Happy Sunday and Happy Lord’s Day. I hope you’re all having a great weekend thus far and enjoying your Labor Day weekend. Our day yesterday was fantastic, full of blessed fellowship. The fellow brothers and sisters that God puts in our lives are so vitally important. We are told to "be in the world but not of the world” and that is a command that sometimes seems impossible. Blessed fellowship allows us to correctly frame our existence here on this planet and when we gather with others in the walk it will strengthen, encourage and enrich where we are with God and what He has us dealing with at that point in our lives. Never forsake the fellowship with others, it’s God’s plan to keep us where He wants us to be.
Since we’re on fellowship, lets look a little closer at that word and what it means. Our modern idea of fellowship today is really watered down and doesn’t carry the same meaning as it did in the New Testament. Fellowship is based on two specific things. First, fellowship is a blessing from God and allowed to us through God as a believer in Jesus Christ. As a part of the family of God you are allowed a closer connection with other believers, it’s a gift. If you are just hanging out with friends that are non-believers eating pizza and watching football, this is not fellowship, it's just spending quality time with friends. True fellowship is a blessing that happens between believers.
Secondly, to be true fellowship, when you’re in the company of other believers the topic needs to be God-centered. If your standing around the “fellowship hall” at your church chatting and eating donuts with others this is not bad, it can contribute to fellowship, but it’s far from the mark of God’s definition of fellowship. I heard it explained this way one time. If you are a part of a Shakespeare club you get together once a week with other lovers of Shakespeare and you talk exclusively about all things you love about Shakespeare. Shakespeare is the reason that you gather. This is not fellowship as its not God-centered, its Shakespeare centered. However, if you have a couple over to your home for dinner, they are passionate followers of Christ and you spend hours talking about the kingdom of God, His Word and the work that He is doing in your life, this is true Fellowship. This is exactly what happened to us a week ago as we hosted a couple from out of town. He holds an office with an overseas church convention and they are on fire for what God is doing there. The four of us gabbed non-stop for over 5 hours about every facet of how God is working in our lives and how He speaks to us. True fellowship is getting together with God’s people and talking about God. Seek out that fellowship. Do whatever it takes to be in and stay in the presence of other strong believers and talk about God, it makes all the difference in the quality and joyfulness of your walk.
This morning we cruise right along to Acts chapter 14. We find Paul and Barnabas arriving in Iconium and they ‘do what they do’ and start preaching. But guess what? Yep, you know this is coming, “But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.” (Acts 14:2) It doesn’t take long this morning in chapter 14 for us to encounter fierce opposition to their mission. So fierce in fact that the dissention escalates and they attempt to stone Paul and Barnabas. But God keeps them a step ahead of the melee and they flee just in time.
Since we’re hearing so much about people getting stoned (Stephen was stoned to death in Acts 7), lets look a little closer at what it meant and entailed in the day. Stoning was the preferred method of execution at the time and it was performed by accusers throwing stones at a guilty individual until he or she was dead. Death by stoning was prescribed in the Old testament as a punishment for various sins. Sins in the Old Testament that resulted in stoning were adultery, murder, idolatry, blaspheming or practicing the occult. But there were rules that accompanied stoning. This is from GotQuestions.org:
The Mosaic Law specified that, before anyone could be put to death by stoning, there had to be a trial, and at least two witnesses had to testify: “On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness” (Deuteronomy 17:6). Those witnesses “must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people” (verse 7). In other words, those who testified against the condemned person in court had to cast the first stone. Examples of stonings in the Old Testament are the deaths of Achan and his family (Joshua 7:25) and Naboth, who was condemned by false witnesses (1 Kings 21).
You can see after reading this that Jesus’ response at the well in the story of the woman caught in adultery would have cut to the bone. “let he without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus basically says, which of you specifically is going to step up and condemn this women to death by casting the first stone? It’s also ironic to note that the execution of stoning that was meant to infer punishment of sin was being used against the disciples. No trial, no valid testimony and most importantly no sin. Just mob mentality and mob justice. This would have been very similar to “justice” in the old West when they would hang a suspected cow thief on the spot for his crime. Instant justice is rarely perfect justice.
Well, since we’re on stoning let’s move ahead. Acts 14:19-20 tells us about just that, Paul getting stoned. He is in the town of Lystra and just like the old west mentality I mentioned above an angry mob from Antioch and Iconium form a posse and come after Paul. They find him in Lystra, stone him until they ‘suppose’ he was dead and then drag his body out of the city and leave him. Now I want us to look at a few things here. If a bunch of people throw big rocks at you for a while with the purpose of killing you, its really gonna do a bunch of damage. I believe that Paul must have been beaten to a bloody pulp. I’m talking broken bones, pummeled face, maybe massive bleeding and head trauma. In fact the mob stopped throwing stones feeling so confident that he was dead. Now think of this, they must have been very convinced by looking at him that he was dead. It was after all their goal, to make sure he was dead, to make sure he was no longer a problem to them. They drug him out of the city and dumped him, still confident that he was dead when they left him there.
Was Paul dead? Was the mob successful? Listen to this from Paul 14 years later in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 “I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven-whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise- whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows – and heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” In my opinion I think Paul was dead. I think the crowd’s hatred was so severe, that they were very thorough in their job of stoning him utterly to death.
Another thing to note is that Paul was the one that authorized and ‘held the coats’ of those that threw the stones at Stephen, the first martyr of the church. (Acts 7:58) Now here he is getting stoned himself. Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a soweth, that shall he also reap.” Paul reaped what he sowed.
So what happens? God happens. Paul gets up and walks off. The next day he even walks on with Barnabas 60 miles to Derbe. Wow. Think about this. From stoned to “death” to rising and walking off to the next town to preach. No broken bones, no bleeding gashes, no head trauma. Nothing that would hinder Paul from continuing His mission to preach the word of God. Regardless of whether he was dead or not this is an amazing miracle. God of course has plans for Paul and the books he will soon write for us.
So Barnabas and Paul make their way back to their home church in Antioch and they report to the church what they have seen God do and how He has opened the door to the Gentiles. (Acts 14:27) The first missionary journey was chock full of trials, obstacles, belief and unbelief, but through it all God is glorified and His Word goes forth.
That’s still His plan today.
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