. He’s bearing witness to us. He’s testifying to us that he’s real and that he’s kind and good. He’s the one who had done these things for us and therefore he’s the one who deserves our thanks and praise.
This is related to what we were thinking about a few weeks ago on Sunday evening when we studied Romans 1 together. And it’s as if Romans 1 is Paul’s theological reflection on what he experienced in places like Lystra. Having seen for himself the unbelief of the pagan nations, Paul thought about these things. And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote Romans 1 to explain what was going on and why people who don’t worship the true God worship something else in his place.
In Romans 1 Paul wrote that God has made plain to people his divine nature and his eternal power. And it’s plain to people, says Paul in Romans, because God has made it plain to them. He has shown it to them. He has made it clear to them. He has demonstrated it to them. Or, as he said in Lystra, God has testified to it.
So, think of someone who is giving a presentation and he’s got his PowerPoint on the screen and everyone is looking at it. And then, he takes one of those laser pointers that creates a red dot on the screen and he highlights something in particular on the screen that he wants everyone to notice and not to miss. And that’s what God has done, says Paul in Romans. He’s made his divine nature and his power plain to people. He’s pointed out to us that he’s real and that he’s mighty.
That’s what Paul wrote in Romans. And when he was in Lystra, Paul told the people there that God has also made plain his kindness and goodness. He’s pointed these things out to us. He has testified to us of his kindness by filling our lives with good things to enjoy.
And back in Romans, Paul said that God’s divine nature and power have been clearly seen, being understood. He means that people have grasped these things. They have understood them. People everywhere have seen and understood God’s divine nature and his power. So, they know he’s different from us, because he’s divine; and they know that he’s more powerful than us.
And Paul says they have understood these things about God from what God has made. Everything that is around us and everything that happens in the world speaks to us about God, who made all things and who directs all things according to his most holy and perfect will. The heavens declare his glory, the psalmist says. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech and they say to people everywhere that God is great. And since we’re all made in the image of God, then every time we look at ourselves in the mirror, or every time we look at someone else, we see what God has made and it speaks to us of God’s glory. And God reveals himself to us in the way he directs all things, because everything that happens in the world happens because of his most perfect will. And so, day by day, in what happens to us, we’re confronted by God who makes himself known to everyone.
That’s what Paul said in Romans. And he said something very similar in Lystra, because in Lystra he said that God displays his kindness to us by the things he has made and done. Paul mentions rain and crops and seasons and food and joyful hearts. People have seen and understood God’s kindness to them because of what he has done for them by giving them a good harvest and by giving them plenty of food to eat. This is true for the people in Lystra and it’s true for people at all times and in all places, because God continues to make himself known to people everywhere by what he has made and by what he does for us.
Unbelief
And yet, when Paul and Barnabas went to Lystra, they did not find people who were worshipping the one, true and living God who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. Paul did not find people who were giving thanks to God for his kindness to them. Instead he found people who worshipped worthless gods who cannot do anything. He found people who were worshipping Zeus and Hermes. How can that be? Since God has made himself plain to people everywhere by what he has made and by what he had done for us, then how come people do not worship him?
That’s what we were learning from Paul when we studied Romans 1 recently. In Romans 1 he said that unbelievers do two things. Firstly, they suppress the truth about God by their wickedness. So, the truth about God is plain to people everywhere, because God has made it plain to them. But instead of believing the truth about God, people suppress it. They push God out of their thoughts. They shove him to the back of their minds, so that they don’t have to think about him. And the reason people suppress the truth like this is because of their wickedness. It’s because they’re sinners. Because they’re sinners they want to avoid God just as Adam and Eve wanted to avoid him in the Garden of Eden after they disobeyed him. And people avoid God by suppressing the truth about him.
When we were studying Romans 1, I referred to J.H. Bavinck who was a Dutch theologian and the nephew of another Dutch theologian I mention occasionally called Herman Bavinck. And J.H. Bavinck said that this suppressing of the truth is not a conscious action. In other words, people aren’t aware that they’re doing it. Bavinck compares it to what the psychologists call repression. Someone has thoughts or desires which they cannot acknowledge because they might cause them anxiety or shame. And so, without knowing it, they bury these thoughts or desires deep down inside. They repress them unknowingly. However, though they are buried deep inside, they still affect them in some way and they need a therapist to help them to uncover and confront these things.
In a similar way, without knowing it, people hide the truth about God from themselves. Because they’re sinners, they don’t want to face up to the truth about God. They know God is there, because God is continually revealing himself to them and testifying to himself. But because they’re sinners, people continually bury the truth about God deep down inside. They continually put him to the back of their minds so that they don’t have to think about him.
And so, people suppress the truth. They repress it. And then they also do something else, says Paul in Romans. They fill the place which God should have in their lives by exchanging the truth about God for something else. So, instead of believing in the one, true and living God, they believe in something else. For the people of Lystra, that meant believing in Zeus and Hermes. In Old Testament times, it meant believing in Baal and Dagon and it meant setting up Asherah poles and that kind of thing. In our day, it has produced all kinds of other religions such as Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism and so on. And in a book I have at home (Koyzis, Political Visions and Illusions), the author describes several modern political ideologies which lots of modern people believe in, such as socialism and liberalism and conservatism and nationalism. And he says they are like religions because they all try to explain what’s wrong with the world and what needs to be done so that it can be put right. In other words, they’re all about redemption or salvation.
And so, instead of worshipping the true God, people continually suppress or repress what they know about God; and they exchange him for something else. Instead of believing in the true God, they believe in something else. They might create gods for themselves and say that their gods are divine and powerful and good. When the rain falls and their crops grow, they give thanks to their false gods instead of the true God. Or people rely on one of those modern ideologies to show them what’s wrong with world and to show them how to create a better world so that we can have heaven here on earth.
And so, wherever you go in the world, you won’t find any unbelievers. You won’t find any unbelievers, because everyone believes in something. But instead of believing in the true God, people believe in something else.
Conclusion
And yet, God is still doing two things in the world. He’s still testifying about himself continually by what he has made and by what he does to care for us. The heavens still declare his glory to all people everywhere. He still confronts people in their daily lives by what happens to them. He still gives the rain from heaven and he still gives crops in their seasons and he still provides us with plenty of food and he still fills our hearts with joy. God continues to bear witness to himself to all people everywhere.
And the other thing God continues to do is to send preachers like Paul and Barnabas into all the world to tell people about the true God who is so much greater than their false gods, because he is truly divine and truly powerful and truly kind and truly good. And God sends preachers to call on people everywhere to turn from their worthless gods and to turn to the one, true and living God, who made heaven and earth and sea amd everything in them; and who came to earth as one of us in the person of his Son in order to pay for our sins and shortcomings with his life, when he died on the cross. And all who believe in him receive, not only rain and crops and food from God, but they also receive forgiveness and the hope of the resurrection and everlasting life in a new and better world to come, where they will see the glory of the one true and living God in the face of Jesus Christ his Son. And there, in his presence, our hearts will be filled with joy for ever and for ever.
God continues to send preachers into all the world. And thanks be to God because he sent someone to you to tell you the good news about the true God and about true salvation and about eternal life. Thanks be to God for his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Sermons and Stuff 