Stay true to the faith

“They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then 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. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 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.” (Acts 14:21-28 NIV)

Often when we read a section of scripture concerning travel and places we are not familiar with we don’t see applications for our lives. This describes the end of Paul’s first trip proclaiming Jesus to a new area. He and Barnabas travelled from Antioch on the Orontes to Cyprus, then to the southern part of Turkey. They travelled as far as Derbe (verse 20) and then retraced their steps and ended up back in Antioch. There are several things that happened that are worth considering.

One of the first things that strikes me is what was not said. Luke simply recorded that they went to Derbe from Lystra “and won a large number of disciples”. Notice that there are no details nor any indication of how long they stayed there. There is also no mention of Timothy, who is from Lystra, becoming a Christian. He most likely heard about Jesus during Paul’s visit and became a trusted co-worker of Paul on his second trip.

Often we think of the work of an evangelist solely as outreach – teaching those who do not know about Jesus. Although this is a major part of their work, we can see that Paul and Barnabas also spent time building up Christians. As they revisited the cities where there were now groups of Christians they “strengthened the disciples”, encouraging them to remain faithful to their new calling in life. Part of that strengthening was appointing elders, older experienced men, to become shepherds of the groups of Christians.

For a congregation to function properly they need leaders. To serve as an elder there were qualities that these men needed to have in their lives – Paul wrote more about these in his first letter to Timothy and his letter to Titus. These men needed to be spiritual men with a good knowledge of God’s word. As elders are not to be new Christians sometimes we wonder how they could have been placed in this position so soon. The answer most likely lies in that they were from a Jewish background or at least acquainted with the Jewish scriptures. They knew God’s word and were living by it. When they heard that the Messiah had come they responded to Paul’s message. Because they were already acquainted with living for God they would not have been viewed as new followers of God.

We see that when they returned to Antioch they informed the Christians of “all that God had done through them”. They had been sent by those in Antioch and it was good that they informed them of the success of their mission. As there were a number of Gentile Christians in Antioch it would have been encouraging to learn that God “had opened a door for faith to the Gentiles”.

Perhaps the lesson for us is the need to encourage each other as Christians. Yes, we need to be reaching out and telling others about Jesus, but we also need to encourage each other “to remain true to the faith”.

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Readings for next week: Acts 13-17