Acts 14:8-19 MSG
Gods or Men?
There was a
man in Lystra who couldn't walk. He sat there, crippled since the day of his
birth. He heard Paul talking, and Paul, looking him in the eye, saw that he was
ripe for God's work, ready to believe. So he said, loud enough for everyone to
hear, "Up on your feet!" The man was up in a flash - jumped up and
walked around as if he'd been walking all his life.
When the
crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian
dialect, "The gods have come down! These men are gods!" They called
Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes" (since Paul did most of
the speaking). The priest of the local Zeus shrine got up a parade-bulls and
banners and people lined right up to the gates, ready for the ritual of
sacrifice.
When Barnabas
and Paul finally realized what was going on, they stopped them. Waving their
arms, they interrupted the parade, calling out, "What do you think you're
doing! We're not gods! We are men just like you, and we're here to bring you
the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and
embrace God himself, the living God. We don't make God; he makes us, and all of
this-sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.
"In the
generations before us, God let all the different nations go their own way. But
even then he didn't leave them without a clue, for he made a good creation,
poured down rain and gave bumper crops. When your bellies were full and your
hearts happy, there was evidence of good beyond your doing." Talking fast
and hard like this, they prevented them from carrying out the sacrifice that
would have honored them as gods-but just barely.
Then some
Jews from Antioch and Iconium caught up with them and turned the fickle crowd
against them. They beat Paul unconscious, dragged him outside the town and left
him for dead. But as the disciples gathered around him, he came to and got up.
He went back into town and the next day left with Barnabas for Derbe.
What if we are the Lyconians? What
if we have started to misinterpret the gospel by adding our own manmade
interpretations?
The Bible is filled with stories
about them. Them, the people who are not us; them the people who are so much
foolish than us; them, the stiff-necked Jews; them, the hypocritical Pharisees;
them, the foolish disciples; them, the Lyconians who mistook the gospel Truth
with a capital T with the manmade truth of the Greek Parthenon with a very
small t.
What if we are the Lyconians?
If we, us, you, I lived back then we
would be so much better. We, us, you and I would see the redemption of Yahweh
in the desert; we, us, you and I would never build a golden calf because of our
doubt; we, us, you and I would understand the message of grace and not be bound
in the laws like the Pharisees were; we, us, you and I would see Jesus in the
flesh, in the miracles and on the cross, not like the disciples failed to do at
times; we, us, you and I would hear the Truth of the gospel with a capital T
rather than appropriate it into our own understanding and realities with a
small t; we, you and I would never celebrate a miracle of the Spirit with a
parade to Zeus which included calves and bulls.
What if we are the Lyconians?
Ok, I know that we are a holy
people; we are so that holy most of us would already admit that we are humble
enough to always acknowledge that there are times that we are stiff-necked,
hypocritical, foolish and misled.
And that’s okay. But I want to
suggest that there are times that we impose our own truth with a small t on the
gospel Truth with a capital T without realising it. We are prone to shape the
image we have of our God with the world that we live in. And, when we do this, we
then have to be careful that we do not taint the gospel that we share with our
own ideas and desires.
Here in Acts 14 we have a very
simple story. Paul and Barnabas rock up to Lystra. Seeing a person in need,
they proclaim the good news, the man receives healing and the people are
amazed. They, seeing the miracle healing, are quick to frame it with their own
worldview. They live in a Greek world which spirituality is dominated by the
Greek Parthenon of gods. The healing, therefore, could only come from the gods
and Paul being the spokesperson must be Hermes, the herald and messenger of
Mount Olympus while Barnabas was the ultimate god – the mighty Zeus – the sky
and thunder god and the king of Olympus.
Paul’s response is brilliant: "What
do you think you're doing! We're not gods! We are men just like you, and we're
here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly
god-superstitions and embrace God himself, the living God. We don't make God;
he makes us, and all of this-sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.”
I don’t know about you – but I love
this particular phrasing of what Paul is saying here from the Message:
“We don’t make God; he makes us.”
“We don’t make God; he makes us.”
“We don’t make God; he makes us.”
I personally think that this phrase
means the same now as it did then. The Parthenon of Greek gods was not a
God-made reality. As Paul says: for many years, God let the nations go their
own way.
In going their own way, different
nations had to make meaning of the world. People had to make meaning of the
supernatural and of the ultimate question – what is the meaning of life.
In Greece, the meaning of life was
found in conflict, power and downright drama. I have said it before – Greece
was the Game of Thrones in a different time and era. In Greece, the Parthenon
of gods provided some answer to this world. But this whole concept of
spirituality of gods who acted as mortals – who fought amongst themselves,
procreated and created a soap opera of stories – were nothing but a creation of
man. They were a manmade story.
So what does this story teach us –
what does it tell us today?
“We don’t make God; he makes us.”
Surely, we all here believe it the
same gospel story?
“We don’t make God; he makes us.”
Surely, we have never been like the Lyconians
and have added our own perspective to the gospel story?
“We don’t make God; he makes us.”
What if we are the Lyconians?
Years ago, Eric and I visited my
father when he was teaching in China. He had been there over a decade and was
in some of the most isolated regions.
Before we left New Zealand, he had
given us a wish list for all the things he wanted us to bring – baby formula, blue
cheese, Glenfiddich whiskey, and … wait for it … a Bible in English. Now, my father
is a staunch atheist, so something was up with the request for a Bible. So, I
asked – Dad – why a Bible? And Dad, have you heard of Brother Andrew – we are
playing with fire here? Dad’s response was simple. No, he hadn’t heard of
Brother Andrew and Christianity is allowed in China – public confession of it
is not. Book shops have Bibles in China, but they are in Mandarin, not English.
The Bible was for a friend, who was learning English and wanted to do so with
the written scriptures.
I can tell you, while Dad hadn’t
heard of Brother Andrew and why for Eric ‘the name rings a bell but I don’t
know why.’ For me, taking, well smuggling, a Bible into China, was terrifying.
I was shaking at Shanghai Airport fearful that this would be the first and last
mission trip for me behind the Bamboo curtain. It was to my surprise, that
there were no border checks. But Eric and I being honest kiwis, found a border
worker and asked how to declare our goods. His response was – ‘what do you have
to declare.’ I stammered – a bbibblllee, baby formula, blue cheese and whiskey.
His response was ‘the cheese isn’t allowed.’ He smiled at his partner as we partered
with our Kapiti Coast blue vein cheese.
My father’s response was something
different. As far as he was concerned, and the Chinese travel website, cheese
was allowed; the guard was just after some dairy goodness from the land
downunder.
Once we were in China, and in the
deep parts of China, Eric and I got to see a side of China not seen by many
westerners – by the end of which, Eric was, to quote Ming Fung, our Chinese mum
‘tired of photo.’ Our very first evening in China was one of a banquet meal.
During the meal, we were asked out right by the host – ‘Are you a Jesus
follower?’
By this point, my stomach was
churning, if I said yes would I be executed on the spot? Well, I fought back
the fear and said ‘yes’. At this point, the host introduced us to Jacquie (her
English name), one of his staff who was a Jesus follower as well. It was
Jacquie who we bought the Bible for.
Jacquie was our tour guide in the
city of Jingjong. She took us to all the historical points of interest and
showed us how ‘spiritual’ the Chinese people were. She taught us how Mao set
himself up as a god, with his little red book, a book that looks like the
Gideon bible. She shared with us how many people in China now are coming back
to faith – whether it be Buddhism , Taoism, Confucius, or Christianity. Her own story was of turning to Buddhism and
becoming lost before she found a deeper Christianity.
We asked her why this spiritual turn
was occurring in China and she replied that while it looked super spiritual on
the outside, even the turn to Christianity was fake and that this was her own
story until recently.
Jacquie shared with us how years of
poverty and exploitation of the people by the government, saw many Chinese look
to the west and particularly America. For them, the answer out of poverty was
not a faith but rather money. The meaning of life in China, was found in money.
For Jacquie the public display of any faith or religion in China was a
testimony to the promise of wealth. If you followed this spiritual way, you
would become financially rich. So, the gospel, the good news, was to follow
Christ is to find, the true meaning of life, financial wealth.
For Jacquie, a committed Christian
who went to ‘church’ (well to the homes of other Christians), to read
scriptures and learn about God, the gospel of Christianity had been tainted
with this false gospel. For Jacquie, the gospel she believed in was one of a
restored relationship with a Creator God, a son who came and turned the world
upside down and demonstrated that those that follow him should be prepared to
live upside down lives – to love ones enemies, put your neighbour first and
despise injustice. To know that God loves both the rich and the poor, and his
son dwelled with the poor, not to promise wealth but to affirm that at the
father’s table was a seat for them.
So, China, had imposed its own
meaning of life on the gospel. A meaning that came out of the brokenness of
Communism and exploitation. A meaning that came from looking at what appeared
to make the world go around in countries like America.
What if we are the Lyconians?
Later we would go to Inner Mongolia.
By this stage, Eric and I were used to being asked the ‘Are you a Jesus
follower’ question. We were also use to the conversation that followed – it
would either be one about our own personal wealth or one about our relationship
with God. In Inner Mongolia we met a number of Americans who had come to China
to teach, well that was what was on their Visa. But they had not just come to
teach, they were missionaries, and their gospel was one about the wealth that
can be found when you become a Jesus follower. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a
wealth in spirit but financial wealth. It appeared to me there, that just as
the Lyconians mistook the gospel for the gods of their time, even Christians
today, mistake the promise of the gospel with the financial gods of our world. This
made me deeply reflect on where the gospel, the good news, of financial wealth
was coming from; a reflection reinforced by the Chinese Christians I met who
were so upset at this tainted gospel story. Are there moments that we are the Lyconians,
moments where we turn the capital T of Truth into a small t?
And I think there are. I think there
are times that we try to fit God into boxes of manmade truths in order to make
sense of the radical things he does in our lives. And when we do this, I think the
result of this is very simple – we limit God, we limit others and we impose our
own expectations of God on him. We attempt to make God in our image. This is
what happened here in Acts 14, and it is what Jacquie observed in her own
communities in China. It is something that happens everywhere.
You know, over the last couple of
years, there has been one consistent message from our pastors. Each of us has
our own truths and interpretations of the world. And because of this, we need
to show each other grace. Now me, being a scholar from the postmodern tradition
just responds to this message – I told you so. You see, postmodernism argues
that there is no one truth, instead there are many truths – each of which is
manmade.
What if we are the Lyconians?
“We don’t make God; he makes us.”
This argument of many manmade truths
is actually really helpful – why? Well it can help us understand why truths at
times harm others, and why truths at times get disproved. And often we find ourselves getting into
debates with each other about these truths – whether it be God loves a certain
political party, God has a position on the Covid-19, God hates a particular
group of people, when we attempt to push our opinion into the God-made gospel
truth of love, justice, sacrifice and compassion, we limit God, we limit the
gospel, and we bring division into our community.
But as a Christian postmodern
scholar, I would also argue that “We don’t make God; he makes us.” While there
is no manmade truth that makes God. The Truth of God – the Truth with a capital
T stands outside of manmade truths. And our quest to know God will only bring
us closer to the Truth and each other – it will not divide.
Now hear me here. Remember – I have
asked if there are times that we add our own interpretation to the gospel story
and I have said that I believe that we too can be like the Lyconians. I think
we find it in the ways that we frame the purpose and intention of our holy
scriptures in which the Gospel story arises. Each of these ways forces God’s
Truth in our own manmade truths.
·
Reading
the Bible as an instruction manual
·
Reading
the Bible as a self-help text
·
Reading
the Bible as a science text
Believe it or not, the Bible is not
an instruction manual. It is not a formula to how to live a good life, if it
was it would stop after the books of Moses. It is call to relationship and a
revelation of God. The Bible is not a self-help text. It is not written as a
book with a verse for every occasion. While verses can be added to every
occasion, the Bible was written to, and for, a community of people. The Bible
is not a science text. It does not give a physical and material explanation of
the world that we live in. It does not apply the scientific method to
understanding the world. Forcing God’s stories into our ideas of truth is just
so wrong.
The reality is, both psychology and
science are manmade knowledge systems which we have made over time, disproved,
proved and built upon to understand our world. And quite often, just like the Lyconians,
we want to interpret what God is doing through a knowledge we make like
psychology and a science; when we don’t realise that our many knowledge systems,
including science, is a manmade attempt at answering the big questions like –
why are we here? And what is the meaning of life?
As Christians, we often try to fit
God into our knowledge, we try to justify the Bible through science, we try to
present the Bible as a solution to a person’s individual problems, and present
the Bible as a way to live the good life – when the Bible is so so much bigger
and should not be forced into our boxes.
When we try to fit God into our world,
we limit him and we limit the purpose of his story. You see the gospel story –
the Good News shared by the early church was deeply radical. It wasn’t an
instruction manual, a self-help text, or science text. It was a simple message.
For God loved
the world [Jew, Samaritan, Greek, Gentile, you and I] so much that he gave his
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal
life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be
its savior.
John 3:16-17
GNT
The challenge for us Church is to
realise “We don’t make God; he makes us, and all of this-sky, earth, sea, and
everything in them.” For us it is vitally important in our lives, and in our
witness, that we do not reduce a gospel framed around restoration,
relationship, justice, equity and an upside down concept of living into the
‘right way’ round world of brokenness, injustice and inequity. God is much
bigger than you think church. He is not restricted to the truths of science,
prosperity and our many manmade knowledge systems. He is the creator, he is our
father and the good new is – he is here to restore, he is here to counsel and
he is here to enable the extraordinary to occur in our every day ordinary
What if we are the Lyconians?
“We don’t make God; he makes us.”
We don't make God; he makes us, and
all of this-sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.
No rei ra.
Let’s not limit God, force the
gospel into our own truths and desires. Let us be free to be limitless in God’s
Truth so that he can through us reveal his love, his justice, his grace and his
mercy.
