Sermon from February 8, 2004

Professional Football became a cultural icon in the late '60s and early '70s. Around that time, an executive in the Dallas Cowboys' organization (I think it was Tex Schramm) offered his explanation of how that came to be. He said, "We don't sell the steak; we sell the sizzle." Sizzle has a number of synonyms, among them hype, glitz, glamour and showiz. Whatever you call it, it has become routine, especially in the electronic media. Everything has to be bigger than life to win the big bucks and the big audience share.

It's false. It misrepresents reality. It can hurt people. It has a profound influence on our lives as Christians. Today, I wanted to reflect on that influence. The 14th chapter of Acts offers an occasion to that. So, let's make our way through this part of Luke's story of how Christianity became a global faith.

Danger in Iconium
Verse one begins this way. At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. The words as usual suggest a pattern, and a pattern suggests a plan, and a plan suggests prior throughtfulness. Those two men did not go enter the wider world of the Roman Empire and just hope that things would work out. They saw and took advantage of an enduring Jewish institution, the synagogue. They knew that in most cities they would find a Jewish synagogue. As two Jewish men, they knew they would find a welcome there and even be given the chance to speak.

The presence of the synagogue in all those cities bears witness to the providence of God. God had prepared His scattered people ahead of time to receive the messengers of the gospel. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, we should look for God. He probably got there before us and has prepared the help we need.

Verse one goes on to say that in Iconium they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. Why did Luke say it just that way? Why didn't he say, "The Holy Spirit turned a great number of Jews and Gentiles to Christ?" He makes it sound like their oratorical skills were the determining factor. That's not ver spiritual. Luke was able to say it in more spiritual words. For example, The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:47).

The fact is, for reasons best known to Luke he says it one way one time and another way another time. I'm glad he does. Maybe it seems strange for me to say that I find it wearing, when people express everything in God-talk? I feel that way, because too much God-talk takes away from the validity of ordinary human experience. I am glad that Luke underscored the oratorical effectiveness of Paul and Barnabas in the synagogue at Iconium. It shows that the kingdom of God prizes good speaking skills.

Please don't misunderstand me. I love the language of our faith, and I think every Christian ought to be fluent in that language. But if we talk that way all the time, we won't sound real. My hunch is that after a while we won't be real.

Verse one also says that Jews and Gentiles believed. More to the point Luke says that Gentiles believed. We may be astounded that Jews believe in Jesus. In the early days of Christianity the Church was astounded that Gentiles believed in Jesus. Luke never forgot the major question he was trying to answer in the book of Acts. How did the Christian Church cease to be a small, exclusive, Jewish sect and become instead a global movement which opened its doors to people of all races and nationalities, most of whom were and are Gentiles?

Verse 2: But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. There is something accusatory in those words refused and poisoned. It sounds like the people who stirred up trouble were more than half persuaded by what Paul and Barnabas said, but then for reasons known only to them turned bull-headed and refused to give in. And not only did they give in, they had to talk against it with other people.

You can understand why verse three says that Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord. It takes courage to keep going, when people oppose you openly and malevolently. I hope I would have such courage.

Working for them was for the Lord, who, says the rest of the verse, confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. Two things strike me about these signs and wonders. First, why doesn't God give them to us more often? And then I say to myself, "But He does." It usually takes the form of people's changed lives. Sometimes, more often than I realize and less often than T.V. preachers would have me think, it takes the form of miraculous healing.

The second thing that strikes me about this divine confirmation of their message is that it didn't persuade everybody about the truth of their message. Neither brilliant oratory nor miraculous healing can persuade everyone of the truth of Christ. The apostle reflected on this phenomenon many years later and came to this conclusion: The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4).

Verses 4-5 make clear just how unpersuaded they were. The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and JEws, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. But they found out about it (thank God for the Christian grapevine) and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the good news. Danger did not deter them.

Let us Stone the gods
By the way, we don't know how they traveled on land. When they landed in Asia Minor, there may have been a Sid's Rent-a-Horse. They may have gone on foot. They may have done both. However they got there, they arrived at the town of Lystra, and right off the bat, Paul duplicated Peter's miracle of Acts three.

Verses 8-10: In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame 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 and called out, "Stand up on your faith!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. What happened next was unlike anything Peter had experienced.

When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 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.

My first impuls on reading this is to laugh, because in our Western world, we have a fine taste of the absurd. In Luke's world, idolatry was a living reality to be taken too seriously for laughter. But alone on their travels from one place to the other or among friends back in Antioch, I would like to think that Paul and Barnabas would have had a good chuckle as they recalled the incident. "Well, Zeus," said Paul to Barnabas, "what did you think of our journey?" "Well, Hermes," said Barnabas to Paul, "you spoke with great skill. Why couldn't you talk us out of that jam in Lystra?" Their immediate reaction to the situation was not at all amused.

Verses 14-17: But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: "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. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet 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." Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

Here's the serious part for me. In addressing the well-meaning pagans of Lystra Paul abandoned any use of the Old Testament scriptures. He doesn't say, "The Bible says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me." That's what he believed, and the belief guided his actions. But he remembered who he was talking to - people who didn't know the Jewish Bible and who acknowledged many gods. So, Paul spoke to them in language they would understand.

He began on a very human note. We too are only men, human like you. They were not power mongers or glory hogs. But then, Paul shows why he would never make it in a politically correct world. He said, "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."

The appeal Paul made was to God as Creator and Provider. "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." I don't think our presentation of the Christian faith should ever stop with appeals to God as Creator and PRovider, but I think it ought to begin there much more frequently than is the case. Thanksgiving, patriotic events, and significant personal experiences all provide occasions to point to the generosity of our Creator God. In that context, if we have the wisdom and the moxie to do it, we may have an audience more willing to hear about Jesus.

The most suggestive statement in Paul's speech is the line that says, "In the past, he let all nations go their own way. He will say something very much like this in another Pagan context: "In the past God overlooked such ignorance" (Acts 17:30). What do these statements tell us aboug God's relation to people, who have never heard about Jesus? This doesn't change the fact that Judgment Day is coming. It doesn't change the Church's mandate to go to every last person on the planet with the gospel. But prior to judgment and gospel there appears to be a divine mercy that cuts the wayward and ignorant nations of earth with more slack than we might have thought possible. I'll come back to this theme, when we get to chapter 17.

Then comes verse 19: Then 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. They go from being gods to being stoned. That's why it is good never to trust hype. One moment it makes you seem like a god, and the next it makes people stone you.

Paul, fortunately, survived, and more than survived. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. That took courage. The next day he and Barnabas left for the next town on the itinerary, Derbe. They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples.

Then, continues verse 21, they backtracked with a purpose. They returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. And how did they encourage them?

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
The rest of verse 22 tells us: "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. The kingdom of God means the extension of God's love and authority over ever-increasing circles of human experience. That never happens without conflict. Sometimes it is open, even violent persecution, such as Paul and Barnabas experienced.

The conflict takes another, more sublte form with us. Our culture questions the legitimacy of the Church. One question in particular does this. "Can you Christians be people of integrity in a world where you are free culturally to do anything you can get away with?" The answer is urgent in American culture where personal liberty has established itself in all the institutions that try everyday to shape our society's core values. The fire for American Christians is staying ture to our Lord when all around us one allurement after another entices us away from Christ, especially when no one is watching.

The Spirit of God has led the Church in the United States into a temptation, which is also a test, much as He led Jesus into the wilderness test, which was also a satanic temptation. Ours is the test and temptation of unparalleled personal liberty and unprincipled personal pleasure.

And do you know what helps make the temptation so plausible? The sizzle. The hype. The glitz. Whenever something is presented to us as larger than life, it just seems more plausible. Every time we need to ask ourselves, "Exactly what are we being asked to do and why? What values are we being asked to accept? How does that behavior and those values square with our calling to lead lives that are worthy of Christ?"

What Paul and Barnabas said to those nameless Christians many centuries ago begins to kick in for us. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." When all around one glitzy allurement after another entices us away from Christ, especially when no one is watching, staying true to our Lord will involve us in tough personal choices. Embracing Christian behavior and Christian values can be hard, when the prevailing social pressures make the Christian way seem implausible.

Go back one more time to verse 22. They returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening 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. Stregthening and encouraging them to remain true to the faith was a communal effort.

We have to help each other. I am making such a contribution in this sermon. Small groups make a powerful contribution by creating a space where people can talk about some of their most personal challenges. Christian education offers indispensable guidance in understanding both our faith and our culture. Personal friendships give necessary strength. So, let's trust Christ, love and help each other and resist the sizzle.