If you look in your Bible, you will NOT find the following books in the New Testament:
- First Iconium
- Second Derbeians
- The Epistle to the Lystrans
- The Letter to the Church at Antioch in Psidia
Or will you?
These are four of the cities that Paul visited on his first missionary journey. In fact most people would say that these were the main cities of his trip.
Paul really got things off with a Bang!
At Antioch in Psidia, he spoke to the Jews in the Synagogue. His sermon was so powerful that the next Sabbath “almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.” Many believed as a result of this – both Jews and gentiles.
But many resented it. The local Jewish leaders became jealous and started undermining Paul and Barnabas. Acts 13 says they “stirred up persecution” and eventually made it so that Paul and Barnabas had to leave.
The next stop? Iconium. Almost the exact same scenario played out. Synagogue, big crowds, enthusiastic interest, and spiking persecution. It got so hot at Iconum that they actually tried to stone Paul.
So the missionaries went on to Lystra. There Paul performed a miracle to heal a man and the people thought he and Barnabas were the Greek gods come to visit the city. If Paul hadn’t stopped them, people would have made offerings to him.
You’d think that’s a great start? But Jews from Antioch in Psidia and Iconium followed Paul and Barnabas and there they incited a crowd to such a fever pitch that they actually DID stone Paul, and left him for dead in a field outside the city. But they were bad stoners, and he wasn’t dead (protected by God), so he got up and…. went back in the city to encourage the believers.
They did have to leave Lystra because it was legitimately unsafe for them to remain. Hence a trip to Derbe, where a similar scenario played out.
When all this was over, they retraced their steps, revisiting the same cities where they had been driven out. They checked in on the new churches there and gave them encouragement and support, then moved on.
All in, this trip lasted about 2 years. It wasn’t a “short term missions experience.” Paul and Barnabas essentially planted 4 churches on that trip.
What about the books of the Bible that I listed above? Did Paul ever write back to these churches?
He did. But not as individual letters. The letter to the Galatians was actually intended for all 4 of these churches. They all existed in the Roman province of Galatia. So Paul wrote a letter to the churches of the region. The person who carried it would have stopped in each of the cities and met with the church to read the letter out loud to them. Perhaps they would also have been given the opportunity to make a copy for themselves at this time.
One of Paul’s main points in that letter was “having started in faith, do you really think you can finish the race by the Law?” This points to the ongoing influence of the same upset Jewish leaders who put pressure on the new churches to adopt the Jewish adherence to the law.
We gain extra insight into Paul’s letter by understanding the story behind the churches who were his original audience.
And this is why knowing about Paul’s missionary journeys is so critical to our ongoing study of his epistles.
Ok. Let’s shift gears.
As I write this note to you, my church has already started advertising the programming around Resurrection Weekend this year. This is my ABSOLUTE favorite season of the year. I love Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection. Without them, I have no hope of grace, of favor, of redemption, of an inheritance, of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, of regeneration of my dead spirit into one full of abundant life.
The crucifixion and resurrection are everything.
As we have done for the last 24 years, my wife and I are celebrating the passover. Over 2 nights, we expect 256 people at our church to go through a Seder with us. This is double any number we’ve done in years gone by.
While I agree with Paul that the law will not make us more righteous, and following Jewish traditions grants us no more favor with God. But still we celebrate the Passover.
Part of the reason is because we want to follow the footsteps of Jesus as He made His way to the cross. The Passover meal was the last calm moment He had with His disciples. In it, the Lamb of God celebrated the death of a lamb that provided protection and salvation to everyone who believed in it.
There is a lot of insight and truth in the Passover that the early Christians would have known. They either came out of Jewish practices, or were close to people who had been. So they would have seen the significance of that night and the events which occurred.
Unfortunately, you can’t attend Passover with us. Distance and a sold out event make that impossible. But I do want you to get a sense of what it was about.
I’ve adapted the Haggada (a small book that takes you through the Passover with all the instructions and readings etc.) that I use and made it into a book about the Passover from a Christian perspective.
This book explains all the steps and tasks and symbols of Passover. It covers the things that Jesus would have been doing that night with His disciples. It shows the traditions that He followed, as well as the traditions He transformed.
I think it’s a must-read for every Christian. Yes, I’m a little biased. But in a very good way.
The e-book is available on a whole bunch of storefronts – which you can see here: https://books2read.com/u/3G2WL… It should be $1.99 – or roughly your currency equivalent.
I also have a paperback book available on Amazon. It’s not big, and I’ve priced it pretty low to make it easy to get a copy to you.
In honor of the Resurrection this year, if you buy from my website, you can use Coupon Code Resurrection22 to take $1.00 off and get it for 99c. Here’s the link: https://www.dennis-stevenson.c…
Ok. That’s it for this week. I really do hope you will get the book, because it will change the way you think about and take Communion. I’ve titled the book “As Often As You Do It” – which picks up Jesus own statement as He instructed His disciples on two special elements from that Passover meal that He wanted them to pay special attention to going forward.
He is risen!
Dennis
