Grace Under Attack | Acts 13:42-14:28
Luke’s account of Paul’s first missionary journey alerts us to four common attacks on grace: (1) denial; (2) defamation; (3) delusion; and (4) depreciation. This sermon is part 7 of “Spreading the Faith,” Bryan Craddock’s verse-by-verse sermon series on Acts 8-20.
When I was ten years old, my parents took my little brother and I on a family vacation to Hawaii. We were on a tight budget, so we rented a tiny compact car to drive around the island. My dad kept complaining that he could feel my knees through the seat. But we went to the beach, visited a cultural center, and toured a pineapple processing plant. We also visited Pearl Harbor.
I still remember the somber feeling as we stepped onto the USS Arizona Memorial. It marks the final resting place of 1,100 sailors and marines. Altogether, more than 2,400 people died in the surprise attack on December 7, 1941. How many lives might have been saved if American forces had been fully alert to the threat? History offers powerful lessons.
We have been working our way through the history of the early church recorded in the book of Acts. Chapters 8-20 give us insights about spreading the faith, and last time we considered the forces that compel Paul to make his first missionary journey. Today we pick up the story in Acts 13:42 right after he concludes his message to the Jewish synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, and we follow him through the conclusion of his trip in Acts 14:28. Luke's account alerts us to four common attacks on grace.
You could argue that grace is the central theme of Paul’s ministry. For him it is almost synonymous with the gospel. It is the word that he uses to show that salvation is a gift from God that we receive through faith, and it is the main focus in several of his letters—Romans, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians. So, it is not surprising to find Paul presenting this idea during his first missionary journey.
Right from the outset, however, his teaching on grace comes under attack, and those attacks continue today. They can keep lost people from understanding the gospel. They can even distort the beliefs of Christians. So, we need to be on the alert, and I believe that learning about these different angles of attack will help us strengthen our grasp on the truth of God’s grace. The first one is the most obvious.
Denial
Applause is a powerful force in our world. You may never perform before a crowd, but from infancy we all find ways to win people’s attention and approval. It might be through strength, skill, beauty, intelligence, humor, hard work, or even spirituality. But grace contradicts our performance mindset. It asserts that nothing we do as sinful human beings will ever be good enough to win God’s approval. So, the most common response to grace is simple denial. People would rather believe in their own goodness.
Now the word grace is rarely used prior to the Apostle Paul’s ministry. The idea is clear in the teaching of Jesus and the apostles, but the word itself is not used at all in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and only four times in John, all in chapter 1. Luke uses it eight times in his Gospel and six times in Acts before chapter 13. But most of those references are to individuals finding “favor” with God or with other people.
After Paul’s message to the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch, however, grace is used to sum up the gospel. Acts 13:42-43 tells us,
As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
What does it mean to continue in grace? It pictures grace as a location or a sphere where we need to stay. Paul speaks of it that way in Romans 5:2 when he says,
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
After we begin to follow Christ, we must keep relying upon God’s grace for salvation and spiritual strength. We should not take our stand anywhere else. So, perhaps it is not surprising that the new believers in Pisidian Antioch, face an attack on their understanding of grace just a week after hearing Paul’s message. Acts 13:44-45 says,
The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.
The Gentile population wants to hear Paul’s message. But their interest provokes the city’s Jews to jealousy. Why? Did they want the Gentiles to come to them rather than Paul? They probably felt that they alone deserved to have a relationship with the one true God. So, they contradict Paul’s message of grace and revile him personally.
Now it is true that God chose the Jewish people, but his purpose was always to work through them to lead the other nations to worship him too. Paul and Barnabas make this point with a quote from Isaiah. Verses 46-47 tell us,
And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, "'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"
There are consequences for denying God’s grace. Paul and Barnabas say that by rejecting God’s word, these Jews judge themselves unworthy of eternal life. Their point is not that the Jews consider themselves unworthy. It is that they have passed judgment on Paul’s message of grace. They have determined to reject it, and that judgment makes them unworthy because it places them outside the sphere of God’s saving grace.
So, Paul and Barnabas announce that they will focus their ministry on those who are receptive. They turn to the Gentiles in accordance with God’s purpose revealed in Isaiah 49:6. That verse describes the mission of the Suffering Servant. Jesus came to fulfill those prophecies. He is the light for the nations. But as his followers, Paul, Barnabas and all of us who are Christians are called to carry on that purpose.
In verses 48-49, Luke tells us how the Gentiles respond to this declaration. He says,
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
Unlike the Jews, these Gentiles seem to be conscious that they need salvation. They celebrate the message of grace that Paul proclaims. But Luke adds an interesting note that gives us more insight to how grace works. It is not that their decision to believe makes them worthy of salvation. Their belief shows that God had already appointed them to eternal life. Faith itself is a gift of his grace.
So, beware the denial of grace, and if that attack fails, people often try another angle.
Defamation
In an archery competition, the goal is to hit the bullseye. Each archer seeks to demonstrate their superior aim. But if the goal were to win at any cost, it would be easier to just take aim at your opponent. You don’t need great aim for that, and they won’t be able to hit the target if they are wounded or running away.
When we debate ideas, particularly about God, you would think that our goal should be to arrive at what is true. But a lot of people just want to win arguments at any cost. So, they take aim at their opponent instead. They don’t need wisdom or insight for that. They resort to defamation through cheap put downs and through impugning their opponent’s motives. But that does not lead anyone to the truth.
Defamation is used against God’s grace. Paul and Barnabas encounter it in Pisidian Antioch. The Jewish denial of their message of grace did not work. The word was spreading. So, Acts 13:50 tells us,
But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
We are not told what accusations were made. But whatever they were, it worked. The powerful people in Pisidian Antioch become hostile, and Paul and Barnabas are forced to leave. But rather than undermining the truth of their message, this attack serves to confirm it. In verses 51-52, Luke says,
But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told his disciples to shake the dust off their feet when a town refused to receive them (Lu 9:5). It was a way of showing that they did not want to be associated with it, because it would face God’s condemnation (Lu 10:10-12). But the hostility in this town does not discourage the disciples there. The Holy Spirit enables them to rejoice in the hope of the gospel.
As Paul and Barnabas move on, they encounter the same attack again. Acts 14:1-2 says,
Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
“Embittered” is probably a more literal translation of the term used here, but “poisoned” captures its deadly effect. These Jews are not just attacking Paul. They are actively blinding Gentiles to the truth of the gospel. Here again we do not know what accusations they made, but they might have included one that Paul mentions in Romans 3:8. He says,
And why not do evil that good may come? —as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
In other words, people might have been saying that Paul and Barnabas only preached grace as a license to sin. How do Paul and Barnabas respond? Do they turn around and use the same tactic against the Jews? No. That would only discredit their message by making it seem too weak to persuade anyone.
They simply persevere in speaking the truth. Verses 3-7 say,
So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.
How could they keep going despite these personal attacks? Situations like these force us to rely upon Christ and to see the sufficiency of his grace. In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul says,
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Are you willing to be content with insults? Trust the sufficiency of God’s grace! That leads us to a very different attack.
Delusion
I was part of a college ministry in California that held a massive parking lot sale every year to raise money for summer mission trips. They called it “The World’s for Sale”, and thousands of items were donated. There were huge piles of clothes, books, household items, and sporting goods. Some of it had value, but to me a lot of it seemed like trash.
I remember noticing two old water-stained woven planters that had plastic liners and traces of potting soil inside. They were each marked 25 cents. Who would want that? But then two women came along, picked them up, and put them on their heads as hats. Now what would you do in that situation? We took their quarters and told them to have a nice day.
In the grand scheme of things, who cares if you mistake a planter for a hat? But if someone misunderstands and misuses the gospel, it is far more serious. The gospel comes with a whole set of beliefs about God, creation, man, sin, salvation, and the life to come. But many people try to adopt some aspects of the gospel while ignoring the rest, plugging those truths into their own false worldview. This kind of self-delusion is another common attack on grace.
Paul and Barnabas encounter a situation like this in Lystra. Acts 14:8-13 tells us,
Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.
Miracles like the healing of this man provide a glimpse of what Christ’s kingdom will be like. They offer hope of a future when God graciously removes the curse of sin. But these people are blind to that. They view the world from the perspective of Greek religion with its pantheon of gods who are lustful, fickle, and transactional. They see Paul and Barnabas as gods in human form, so they offer sacrifices to appease them and try to get more blessings.
How do Paul and Barnabas respond? If they just wanted personal followers, they could have played along and eventually worked in something about Jesus. But they could not ignore this attack on the grace of God. Acts 14:14-17 says,
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
They counter their delusion with the biblical worldview. They are just men, and there is one true and living God who created all things. The Lycaonians must turn to him. They should recognize the testimony of his faithful provision that demonstrates the common grace that he shows to all humanity in creation.
Many assume that the world’s various religions are a result of people earnestly seeking truth. They hold that these different paths all lead to the same God. But those ideas contradict biblical teaching. In 1 Corinthians 10:19-20, Paul says,
What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
So, those who participate in false religions are deceived, but they are not innocent. The gist of Paul’s argument to the Lycaonians is that they should have known better. He makes the same point in Romans 1:18-20 by saying,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
People actively suppress the truth. They are self-deluded. Some do it by rejecting all religion for an atheistic worldview. But most adopt their own hodge-podge of spiritual views, and they might be fairly tolerant until someone confronts them as Paul and Barnabas did.
From trying to worship them, the Lycaonians shift to a completely opposite response. Acts 14:18-20 tells us,
Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
Though Luke does not explicitly say it, Paul’s ability to get up and carry on after being stoned is probably a miraculous healing. He would have had serious injuries, but the proclamation of God’s grace must continue. That leads us to an attack that is so subtle that we might not recognize it.
Depreciation
As soon as someone buys a car and drives it off the dealership lot, the value begins to drop. Economists call it depreciation. It is not that the car is significantly damaged or worn down. It is just that people are not willing to pay as much for it.
Something similar can happen to the value that we place upon the gospel of grace. At the moment of conversion, we rejoice in its inestimable worth. But before long we might face trials that cause us to question our faith, or we might begin to take pride in our spiritual accomplishments. Both attacks lead to the same problem—a depreciation of grace in our estimation.
Paul and Barnabas recognized the danger of this threat. Acts 14:21-22 tells us,
When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Where do disciples find strength to continue in the faith and persevere through times of tribulation? In the same gospel that saves us initially. Earlier we read 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul testifies that God’s grace is sufficient in our weakness. We must keep valuing it. In fact, our estimation of its worth will never be higher than when Jesus returns and welcomes us into his kingdom. In Ephesians 2:4-7, Paul says,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
How could followers of Jesus keep that perspective on the gospel of grace without regular visits from Paul and Barnabas? Acts 14:23 helps answer that question. Luke tells us,
And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted just like they had done in Syrian Antioch before they were sent out. Then they appointed elders in each local church. These men were chosen to provide spiritual oversight for the believers in their town. They were probably recent converts. But many of them may have been faithful Jews who already knew the Old Testament well. Most importantly, they were guided by the Holy Spirit. So, the Lord Jesus would work through them to build his church just as he promised.
And how do leaders maintain their esteem and passion for the gospel of grace? Paul and Barnabas set a good example. They do it through fellowship, sharing with the church. Acts 14:24-28 says,
Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples.
They were commended to the grace of God. So, when they returned, they reported on what God had done. You can get so caught up in the work that you never stop to reflect. Their report must have encouraged the believers in Antioch, and they probably encouraged Paul and Barnabas in response.
Every believer needs to be actively engaged in the life of a local church. We need the teaching, oversight, and encouragement of spiritual leaders. We need to use our gifts to serve and build up others. Hebrews 10:24-25 says it well:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
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Are you alert and watching for these attacks? As we tell people the gospel of grace, we will hear denials from those who insist upon their own goodness. We may face personal defamation from those who are jealous or offended. We will be challenged by the delusion of false worldviews. We will also experience trials and temptations that might lead to a depreciation in our esteem for and reliance upon grace. So, be ready, and don’t forget that God’s grace is sufficient through it all.
Do you believe in his grace? None of us is worthy. But God sent his Son Jesus to die for our sins and to rise from the dead so that we could have the hope of eternal life. He offers us this great salvation as a gift that we receive by faith. If you want to learn more about grace, Romans 3 would be a good chapter to read.
If you’re a believer, are you growing in grace? Is it transforming you, shaping how you think and live? What could you do to keep growing? Are you reading the word and praying? Are you actively engaged with the church? Are you telling others about his grace?
May we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Reflect
How have you encountered these attacks on God’s grace?
How could you grow in your reliance upon grace?
How would you explain God’s grace to someone?