As we return this morning to our study of the book of Acts, please turn with me in God's word to Acts chapter 14 today. When Paul and Barnabas set off into the Mediterranean Sea back at the beginning of chapter 13, and thus commence what has come to be known as Paul's first missionary journey to the Gentiles, you may remember that I described these men as arrows. being launched from the mission-minded church of Antioch in Syria, flaming arrows bearing the light of Jesus Christ onto the peoples of the world in darkness. As we followed the flight of these arrows, these Christian missionaries through chapters 13 and 14, and you reflect upon what we've read, it's just been one adventure after another. Just one exciting episode after another in Cyprus. You remember the Apostle Paul did battle with a sorcerer named Jesus as he and Barnabas then moved on to Galatia and the cities of Antioch and Pisidia and then Iconium. We saw the Apostle Paul as an evangelist bring the sword of Christ down thunderously upon those communities and turned him upside down, set these places into a state of turmoil as the people were divided into believers and unbelievers. When Paul was then driven from these cities, he went east into the frontier of Galatia, wound up in the city of Lystra. And there was maybe the strangest adventure of all, as Paul was actually mistaken for the Roman god Hermes and worshipped. And then not long after that, surrounded by an enraged mob and brutally pelted with stones so that they thought he was dead. And they dragged him outside the city and left him there to be devoured by the birds. Just adventure after exciting adventure. Lots of danger. Lots of escapes. Makes for great stories. The sort of stuff that you might expect from a Hollywood movie. This Christian mission thing that we are reading about together. But now as we kind of conclude Paul's first missionary journey at the end of chapter 14 here, Paul's trajectory changes and he begins to turn back home. So less like an arrow and more like a boomerang. And as Paul and Barnabas begin to turn back to their home church in Antioch of Syria, you'll notice as I read the account here, Luke's account, that there's no more adventures. No more great stories of adventures on the mission field. As they began to turn, Paul does go to yet another city in Galatia, Derbe. But apparently, no story worth telling. No great adventure there. Disciples were made. But that's all. He passes then back to the cities that he'd already been to, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, and Pisidia, not to do battle with sorcerers or to turn those cities upside down again, but just sort of quietly to strengthen the faith of the believers there. And then at last, he crosses the sea again, returns home to the church in Antioch in Syria, and there not to be worshipped as a god or to escape the danger of death, but just to give a missionary report to the church that had first sent him. So nothing exciting, nothing extraordinary, and therefore not much of a story to tell, not at all like a Hollywood movie. So my task this morning in preaching this passage would seem to be this, to show you just how important this phase of Paul's labors is to the mission of the church. So we may call this morning's sermon something like this, Lessons from the Less Exciting Leg of Paul's First Missionary Journey. Will you please stand with me for the reading of God's word? Before I read, let us pray. Lord God, as we open your word, as we hear your word, as we seek to understand and apply your word, we acknowledge our need, the guidance of your Holy Spirit to overcome, Lord, all resistance in our mind, O stupidity of mind, impart unto us, Lord God, that which we could not possibly attain for ourselves, and that is the light of divine wisdom and truth. And may we hold it dearly in our hearts and build our lives upon it, Lord God, and in this way be fitted to serve you in our own time and place, whatever that might bring. All this we pray in the name of Jesus, in whom we trust for this and all things. Amen. So our term in text this morning is Acts 14, verses 21 through 28. Here now, saints, the word of God. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Italia. And from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. And now, when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. So they stayed there a long time with the disciples. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. All right, lessons from the less exciting leg of Paul's first missionary journey. What are they? These three. Lesson number one, apparently when you are engaged in the mission of Christ's church, you never stop preaching the gospel. You never stop preaching the gospel. There is a story here as this account begins. It's not really the story of what happened when Paul preached the gospel in this Galatian city of Derbe. The story really is that Paul preached the Gospel there at all, given what had happened when he preached the Gospel in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. Especially Lystra. What happened? If you go back to verse 19, I'll remind you. It says, then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, tracked Paul down in Lystra, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. So they did not miss, in other words. We're talking stones the size of your fist, a mob of angry people who were determined to carry out an execution. And they pelted the apostle Paul with these stones, and those stones landed in such places and with such force that clearly the man was knocked unconscious, and he was completely unresponsive. So bleeding head wounds, everybody figures he's dead, so they drag him out of the city and suppose that their work is done. That's what happened. And why did that happen? One reason, because Paul preaches the gospel. That's why it happened. Paul preached the gospel in these places, and the gospel was then and is now offensive to people. You'd be surprised how offensive it is to people. It challenges them in ways they don't want to be challenged. It refutes them. It humbles them in a way that they do not want to be refuted and humbled before God and before others. So the gospel was offensive to people, and that's why the Apostle Paul suffered these things as an evangelist. And so after being stoned in this manner in Lystra, I think you can agree with me when I say I don't think anyone would have blamed Paul if he had stopped preaching the gospel at that point. We almost died. We thought he was dead. Somehow he survived. He's taken a terrible beating from these people. Say, Paul, you did well. You preached the gospel in a lot of places, and a lot of people believed, and you just barely survived this thing. It's pretty traumatic. If you're done, that's okay. That'd be all right. But this Paul, he seems never to even consider it. Not going on from Lystra to preach the gospel in this other city of Derby, where he had every reason to expect the same abuse. Verses 20 and 21. However, when the disciples gathered around him, this is Paul supposed to be dead outside of Lystra. He rose up, went into the city and the next day. He departed with Barnabas to Derby, and when they had preached the gospel to that city." That's incredible, if you really think about it. Speaking of Hollywood movies, I don't know why, I just thought here of a movie from my youth, this reference will be lost on some of you, Terminator 2. Terminator movies. And Terminator 2, there was this futuristic robot. It's not the Arnold Schwarzenegger character that I'm thinking about, but the other guy, the one dressed like a cop with the mirror sunglasses, that guy. And he's made out of this, like this liquid metal from the future. And he's chasing down this car that's going about 90 miles per hour and he's gaining on it, you know, because he's a futuristic robot. And the people in the car pull out a shotgun and they nail him. They just blast him and it blows a hole. And he just tumbles. And you think, well, that's it for that guy. But if you remember the scene from the movie, he doesn't even stop. He just kind of rolls with it. And then he gets up and rights himself and heels. He's still on their heels. You can knock him down, but you can't knock him out. He just keeps coming back and back and back. And that just reminds me of the Apostle Paul here. It's unreal that he would go from Lystra and preach the gospel. And Derby, what does that say to us? The lesson that we learned from Paul is that we never stop preaching the gospel. We never stop preaching the gospel. Or to say it another way, there is no reason which is a good enough reason to stop preaching the gospel. It's offensive to people. It upsets people, it upsets families, it upsets communities. It's divisive, it causes people to dislike us. It brings suffering to our lives, to the people who are converted by the gospel. Sometimes when you preach the gospel, the last time I preached the gospel, I almost got killed. It doesn't matter, right? There's no reason that's good enough reason to stop preaching the gospel ever. That's the lesson here, because it's just that important. It is, I'm not sure in the history of my preaching ministry, preaching to this church in 15 years, I'm not sure there's a point that I've emphasized and hammered as much as this point, which I've done throughout our study of the book of Acts, which is the central goal, the mission of the church is preach the gospel. That's it. We've seen the church is involved in a lot of other things. We see that in the book of Acts. That's fine, there's a place for those things. But the central, essential thing Keep on preaching the gospel unto the ends of the earth, and you never stop. It's that important to us. It's that important to our world. And so we have Paul's pledge in Romans 1, 14 through 16. And I think you can appreciate in view of this passage, the man meant it. He says, I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Salvation is at stake. That's a word that means a lot to the people to whom Paul and the evangelists are sent. So that's lesson number one. That's a pretty good one. You never stop preaching the gospel. Lesson number two, the less exciting leg of Paul's first missionary journey. Lesson number two is, you cannot afford to neglect the faith of those who have believed the gospel. So first, you'd never stop preaching the gospel. And two, when people believe the gospel, you cannot afford to neglect the faith of those people who have believed the gospel. The question that Paul faces midway in his first missionary journey is, should he return to Lystra, to Iconium, to Antioch and Pisidia, and check on the Christians there. He already preached the gospel there. People had believed. The word was spreading. One answer that we might have expected from the Apostle Paul is, no, I'm not going to return to those cities. I've already been to those cities. And in fact, I cannot afford to. I cannot afford to go back to those cities because I still have a world of unbelievers to reach for Christ. And though I just simply do not have time to spare, time to waste on nurturing the faith of those who already believe. They already believe, they're fine. God will take care of them. I must move on. We might have expected the apostle Paul to argue something like that. His actions indicate a very different answer. Should you, Paul, return to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch to check on the believers there? Paul's answer is yes. I cannot afford not to. Not I cannot afford to as an evangelist, but I cannot afford not to as a pastor. Why? Because new Christians are newly born. They're like babies in the faith. Could you imagine delivering a bunch of babies and there they all are in a nursery of babies? You go, my joy, I'm done. Those babies are fine. They'll fend for themselves, God will take care of them. That's irresponsible. Those babies will perish. So Paul turns pretty quickly to them. They don't know how to feed themselves. They don't know how to defend themselves. Christianity seems easy when you start. But it gets hard when you actually get into it, and it doesn't take long to get there. And there's lots of wolves out there in the world. And so Paul says, as not just an evangelist, but a man who understands pastoral ministry, I have to return. So that's what they did. Verse 21, and when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. So Paul did return to these cities, and he spent time with the believers there, and it sounds like it's a good thing that he did. Because when he went back to these places, he returned to find their souls weak, and so we strengthen them. He returned to find them fading in their faith and wandering, and so Paul exhorted them to continue in it. He returned to find them in trouble, maybe suffering, because of their Christianity, and Paul reminded them that we must, through many troubles, enter the kingdom of God. Don't turn back. What's the lesson that we learn from this part of Luke's a clown. We learn from Paul that the world needs evangelists, yes, and churches need pastors. Yes, we preach the gospel to make believers of unbelievers, converts to the Christian faith, increase the numbers of our churches. That certainly is an important part of the mission. But then we also must spend time with those Christians. to help to nurture their faith, to teach them, to strengthen them so that in time they can stand on their feet, develop their gifts, and be fit to serve the Lord in a very hostile world in what is a very difficult, narrow way. So when Paul moved on as an evangelist to other cities, you notice here, he makes sure to appoint pastors, elders, to minister to the faith of the Christians of the churches in these cities. Verse 23. So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So he didn't leave these sheep without shepherds. So, yes, a world to reach. evangelists to be sent, the gospel to be preached. But as the Lord blesses us with success in that, then there will be local churches, and there will need to be pastors in those churches, men devoted to that work, to nurturing the faith. There are churches that have got this wrong. They've gotten all filled with evangelistic zeal, and everything has become about evangelism. Evangelism is evangelism. And the churches themselves, the believers have suffered. They've stayed in a state of infancy, and they're tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. There's no excuse for it. It's not what we find in the Bible. So evangelists and pastors, preach the gospel and also nurture the faith of believers. That's the second lesson. Third lesson, lesson number three. The less exciting leg of Paul's first missionary journey is this one. As an agent of the church and its mission, it's important to pay due respect to that network of people who support the Christian mission. It's important to pay due respect, reconnect with that network of people, those Christians who support the mission. In a lot of ways, the Apostle Paul is, in the book of Acts, like a superstar. The first superstar in the book of Acts is Peter, and then at some point, the focus shifts Paul as the superstar, and as the superstar of the Book of Acts, the life of the Apostle Paul is not unlike that of a Hollywood superstar, like Tom Cruise. I think of Tom Cruise, because I recently saw Tom Cruise in the movie theater. My wife and I did a thing very rare for us. We went to the movie theater, and we saw a movie. And of all the dumb movies to go see, we went and saw the Top Gun sequel. That's designed just for us, just for our generation, to go and see Top Gun again. And the name of the Top Gun sequel was Maverick. And Tom Cruise is Maverick. That's who he is. And so, the movie is all about Maverick. And so, throughout the whole hour and a half or whatever it is, we're just following Tom Cruise. Kind of like we're just following the Apostle Paul here in the second book of Acts, right? And Tom Cruise as Maverick, we're watching him and he's... He's riding motorcycles, and he's flying fighter jets, and he's playing football on the beach, and he's overcoming adversity, and he's wooing women, and he's winning over the next generation, and he saves the day at last, like everything that you would expect. So an hour and a half, just Tom Cruise as Maverick. But you get to the end of the movie, right? And then come the credits. And all these names appear on the screen. And only one of them's Tom Cruise. It's the name of all the other actors, and producers, and directors, and I don't know what all. I don't know who these people are. I don't really understand everything that they do. But they're being given credit at this movie. because they played a really important role in that. And such as their role was, we may well assume that they invested every bit as much of themselves and their gifts into the stardom of Tom Cruise as Maverick, as Tom Cruise did in being Maverick. Similarly, having launched out from the church in Antioch, Paul, the superstar, The great evangelist, missionary to the Gentiles, he might have never returned. Thanks. Don't need you anymore. Acknowledgement of them, what they had done, what they continued to do in praying for him. But that's not what Paul did. He did return. And notice what it says, verses 25 through 28. Now, when they preached the word in Prague, they went down to Italia. From there, they sailed to Antioch. That's Antioch in Syria, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. That is by the church in Antioch. And now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And so they stayed there for a long time with the disciples. So why? If you're a superstar like the Apostle Paul, why go back to Antioch? One reason appears to be for accountability. Paul was sent from Antioch, the church sent him, to carry out a definite and clearly defined mission. And so that Paul was able to return to Antioch and report that the mission had been completed. So he's not just a lone wolf, it's not just go Paul, do good, and we'll see you in heaven. You're an agent of the church, we're sending you with our blessing to commit this work to which God is calling you, and when the work is completed, return to us. So there's accountability. There's also encouragement, and here I'm thinking specifically the encouragement of the church in Antioch. They had sent Paul and Barnabas on this mission, and Paul and Barnabas had great adventures and seen encouraging things happen there, but the church in Antioch hadn't been there to see it. It was just radio silence as they were waiting on these men to return. So when Paul comes back to report, you notice that he recounts to them not all that he and Barnabas had done. But look what it says. all that God had done with them, and that he, God, had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. If you're the church in Antioch, the mission-minded church in Antioch, that is wonderful to hear. That is good, encouraging news. God has heard our prayers. God is with us in this work. God is working in the world in ways that we cannot possibly do in and of ourselves. And they were greatly encouraged and saw something, particularly with the opening of the door at the Gentiles, the scope of the work which God intended to accomplish in this coming age of the church. So there's accountability, there's encouragement. And then no doubt for Paul and Barnabas, there is refreshment. They didn't this time come to church, give their missionary report and right back out to work. They were weary, road weary. And so they spent some time in Antioch. I'm sure they stayed busy. I'm sure they blessed the church while they were there. But you better believe the church blessed them and it did them some good to be encouraged and to have some time to be around Christians who love them after being so long in a world that was so hostile to them. So the lesson here that we learn from Paul is no matter one's role, even if it's the role of a superstar in the church's mission, every Christian is accountable to the church, beholden to the support network of the church, and from time to time will be in need of refreshment that comes of being among the other members of the church that they love and that loves them. So we conclude with this then. The Book of Acts is a treatise on ecclesiology, among other things. Ecclesiology being the theology of Christ's church. We ask this question of God when we ask this question of the scriptures, particularly the Book of Acts, what is the church? God, you tell us what the church is. God, what is the church's mission? You tell us. what the church's mission is. And God, how does the church fulfill its mission? You tell us, and that's what we'll confess, and that's what we'll believe, and on that basis, we will get to work. The answers to some of these questions from the now-completed account of Paul's first missionary journey to the Gentile world, which is again Acts 13 through 14, is something like this. The church will at times, experience excitement, and adventure in its mission, and those things will make for great stories. But not all is excitement and adventure, even for the maverick of our account. A lot of the work of Christian ministry is a story hardly worth telling. The less exciting aspects of Christian ministry, however, are extremely important to the success of the church's mission and the success of its missionaries. And at any given time, there's a huge portion of the church's laborers who labor on, not inspired by how exciting their work is, but rather inspired by how important it is. And there's a difference. But when the church comes together, as they came together at the end of Paul's missionary journey in Antioch, and consider not what they are doing, but consider what God is doing in and through them all, that's when things get really exciting. The Apostle Paul in another place, 1 Corinthians 12, describes the church as the body of Christ. And he describes in that passage both a diversity in the church, but then also behind that, a unity. diversity of people, diversity of gifts, diversity of roles in the church. And yet, one God, one spirit, one Lord, distributing, working in and through it all. 1 Corinthians 12, 4. That's kind of the idea. And so as a pastor of this church, I can kind of, I can take this idea and just kind of reflect on the snapshot of this moment. Think about the diversity, everything that's going on with the members of our church. And these days, I tend to start with my son, Wesley, because he's on my mind right now. He's kind of launched off. He's kind of on an adventure, and a pretty scary one for him, as it turns out. He was raised in our Christian home, he was raised in this church, and we invested a lot in that young man. Invested a lot. development of his character, and the development of his gifts, and teaching him all things Christian. They'd have his theological head on straight, and so now he's come to this point where he's taking this first brave step into adulthood, and it's landed him in Western Pennsylvania. on the campus of a school where he's gonna be a part of a community of Christian scholars, and he's particularly gonna devote it to his career in music. And he's gonna be doing all kinds of things there, making all kinds of new relationships, be a part of a different church. And everything that he is, and everything that we invested in him goes with him to that place. And to think about the ways that God might use him in those four years, and then beyond that, it's really sort of breathtaking. I reflect upon, you know, just the average Tuesday when Wesley was a kid, and it seems pretty important. Now, not really a story to tell, necessarily, but pretty important. I think from Wesley then to his sister, Alyssa, who's four hours away, started her life beyond college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and she's getting really involved in the church there. The same thing, I wonder how God will use her, how she'll be a blessing to the people around her, and I think beyond my family, to some of your children who are in the same stage of life. I think of David, and he is now is an upperclassman in the Air Force Academy in Colorado. And I think of Paki in graduate school, Carnegie Mellon, and those guys being involved in their churches. And I think about Owen, who's about to leave, I understand, to start his career in Minnesota. You know, he's going out in this church after we've invested so much in their lives to serve the Lord. And every last one of them is walking with the Lord. That's not something to be taken for granted, you know? And then we come back, you know, my thoughts come back home. All these kids now, these younger ones, and what we're investing in them, and what that's about, and where they're gonna go, and how they're gonna serve the Lord as he gifts them, as he sends them, as they have opportunities to develop their gifts. And I think about our work as parents, and just what an important work that is. It's not always exciting. It's not always a great story to tell. How was your week? It's pretty much a normal week, an important week. I think about our grandparents, how they're still invested in the lives of their children, helping their children raise their children. And what an important work that is. I go back to Wesley. Wesley's left a void here. And Matt Garwood, who's been a faithful member of this church forever, He's like right at the right moment, just steps up with his musical gifts, and is leading us so well in music. I think of the members of this church who are called to labor in the workforce. And some of them are starting new jobs, like Ben Thompson. Some of them are going back to old jobs, like Faith is going back to her old job in DeKalb County. Some of you are in the same job, just plugging away. Christian businessmen building their Christian business, other people doing other things. All of you take all that's been invested in you and your spiritual gifts and your faith with you and represent Christ in those places. And absolutely your influence is going to be to be felt. And meanwhile, here I am, pastor of this little congregation, you know, and I'm just laboring away. I got no exciting stories to tell you. Hasn't been a single adventure in months. that I would think would be a story worth telling. I just plug away, preparing Sunday school classes and sermons, praying for you, seeing what I can do to help you. And this morning I got a text from Wesley. Come full circle. He said, I hope the preaching goes well today. I'm praying for you. That's awesome. That's awesome. It's not glamorous, there's no adventure, but what are we doing? Preaching the gospel, we're nurturing the faith of believers, and we're being a part of that network that supports the mission. And when we come together, sometimes we get a special visit. Somebody from another field, a missionary that we've been pleased to support, and his wife, and they show up, they have a missionary report. How did this work out? That I should preach this text on this day. I would say, and that's important too, right? That's important too. You see, there's sort of this stunning realization that comes over you, I think, that when you're thinking a lot about what you're doing, and not what you're doing, we think about what God is doing to us all. In the very midst of this world, with all its strife and its confusion, the reality is that Jesus Christ is the risen savior and reigning head of the church. He's going forth from the earth, conquering and to conquer as the king whose time has come. And that is very exciting. A close with this, when your ecclesiology is biblical, biblically grounded, biblically balanced, You take in the full scope of the circle. You realize, Christians, that we are living our ecclesiology. We're right in the midst of this. And that means that these times in which we are living insofar as we are engaged in Christ's mission, the truth is these are very exciting times indeed. Shall we pray?