Sermon preached on 5/9/10 at Our Savior. Sermon text: Acts 14:8-18
Sometimes someone's words have the power to change everything. One such person is mom. Let's face it, what your mother says means a lot. If you're hurt, or down, or discouraged, sometimes some words of comfort from your mom might be one of the few things that will make you feel better. Of course, no criticism will get your attention more than words of disappointment from mom.
Yes, moms' words really have power for us. You can probably all think of words from your mom that have meant a lot to you throughout your life. And I hope you take the time today to give thanks for the gifts from God that moms really are.
But sometimes we're tempted to think of the power of God's Word only as an abstract concept. We know the Bible is supposed to be powerful. We know God did a lot of powerful things in the past in biblical times. But sometimes we let it end there. The assumption, whether we think of it that way or not, is that God's Word isn't really all that powerful for us, right now, today.
So I'll tell you right now: get that idea out of your head. God's Word is as powerful as it has ever been, and God has shown that power in your lives. He's used his Word to do miracles for you, personally. In fact, he's doing that right now. So let's focus on God's Word and really see the power that's there right before our eyes. Witness the power of the Word.
Our text finds the Apostle Paul back on his first missionary journey. Last week we heard how Paul had run into some opposition in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. (Acts 13:44-52) After the Jews there rejected the message of Jesus, Paul announced that he was going to speak to the non-Jews, instead. In our text today, Paul and Barnabas have moved on a couple of cities to Lystra. There, Paul was taking his message to the Gentiles. As he was doing that, something amazing happened.
"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 feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk." (Acts 14:8-10)
Did you catch powerful Word at work there? Well, it's hard to miss the power in the crippled man walking. Think about it, this man had been crippled for life. He'd never walked. Then God's Apostle Paul speaks to him, and the man walks! Not some shaky, tentative first steps. He jumped up and began to walk! That's real power!
"Well, that's all very interesting," the skeptical part of our mind whispers to us, "but when was the last time we've really seen miracles like that?" We see a few of these miracles in the Bible. Besides Paul in our text, both Jesus and Peter healed people who had been crippled. But even if this was almost common in the Bible, it's anything but now. People who can't use their legs face surgery, therapy, and a lot of time to have any chance to walk. And even when this is successful, there's no jumping up and immediate walking. It's a long and usually painful process.
Then there are those "faith healers" that you hear about sometimes. They're usually traveling preachers who go from town to town. At their shows, there might be someone brought up in a wheelchair. Then, with some yelling and fancy movements, the preacher announces that the person has been healed. Lo and behold, the person gets out of the wheelchair as the crowd goes wild.
Now, I'm not saying this couldn't happen. God and his Word are powerful; he could heal anything like this if he wanted to. God used miracles like this in biblical times to advance the gospel message of Jesus the Savior of the world. God hasn't promised those kind of miracles today. The fact that a lot of those faith healers have been proven to be scamming people out of money with fake healings doesn't help, either. To make a long story short, I'd be more willing to pray for God to heal someone than hope for a faith healer to do it. So, here we have an example of God's Word being powerful, but it doesn't seem to happen much today.
But maybe there's an even better example of God's powerful Word in this text. There were definitely some interesting developments after Paul healed this man. When the crowd saw the healing, they started shouting. "The gods have come down to us in human form!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes." (Acts 14:11-12)
This was a problem. There was a story that probably everyone there in Lystra had heard before. In the story, the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes appeared in human form, but no one recognized them or greeted them. Then a couple of people welcomed them, and the gods honored those people, but they destroyed the rest of the town. The people in Lystra in our text probably took that old myth seriously and wanted to make sure they honored any gods who showed up in their towns. We even hear that they started bringing bulls to sacrifice to them into the city. (Acts 14:13)
Obviously, Paul and Barnabas didn't want this. So they told the people that there was only one true God, and they were not gods at all. "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 everything in them." (Acts 14:14-15) Paul couldn't quote the Old Testament like he did for the Jews who knew it so well, so he used the message of God's Word to explain the truth about who God is.
This is the part where God's powerful Word instantly convinces everyone, right? Everyone understands, they stop worshiping Paul and Barnabas, and they turn to faith in Jesus. Well, not exactly. Our text says "they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them." (Acts 14:18) The people ignored what Paul was saying and were ready to worship them anyway!
Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, after our text, a group of Jews shows up -- the same ones from Antioch from our text from last week -- and they somehow turn this crowd against Paul. By the time this whole event was over, Paul had been stoned by the crowd and left for dead. He ended up surviving and went to a different city the next day.
So, not only did the powerful Word of God not convince the crowd, it almost got Paul killed. You probably can't wait to talk to people about your Savior now, right? Well, even if we recognize we probably won't get killed for talking about Jesus in our country today, we might still be scared. We think, "it's never going to work. No one is going to believe me. I'm going to say something wrong. I'm going to mess it all up." Maybe God's Word is powerful, we might think, except when I'm the one using it.
Yes, many people do reject God's Word. But should that really surprise us? Many rejected Jesus himself! But sometimes when we're afraid the Word will get rejected, when we just expected that it'll never work and no one will believe it, we're refusing to trust God's Word. We're refusing to take God at his Word and use his powerful Word like he has commanded us too.
And if that's the attitude we have in our minds, maybe it's not so surprising that we sometimes don't think studying the Bible is worth it. Maybe it shouldn't shock us when people don't come study the Bible or send their kids to Sunday school. After all, it sure doesn't seem like God's work really works that well, anyway.
Look at your own mind and attitude. Do you think God's Word is really powerful? Do you think it's always been powerful for you? Those attitudes of doubting God's Word -- attitudes we've all had -- are sinful. And finally, what is unbelief but refusing to take God at his Word?
God's Word is powerful! It's more powerful than dynamite and nuclear weapons put together. God's Word is powerful and it has worked its power on you personally!
There's a verse in our text where we see this kind of power. It goes by so fast that you might have missed it. The crippled man "listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, [and] saw that he had faith to be healed." (Acts 14:9) What had this crippled man been doing? Listening to Paul. What had Paul been talking about? The same thing he always talked about! Jesus! The Savior who so loved the world that he gave his life to save us from our sins!
And after Paul had spoken this message, he saw the man had faith to be healed. Where our text says "faith to be healed," the original language says, "faith to be saved." The man may have faith that Paul could heal him, but only because he had faith that Jesus had saved him. The greatest miracle from the powerful Word of God in this text is that this man went from being an unbeliever, condemned to death and hell forever, to a believer, God's forgiven child, and heir of eternal life through faith in Christ. That is how God's powerful Word worked on that man, and that's not even mentioning that his legs worked again.
Do you see that God's Word worked the same for you? Maybe you think you're a Christian because your family was when you were growing up. Maybe you think you're a Christian because you've just always loved God or maybe you just liked the first church you ever belonged to. Well, those things are all fine, but none of them are the reason you are a Christian. You're a Christian because God's Word worked a miracle on you.
No matter who you are, you were born dead in sin, condemned to eternal death in hell. But God's Word worked on you. Maybe it was God's Word with water in your baptism. What a miracle it was when God made you his own child, connected you to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and washed your sins away! That's a miracle that only God's Word could do.
Maybe it was when you heard the message of what Jesus had done, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus paid the price of hell that you and I deserved, and by faith he gives us the reward of heaven that he won in his resurrection. God uses that message in his Word to give faith. And he even uses it to strengthen faith. Every time we hear again about our Savior who lived, died, and rose for us, God's powerful Word strengthens our faith. Every time we receive Jesus' body and blood with the bread and wine connected with God's Word in the Lord's Supper, our faith is strengthened and our sins are forgiven. The miracle of God's powerful Word continues to work on you.
And because it has, let's never doubt that it can work on others. Yes, many still reject Jesus and reject his Word. But the Holy Spirit also uses that Word to draw others to believe it, just like it did for you. Never hesitate to share his Word with others. Don't neglect to go back to his Word and fill up on the Good News that strengthens your faith still today. Be bold and confident whether you're reading or sharing God's Word that it will work; God will accomplish what he wants to through his Word.
As you give thanks for mothers on this day, don't forget to also give thanks for God's Word. His Word is what made the biggest impact in our lives as it worked the miracle of faith in our hearts. Grow in that Word every day. Share that Word with whomever God puts in front of you. Live that Word in your lives, because you are witnesses. You have seen God's works. Keep doing that. Witness the power of the Word.
Posts
