15.08 | Platform & Persecution
Acts 14
‘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.”’
Acts 14:14-15
The idea of proclaiming Barnabas and Paul to be Zeus and Hermes may seem silly to us.
It seems silly, because the idea of gods atop Mount Olympus, eating grapes and throwing thunderbolts and having illicit relations with attractive mortals, seems primitive. It’s the stuff of fantasy and Percy Jackson movies, Disney and mythology. It feels so far removed from our age that the whole thing feels a trivial problem, a distant problem, a Lystran problem.
And yet, the Lystran problem sits much closer to us than we think.
Have a look at what happens.
Paul and Barnabas arrive. They preach the gospel, and heal the paralysed man.
And then the crowd take matters into their own hands.
Paul and Barnabas have power. Paul and Barnabas have a message. Paul and Barnabas are gifted.
They call the priests. They arrange sacrifices. They bring garlands and declare these two to be gods.
Our issue is that not that we do not have this issue. Rather, it is that it takes vastly more subtle forms.
The past few years has seen a significant number of high profile Christian careers crumble in scandal and moral failings. It’s prompted a number of books, blogs and podcasts, articulating how such cultures developed around these able individuals. The best of these bring together analytical critique of toxic leadership and allow a healing process of truth-telling for those who were wounded.
But there’s also been a further observation. It is the observation that a cultish leader doesn’t form in a bubble. They need a following to to lift them to a pedestal. To bring them garlands and sacrifices, and to treat them as gods.
These books and podcasts and blogs have held together the personal wounds and wrongdoings of these individuals. But they have also asked honest questions of a church culture so quick to create celebrities. They have begged the question of all of us as to why charismatic people can so rapidly draw the attention and longings of our hearts.
And suddenly Lystra doesn’t feel quite so far away.
What can we learn?
Straight up, we need to recognise the subtle but strong pull in our hearts, to put certain individuals on platforms. Because the subtlety makes it harder to see. We fail to see when a leader’s opinion of us has become greater to us than that of the Lord, or when the buzz of a big event has become more significant to us than the inner workings of the Spirit. We fail to see when we are more interested in the words of the celebrity than we are of the Scriptures, or the strategies of the able than the lead of God. We fail to acknowledge when we are spending more time scrolling Christian memes than we are spending in the prayer room, and when we look more for validation from a mentor than we do from the Master.
Barnabas and Paul model a stunning counterculture for leaders. The platform was there for the taking. The accolades were flowing in. Their careers were set to be made.
But Barnabas and Paul get off the platform, get into the crowds, and urge the people back to the worship of the only one that is worthy. For all Christian leadership points beyond the self and towards the Lord. All ministry is not the drawing of attention, but the redirection of it. No ministry stands above the crowds, but exists among them, pointing upwards to the only King who takes our gaze and can rescue our souls. Only one Rabbi gets followers.
Comfortable? Not a bit. Within a few verses, they have hurled stones at Paul until they think him dead. Those who refuse the platform sometimes get stoned by those who tried to build it.
Lystra. A story of platform and persecution.
And yet, by a church that forsakes the platform, even unto persecution, the Kingdom of God is established.
Reflect:
Is there anyone who has taken a higher place in my heart than Jesus?
Am I, in any of my thoughts, actions, words, or ways, inviting others to put me on a platform?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
You get the glory.
For where I have been distracted by the able and the intelligent,
Draw my heart back to you.
For where I have been wounded by the critical and the controlling,
Draw my heart back to you;
For where I have been more attentive to the charismatic and the famous,
Draw my heart back to you;
For where I have taken the pedestals of the world, stealing your glory and perpetuating
The empty idolatries of the celebrity,
Draw my heart back to you.
Lord Jesus,
You get the glory.
Would you establish this heart again,
In the simple pursuit
Of you.
And Lord Jesus,
Would you heal your Church,
Restored in a simple gaze
And simple love,
That in our persecutions and in our priorities
You get the glory.
Lord Jesus, take centre stage,
Take the platform,
For you get the glory.
In Your Name,
King Jesus,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Jeremiah 51:1-53 | Psalm 100